麻豆影视

Skip to main content

'Sticker shock' as Canadians rethink traditional Thanksgiving meal: analyst

Share

After more than a year of high food inflation, families gathering this weekend to gobble Thanksgiving dinner may be feeling the pinch after their grocery shopping.

Statistics Canada reported last month that prices for food purchased from stores rose 6.9 per cent in August, down from an 8.5 per cent increase in July but still well above the month's headline inflation rate of four per cent.

鈥淧rices haven't went down, so you're going to continue to see fairly large sticker shock on items and it's making consumers re-think the traditional Thanksgiving meal,鈥 said retail analyst Bruce Winder.

鈥淪ome people are going to look at alternatives: is there a cheaper alternative that you can use to cook instead of maybe a turkey? Or do you maybe hold back on the big family gathering a little bit more? Do you make more and buy less from stores?鈥

Last year, the price of a kilogram of fresh turkey was about $6.59, or $42.84 for a 6.5-kilogram bird, according to the Agri-Food Analytics Lab.

A survey of weekly flyers from major grocery chains in the leadup to Thanksgiving shows some stores have seen a markup for the same product. At Metro, a fresh turkey cost $9.90 per kilogram, while at Sobeys, the price was listed at $7.69.

However, Loblaws' flyer for the week showed the price of a kilogram of fresh turkey was $5.49.

鈥淧eople aren't going to eliminate the dinner altogether, that's too drastic,鈥 said Winder, noting many consumers 鈥渁re really up against the wall鈥 with the prices of gas and housing remaining high.

鈥淏ut they'll look for creative ways (to save). Maybe they do a little more potluck things this year.鈥

Other items typically on the Thanksgiving menu have also seen year-over-year price increases.

As of August, the retail price per kilogram of potatoes was up 6.8 per cent, while butter has seen a 9.2 per cent jump, according to Statistics Canada. Brown rice was about 6.3 per cent more expensive than last year.

But there's reason to be optimistic, said economist Mike von Massow of the University of Guelph's Ontario Agricultural College, who noted that although food prices are higher than last year, they have started to move in the right direction.

He added that many foods that typically find their way to the Thanksgiving dinner plate are also now in season, so month-over-month price changes should be more favourable for consumers.

鈥淥ne of the reasons we have Thanksgiving at this time of year is to celebrate and give thanks for the harvest,鈥 von Massow said.

鈥淏ecause we are in harvest time of year, if you look at mashed potatoes, if you look at apples and apple pie, if you look at pumpkins, and pumpkin pie, all of those are now available locally and in abundance. So we would expect, even in an inflationary time, that prices would come down at this time of year.鈥

Looking past the holiday, von Massow said it would be beneficial for Canadian shoppers to be open to changes in their typical food purchases if they want to spend less.

鈥淐anadians are very much creatures of habit. If broccoli was in my basket last week, it's likely to be in my basket this week,鈥 he said.

鈥淲hile it may not help you this weekend for Thanksgiving, thinking about things like stored vegetables, which are produced in Canada - carrots, beets and some of those root vegetables - will give you an opportunity to save money, because you're not buying the fresh stuff that's coming in from the U.S.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 6, 2023.

Food inflation tracker

 
 
 
 
All data is from Statistics Canada's . Data updates once per month. See for planned updates.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

The British Columbia election campaign is set to officially start today, with Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin issuing the writ for the Oct. 19 vote.

A northern Ontario man is facing a $12,000 fine after illegally shooting a moose near the Batchawan River.

Unusual flippered feet are making their way into the Saint Lawrence River this weekend. Led by underwater explorer and filmmaker Nathalie Lasselin, volunteer divers are combing the riverbed near Beauharnois in Mont茅r茅gie to remove hundreds of tires that have been polluting the aquatic environment for decades.

A sea lion swam free after a rescue team disentangled it near Vancouver Island earlier this week.

Local Spotlight

Cole Haas is more than just an avid fan of the F.W. Johnson Wildcats football team. He's a fixture on the sidelines, a source of encouragement, and a beloved member of the team.

Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.

An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.

They say a dog is a man鈥檚 best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.