![]() ![]() She said the health unit and other agencies should help people with low incomes to make healthy choices using their limited budgets – something which Gumbley said the health unit already does. “Beef’s not even in the picture anymore in most people’s lives. “The cost of living cripples people working minimum wage,” said Quinlan, who’s been involved with Gleaners for 26 years. “Let’s tell them a story that you can really understand and identify with in your life. “Stop telling them what they can’t have and they can’t afford. “It’s like telling a story to people that’s really a fairy tale,” she said. They include those by the Poverty Roundtable Hastings Prince Edward and its newly-reconvened food security working group.īut Susanne Quinlan, the operations director for Gleaners Food Bank, questioned the report’s value for low-income people. ![]() ![]() Gumbley said some local efforts are already underway. The report encourages readers to write to politicians at all levels of government to express the need for “equitable wages, social assistance rates, annual guaranteed income and affordable housing.” It also recommends pushing for “a national food policy that ensures equal access to safe and nutritious food for all Canadians.” The frozen fish price increased by 23 per cent, peanut butter 14 per cent and eggs 13 per cent. Apples increased by 41 per cent, lettuce by 40 per cent. The price of ground beef again saw the largest increase: 47 per cent. “A family of four must now spend $1,397 more this year than they did for the same groceries in 2011,” the new report on 2016 prices reads, noting that’s an increase of 13 per cent in five years. Staff then calculate the cost of a week’s worth of healthy groceries for a family of four living in the region. They include foods recommended by the Canada Food Guide but not prepared foods or non-food items such as toiletries. It’s done by creating the Nutritious Food Basket, a theoretical representation of basic items in a family’s shopping cart, using the lowest price for 67 basic foods at eight grocery stores in the two counties. “We need to work locally and advocate provincially to identify solutions to that, such as the advancements that have taken place in terms of basic income and increases to social assistance rates,” said Gumbley.Įach May, health unit staff release a report entitled The Real Cost of Eating Well in Hastings and Prince Edward Counties. “Poverty is the root cause of food insecurity,” she said. Speaking during the board’s monthly meeting, she said prices increased by three per cent between 20. Hastings Prince Edward Public Health program manager Jillian Gumbley reported new statistics to the counties’ health board Wednesday in Belleville. Local food prices rose by 13 per cent in the last five years, a public health report shows, and its creators are calling for more action on poverty to ensure residents can eat healthy food. ![]()
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