Now is the time to make long term plans for inflated food prices, as prices will not return to pre-pandemic levels.

That from Janet Music, research program coordinator at the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.

This week, the federal government’s grocery rebate cheque landed in bank accounts. The one-time payment is meant to help Canadians cope with food inflation.

Music says no one is predicting a return to pre-pandemic prices, which is difficult for people who are modestly employed, or have lower incomes.

However, she says there will be a seasonality in prices, which won’t be as much help to residents of the Atlantic provinces, since food in large part is shipped in, even if it’s from one side of the country to the other.

Music says right now food inflation is double that of regular inflation.

She says If people haven’t already made a plan for higher prices in the long run, it’s time to start.