Here's how much it costs to feed a family of four in Ottawa this year

A produce aisle is seen in this file photo of a grocery store.

The cost to feed a family of four in Ottawa increased $65 a month this year, according to a new report from Ottawa Public Health.

The 2023 Nutritious Food Basket Survey says individuals and households in Ottawa with low income, including social assistance recipients, minimum wage earners and individuals with precarious employment, do not have enough money to cover the basic costs of living, including buying nutritious foods.

The health unit looked at the cost of 61 food items at 12 local grocery stores, in-store and on-line options, over a two-week period in May.   It calculates the average lowest cost of 61 food items at the stores, including vegetables and fruit, protein foods, whole grains and fats and oils.

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A family of four (two adults and two children, an 8-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy), would spend an average of $1,153 a month for groceries this year, according to the Nutritious Food Basket Survey in Ottawa.  In 2022, the average family of four spent $1,088 a month on groceries.

The survey also looks at the income scenarios for households in Ottawa to afford nutritious food under the Nutritious Food Basket. A family of four (two adults and two children) on Ontario Works with a total estimated monthly income of $2,794 would spend 111 per cent of their income on food ($1,153) and rent ($1,947). A family of four with two full-time minimum wage earners with a total estimated income of $4,160 a month would spend 75 per cent of their income on food and rent.

A single parent household with two children (aged 8 and 14) and an income of $2,560 a month would spend 97 per cent of their income on food ($847) and rent ($1,625), according to the report.  A one-person household on Ontario workers with an income of $865 a month would spend 178 per cent of their income on food ($416) and rent ($1,122) each month.

Ottawa Public Health says there are three main reasons why some individuals and households are at greater risk of food insecurity: inadequate social assistance rates, focus on charitable food programs to address food insecurity instead of income-based solutions and an insufficient minimum wage.  The living wage in Ottawa in 2022 was $19.60.

The report for the Ottawa Board of Health from medical officer of health Dr. Vera Etches calls on various levels of government to do more to "address household food insecurity."

"To effectively address the root cause of household food insecurity, income-based policy interventions are necessary, such as guaranteed basic income, adequate social assistance rates, minimum wage at the level of a living wage, and reduced precarious employment," Etches writes.

Ottawa Public Health says one in seven households were food-insecure in 2022, adding food insecurity impacts mental health, chronic conditions, infections, poor oral health, and injury.