Cost of eating high in the region

News Release
NWHU

Every year the Northwestern Health Unit calculates the cost of healthy eating using a tool called the Nutritious Food Basket. Twenty-one local grocery stores participated across the Kenora-Rainy River Districts. In 2005 the cost of feeding a family of four was $670.46 per month, an increase of 16% since 1998. In that same seven year period minimum wage has only increased 875% and welfare and Ontario Disability have not kept pace with the cost of the nutritious food basket.
“After paying rent and bills many people are left with very little money to make healthy food choices,” says Jarrod Gunn-McQuillan, Public Health Dietitian with the Northwestern Health Unit. “In 2004 the contents of the nutritious food basket cost residents of the Kenora Rainy River Districts $1500 more than the Ontario average. Additionally, residents of the Kenora-Rainy River Districts income was also $5000 less than the Ontario average. How are people supposed to keep up?”
The health benefits of eating according to Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating are well known. It has also been shown that as money gets tight the quality and quantity of food consumed are the first affected.
The Northwestern Health Unit uses these cost-of-eating figures in an attempt to convince all levels of government, as well as businesses, to improve the accessibility and affordability of healthy foods.
For more information on these issues or on the cost of healthy eating in Northwestern Ontario and healthy eating on a budget contact your local Northwestern Health Unit or visit www.nwhu.on.ca