Well despite the fact that I never published it last month I have still been tracking grocery prices for our Grocery Benchmark Report. I’ve decided to improve my format a bit.
Each month I show the last two month’s prices on a set basket of “staple” grocery items. I price all items at my local ALDI store to keep things simple. These price columns are followed by a “Change, Year to Date” column (right now I’m just using my data from when I started recording in August. Once we are a couple months into the year I’ll switch it over to a true YTD) and a “Change since last month” column.
Note: If a price is shown in green, it’s gotten cheaper. If it’s in red, it’s more expensive.
January Grocery Benchmark
| Item | Dec-11 | Jan-12 | Change since Aug | Since last month |
| Sugar (5lb) | $2.39 | $2.39 | -$0.30 | $0.00 |
| Flour (white, 5 lb) | $0.89 | $0.89 | -$0.80 | $0.00 |
| Milk (2%, Gallon) | $2.15 | $2.15 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Cheddar Cheese (1 lb) | $3.49 | $3.49 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Mozarella Cheese (1 lb) | $3.49 | $3.49 | $0.50 | $0.00 |
| Eggs (lrg, 1doz) | $1.39 | $1.39 | $0.14 | $0.00 |
| Butter (1 lb) | $1.89 | $2.29 | -$0.10 | $0.40 |
| Tuna (chunk light, 5 oz) | $0.59 | $0.59 | $0.04 | $0.00 |
| Canned Corn (15.25 oz) | $0.39 | $0.49 | $0.10 | $0.10 |
| Lettuce | $1.39 | $1.39 | $0.10 | $0.00 |
| Potatoes (per lb) | $0.35 | $0.35 | $0.06 | $0.00 |
| Gr Beef (80/20 per lb) | $2.69 | $2.59 | -$0.20 | -$0.10 |
| Chicken (BS Breast, per lb) | $2.00 | $2.00 | -$0.49 | $0.00 |
| Chicken (Whole, per lb) | $0.85 | 0.85 | $0.06 | $0.00 |
| Pinto Beans (per lb) | $0.99 | $0.99 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Bread (white sandwich) | $0.89 | $0.89 | $0.14 | $0.00 |
My guess is that there have been price drops in baking essentials for the holidays-things like butter, flour and sugar are down overall from August. I’m noticing several animal based products such as whole chicken, eggs and cheese are increasing in price. I’m suspicious that has to do with the huge increase in cost of feed corn-since it’s fed to both cattle and chickens. (note: I think personally that they are trying to keep milk steady intentionally) The drop in ground beef also makes sense as many ranchers who couldn’t afford to water their herds during the drought and can’t afford the increased feed costs have sent cattle to slaughter leading to a short term flooding of the market. Eventually the rebound of that will be that beef prices will go way up.
Remember-prices can vary wildly by region. My desire here is to help us all notice and take action on price TRENDS so we can make decisions about how best to manage our budget for our own households.
Wondering why I’m so concerned about rising food costs? Because the the price of food at home is projected to rise by 4 to 5 percent this year, and another 2 to 3 percent next year, according to the US Agriculture Department.
Thanks to Malloreigh for the photo that I found on Flickr to create the graphic from.
Thanks for the heads up, don’t know how much price increase the average family can bear, do you? Should I stock up on hamburger now (only have the small freezer on bottom of my fridge…)? But I could still stock up some. Hugs ~ Mary
Mary-I’m worried about the price increases for the average family as well! For Hamburger, I wouldn’t run out & buy a ton and put yourself in debt over it or anythign, but if you see it at a good price and have room in the freezer I’d stock up a bit. There is more to say on this subject-so I’ll use your question as an Ask Frugal Upstate question soon!
Your survey looks WAY better than the prices I normally have to deal with, here in the Denver, Colorado area. Milk at King Soopers this week is $3.89. (Granted, most of the shopping doofuses have failed to notice that KS is also offering half gallons on sale for a buck.)
Eggs hold steady at $1.69-1.79 a dozen.
Most of our other prices are a good deal more than yours…with the exception of beef. I think nostalgically back to the days of 99-cents-a-pound hamburger.
If you compare these prices, though, to just a few years ago, the difference is even more striking. My guess is that we’ve seen a 25% jump, at least, and closer to 50-75% jump for beef. Needless to say, we eat a lot more chicken and pork nowadays.
Cindy-As hubs always says-eggs are cheaper in the country! I live in a rural area which has it’s effect on prices, as does living in the middle of dairy land 😉 Also I feel that ALDI has prices that are quite a bit cheaper than the next cheapest grocery store-so you are seeing the rock bottom prices for my area. To me the big story over time will be the changes that the prices undergo. . . if a particular commodity has a huge jump here I’m sure it will also have a big jump near you and vice versa.
About beef prices, I just wanted to share a little info. A friend of mine in the meat industry says that a lot of cattle ranchers have been slaughtering their animals because of drought this last year, which has stabilized prices. However, you can expect beef prices to go up this year, as the number of cattle available to slaughter has fallen more than originally planned.