Living through the biggest jump in grocery prices in a half-century has many Americans changing their eating and food shopping habits Lately, at Apral Jack’s house, it’s whatever is on sale. Jack, 50, scouts an app for deals at her local supermarket before she buys groceries.
When she reaches the store, she looks in the weekly circular for coupons she might have missed. If shelf prices look too high, she tries to find lower prices someplace else. “The apples went up here, the ones I eat, so now I’m not going to get them here,” Jack said as she pushed a cart into a Stop & Shop near her home in Lexington, Massachusetts.
Couponing, comparison shopping and cutting back on favorite foods are new habits for her and millions of other Americans as they absorb the biggest jump in grocery prices in a half-century. Buying food to eat at home has gotten 33% more expensive since the beginning of 2019, according to government figures. With a conflict in the Middle East creating more price pressures, the cost of filling refrigerators, freezers and pantries has made affordability a central issue in the fall midterm elections.
Residents of four urban areas where food inflation has exceeded the national average shared how steadily rising prices are changing the way they shop. They described hunting for discounts, switching to store brands and feeling grateful for food banks. Some are buying less meat and skipping nonessentials like cookies.
Others are buying less food overall. Meat becomes a luxury for a family in Texas, the nation’s top beef producer Beef epitomizes out-of-control grocery prices for many Americans. The price of a pound of ground beef reached $6.82 in June, which is 79% more than at the beginning of 2019, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Ada Torres, 60, who lives 45 miles northeast of Houston in Cleveland, Texas, is one of the people no longer buying it. She does the grocery shopping and cooking for the home she shares with her daughter and three grandchildren. One hundred dollars’ worth of groceries these days is nothing,” Torres said.
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