The survey, conducted by Nanos Research on behalf of CTV News, asked more than 1,000 Canadians if their household had used a cost-saving option in the past month in response to the price of food.
The most common response was buying cheaper food, with six in 10 Canadians reporting they had done so in the past 30 days. Just over a quarter of Canadians said they had not changed their eating habits at all. But another quarter said they stocked up on food that month and 17 per cent of Canadians surveyed said they ate less food because of food prices. 6% of respondents said they were actively using coupons or searching for items on sale. The remaining four options were chosen by one percent of participants: buying less food, going to the food bank, eating things they already had, or gardening and foraging.
WOMEN LIKELY TO CHANGE FOOD SHOPPING
When responses were split between men and women, women were significantly more likely than men to have changed their purchasing behavior. About 34 percent of men said they hadn’t changed anything in their eating habits, compared to 23 percent of women. Similarly, 64 percent of women said they bought less expensive food compared to about 57 percent of men who said the same. However, when the question was not about buying food, responses from men and women were similar, with 23 percent of men saying they had stockpiled food compared to 26 percent of women and 17 percent of men and women to say they had eaten less food in the past 30 days.
YOUNG CANADIANS ARE CHANGING THEIR EATING HABITS MORE
Younger Canadians were also more likely than older Canadians to have changed their behavior in the past 30 days because of food prices. More than 70 percent of 18-34 year olds said they bought less expensive food, compared to 65 percent of 35-54 year olds and about 51 percent of those 55 and older. The same trend was reversed when participants were asked if they had done nothing to change their shopping habits, with only 20 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds choosing this option compared to 24.7 percent of 35-54-year-olds and 37 percent of people over the age of 55. Only 13 percent of adults age 55+ reported eating less food in the past 30 days because of food prices, compared to 18.5 percent of 35-to-54-year-olds and 21 percent of 18-to-34-year-olds -years.
ATLANTIC PROVINCES EAT LESS, QUEBEC FOOD COMPLEX
In terms of location, there was a four per cent difference between the highest and lowest response to who bought cheaper food, with 62 per cent of respondents from Ontario and the Atlantic provinces choosing this option compared to 58 per cent of respondents from Quebec. . Quebec also had one of the highest percentages of respondents who said they had not changed their eating habits, with about 31 percent choosing that option. Overall, Quebec respondents were typically less likely than other regions to report using the various cost-saving options, with 11.5 percent saying they eat out less to save money. The only exception was food storage, where the highest percentage of respondents came from Quebec, at 33 percent. Those in British Columbia were the least likely to store food, with only 21 percent choosing to do so. British Columbia had the highest percentage who said they didn’t change any of their eating habits, at about 32 percent. The Atlantic provinces may have been hit harder by food price inflation, this research suggests, with more participants from those regions using these cost-saving options than other regions. The highest proportion of respondents who said they were eating less were from the Maritimes, with more than one in five respondents from this region selecting this option. About 29 percent of respondents from the Atlantic provinces said they were stockpiling food, second only to Quebec. The Atlantic provinces also had the lowest percentage who had not changed any of their food shopping habits at just 21%. METHODOLOGY Nanos Research is a public opinion research firm. Nanos conducted a hybrid telephone and online random dual frame RDD (landline and mobile) survey of 1,084 Canadians aged 18 and over between October 30 and November 4 as part of an omnibus survey. Participants were randomly recruited by telephone using live agents and completed an online survey. The sample included both terrestrial and cell lines across Canada. Results were statistically tested and weighted by age and sex using the most recent census information, and the sample is geographically stratified to be representative of Canada. Subjects were randomly called using random digital dialing with a maximum of five recalls. The margin of error for this survey is ±3.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. This study was commissioned by CTV News and research was conducted by Nanos Research. Numbers may not add up to 100 due to rounding.
