Some Canadians are going into debt just to eat

Some Canadians are relying on debt to manage the high cost of food

Surveys after surveys tell the same story: Canadians are struggling at the grocery store. And yet, despite the mounting evidence, the situation is not improving.

Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab has been tracking consumer sentiment on food affordability for years. The latest results, based on a national survey of more than 3,000 Canadians conducted earlier this month, in partnership with Caddle, confirm what many already feel at the checkout: the pressure is not easing.

Yes, food inflation eased slightly to 5.4 per cent in February. But for most households, that number is largely irrelevant. What matters is the total bill, and for many, it remains uncomfortably high.

In fact, 81 per cent of Canadians identified food as the expense that has increased the most over the past 12 months. Not housing. Not energy. Not transportation. Food. That alone should be a wake-up call.

More concerning is how Canadians are coping.

Data from the Agri-Food Analytics Lab shows that 34 per cent of households have drawn from savings or taken on debt just to put food on the table over the past year. That is not a marginal statistic; it points to a deeper shift in how households are managing food costs. It suggests that food affordability is no longer being managed through simple budget adjustments. It is now eroding financial resilience.

That strain is reshaping how Canadians shop.

Nearly half of respondents, 44.4 per cent, say they are seeking out more sales and discounts. Another 23.7 per cent are spending more time searching online for better prices, while 23.3 per cent report using more coupons. About 23.2 per cent are switching to cheaper stores altogether.

These are not minor adjustments. They represent a fundamental shift in how Canadians shop for food.

That shift is also showing up in what households are willing to cut. About 21.1 per cent say they are buying fewer non-essential items, while 19.7 per cent have switched to cheaper brands and 16.2 per cent are opting for generic products.

What Canadians are removing from their carts is even more telling.

Roughly 15.4 per cent report buying less meat and fresh produce, while 13.4 per cent are buying more bulk items and 8.6 per cent are relying more on staple foods like pasta and beans. Some are even turning to food-rescue or surplus apps, which connect consumers with discounted unsold food, though adoption remains limited at 8.5 per cent.

Others are making sacrifices beyond food. About 12.3 per cent say they are spending less on goods like clothing or electronics just to maintain their food consumption. And despite all of this, only 5.9 per cent of Canadians report making little or no change to their grocery habits.

In other words, almost everyone is adjusting, and most are doing so significantly.

Many households are reshaping their food baskets.

They are buying less meat, fewer fresh products, and cutting out discretionary items altogether. These decisions help in the short term, but they come with longer-term consequences, particularly when it comes to nutrition and health.

These behaviours reflect a deeper shift.

This is not the traditional image of food insecurity. There are no empty shelves. No visible shortages.

Instead, what we are seeing is something far more subtle, and arguably more pervasive: a gradual erosion of quality, choice and dietary diversity. A quieter form of food insecurity, unfolding in real time.

This reality is still widely misunderstood.

Much of the public debate continues to fixate on grocery chains and retail pricing. While scrutiny is warranted, focusing solely on grocers oversimplifies the issue.

Food prices are shaped by a complex system, one that includes energy costs, transportation, labour shortages, regulatory burdens, and global commodity markets. Retail is simply where all these pressures converge.

If we are serious about affordability, we need to look beyond the checkout counter.

Since the late 2000s, food prices in Canada have increasingly diverged from overall inflation, rising faster than most other goods and services. At the same time, population growth has accelerated, putting additional strain on supply chains that were never designed for this level of demand.

Yet policy responses remain fragmented.

Improving productivity in the agri-food sector, reducing interprovincial trade barriers, and strengthening domestic production capacity are not glamorous solutions, but they are necessary ones. So is creating rules that allow smaller players to compete and grow.

In the meantime, households are left to absorb the shock.

There is no widespread shortage of food in Canada. That is not the issue. The issue is that food is becoming one of the most difficult expenses to manage.

And when one in three households starts relying on savings or credit to cover basic nutrition, it is no longer just an affordability problem; it is an early warning sign.

Food affordability has always been a cornerstone of Canada’s standard of living. If that foundation continues to weaken, the consequences will extend far beyond the grocery aisle. The data is clear.

The question is whether we are ready to act on it.

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is senior director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University and co-host of The Food Professor Podcast.