General News

Data show continued high levels of household food insecurity

November 20, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) is reporting an alarming rate of household food insecurity in the region, resulting in a significant impact on health and on the cost to the health care system.

The rising cost of living and higher grocery prices have many residents feeling a financial pinch.

The results of the 2025 Nutritious Feed Basket survey highlight the growing number of households in Simcoe Muskoka that are unable to afford the basic nutritious food needed to meet current Canadian nutrition recommendations.

The SMDHU conducts the Nutritious Food Basket survey annually to monitor the cost of having a healthy diet.

This survey includes 61 staple food items such as milk, eggs, and bread. According to the 2025 findings, a family of four with two adults and two children ages 8 and 14 would need to spend $1,282.89 per month to afford these essentials, while a single-person household would have to spend $445.92.

“When household income is too low, people cannot cover their basic expenses,” said Vanessa Hurley, Public Health Nutritionist and Registered Dietitian at SMDHU. “While food insecurity is impacting people with lower incomes, those who have unstable or insecure work, people who rent, single parents with kids, those receiving social assistance, and the number of middle-income households reporting that they are also feeling the squeeze, doubled in 2024 in comparison to 2022 and 2023. And having a job does not guarantee food security. In our province, more than half of households that have income from employment are food insecure.”

When food costs are considered along with rent and total household income, many individuals and families in Simcoe Muskoka are unable to meet basic needs.

A family of four receiving Ontario Works benefits would need to spend 97 per cent of their income just on food and rent alone. A parent raising two children receiving “Ontario Works benefits would need to spend 93 percent of their income on food and rent.

Household food insecurity is an urgent public health issue. For people experiencing food insecurity, it can mean buying less or lower-quality food and worrying about running out of food, skipping meals, or, in the most severe cases, going without food for days.

This can lead to serious physical and mental health consequences, with those affected facing a higher risk of chronic illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, and depression.

“Household food insecurity is not an access to food issue, it is an income issue,” Hurley added. “Vital food charity and emergency food programs do not address household food insecurity. The growing household food insecurity crisis requires action by all levels of government to put in place sustainable, income-based solutions that put more money in people’s pockets for food and other basic needs.”

According to recent data from Public Health Ontario, household food insecurity in Simcoe Muskoka is worsening, with 26 per cent, or approximately 60,000 households, experiencing some level of household food insecurity from 2023 to 2024.

These numbers are in line with what is being seen at the provincial and national levels.

These results are significantly higher than the previous four years. 

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