The cost of food might have taken a big bite out of your wallet over the last while, but grocery store prices are slowly recovering.
The cost of food might have taken a big bite out of your wallet over the last while, but grocery store prices are slowly recovering.
ìIt appears now that we are starting to see some products be in better supply, both in the fresh produce and the fresh meat supply, and farms that were affected by bad weather are replanting and producing new crops, î said Buy-Low Foods spokesperson Cathy Flynn, via email.
She noted that because of the declining Canadian dollar, coupled with frost and drought in the U.S. and Mexico, there has been a shortage of food and a jump in grocery prices on everything from produce, to meat and deli products.
While some price tags are returning to normal, Flynn said the low Canadian dollar could have a longer-term impact on the grocery bills.
ìWe have been doing our best to keep our retails as competitive as we can, but in many cases have had to increase prices as a reflection of the increased cost of goods from our suppliers, î she said.
Meanwhile, The Organic Box, an Edmonton-based food delivery service, hasn't seen the same price fluctuations you would find in the grocery stores.
ìWhat we find is that because we focus on local and relationship-based buying, what we have done is mitigated a lot of the volatility, î said general manager Abbie Stein-MacLean. ìThe local (aspect) does help because we're not subject to the fluctuations of the Canadian dollar. î
The company delivers 50 boxes of local organic food to its Athabasca members every other week.
Stein-MacLean explained that because the company runs on buying commitments from its members, food prices are more stable because that allows the company to make commitments with its food producers and distributors.
ìIt gives us little bit of the ability to guarantee the price for a longer period of time and eliminate that week-to-week fluctuation, î she noted.
At a recent panel discussion on food that she attended last week, the conversation came around to food security and how consumers could take advantage of alternative food systems to deal with volatile food prices.
ìIf you're always going to grocery store, your access to food is a bit more limited and you don't have the same type of influence on the price that you're paying, î she said. ìBut being part of a community garden or a group buying club or membership based on delivery service, such as ourselves, then you have a little bit better influence on the price. î
However, she thought the spotlight on food prices in recent weeks had more to do with shoppers paying more attention to their pockets.
ìNow that it's been in the media a lot lately, people are little more price sensitive because of the economic times, î Stein-MacLean said. ìSo they maybe never really considered how much they're spending on food before or they haven't been as closely monitoring their budget. î
ìNow that they're paying attention to it, it's like ëWhoa, I didn't realize that my steak was $12. That's really expensive.' But maybe 18 months ago, that steak was also $12. So it's a little bit misleading in some regards. î
