Inflation average encompasses more than just groceries. That said % changes in groceries overall has been fairly small – 1% over last year and 0.1% over last month. Dairy had a slight decline overall, but milk had a notable increase by 2% over last month. The bigger movers include:
Inflation: Past Year / Past Month
Eggs: +19% / +5.5%
Car Insurance: +19% / +1%
Indoor Plants: +11% / -0.5%
Home Nursing Care: +10% / -1%
Cigarettes: +9% / +0%
…
Airline Fares: -7% / -2%
Smart Phones: -8% / +1%
Used Cars: -11% / -2%
Men’s Suits: -12% / -4%
Apples: -15% / - 1%
I haven’t seen a lot of changes in price of groceries overall, but I have seen specific stores increases prices on specific products. Other grocery stores often don’t increase prices on the same products. For example, my nearest supermarket used to have a different brand of ice cream on sale each week. Sale prices were either $2 or $2.50. Now they’ve switched to sale price of $3.50 – a >40% increase in one month. They also increased gallon water jugs by 50% from $1 to $1.50.
However, these changes were the exceptions rather than the rule. Most products had little change in prices. For example, I had one grocery store purchase at Walmart in August 2023 and one in August 2024. Comparing the 2 orders, all products that occurred in both orders had exactly the same price in Aug 2023 as Aug 2024 including cereal, dried beans, fresh fruit (bananas), frozen vegetables, and milk.
I keep track of finances automatically using Fidelity Full View. According to Full View my overall grocery expense decreased by an average of 16% over last year. However, this probably has more to do with better utilizing special deals and sales, rather than sticker price changes. One of the changes that led to this decrease in grocery expense is better taking advantage of special deals with delivery services. They often have 40-50% off type deals, and I have 2 credit cards that give $15 off per order. When stacking, it’s a substantial discount, particularly when the delivery service does not inflate above store prices, such as the Walmart example above (purchased via Instacart).
Kroger, Publix, Safeway, Walmart have highest profits ever, highest c-suite salaries ever and yet everyone is complaining about the prices of the groceries? Seems someone could be doing something about that. Read this article the other day - this should be the norm: Why AriZona Iced Tea CEO won't raise 99-cent price: 'It's my little way of giving back'
Out of curiosity I pulled up an old Walmart order from May of 2021 and plugged in the current prices on the app. One item is no longer available. Please don’t come for me about the crappy food; I was sick with covid and everyone in the house was craving junk food
Thanks for taking the time and effort to share the price differences.
The 40% difference feels roughly more like what I’ve been seeing in my grocery store.
I used to not really care or think about prices too much but they’ve gone up SO much that I’ve definitely been looking closely when shopping and have been pretty surprised every week.
Hopefully my math is correct; I’m doing it on my phone & can’t find my readers. I’m OCD with prices, so I tend to notice if they shift up or down from week to week. I’ve noticed they’re more volatile over the last 6 months; they’re fluctuating a lot. Some items have gone down, others up, but overall totals have gone up.
I bought whole milk for my grandson who is coming to visit this weekend. I paid just under $4.00 for a half gallon of high end organic milk. The Whole Foods brand was less expensive. I have never like milk so it’s not something I normally buy. I expected it to be more.
I do agree that grocery prices have gotten ridiculous. I think the stores are taking advantage of us.
I just looked at my app. The 365 half gallon is under $4.00. This is the non organic.
Prices have definitely increased since 2021, but I expect the bulk of those increases were in the first year from 2021 to 2022, and far smaller changes occurred in the past year. My earlier post mentioned no prices changes in my Walmart receipt between 2023 and 2024. If I instead look back 3 years 2021, the prices have increased on every single item. Specific numbers are below for all the foods in my August 2021 receipt.
Median = 20% per 3 years = 6.3%/year
Average = 21.5% per 3 years = 6.7%/year
BLS CPI for Groceries = 13.5% (2022), 4% (23), 1% (24) = 19%/3 years = 6.0%/year
To be frank I don’t stress over inflation price increases that much. I’m fortunate that I only shop for my husband and myself and have no issue modifying my shopping habits if I believe the value of the product isn’t worth it.
I have curtailed a lot of processed food shopping and dining out. I don’t get angry about the situation and try to focus on the bright side…eating less, throwing out less and eating healthier. So if I’m spending more on say milk, I take a little consolation in the fact that I choose to eat/buy less “snack/whimmy” food.
That said, something that does concern me is the possible/probable abuse of electronic shelving labels. I haven’t followed this thread in depth but wasn’t sure if this has been mentioned. Tip screens are annoying but I wonder how people feel about this:
Story is behind a paywall so I can’t read it, which is a bummer because dh has all kinds of feelings about Kroger. We only shopped there when visiting my mom, and we finally switched to Walmart as the prices at Kroger were ridiculous. At home, we shop at our beloved HEB, but that wasn’t an option at my mom’s.
I’ve saved a lot on groceries since I’ve retired because I have time to shop more strategically. I hit Publix for buy one/get one free items - you don’t have to buy two, one will still be half price. I stock up in particular on the tea I like and Thomas’ English Muffins which seem to be b1/g1 every couple of weeks. Walmart for the few things I want name brand. Aldi for the rest including meat and veggies, when not buying at the farmers market. I also shop more frequently for fewer items so don’t have much food waste. Interestingly, last week I was buying couscous to make a salad for a pot luck. The container was $6 something at Walmart and the exact same one was $10 something at Publix.
There’s one thing in this whole inflation mess that I keep having to remind myself. Inflation adversely affects manufacturing, forcing producers and suppliers to cut corners to keep costs down. That’s especially true with food. Salmonella in 31 states from a national supplier is more than concerning. I’m seeing product recalls for listeria almost weekly. Saving money on food costs almost isn’t worth it, because now I’m saving money on food I can’t trust. Thoughts?
While I’m certainly no expert on the economics of gas prices, state policy can and does have a fair amount to say about the price of gas. Take my state, Washington, for instance.
one of the companies named in the article looks like a mom-and-pop family business focusing on farm-to-table. Greed? Possibly. Or, perhaps we need better USDA inspectors?
