5 Canadians Share The Smart Ways They’re Cutting Grocery Costs

The cost of groceries in Canada is at an all-time high—and experts say these unpleasant prices aren’t going anywhere.

While many Canadians have focused a lot of their frustration on grocery store CEOs, the reasons food prices have risen so dramatically are a bit more complex than corporate greed alone.

“There isn’t one factor that we can point to—it’s a confluence of factors,” says Phoebe Stephens, an assistant professor of food security and sustainable agriculture at Dalhousie University in Halifax who was one of the team of researchers behind the 2023 Canada’s Food Price Report. She points to rising fuel prices, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, climate change and the pandemic as some of the driving forces behind high food prices. What’s more, the Canadians most affected by these prices were already struggling to afford groceries before inflation hit current highs. “Food inflation impacts people who have lower incomes disproportionately because they already spend a higher proportion of their income on food,” she says. “So we already know that certain groups—women and some marginalized communities—are more impacted than others.”

In the face of soaring prices, we asked five Canadians to share how they’re saving money on food without sacrificing nutrition or flavour.

Melissa Renaud, 45 Membership and programs manager at a nonprofit; Port Coquitlam, B.C.

Single mom Melissa Renaud says eating a plant-based diet for the past 20 years has kept her and her son’s grocery bills manageable—that is, up until a few months ago. “I was overspending every month and would have to pull money from savings or try to get extra contract work,” she says. “I was spending about $400 to $500 extra every month.”

Processed plant-based meat alternatives, like the vegan chicken nuggets Renaud’s son loves, were among the grocery items she’s seen increase dramatically in price. In response, Renaud has gone back to basics, with from-scratch meals based on staple ingredients like chickpeas and lentils. She’s also using up the products lingering at the back of her pantry and shopping more mindfully.

The hardest part

“I’m definitely buying a lot less wine,” Renaud laughs. She also misses being spontaneous when it comes to ordering takeout, but has nonetheless cut back, “to leave that money for something else later on in the month.”

Instead, Renaud is now “obsessed with numbers” and savours the satisfaction she gets when she logs into her banking app and sees expenses going down.

Her best advice for cutting grocery costs

If you haven’t tried adding plant-based meals to your rotation, Renaud recommends being open to it. Substituting bananas for eggs in baking, for example, is an easy cost-cutting measure.

Related: 30 Deliciously Inventive Ways To Use A Can Of Beans

Choosing produce based on seasonality has been another game-changer, too. “I see a lot of families that buy strawberries and berries in the winter, and I'm just so surprised at how high the cost is,” Renaud says. In the cold months, Renaud eats a lot of apples. “In the summer, we gorge on berries, cherries and peaches.”

Sonya Hartwig, 32 Radio producer; Nanaimo, B.C.

As busy young professionals, Sonya Hartwig and her husband were used to buying microwave meals and other convenient groceries before the cost of food skyrocketed. But lately, they’ve been forced to invest a lot more effort into what they eat. “My husband is a meat eater, but making a roast for dinner was getting so much more expensive,” Hartwig says. “It was almost double the price I was used to.”

They decided to sit down and brainstorm some new cost-effective meals to add to their grocery rotation. Among the cheaper recipes they incorporated were Mauritian meals from Hartwig’s childhood. “My mom’s curries use a lot of fresh veggies that were pretty cost effective, with just a tiny bit of meat,” she says. Other familiar dishes use affordable ingredients like lentils and rice, she says. Not only has Hartwig saved some cash, but her interest in her childhood dishes brought her closer to her mom. “She was surprised and overjoyed that I was so interested in learning all these family recipes.”

The hardest part

Spending a lot more time in the kitchen has taken its toll, says Hartwig, who often takes the lead on cooking big meals because she works from home. She’s found that she is spending “a couple of hours per day” preparing meals. “The time that goes into cooking has been inconvenient and frustrating,” she says.

Hartwig has also found that she isn’t able to afford as much fresh produce anymore, something she finds “really disappointing,” especially because farmers near her city produce such great fresh fruits and vegetables. She has begun taking a multivitamin to compensate.

Related: The Discount Produce Shelf Is Where Some Of My Best Meals Start

Her best advice for cutting grocery costs

“Ask your parents or grandparents what they did when money was tight,” Hartwig says. “They have all this life experience that they can pass on. This is not the first time people have gone through inflation.”

Laura Miller, 61 Self-employed; Whitby, Ont.

Living with type 1 diabetes means Laura Miller was already very aware of her food purchases before prices went up. “There's always been a sense of discipline in my menu planning,” Miller explains.

Yet the 61-year-old has still managed to find some new ways to cut down on food-related costs. She’s swapping out fresh fruit for frozen, being diligent about ensuring vegetables don’t go bad in the crisper drawer and making meals like quiches from scratch instead of buying them pre-made.

The hardest part

Like many diabetics, Miller always keeps certain products on hand to treat low blood sugar. One such item is juice boxes. While a pack of store-brand juices used to cost her a dollar, “they've gone up to at least $2.99 for a package now.”

Related: 3 Apps That Tackle Food Waste—And Help You Save Money

Her best advice for cutting grocery costs

“I really can’t stress enough how much you can save by planning your menu for the weekend,” Miller says. A full week of planning is even better, but Miller knows that can be daunting. “Even if you just start with four days, it really helps.” To make meal planning less onerous, Miller makes a point to always jot down meal ideas as she thinks of them, even if she’s on the go.

Miller also uses apps like Flipp that offer flyers and coupons for a wide variety of food retailers. Before shopping, she combs through the app for the best deals while planning meals around those items.

Leanne McLaren, 43 Radio host; Vancouver, B.C.

Living in one of Canada’s most expensive cities, Leanne McLaren has gotten pretty good at budgeting her grocery trips. But even those skills have been challenged by recent food inflation.

“Eggs and dairy were the first things I noticed,” McLaren says. “The price of a two-litre jug of milk went up by 10 cents, then 15 cents and another 10 cents. You're used to something being the same price for years and when it starts to go up in such a short period of time, it's definitely alarming.”

Although it’s less convenient, McLaren has since started shopping at multiple stores, including Walmart, to find the best prices on food. She’s also gaming the points system by redeeming grocery store reward points for gift cards to get some of her cash back.

The hardest part

For McLaren, the biggest challenge presented by high grocery prices is eating nutritious foods without having to throw anything out. Staying on top of her perishable items to make sure nothing goes to waste has become “a bit stressful and overwhelming at times. Food waste is money waste.”

Her best advice for cutting grocery costs

Using what you’ve already got at home is completely free. McLaren freezes all leftovers for later and is currently working her way through every corner of her fridge and pantry. “One of the big money savers for me is making sure that I'm using what I have first before I buy anything new.”

Chloë Grande, 29 Self-employed in St. Catharines, Ont.

When food prices started rising last year, Chloë Grande made the decision to cut other expenses so her groceries wouldn’t change. As someone living with an eating disorder, Grande has worked hard to be comfortable shopping and spending money at the supermarket. “I've always had a really challenging, stressful experience with grocery store shopping,” she explains. “It's even been something that I've worked with a therapist on—how to make that experience more enjoyable.”

Worrying about food prices would make getting groceries more overwhelming for Grande and could work against the skills she uses in her eating disorder recovery. Instead, she’s focusing on other ways to cut costs, like minimizing her monthly subscriptions, to offset those extra expenses.

The hardest part

“The idea of cutting back and saving money is actually really closely connected to my eating disorder,” Grande shares. “When it started, it was during a recession. I remember thinking that changing my eating habits would be one way to save my family money.”

Her best advice for cutting grocery costs

Save where you can, but remember that you have to also look at the cost of your overall health and wellbeing. “If we have the means to keep ourselves nourished and not stressed, that would be best in the long run,” she says, adding that to her, prioritizing a sustainable relationship with food is worth more than saving an extra $20 per week.

If you’re struggling with disordered eating, the National Eating Disorder Information Centre is a go-to in Canada for information, support and resources.

Cost-cutting shouldn’t rest on consumers alone

Although planning meals and cutting coupons can help individual consumers get by, Dalhousie University’s Phoebe Stephens says creativity only goes so far when systemic barriers are in place. “A lot of people already know how to stretch their budget. So maybe there's another response that would be more helpful,” she says.

While Stephens salutes the new federal grocery rebate, which will boost GST/HST rebates for eligible recipients, she warns food inflation is going to continue rising.

According to Canada’s Food Price Report, overall food prices will increase by five to seven percent over the course of 2023, with vegetable prices predicted to increase by as much as eight percent. This breaks down to just over $1,000 in extra costs for the average family of four this year, the report estimates.

Stephens says it's up to Canadian leaders—not consumers—to keep costs low. “How can we address the inequalities in our system so that people don't have to think about how to stretch their budget quite as much as they are?” Here's hoping our leaders are listening.