Food Prices In Canada Are Going Up & Families Will Spend $966 More On Groceries In 2022

Prepare your wallets, people! Food prices in Canada are expected to keep on rising in 2022 and families could pay almost $1,000 more for groceries next year alone.

On Thursday, December 9, the latest edition of Canada’s Food Price Report was published by researchers from Dalhousie University, the University of Guelph, the University of Saskatchewan and the University of British Columbia.

The study projects that in 2022, the average family of four in Canada will spend $14,767.63 on food, which is up $966.08 from the total annual cost in 2021.

Overall, the report says that food prices are likely to rise by between 5% and 7% next year, thanks in part to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the labour shortage and related supply issues, as well as the “growing impact of climate change.”

Some things in your cart are really going to spike, too. For example, dairy products are projected to cost up to 8% more, while the price tags on bakery items and vegetables could climb by as much as 7%.

Fruit, meat products and seafood are all expected to fluctuate in price, too, although perhaps not to the same extent.

According to the study, we can look to “adverse weather (e.g. drought and winter storms)” and “increased costs of production due to COVID-19” as significant contributing factors for these increases.

That’s not all either, as eating out at restaurants is apparently going to get more expensive for Canadians, too. The report says your resto bill could jump by up to 8% in 2022, “as businesses contend with rising food prices, rising commercial rents and labour market challenges.”

The study expects the situation to be better in some regions than others, though. For example, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and Quebec are more likely to experience below-average increases.

Alberta, B.C., Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario and Saskatchewan, on the other hand, can all expect higher food price increases than elsewhere. Sorry, guys.

If you do want to try and keep your grocery shopping costs low, a Calgary mom recently shared how she started saving $600 per month on her bill.

A different survey from Dalhousie University found that many Canadians are actually getting pretty creative when it comes to keeping costs down, and their tips include avoiding particular products and shopping for “expiring soon” products.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.