Food costs are based on Health Canada’s 2019 National Nutritious Food Basket (NNFB) adapted by Alberta Health Services for Alberta communities. The cost of the NNFB represents the cost of a basic, healthy diet, that meets nutrition recommendations, and reflects food habits and food purchasing patterns of the population. It is a rough estimate to help calculate the living wage. It is not intended to provide guidance on how much money individual community members should budget for food.
The numbers are based on data collected by Nutrition Services, Alberta Health Services from September 14 to 20, 2023. Registered Dietitians and trained volunteers within specified communities collected data at grocery stores in their community to determine how much the food basket costs in their community. The NNFB includes a mix of fresh, frozen, and minimally processed foods that can be purchased at a full-service grocery stores any time of the year. The amount of each food item required for a family or a single person scenario is determined by the age and sex of the individuals (35-year-old adults, a 7-year-old child in the lone parent family, and an additional 3-year-old child in the family of four – all based on the average of male and female). The cost of the NNFB reflects the cost of all the food items together.
Note that the Food numbers this year are not comparable with the numbers in last year’s report due to a data error last year.
Visit National nutritious food basket - Canada.ca (Government of Canada, 2020) for more information about the National Nutritious Food Basket and a full list of its content. Please contact publichealthnutrition@ahs.ca for information about the data collection process.