Canadians not just shopping differently, they’re surviving differently

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Canada's relationship with food is changing in ways that should concern us all.

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The latest Canadian Food Sentiment Index: Fall 2025, produced by Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab in collaboration with Caddle, shows the public is still struggling with affordability pressures, changing habits and declining trust in the food system.

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Even though inflation is cooling on paper, Canadians are simply not feeling any relief at the checkout.

Food remains the dominant financial stressor in Canadian households. More than four in five respondents say their food costs have increased the most over the past year—more than spending on utilities, housing, transportation or any other category.

Nearly one in three Canadians believe food prices have risen by more than 10% in the past twelve months, a view that highlights the discrepancy between official inflation figures and everyday experience.

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Canadians are responding by adopting extremely frugal habits that increasingly define everyday life. Almost half are actively looking for new sales and discounts. Brand store products are growing. Consumers are shifting to lower-priced brands, visiting discount stores and cutting back on non-essential items such as premium meats and ice cream. The use of coupons remains widespread. Eating out has become a luxury, with nearly a third of Canadians spending less than $50 a month on restaurants or takeout.

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The pursuit of savings is now constant and exhausting

For many households, the pursuit of savings has become constant and tedious.

Food insecurity remains one of the most alarming trends. The latest PROOF research shows that 25.5% of Canadian households are food insecure, the highest level ever recorded.

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While fewer Canadians say they have saved or borrowed money to pay for groceries compared to last fall, levels remain alarmingly high, especially in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where up to 44% of households needed financial support just to buy food. New Brunswick stands out for the opposite reason: conditions there have worsened even as other provinces have seen slight improvements.

For a G7 country, this level of food vulnerability should be a wake-up call.

Changing nutritional values ​​are also changing what Canadians put on their plates. Omnivorous diets, although still dominant, fell by almost seven percentage points over the year. Rising meat prices clearly affect dietary patterns. Flexitarian and paleo diets are growing moderately, while vegetarianism is declining.

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Families bear the greatest burden

The report shows that the burden of rising prices falls heaviest on families: of those who have had to save money to buy food, more than half follow an omnivorous diet. Among households with three or more children, this figure rises to 65%. Protein inflation hits large families the hardest.

Despite these pressures, Canadians continue to embrace strong values ​​of sustainability and transparency. More than half of those surveyed now “always” or “often” choose local produce – a sharp increase from 33% a year ago. Casual supporters of local products become regulars. Consumers are paying more attention to where their food comes from, checking labels more carefully, reducing food waste and using composting more than ever.

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This behavior shows that even under pressure, Canadians remain committed to making informed and environmentally conscious choices.

However, trust in the food system is weakening. Farmers are still the most trusted, but even their ratings have dropped slightly. Confidence in Public Health Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, food manufacturers and food retailers also declined.

When institutional trust weakens, it creates space for misinformation—to which the food sector is particularly vulnerable.

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Canadians believe food should remain tax-free

One area where there is stunning clarity is taxation. The vast majority of Canadians believe that food should remain tax-free. More than 86% support eliminating retail taxes on all food products. Support reaches every generation and every region. At a time when few issues unite Canadians, the belief that food should not be taxed is as close to a consensus as it gets in politics.

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The Autumn 2025 Sentiment Index shows the country adapting but not thriving. Canadians are resilient and resourceful, but they are also stressed. They are changing where they shop, how they eat and how they think about food. These behaviors may reflect survival, but they also signal deeper changes in nutrition, well-being and equality.

Food is not just another retail category—it is a fundamental right, a social determinant of health, and a measure of national stability. When affordability declines, when instability increases, and when trust weakens, the foundation of the food system becomes fragile.

Canadians are doing everything they can. Now policymakers need to meet them where they are – with bold structural reforms that aim to ensure affordability, strengthen local supply chains, reinvigorate competition and ensure that every household, regardless of income, can have reliable access to nutritious food.

The data is clear. The pressure on Canadians is real. And the time to act is now.

– Sylvain Charlebois is director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, co-host of The Food Professor podcast, and visiting scholar at McGill University.

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