Average cost of healthy groceries decreased in 2004

Many families with low incomes cannot afford to purchase enough healthy foods every week. Because of this reality, health units in Ontario are mandated to work with community agencies and groups to promote access to sufficient, safe, nutritious and personally acceptable food for people of all ages.

Part of this work is the annual monitoring of the cost of a Nutritious Food Basket (NFB). The NFB is a list of foods that can be priced in local grocery stores to estimate the cost of a week’s supply of healthy groceries. The list is based on nutrition recommendations and consumer food buying patterns. Because higher priced foods, snack foods and foods of little nutritional value are not included in the NFB, its cost is lower than the weekly food budget for many people. Pricing is done in six grocery stores across Renfrew County, and an average cost is calculated for each item on the list.

The cost of the NFB for a family of four¹ in June 2004 was $124.07. The cost decreased by 6% from 2003, but has increased by 18% since the first local pricing of the NFB was conducted in 1998.

For instructions on how to calculate the cost of healthy groceries for a week for your family or group,

See The Cost of Healthy Eating in Renfrew County June 2004.

¹ The reference family of four consists of a man and a woman between the ages of 25 and 49; a boy age 13 – 15 and a girl 7 – 9 years of age.