Stewing over the cost of living? This mom digs into the grinding reality of making ends meet

In order to learn something about the cost of living and the painful decisions people face while trying to pay their bills and feed their families I went to a community in rural Newfoundland to make a pot of stew.

Let me explain.

This spring, the Community Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Harris Centre at Memorial University released Vital Signs, an annual check-up on the quality of life in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Beef stew was just one snapshot. Researchers found that a pot of beef stew costs about 43 per cent more now than it did just five years ago.

As part of my work with CBC Radio's The Signal, I got in touch with Kayla Dillon, who lives in the Bonavista Peninsula community of Lethbridge, and who hasagreed to make stew with me.

"I struggle a lot even going to the grocery store because I find it really overwhelming," she says.

"Things I bought regularly for years all of a sudden are very expensive. We've definitely had to put things back."

Dillon, a mother of four, is a member of Food First N.L.'s Lived and Living Experience Advisory Group, which is a team of people from all areas of Newfoundland and Labrador who have experienced food insecurity. They work toward destigmatizing food poverty and look for solutions to the barriers to accessible food.

"We're just regular people and we all have our own different experiences with food poverty," she tells me. "We all have different stories and similarities at the same time."

Before we gathered at the Lethbridge rec centre, I went shopping for the ingredients at Holloways Value Grocer, which has been serving the community and surrounding area since 1981.

WATCH | Join Kayla Dillon and Amanda Gear in the kitchen as they talk about the high cost of food:

Make some stew and talk food insecurity with CBCs The Signal

3 months ago

Duration 8:46

The Signals Amanda Gear teams up with Lethbridge mom Kayla Dillon to make a pot of stew and delve into how ordinary families are dealing with a tight squeeze at the supermarket.

Paul Holloway, the owner of the store, says he has seen the cost of food increase for decades and how it affects families in the community.

"We often see people come in who find it difficult to have the money to buy what they need," said Holloway while standing in front of perfectly placed produce.

As I shopped, I looked at the prices on the shelves. They were on par with groceries you'll see at a big box store in St. John's. I wondered how an independent grocery store could compare with the prices of national grocery chains.

I paid for my groceries. The total was around $50. After chatting with the cashiers, I headed off to make some stew.

At the rec centre, Kayla and I started peeling and chopping vegetables while talking about food insecurity and affordability in rural communities.

"There's so many different stories," she said.

"There are a lot of parents who are struggling right now to provide lunches for their children, the elderly who are struggling to keep food in their cupboards. There are people who struggle with disabilities who cannot get around on a good day to get their groceries."

As we prepped the ingredients, she added, "There are so many people who are struggling that have never struggled before."

The cold facts in the Vital Signs report echo what Kayla has been hearing from members of her group. In a nutshell, the increasing cost of food is causing strain on households across the province.

"We need to bring awareness and put faces to the stories. You don't know who is going through food poverty, someone who may have it all together could be crumbling on the inside because they haven't eaten in two days."

According to the Vital Signs report, 26 out of 100 people in the province struggle to afford food resulting in over 15,000 visits to food banks in 2023.

Affordability is not the only issue causing food insecurity in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

"I hear stories all the time of families with no vehicles or families with one vehicle and just being able to get to the food in the 1st place is one of the biggest struggles," Kayla says.

Accessibility is a barrier for rural areas of the province because not every town has a grocery store, let alone a food bank.

Traveling to get food not only takes time, but increases the overall cost of food.

"Getting there is the first hurdle you climb," she says. "When you're adding the cost of a taxi to your grocery bill, you're adding sometimes upwards of $100 to your grocery bill."

The Vital Signs report states that community-owned businesses create a lifeline for rural sustainability. When locally owned shops close, the larger corporations are not interested in the overhead costs of operating in a small market.

"It's only going to get worse because you're going to see more and more of these mom and pop stores closing and that's completely heartbreaking to me" Kayla says.

Holloways Value Grocer is that lifeline in the Bloomfield and Lethbridge area because if they shut their doors, people in the area are faced with no choice but to travel to buy food and limiting accessibility to food.

"We see local residents struggling," Holloway says.

As our stew was coming together, our conversation turned to solutions for food affordability and accessibility.

Kayla says that the most immediate solution is to turn to your community when you need help, and continue to have conversations about food poverty.

"The best thing that people should remember is that your community is going to be your saving grace," she says.

"So, I think that the most important thing that people can realize is that you need to reach out, check on your neighbours and don't be afraid to ask for help."

After spending the day grocery shopping, chopping vegetables and cooking, the stew was finally ready to taste. It was delicious!

Before leaving the rec centre we talked about solutions to the ever growing food crisis.

We agreed that until we see systemic changes, like affordable and accessible groceries, all we can do is help our neighbours and advocate for those changes.

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