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Ongoing

Affordable planetary health menus

Moving towards a diet that is better for us, and for the planet!

The issues

46%

46 per cent of consumers look at the price of food before the nutritional information

Source: study by the Agri-Food Analytical Sciences Laboratory at Dalhousie University

Grocery shopping has never been more complicated. As food prices rise, it becomes increasingly difficult to eat nutritiously and affordably while avoiding over-processed or overly-packaged foods, which are harmful to our health and the environment.

Cost increases are driven by numerous factors, including labor shortages, crop failures due to climate change, and supply-chain disruption. This situation is pushing some food companies to standardize business practices, such as shrinkflation (when companies reduce product size without reducing costs) and skimpflation (substituting high-quality ingredients by cheaper alternatives without reducing costs), to maintain their profits to the detriment of the quality-value ratio of our purchases.

How can you avoid shrinkflation?

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How can you avoid skimpflation?

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In this context, how can we empower consumers?

Beyond a stronger legal framework to limit the use of these deceptive tactics, at Équiterre, we propose rethinking our individual and collective eating habits to further integrate the concept of planetary health into our daily menus.

🍽️🌎 What is the concept of planetary health menus?

Adopting planetary health menus means considering both food production and consumption choices, taking into account the impacts on our health, the environment and our wallets, from the earth to your plate.

Discover planetary health menus

 Eating healthy and locally in an affordable way is becoming less accessible in the current crisis of food inflation. A food revolution is within our reach! By improving human health, protecting our environment and our wallets, the affordable food concept of planetary health is a triple win! 

Murielle Vrins

Assistant Director, Educational Programs

Our work

Since the beginning, Équiterre has worked to connect people to their food, by creating links between farms and the Quebec population.

Through field projects, research and awareness-building, Équiterre stimulates reflection on the central and essential place of food in our lives. We have so much to gain from changing our eating habits – potentially improving our health, our environment and our finances, as well as directly supporting the farmers who care for the land that feeds us.

Our affordable planetary health menus project seeks to make healthy, local and eco-responsible food more accessible, more affordable and more delicious! Get ready to discover how to integrate more plants (i.e. Quebec grains and legumes in addition to a variety of local fruits and vegetables) into your menus in a tasty way, learn how these ingredients promote our health and the health of the soil that feeds us, and how much you can save on your grocery bill!

Concrete solutions for healthy eating that won't break the bank or ruin the planet

Discover Shop Smarter, Eat Better

Objectives

  1. Inform the population about commercial practices with harmful consequences for your health, the planet, and your budget, such as skimpflation and ingredient swapping;
  2. Promote healthy and more affordable eating practices that are better for planetary health and good for your wallet;
  3. Mobilize consumers on these issues, raisng their awareness about harmful practices and offer solutions to facilitate the adoption of healthy, sustainable and affordable food choices.

Learn more from our team

  • Find out how to add lentil cretons to your menu!
    Listen to Zeina Bardakji, our Sustainable Food System Project Manager
  • Planetary health was on the menu at Équiterre’s annual retreat!
    Hear from Colleen Thorpe, our Executive Director
  • What is shrinkflation?
    Listen to Zeina Bardakji, our Sustainable Food System Project Manager
  • What is skimpflation?
    Listen to Zeina Bardakji, our Sustainable Food System Project Manager

Webinar: It’s all on the plate!

Listen to our webinar

Our team

Partenaires

Équiterre's Affordable Menus for Planetary Health project is carried out in collaboration with numerous partners, including the Sustainable Food Network (RAD), Option Consommateurs, the Canada Research Chair in Nutrition and Health Inequalities at the University of Montreal, and the The Observatory for the quality of the food supply at Laval University. The project was also made possible thanks to financial support from the Office of Consumer Affairs and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.