How much should a family of 4 spend on groceries in Canada?

The official number

Canada’s Food Price Report 2026, published each December by Dalhousie University and partner universities, forecasts that an average family of four will spend $17,571.79 on food in 2026, up to $994.63 more than in 2025. It expects food prices overall to rise 4% to 6%.

The report’s family of four is a man and a woman aged 31 to 50, a boy aged 14 to 18 and a girl aged 9 to 13. Teenagers cost the most to feed, so a family with younger children will usually come in lower.

Forecast figures from Canada’s Food Price Report 2026. Monthly and weekly amounts are the annual figure divided evenly.

How much depends on where you shop

The official figure assumes average prices. Every week we price the same 20 staples at every chain in each region from their flyers, and compare a typical shopper’s basket with the cheapest chain’s. The last column applies that gap to the family-of-four budget.

Estimates. They assume the gap on our 20-staple flyer basket holds across a whole cart, which it may not. Regions without enough flyer data this week are left out.

The national figure pools prices from every region, and it comes out lower than any single region’s. The regional figures are closer to the choice a family actually has: which store in their own area to use.

Where the gap comes from

Mostly store choice, and a little timing. Discount banners such as No Frills, FreshCo and Food Basics usually beat full-service chains on the same staples, though no single store wins every aisle. Our aisle-by-aisle comparison shows which chain tends to lead each category, and the overpay study has the full region-by-region numbers behind this page.

Timing matters too. The same staple can cost half as much again in its most expensive week as in its cheapest, so buying shelf-stable items when they are on sale adds to whatever the store switch saves.

Building a week of meals on that budget

A budget only works if dinner fits inside it. Our meal planner builds a week of dinners from what is on sale near you, and the free Thursday email does the same with the cheapest store for your postal code.

How we worked this out

The family budget is the Food Price Report 2026 forecast, an estimate for an average family rather than a measured bill. The report does not separate grocery spending from restaurant meals in the summary figure, so if part of your food spending goes to restaurants, your grocery share, and the saving on it, will be smaller.

The store-choice gap comes from CartIQ’s flyer data: the same 20 staples priced at every chain in each region each week, using advertised flyer prices. A typical basket is the median price for each staple across chains; the cheapest basket is the lowest-cost chain’s. These are flyer prices, not shelf prices, and a percentage measured on 20 staples is an approximation for a full cart. Data covers 22 weeks to 2026-10-22.