Canadians craving those famous Swedish meatballs from

Inter IKEA Systems BV

are in for a pleasant surprise as the retailer is temporarily

slashing food prices

to help with the

rising cost of living

.

IKEA recently announced it’s cutting its weekday restaurant prices in half for some dishes until the end of August, while children eat free on Wednesdays. Customers must have an IKEA Family Card to get the discounts.

The move is meant “to help people stretch their budgets, nourish their families, and find a little more joy,” the retailer said.

“Securing the lowest possible price for our products is always our utmost goal, and this is even more important in today’s times of economic uncertainties and cost-of-living pressures,” Tolga Öncü, Ingka retail manager at IKEA Retail, said in a news release.

The company says a family of four in France will now pay 6.96 euros ($11.12 CAD) for a meal and a 5 euro store voucher, compared to the previous price of 19.9 euros ($31.63 CAD).

Food inflation

has been a persistent issue in Canada, having climbed a whopping 31 per cent since 2019,

according to NerdWallet Canada.

Prices for food purchased in stores climbed 2.8 per cent year-over-year in June,

according to Statistics Canada

, outpacing

overall inflation

for the month.

IKEA stores in Canada, Austria, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom are included in the promotion.

• Email: bcousins@postmedia.com