I agree on prices. I used to shop at one store. Now I shop at three stores and all online. That prevents any impulse purchases. Plus I now read the weekly ads, even though most of that stuff is junk food. I went to another store this week because they had a good price on something I donate to a local homeless shelter who hands out bag lunches. Our church collects food for three different food pantries, so I am constantly donating.
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Our senior center gets bread, bagels, English muffins, rolls from two local grocery stores every Monday. They are close sell by dates but not past. And they are free for anyone who is at the center to take.
One of our food banks gets a lot of fresh produce, way more than they can distribute. Once a month, they donate that to the senior center…fruits and vegetables. Again free.
This is all coordinated by the senior center director.
I know these donations are appreciated by those who receive them.
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I understand that food is a key expense for most families, and many families struggle to put food on the table. It’s a serious problem for a good portion of persons in US and world that is important to improve. However, given that the thread title has been changed to say “Soaring Grocery Costs…”, it’s relevant to ask whether grocery costs have actually been soaring? Has something changed such that Americans are struggling more now than in the past? If so, what changed and will that trend continue?
CPI, USDA and any measure I have seen looking at actual grocery costs suggest relatively little change over the past couple years since the 2022 inflation. Anecdotally comparing costs of specific products I have purchased at specific grocers shows the same pattern, with little change. I don’t buy eggs, which are a key exception.
Surveys also indicate overall perception is that grocery costs are increasing less than they have in previous years, although higher than CPI. As pictured below, the monthly CFI survey shows survey respondents estimated a 4.x% increase over past year vs CPI reported 2.x% increase. The same survey found that actual reported average spending on groceries on survey decreased over the past year from $131/week in May 2024 to $130/week in May 2025.
As noted earlier in the thread, the more relevant measure is changes in how affordable groceries are, not changes in nominal prices. According to food expenditure surveys, the trend is a decreasing portion of disposable income spent on groceries (food at home) compared to previous decades, as pictured below. As a whole, this drop in % of disposable income has been sharper than the overall trend for lower income families in recent years since COVID, largely due to wage growth among lower income persons as a whole outpacing inflation. Of course many individual persons are exceptions to this overall average. The largest wage increases often occurred in low-wage sectors that had post-COVID shortages and the 30 states with min wage increases in past few years, which includes most of the high population states.
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I guess I must just be imagining the higher prices in the store?
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With no specific numbers or details listed, there are countless possible explanations. For example, maybe you are focusing on a minority of products, such as eggs, rather than overall average. Maybe you are comparing to pre-2022 inflation prices rather than last year’s prices. Maybe you shop at a particular grocer that has different trend than the national average. Maybe political inflation expectations are influencing perception.
I previously listed prices on items I purchase at Costco, which showed no change in past year on all items I purchased. I just looked up Walmart, which has a larger sample of items – ~20 items in total. Prior to checking I expected that Walmart would have more price changes than Costco, as I remember prices being lower at Walmart in the past. However, when I compared actual numbers listed on my receipt (receipt is available online), prices were unchanged on all items I purchased in mid 2024 except Starkist tuna, cantaloupe and bananas. Starkist tuna prices decreased (“rollback” item), cantaloupe prices decreased, and banana prices increased. I expect these fruit price changes relate to different supply/demand than 2024.
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But “biggest drop” does not equal “more affordable”, of course. If a box of cereal was (making this example up , do not come for me ) $6.75 and now it’s $6.00, that might represent the biggest drop in five years but still is expensive. Especially considering how packages get smaller and smaller.
Food insufficiency because of poverty is a widespread and serious problem in much of the country. It represents a failure of policy and failure of society in complicated and diverse ways, but it is still a failure. It is impossible to be a great country with great leaders if we cannot be confident that everyone eats on the regular. That’s a pretty basic, and pretty low bar.
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@Data10, thank you for the numbers.
In my neck of the woods - a small midwestern city/town - we have people in a local FB group who always “need food and toilet paper.” Yet when reasonable alternatives are given, such as the food bank, vouchers, etc, which are readily available, there is always a reason why it can’t or won’t work for them. Or they don’t respond at all. Those folks want cash.
For the record, I will help people out who need pet food. Those poor animals didn’t ask to be in a dire financial situation. I have learned, however, to mark out the UPC code so the bags cannot be returned. I’ve never had someone ask twice - so far, it’s always been an emergency situation that has been figured out.
Yes, I’m a bit jaded based on personal experience. And there is a bit of compassion fatigue mixed in.
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This. When was the last time you actually purchased a prepackaged half gallon of ice cream? How many former one pound packages are now 12 ounces? This contributes to the “rise” in costs because you have to buy more often.
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I swear, pretty soon cereal will just come in a manila envelope 
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Costco has fantastic prices for cereal…
One example for us is organic milk. Two years ago I was buying half gallon cartons for $3.29 at Kroger and Walmart. Last winter, Kroger raised it’s price to $4.29 and Walmart is up to $4.92. The cost per ounce is a little cheaper in the plastic gallon jugs, but I choose the cartons for environmental reasons.
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But you have to pay the membership. Have one in your town. Have transportation to get there.
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In Canada, much of the milk comes in a bag!!! 
Milk and similar cartons are typically made of a combination of paper and plastic. Mixed materials are more difficult to recycle, although some places have processes specifically to deal with cartons.
Milk jugs are typically made of #2 plastic, which is one of the more recyclable plastics, although recycling of plastic is generally quite low.
Some organizations and garbage/recycling companies consider the jugs to have lower environmental impact.
In Canada, milk bags are generally considered the type of milk packaging with lower environmental impact than jugs or cartons.
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You can also sometimes get Instacart gift cards for dribs and drabs of other points you might accumulate in credit cards or travel (this is not a poverty tip, but a middle-class CC tip). I had a few hundred “Arrival” miles from a Barclay card and was able to use them up on Instacart for groceries.
That is incredibly annoying (foil for TP!) - it ties with when someone maybe on CC had their Passover brisket substituted with a ham!
However, Instacart now has where you can be very explicit about substitutions.
Of course, mistakes happen - a shopper got “cotton candy” grapes instead of regular green grapes and I personally find that taste to be awful.
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During the pandemic, we signed up for milk home delivery as in a “milk man” and that comes in glass bottles which are collected and reused. I assume that’s about the best we can do environmentally. Those costs are absolutely higher now than they were. We reduced delivery to much less frequently and don’t get as many other “dairy groceries” from the delivery service.
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I live in a medium sized city, a college town, and we do not have a Costco anywhere near or even nearish.But I get your point.
But there’s a question-- how many of us grew up rural, or live rural? We know there are problems with food access in cities, and in truly rural areas. Suburbia is probably doing fine. But what about small towns, small cities? Or maybe my definition of “rural” is flawed. (I grew up rural – no city of size within 2 hrs. Literally two stop lights. No hospital, one small school district, etc…)
I live in a “semirural” town. In the whole town, there are three stop lights. No grocery stores in town, but several about 7 miles away. Lots of farms. We are considered semirural because folks can commute in under an hour to many other places to work. Most of our town is 2 acre zoning…or more.
Neighboring towns have a lot of the national retailers you all are mentioning. But all require a car to get there. No public transportation, except there is a senior van that runs on a very inconsistent schedule.
We have a fund administered through our town hall to help those who are in need. We have more than three little food pantries, and a food bank in one church. We don’t have any soup kitchens in this town, but two neighboring towns do (again…transportation could be an issue).
Everyone I am friendly with in this community contributes to help others as best they can.
But…the costs of getting groceries has gone up, and I’m sure this is impacting others where I live.
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