Grade 6

Food access

What decides what a family can eat. Part of moving and feeling good.

Food access

What decides what a family can eat · Alberta Grade 6 · maddyhelps.com

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The same groceries cost different amounts in different places. Add up both baskets — the prices are examples, not from real stores — then think about what else decides what a family can eat.

Item	City store	Fly-in northern store
4 L of milk	$6.49	$15.99
Loaf of bread	$3.29	$7.49
1 kg of apples	$4.99	$11.99
A dozen eggs	$4.29	$9.99
1 kg of carrots	$2.49	$6.99
Total

How much more does the northern basket cost?

Why might food cost more in a community with no road to it?

Three things other than money that decide what food a family can get

For the grown-up

Food access

City $21.55; north $52.45; $30.90 more — about 2.4 times as much. Food that has to be flown in costs more to transport and spoils faster. Other factors: distance to a store, a car or bus, the season, time to cook, a kitchen and a fridge, and what is grown or hunted nearby. Canada runs a program, Nutrition North Canada, to lower the price of healthy food in isolated northern communities.

The outcome is about access, not willpower. A family can know exactly what healthy eating looks like and still not be able to get it.

Why this matters is on the moving and feeling good page. More sheets