Karen Patterson has changed the way she eats. The Whitby resident now limits her breakfast to three items instead of the fruits, cereal and other foods she once enjoyed after grocery prices climbed.
“You’re spending more at the checkout and receiving less items to take home to actually eat,” Patterson told Wesal TV.
She said basic foods such as eggs, milk, yogurt, fruit and vegetables have become expensive. “I cut back on the amount and even items.”
Patterson, who once visited a food bank herself as a single mother, said she wants to see more affordable food and stronger income support.
Her experience reflects a growing problem across Durham Region, where one in four households experienced food insecurity in 2025, according to the Region health department.
Nationally, about 9.8 million people — roughly 24 per cent of Canadians — lived in food-insecure households last year. In Ontario, the rate was 25.4 per cent.
Experts say food insecurity is driven by inadequate income, with wages failing to keep pace with rising housing and grocery costs, leaving more working families relying on food banks despite having jobs.
Even residents who are managing financially say grocery prices have become difficult to ignore.
Azhar Bhat, who lives in Whitby and works full time alongside his wife, said his family still manages to afford groceries but has watched prices rise sharply.
“If I take an example of a milk carton, I can see it has gone up at least a few dollars,” Bhat said. “Anything in my grocery list has definitely gone up.”
Bhat told Wesal TV his family earns enough to put food on the table, but many others do not.
The pressure is also showing at local food banks.
Between April 2024 and March 2025, nearly 900,000 visits were made to programs in the Feed the Need in Durham network, a 27.9 per cent increase from the previous year.
Canada’s annual inflation rate rose to 3.2 per cent in May, up from 2.8 per cent in April, largely because of higher gasoline and food prices linked to the conflict in the Middle East.
Statistics Canada says food inflation reached 4.4 per cent, with fresh vegetables, fruit and tomatoes seeing some of the biggest price increases.
At Simcoe Hall Settlement House, an Oshawa community organization that runs a local food bank, executive director Tiffany Kift said demand has become so high that it now limits service to 35 households in the morning and another 35 in the afternoon.
Even with those limits, it supports about 3,600 unique people each month.
“While food banks were originally intended to provide emergency assistance during times of crisis, we are increasingly seeing the same families relying on our services month after month because their income is simply not enough to cover basic living expenses,” she said.
Kift told Wesal TV about one in four food bank users are now seniors living on fixed incomes, and the organization has introduced dedicated seniors’ hours.
It is also seeing more working households, including families with two incomes, needing food support.
The Salvation Army Community and Family Services in Oshawa reported similar trends.
Between April 2025 and March 2026, it supported more than 1,200 unique households through 13,201 visits, said Cortney Harkin, the organization’s public relations officer.
About 44 per cent of visits were made on behalf of children under 18, while nearly one-third of clients were seeking help for the first time, Harkin said.
“Many households who have never needed help before are now turning to community organizations,” Harkin added.
Harkin said the organization’s research found that 61 per cent of Ontario households are struggling to stretch their income, while 79 per cent are worried about the rising cost of living.
“Food banks were created to provide emergency support, and that’s still their purpose. Unfortunately, for some households, that emergency has become much longer than anyone would like,” Harkin added.
Michael Widener, a professor at the University of Toronto and Canada research chair in transportation and health, said food insecurity is mainly an income problem.
“Prices are too high when compared to wages and other expenses,” Widener said in an email response. “Food isn’t optional. The fact that increasing numbers of people can’t afford to put dinner on the table is a warning sign that something is broken.”
Widener says governments need to reduce food costs while creating more stable, better-paying jobs. He also said better public transit can help residents reach affordable grocery stores.
The Region of Durham health department agrees that food insecurity is driven by inadequate income rather than food shortages.
It said high inflation, rising interest rates, unemployment and growing household debt continue to put pressure on families.
The department said many food-insecure households rely on employment income, often through minimum-wage or precarious jobs.
Both food banks said they receive no direct operational funding from governments and rely on donations, volunteers and community partnerships.
Durham Region says it has invested local funding to support food security.
The regional council approved $750,000 in 2025 through its community social investment program, including $250,000 for a sustainable food security fund.
The 2026 program, offering grants of up to $50,000, received 28 applications that are now being reviewed.
Earlier this year, the federal government also announced new affordability measures, including the Canada groceries and essentials benefit for more than 12 million Canadians, additional funding for food banks and a National Food Security Strategy.
Widener welcomed the new grocery benefit and national food strategy, saying they could help improve food affordability over the long term.
However, he said lower food prices will take time, and governments should continue investing in services that help people access affordable food.
For Kift, food banks are not a long-term solution.
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Food banks play an important role in supporting people through difficult times, but they should not become a permanent solution,” she said. Affordable housing, stronger income supports and jobs that pay a livable wage are needed to address the problem.
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