With the Fourth of July holiday fast approaching, it’s time to start planning a menu and a trip to the supermarket. Are you ready to take out a second mortgage? You don’t have to be an economist to know that grocery prices are still pinching the ol’ pocketbook. The good news is that food inflation has slowed down, according to a Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute food report.
In a couple of cases, some products have actually come down in price, including chicken breasts and eggs. Of course, with egg prices we had nowhere to go by down. At the beginning of 2023, we were paying nearly $5.00 per dozen! Thankfully, that is a but a memory now.
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The Wells Fargo report also points to a significant drop in corn and soybean prices that could ease grocery prices over the next year. That’s bad news for farmers but good news for consumers. It seems like there’s corn and soy in just about everything.
So there are definitely some reasons to feel optimistic regarding the future of food prices. Unfortunately, as we head into the Fourth of July weekend, we’ll still be paying more for many backyard cookout staples than we were a year ago.
Fourth of July Food Prices (Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute)
Bread
Up 22% from last year. Yikes!
(Photo by NARIN EUNGSUWAT/Getty Images)
Potato Chips
Up 15% year over year.
(Photo by Iuliia Pilipeichenko/Getty Images)
Soft Drinks
Up 14% from last year.
(Photo by scanrail/Getty Images)
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Up 14% year over year.
(Photo by Songbird839/Getty Images)
Processed Cheese
Up 10% from last year.
(Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Ice cream
Up 9% year over year.
(Photo by tacar/Getty Images)
Beer
Up 8% from last year.
(Photo by liebre/Getty Images)
Sirloin Steak
Up 2.9% year over year…but last year it was up 14%!
(Photo by rez-art/Getty Images)
Ground Beef
Up less than 1% from last year…when it is was up 16%!
(Photo by nitrub/GettyImages)
Chicken Breasts
Down almost 2% year over year. Nice.
(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Eggs
Down almost 7% from last year. Woo-hoo! But remember, we were paying close to $5.00 a dozen at the beginning of 2023.
(Photo by Igor Vershinsky/Getty Images)
