{
  "id": "food-basket-cost",
  "category": "Cost of living",
  "title": "Monthly cost of a nutritious diet for a family of four, South Vancouver Island",
  "geography": "South Vancouver Island health service delivery area",
  "scope": "region",
  "levels": [
    "Market and economy-wide factors"
  ],
  "plain_question": "What does a healthy diet cost each month for a family of four, at local grocery store prices?",
  "value": 1386,
  "display_value": "$1,386",
  "unit": "a month, family of four, May-June 2022",
  "period": "May-June 2022",
  "period_start": "2022-05-01",
  "period_end": "2022-06-30",
  "comparison": {
    "previous_period": null,
    "previous_value": null,
    "change_percent": null
  },
  "trend": "context",
  "direction_good": "down",
  "right_direction": "Shown for context, without a better or worse label: it is a cost of living figure, like prices.",
  "trend_basis": "$1,386 a month in May-June 2022 (16 stores sampled). Island Health $1,366; B.C. $1,263.",
  "since_text": "Island Health $1,366, B.C. $1,263. This is the latest edition, from 2022.",
  "compare_text": "Island Health $1,366, B.C. $1,263",
  "caveats": [
    "From the BC Centre for Disease Control’s Food Costing in BC report: the cost of the National Nutritious Food Basket (61 foods) for a reference family of two adults and two children, priced in a sample of grocery stores in May-June 2022.",
    "This is the latest edition (2022). The BCCDC normally reports every two years; no later edition has been published, so the figure is old and prices have risen since. For a yearly figure, see the food part of the cost of a basic standard of living.",
    "The basket was updated for this edition, so it is not compared with earlier editions.",
    "It is a cost, not a measure of who cannot afford it. Statistics Canada publishes household food insecurity for B.C. only, not for Greater Victoria."
  ],
  "charts": [],
  "series": [
    {
      "period": "2022",
      "value": 1386
    }
  ],
  "refresh_frequency": "Irregular (BCCDC Food Costing in BC; latest edition 2022)",
  "source": {
    "name": "BC Centre for Disease Control, Food Costing in BC 2022",
    "url": "https://www.bccdc.ca/about/news-stories/stories/2023/new-data-highlights-cost-healthy-eating",
    "dataset_url": "https://www.bccdc.ca/Documents/Food_Costing_in_BC_2022_Report_FINAL.pdf",
    "download_url": "https://www.bccdc.ca/Documents/Food_Costing_in_BC_2022_Report_FINAL.pdf",
    "locator": "Food Costing in BC 2022, table of average monthly cost by health service delivery area, row “South Vancouver Island”",
    "reads": "South Vancouver Island $1,386 16",
    "page_url": "https://www.bccdc.ca/Documents/Food_Costing_in_BC_2022_Report_FINAL.pdf#page=18",
    "page": 18
  },
  "licence": {
    "name": "Public data, not under an open licence. Used with attribution.",
    "url": "https://www.phsa.ca/terms-of-use",
    "open": false
  },
  "verified_text": [
    "South Vancouver Island $1,386 16",
    "Island Health $1,366 38",
    "In May-June 2022, the average monthly cost of a nutritious food basket for a reference family of four in BC was $1,263."
  ],
  "data_published": "2023-03-16",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-11-13T05:30:20Z",
  "attribution": "Source: BC Centre for Disease Control, Food Costing in BC 2022. Public document, used with attribution; not endorsed by the publisher.",
  "licence_type": "public",
  "source_tier": 1,
  "measure_kind": "context",
  "better_measure": null,
  "status_rule": {
    "rule": "One rule for every measure: a change smaller than 5% of the earlier value, or smaller than the agency's own margin of error, is “About the same”; no change is calculated across a marked break in a series; homelessness estimates, prices, staffing and comparison pages are shown for context without a label.",
    "reason": "A cost of living figure, like prices: it is shown for context.",
    "threshold_percent": 5.0
  },
  "changes": {
    "year": null,
    "five_year": null
  },
  "direction": {
    "type": "context",
    "rule": "Outcome measures read Better, Worse or About the same; published government targets read Ahead of, On or Behind target; value-judgement measures read Rising, Falling or Steady in a neutral colour. A change smaller than the agency's own margin of error, or otherwise smaller than 5% of the earlier value, is About the same (or Steady). No change is calculated across a marked break in a series.",
    "key": "nolabel",
    "label": "No label yet",
    "vs": null,
    "cur": "May-June 2022",
    "why": "There is no earlier figure in the same series to compare with yet. A direction label needs at least two comparable periods, so none is shown until a second one is published.",
    "long_why": "There is only one period so far."
  },
  "benchmark": {
    "rung": 4,
    "rung_name": "Context measure: no target expected",
    "as_of": "2026-11-12",
    "items": [
      {
        "kind": "context",
        "label": "Context measure: no target expected",
        "area": null,
        "source": null,
        "documents_checked": null,
        "text": "Context measure: no target expected. A cost of food at local stores, like prices. No government here sets it."
      }
    ],
    "drawn": [],
    "rule": "Highest rung found is shown; the site never sets a target. Methods, Targets."
  },
  "no_target_expected": "A cost of food at local stores, like prices. No government here sets it.",
  "benchmarks": [],
  "highest_rung": null,
  "decided_by": [
    {
      "body": "BOC",
      "name": "Bank of Canada",
      "decides": "Sets and publishes the minimum rate at which it lends, as part of its job to regulate credit and currency.",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "boc21",
          "label": "Bank of Canada Act, s. 21",
          "url": "https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/B-2/FullText.html"
        },
        {
          "key": "boc",
          "label": "Bank of Canada Act, preamble",
          "url": "https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/B-2/FullText.html"
        }
      ],
      "last": {
        "text": "Rate set at 2.50% on October 28, 2026",
        "label": "Rate set at 2.50% on October 28, 2026",
        "url": "https://www.bankofcanada.ca/core-functions/monetary-policy/key-interest-rate/"
      },
      "next": {
        "text": "Next scheduled announcement December 9, 2026",
        "label": "Next scheduled announcement December 9, 2026",
        "url": "https://www.bankofcanada.ca/core-functions/monetary-policy/key-interest-rate/"
      }
    },
    {
      "body": "CAN",
      "name": "Government of Canada and Parliament",
      "decides": "If the Minister of Finance and the Bank disagree on monetary policy, the Minister can give the Bank a written directive, with Cabinet approval.",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "boc14",
          "label": "Bank of Canada Act, s. 14",
          "url": "https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/B-2/FullText.html"
        }
      ],
      "last": null,
      "next": null
    },
    {
      "body": "NONE",
      "name": "No government decides this directly",
      "note": "Grocery prices are set by stores and suppliers."
    }
  ],
  "main_decision_maker": "Bank of Canada",
  "label_1y": {
    "key": "nolabel",
    "label": "No label yet"
  },
  "label_long": null,
  "target_line": {
    "form": 7,
    "text": "No target expected",
    "target": null,
    "gap": null,
    "comparison": null,
    "applies_here": false,
    "note": "A cost of food at local stores, like prices. No government here sets it."
  }
}