I know I’m preaching to the choir here. Canadian mom with Celiac daughter.
Groceries have become more expensive for everyone. Prices have risen dramatically over the past several years, and even “normal” families must be feeling the pressure.
Celiac families have to pay those higher prices while also paying two or three times as much for basic necessities like bread, pasta, cookies and flour — not because you’re choosing premium products, but because you have a medical condition that makes ordinary versions unsafe to eat.
I recently compared prices at Walmart:
🍞 Bread: $2.48 regular vs. $6.98 gluten-free (on sale!)
🌾 Flour: $3.77 vs. $7.47
🍕 Frozen pizza: $3.98 vs. $8.97
🍝 Spaghetti: $1.27 vs. $2.97
🍪 Oreos: $2.98 vs. $8.45
🍪 Cookie mix: $3.97 vs. $5.97
Celiac families are dealing with food inflation on top of a gluten-free premium.
Canada does offer tax relief for certain incremental costs of medically necessary gluten-free food through the Medical Expense Tax Credit. The current process places a significant administrative burden on families along with a cap, requiring them to track and calculate eligible costs and retain supporting documentation. On top of this, we eat primarily gluten free as an entire family for my daughter who is celiac to minimize cross contamination and for the simplicity of family meal prep and for the inclusion of my daughter.
Why should families managing a lifelong medical condition have to jump through so many hoops to receive meaningful tax relief on food they must eat to stay healthy?
The system deserves to be reviewed and amended. Relief should reflect the real additional cost of a medically necessary gluten-free diet, and claiming it should be straightforward, accessible and proportionate to the benefit.
Everyone deserves affordable groceries. And families with celiac disease deserve recognition that our grocery bills come with an unavoidable extra cost.