'You can't really opt out of it:' How B.C. residents are adapting to the rising cost of groceries
It feels like just about everything has gotten more expensive lately, and new data shows just how much more B.C. groceries have gone up in the past year.
An average grocery basket in B.C. climbed up by nearly four per cent year-over-year, according to research from the fintech company KOHO.
KOHO gathered the data from its member transactions, looking at people who had at least one grocery transaction between May 2025 and May 2026. This data represents the average monthly grocery spending through KOHO products only and does not account for spending that people might do with other products or cash.
It found that the average grocery basket in B.C. went up from $43.23 in May 2025 to $44.92 in May 2026.
This is a steeper climb than some other provinces, with Alberta seeing a 3.3 per cent increase and Ontario 2.1 per cent. Canada-wide, food spending increased by 2.4%.
B.C.’s average grocery cost is five per cent higher than that of Ontario, but less than Alberta ($50) and just under the national average of $45.65.
Faye Lucas, the head of consumer trust at KOHO, told Daily Hive in an interview that they were observing increasing inflation and “just the cost of everything going up.”
She said KOHO wanted to see how rising costs were affecting people across Canada in an essential area: groceries. “You can’t really opt out of it,” she said.
Nationally, KOHO’s average monthly grocery spending increased from $261 to $275.
Faye said the company also wanted to understand if and how people are adapting to the increase in pricing.
Across Canada, KOHO found that people are turning to shop at cheaper grocery stores (like No Frills or Walmart) instead of premium stores (like Loblaws or Whole Foods).
According to KOHO data, trips to discount grocery stores increased by just over four per cent year-over-year, from 2.75 to 2.87 trips per user per month. Meanwhile, trips to premium grocery stores “remained essentially unchanged.”
Lucas said that they found a doubling of people using pay-later options as well.
“Folks [are] sort of changing how they’re reacting in several ways,” she said. “Not just turning to credit or just trying to shop at discount grocery stores. It’s sort of a combination of all of the above to try to stretch their budget.”
According to the most recent data from Statistics Canada, food prices rose by 4.3 per cent year-over-year.