Inflation might be cooling, but fall barbecues are still going to burn your wallet. For the second straight month, grocery prices in Canada rose faster than the inflation rate, and beef in particular is significantly pricier than it was last year.
Fresh and frozen beef costs 9.2 per cent more than it did a year ago, according to the latest Statistics Canada inflation data.
Overall, food purchased from stores in September cost 2.4 per cent more than it did a year prior, which was a larger increase than the country’s overall inflation rate of 1.6 per cent.
It was the same growth rate as the previous month, when groceries also increased by 2.4 per cent year-over-year in August.
Including food purchased from restaurants, overall the cost of food has gone up 2.8 per cent over the past year.
Some grocery staples have increased especially rapidly, like fresh or frozen beef (+9.2 per cent), edible fats and oils (+7.8 per cent) and eggs (+5.0 per cent).
Some items have become cheaper in the past 12 months, like seafood (-4.9 per cent), nuts and seeds (-0.9 per cent) and fish (-0.3 per cent).
Compared to two years ago, food purchased from stores is 8.3 per cent more expensive.