Are grocery prices set to take off?
Over the past six decades, the amount of money a family spent on food has almost increased roughly five fold, from $1,130 to $5,347 annually.
During this same time frame, however, average family income has increased at a much more rapid pace, from $4,237 to $50,302.
These are a few of the interesting stats to be found in "Grocery Spending Habits,” an infographic from BillShrink looking at income, supermarket spending, and other household expenditures since the 1950s.
While most other household expenses have increased at roughly the same pace as income, the proportion most of us spent on food has dropped steadily. Once upon a time, food accounted for nearly 30 per cent of a household's expenses. Today though, the average family spends about 13 per cent of its money on food.
But that doesn’t mean the price of groceries is actually coming down – quite the contrary, in fact.
Although some individual players in the food sector are still cutting prices to satisfy recession-weary consumers, Statistics Canada’s Consumer Price Index shows the price of food bought at stores increased by 2.1 per cent compared with last September, on top of a 1.6 per cent jump the previous month.
And the worst may be yet to come. Economists say the stubbornly high unemployment rate is still casting a big shadow over food prices. Not only is it making shoppers more sensitive to prices, it’s helping to keep the lid on labour costs in many agricultural areas in the U.S.
The killer, of course, is that the price of healthy food is rising faster than other foods, according to a new University of Washington study.
Although all food prices rose sharply in recent years, the price of the healthiest food has risen the fastest, UW researchers report.
Nutrient-dense food costs rose by 30 per cent while costs of less healthy food, including candy and fatty foods, rose by 16 per cent during the same time.
Have you noticed a sharp increase in the price of groceries where you shop? What are you doing to combat rising costs?
By Gordon Powers, MSN Money
Posted by: don | Oct 28, 2021 12:48:49 PM
Prices where I lived increased 100% for some items when the price of fuel skyrocketed and they have not come down. When the mad cow scare was on in Alberta the prices in the grocery stores for beef never came down. I am curious as to whether , when this study was done, they took into account everyone cooked and ate their meals at home 25 years ago. Lots of people dont cook anymore...they eat out. If you look at the increase in eating out I am not convinced that people are spending less on food ....it is just not in the grocey stores. I have no doubt prices will increase...nothing to do with what it actually costs but because someone sees an opportunity to increase their profit margins regardless of the pain it would inflict on lower income people or the fact they are already making money hand over fist. Wonderful world we live in....studies like this give companies ammunition to increase prices . Looking for a reason to justify it and here it is. Yes prices will go up as they are convincing themselves they have lost some of their fair share.
Posted by: Hungry | Oct 28, 2021 3:17:32 PM
This is wrong. I have a family of four and can say that we easily spend $150 per week. That works out to $7800 per year and does not include times that we are hosting. By the way we eat out a least twice a month so I'm sure that it would be higher. I agree with Don.