Analysis: Grocery Prices Nearing 40 Percent Higher Than In 2019

Mother and child grocery shopping
SDI Productions via Getty
Olivia Rondeau

A $100 grocery haul in 2019 costs almost $140 today — nearly 40 percent more for the same common items, causing consumers to “become creative to cope” with crippling inflation.

According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of NielsenIQ data on the prices of everyday foods such as meat, vegetables, starches, and snacks, Americans are facing a dramatic increase across all categories.

“A Benjamin just isn’t what it used to be,” the Journal’s Stephanie Stamm and Jesse Newman wrote, alongside graphs showing that the average $100 grocery list now costs 36.5 percent more compared to five years ago.

This means that in order to spend the same amount on food as they did in 2019, shoppers would have to place almost $37 worth of items back on the shelves before checking out.

Some items have increased even more dramatically, such as eggs, at 63 percent higher, and sports drinks, which are up 80 percent.

Prices increased by one percent from February 2023 to February 2024, but the most dramatic jump took place from 2022 to 2023 with a whopping 10.2 percent surge.

“Executives have said that higher prices were needed to offset their own rising costs for ingredients, transportation and labor,” the report stated. “Some U.S. lawmakers and the Biden administration have criticized food companies for using tactics such as shrinkflation, in which companies shrink their products—but not their prices.”

Consumers have been forced to “become creative to cope with a stretch of record food inflation,” choosing cheaper versions of the products they prefer or strategically looking for sales, coupons, and deals.

Sharon Faelten, 74, of Vermont, told the publication that she treats grocery shopping days as though she’s foraging during an apocalypse — getting as much food as possible as cheaply as possible.

“Chicken is always on sale somewhere,” Faelten said, describing how she has managed to keep her fridge stocked while not spending more than she did several years ago.

Arizona U.S. Senate Candidate Kari Lake (R) blamed the inflation on “Bidenomics.”

NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck slammed ABC’s Good Morning America for ignoring President Joe Biden’s economic policy that has influenced inflation. 

“No mention of Biden, no mention of inflation. They’re just completely floored and tell people to use apps, buy in bulk, and shop at discount stores instead,” he wrote on X. “Amazing.”

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