Meet Joanne Smart:

At the local No Frills, at Parliament and Spruce streets, Joanne Smart is doing her grocery shopping for the week. The retired hotel clerk lives with her friend, another senior, at Sherbourne and Gerrard streets.

Fruit, some vegetables and extras like cake and ice cream used to make regular appearances in her carrying cart. Now, because of rising food prices, they go without.

“Cakes, they’ve come up in price," she said. "They’re awfully good. Everyone likes the sweets every so often; there was a lot of that. But we’ve sort of stepped back from that now.”

Food prices in Canada have increased 7.3 per cent since last December, according to a report released Jan. 23 by Statistics Canada. Prices for food bought from stores rose nine per cent in December alone. Fresh vegetable prices skyrocketed by 27 per cent, and bakery and cereal products went up by 12 per cent.

Meet Stefan Kipfer and Ginny Poisson:

Other customers expressed changes in their purchasing habits as well, whether it meant cutting back on indulgences or leaving the store with less.

Stefan Kipfer, a professor at York University, was shopping with his fourteen-year-old daughter and four-year-old son. While their food purchases haven’t been affected, he said two York University graduate students living in his co-op building are in dire straits after the university’s strike.

“I live in a co-op up the street. Two in our house are grad students at York, on strike,” he said. “Some of us have supported them, had them over for dinner. I’m sure they’re spending less at the grocery store.”

For Ginny Poisson, an artist and a retired 64-year-old, buying healthy food has always been a priority.

“Still fresh vegetables, fresh fruit. You just don’t buy a lot. You buy what you need,” she says.