It’s no surprise to the average American that food prices are still up thanks to the staggering inflation brought on by COVID-19 pandemic-era lockdown policies and government spending programs.
In April 2023, the consumer price index rose another 0.4% — an overall increase of 4.4% since last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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While strong job gains and pay increases for American workers have helped to bolster the economy, the Federal Reserve’s figures indicate that inflation isn’t going away anytime soon.
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In the meantime, here are some of the price changes for groceries you might see next time you stop at the store.
Cereals and Bakery Products
A lot of grain products found in grocery stores experienced little inflation over the past month, though several have suffered higher prices as compared to last year.
According to the data, white bread saw the highest increase between March and April 2023 with a 2.7% increase.
However, while white bread also saw a 23.4% increase from April 2022, chocolate chip cookie prices actually underwent the greatest amount of change, now being roughly 24.4% more expensive than at the same time last year.
Meats, Poultry, Fish and Eggs
While grain products saw relatively large price increases, many meat prices have remained fairly steady over the past year.
Meat and veal products — consisting of ground beef, steaks and roasts — saw a small decrease from last year on average, though there was a slight jump between March and April of roughly 1.4%.
As for many pork products — consisting of bacon, porkchops and ham — there was also a slight fall in prices compared to last year.
Meanwhile, poultry prices saw a minor increase of roughly 5% from last year, seeing another 2% increase between March and April. This could be due to the chicken flu outbreak that kicked off earlier this year, shrinking the supply of poultry and pushing prices higher.
Grade A large eggs saw the largest increase for this group, rising in price by nearly 30% per dozen from April 2022. However, these eggs also saw a downtick of about 5% from March, though future data will reveal whether that trend sticks.
Dairy Products
Of the dairy products tracked by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, American cheese and ice cream have seen the largest price increases over the past year of 14.6% and 16%, respectively.
On the flip side, cheddar cheese has seen only a 5% increase — and a yet smaller increase for whole milk of 0.7%.
While dairy products have still been seeing price raises over the past year, some prices actually dipped between March and April, and the few price increases that were recorded in that time frame only reached as high as 0.5%.
Fruits and Vegetables
For the fruits and vegetables recorded by experts, many have seen slight changes as compared to last year’s prices.
However, romaine lettuce saw the largest dip at 12.4%, while potato prices have risen by more than 15% per pound.
Between March and April 2023, though, strawberries saw the biggest impact, rising more than 9%. This jump could be due in part to the severe droughts suffered in California over the winter.
Data was taken from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report on average retail food and energy prices for April 2023. To read the report, click here.
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