Food prices in Canada keep climbing, but these grocery items will give you sticker shock

If you've recently balked at the butter, coughed at the coffee or choked in the chocolate aisle, you're not alone.

Food costs have been soaring for more than a year, with grocery inflation generally trending upward since April 2024, according to Statistics Canada. Shoppers paid four per cent more at the grocery store in September compared with the same period last year.

But some items have dinged our wallets more than others. Beef, coffee and confectionary are among some of the worst offenders, but what else is contributing to your grocery bills?

Let's break out some of the most expensive grocery items and explain why they cost so much.

You know what they say about the ones you love the most, right? Well, coffee has been hurting us with skyrocketing prices for months now.

The price of coffee increased 28.6 per cent over the past year — more than any other food item tracked by Statistics Canada's consumer price index. And it gets worse when you separate out "real" coffee from the instant stuff. Roasted or ground coffee prices rose 41 per cent in September compared with September last year.

Statistics Canada's retail data showed that the average monthly price of 340 grams of roasted or ground coffee has shot up 34 per cent since January alone. One of those big tubs (864 grams) of Maxwell House ground coffee cost $20 at Loblaws when CBC News searched online on Monday, and a 915-gram tub of Nabob Bold cost a whopping $35.99 at Sobeys.

Even Tim Hortons had to raise the price of a cup of coffee for the first time in three years this month, confirming with CBC News that it was adjusting its price by "about three cents per cup."

But why? Well, earlier this year, global prices hit record highs due to supply issues in major producing countries such as Brazil and Vietnam.

At the same time, U.S. tariffs on goods from Brazil have upended the global coffee market, pushing prices upwards. 

Next on the list? Meat in general, and beef more than any other.

The price of fresh or frozen beef rose 14 per cent year over year in September. Nearly every style or cut of beef saw double-digit price increases (the exception, if you can call it that, was fresh or frozen beef hip cuts, which saw a 9.9 per cent price increase since 2024).

But ground beef, fresh or frozen, was the worst offender, rising in price by 17.4 per cent in a year. Statistics Canada's retail data showed that the average monthly price of ground beef was $15.06 per kilogram in August.

CBC News searched fresh lean ground beef prices at a few grocery stores online on Monday, and one kilogram cost $22.02 at Loblaws and at Metro, and $19.82 per kilogram at Sobeys (on sale from $21.58 a kilogram). A pack of 12 four-ounce No Name frozen beef burgers cost $18 at Loblaws and $14.99 at Food Basics.