Rural Saskatchewan families paid an average of $246.65 per week on food last year, according to a survey by the Dietitians of Canada.
That number is just slightly higher than the provincial average of $243.64 per week but $40 more than the cost in 2009.
Overall, average food costs are up 11.5 percent over the last survey in 2012. The organization said that is far above inflation and a troubling trend.
“I think we should be very concerned,” said Jennifer Wojcik, the organization’s regional executive director.
“We know that the cost of healthy food can make eating healthy really difficult for some people, particularly those residents in Saskatchewan who are receiving no social assistance, low income earners, single parent households, recent immigrants and those living in remote and northern areas.
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“We know these individuals are at more risk for experiencing food security.”
Food insecurity is measured by food availability and affordability. Access and prices differ by location and can lead to insecurity, even in a food-producing province such as Saskatchewan. For example, food costs in the far north were 80 percent higher than average.
“Research has indicated that in Saskatchewan, 10.6 percent of households and 19 percent of Sask-atchewan children experience food insecurity,” said the study.
“These statistics do not include households on First Nation re-serves or people who may be transient or homeless. The true estimate of food insecurity in Sask-atchewan is likely much higher.”
The study defined rural as communities of less than 500 people. Families for the study were considered to be a man and woman each between 31 and 50 years old, a girl aged four to eight and a boy aged 14 to 18.
The research was done in 104 randomly selected grocery stores and examined the prices for 67 basic foods, including fresh and frozen vegetables and fruit, cheese, bread, meat, beans and lentils.
It did not include convenience or restaurant foods, cultural preferences or food for special diets, cleaning or personal care items.
The study found that 20 percent of stores in rural and northern areas didn’t have about 30 percent of the 67 items.
Wojcik said the province could use the study results as it develops policy, particularly its poverty reduction strategy.
