Food inflation: Shoppers turn to saving hacks long used by older Canadians

Grocery prices were up 11 per cent in December compared with a year ago. Overall, grocery prices were up 9.8 per cent in 2022 compared with a year earlier..

Jim Dandy reads the grocery store flyers every week.

It’s a habit the 79-year-old retiree picked up in childhood and continued while raising three children during law school.

“I learned the importance of saving five cents, and that has stuck with me,” Dandy said in an interview from his home in Niagara Falls, Ont.

Grocery prices were up 11 per cent in December compared with a year ago, Statistics Canada said this week. Overall, grocery prices were up 9.8 per cent in 2022 compared with a year earlier _ the fastest pace since 1981.

As shoppers grapple with spiralling food costs, some are turning for the first time to tips and tricks long used by older Canadians.

Dandy, a septuagenarian who lived through the skyrocketing inflation of the early 1980s, has advice to offer consumers who may be worried about food prices for the first time.

His top tip is to read grocery store flyers regularly to become familiar with prices.

“You need to know how to spot a deal,” Dandy said. “Sometimes the sales aren’t as good as they seem.”