The Provincial Government recently released the cost of a 2023 Newfoundland and Labrador Nutritious Food Basket. It highlights the costs of nutritious food in our province. This is the third release of data using the updated food basket developed for 2021, which allows us to make year-to-year comparisons.
The Nutritious Food Basket
The Nutritious Food Basket is a standardized tool used to calculate the weekly cost of meeting the nutrient requirements for a family of four (specifically, an adult man and woman, a teenage boy, and a young girl). The food basket contains 61 foods from the 2019 Canada Food Guide based on the National Nutritious Food Basket. The Newfoundland and Labrador Statistics Agency collects data about the costs of these foods around the province during October and November of each year.
The Basics
In October 2023 it cost an average of $333 for a family of four in N.L. to purchase enough nutritious food for a week. That's $1,332 per month. This is an increase of nearly 8% from 2022.
As we know, the cost of food varies around the province. Here’s the Nutritious Food Basket breakdown by region:
The highest cost, as always, is on the North Coast of Labrador. The Nutritious Food Basket costs $509 per week ($2,036 per month). That’s up 9% from 2022
Next is the South Coast of Labrador, with a cost of $427 per week ($1,709 per month) — an increase of 3.4% from 2022
The most expensive Nutritious Food Basket on the Island is on the Northern Peninsula. It costs $388 per week ($1,552 per month), which is only 0.8% higher than 2022
Western Newfoundland is at $363 per week ($1,452 per month), up 8.4%
Central/Western Labrador is at $359 per week ($1,436 per month), up by 10.8% (the biggest percent increase of any region)
Central Newfoundland at $344 per week ($1,376 per month), up 6.2%
Eastern Newfoundland is by far the cheapest place to buy food, with a weekly cost of $317 per week ($1,268 per month), up 8.6% from 2022
Putting The Nutritious Food Basket In Context
One informative way to look at these numbers is to put them alongside monthly income support rates since we know that households on social assistance are much more likely to experience food insecurity.
Provincial Income Support
Right now, a family of four (the same size used to calculate the Food Basket costs) would receive a base rate of $779 per month from income support — $1,301 if they've received the maximum rent/mortgage supplement, $1,451 for folks on the Labrador Coast.
Based on this maximum amount, a family of four in Eastern Newfoundland would spend 97% of their income support cheque on the nutritious food basket. This is the only region where families wouldn’t spend more than their entire income support cheques to afford the Basket.
One thing we’re seeing really clearly in this year’s data: the gap between income support rates and the cost of food is growing.
To afford the 2023 Nutritious Food Basket elsewhere in Newfoundland and Labrador, a family of four:
On Labrador’s North Coast would need to spend 140% of their income support cheque (including the maximum cost-of-living amount). That’s up from 129% in 2022.
On Labrador’s South Coast would spend 118% of their income support cheque (with cost-of-living). Up from 114% in 2022.
On the Northern Peninsula would spend 119% of their income support cheque. Up from 118% in 2022.
In Western Newfoundland would spend 112% of their income support cheque. Up from 103% in 2022.
In Labrador West/Central would spend 110% of their income support cheque. Up from 100% in 2022 (the biggest percent increase this year).
In Central Newfoundland would spend 106% of their income support cheque. Up from 100% in 2022.
Total Welfare Income
Income support amounts are only one part of the income picture for folks who rely on them. There are also tax credits, child benefits, and supplemental payments.
According to Maytree’s Welfare in Canada Report, a family of four in St. John’s would receive an annual income of $33,357 in 2023. They would need to spend 49% of their entire income on food to afford the nutritious food basket. This is the best-case scenario, with every benefit maxed out at 2023 levels.
Employment Income
We also know that half of the food-insecure folks in this province rely on employment income. This isn’t surprising given the minimum wage is between $8.20 and $11.20 lower than the living wage, depending on where you live.
A family of four in St. John’s with both adults working 40 hours a week at minimum wage jobs would spend roughly 35% of their take-home income on a Nutritious Food Basket. While monthly child benefits would help, they would still be spending more than a quarter of their total household income to afford the Food Basket.
This is unsustainable, especially since having two full-time minimum-wage workers isn't realistic for many families. Wages simply aren’t keeping up with the increasing costs of living.
How It Compares to 2022
We can see inflation slowing down in 2023’s N.L. Nutritious Food Basket. In the 2022 data, costs increased up to 18.5% from the previous year. Now, those increases have slowed substantially. That said, food prices are still increasing from an already unaffordable starting point
We also know that food prices are just one piece of the cost-of-living puzzle. Food is often near the bottom of the long list of household expenses. People will spend less on food to afford fixed costs like rent, heat, and light. All of these expenses are also increasing while incomes stay the same.
Incomes still aren’t keeping up. While the minimum wage has increased over the past few years it is still far from a living wage. In 2023, social assistance and total welfare incomes were still well below a reasonable standard of living.
Measures announced in the N.L. Poverty Reduction Plan last November will help, especially for families with very low incomes. But it doesn’t go far enough. It’s a first step and more needs to follow — quickly.
Conclusions
Given how little has changed since the 2022 data, we can draw the same conclusions as last year:
First, we have legislated poverty by having income floors well below what would meet people’s basic needs (like other provinces, unfortunately).
Second, this data clearly shows how our social supports and wages are not keeping up with food price increases. That gap is disproportionately large the more rural and northern you get in the province.
Third, the cost of a Nutritious Food Basket helps us wrap our heads around what liveable income floors might look like. This data is used in regional living wage calculations and can help guide our advocacy for income-based solutions.
