Sobeys promising to freeze prices

Halifax resident Linda Smith finds herself going to the grocery store more often these days, but she's buying less.

“I usually go get what I want for supper for the next day or two. I used to shop once a week but now I’m in the grocery store just every other day,” Smith says.

It seems food prices are to blame.

“They’re very high. I’m not happy, I leave a lot of stuff in the store, I don’t bring it home anymore like I used to,” says Smith.

But there could be relief on the way. Sobeys’ owner, Empire Company Limited, traditionally freezes prices on packaged products between November and January.

This year, they're adding another 1,700 items, mainly in the centre aisles, which includes mostly non-perishable goods.

“This action will remain in place regardless of any internal or external conditions that might cause those prices to go up,” says Empire spokesperson Andrew Walker in a statement to CTV News.

There could be more to come.

“We also have significant and meaningful plans in development to continue to help stabilize food prices past February and plan to share more details closer to that time when we are able to do so from a competition standpoint,” Walker says.

“So we got hit by what happened in Ukraine, globally everybody was actually impacted, but now things are going back to normal and so that’s why we’re seeing less pressure at the grocery store,” says Sylvain Charlebois, the director of Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab.

This comes as Stats Canada’s new consumer price index report shows food price increases are slowing down.

“Some prices are actually dropping. From September to October, all categories are cheaper except for bakery,” Charlebois says.

Last year, Charlebois and his team at Dal predicted the food inflation rate would be between five and seven percent by year end; it currently sits at 5.6 per cent.

The good news for consumers is that Charlebois expects the food inflation rate to continue drop.