Although inflation may be showing signs of cooling down, grocery prices continue to climb, according to recent data from the Consumer Price Index.
Just how much more will you be paying at the checkout counter this year?
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released estimates for 2024, which show all food prices going up by 2.9% to 5.3%. Restaurant prices will also go up 5% to 6.3%.
When it comes to groceries, prices are predicted to increase for 11 food-at-home categories and decrease for four categories in 2024, the USDA noted.
According to the Food Price Outlook 2024, the biggest price spike is in the dessert aisle. Sugar and sweets are predicted to increase by 5.3%. Nonalcoholic beverages will see the second-largest spike at 4.9%, while fats and oils will be up 4.6%.
It will cost more to be a carnivore in 2024 as most meat prices are expected to climb. The biggest spike will be on beef and veal, expected to rise 2.2%. Poultry prices will go up 2%, and other meat prices could see an increase of 1.9%. Two meat categories are expected to see decreases this year: Fish and seafood prices could drop by by 0.9% and pork prices could drop by 0.5%
Produce will be up, with the price of fresh vegetables seeing a bigger hike (1.9%) than fresh fruits (1.5%). Processed fruit and vegetable prices are also predicted to increase by 2.9%.
Prices on dairy products will be up 0.2%, and other foods will be up 0.4%.
After seeing one of the biggest increases on record in 2023, due to an outbreak of avian flu that dramatically reduced flock sizes, egg prices are expected to see the largest decrease this year at 2.8%. The other category anticipated to see a price drop is cereals and bakery products, by 0.5%.
Groceries have seen a sharp price increase ever since the pandemic.
In 2020, food prices went up 3.5%. The largest price increases were for meat categories: beef and veal prices increased by 9.6%, pork prices by 6.3%, and poultry prices by 5.6%. The only category to decrease in price in 2020 was fresh fruits, by -0.8%.
In 2021, food prices again went up 3.5%. Beef and veal had the largest relative price increase (9.3%) and the fresh vegetables category the smallest (1.1%). No food categories decreased in price in 2021 compared with 2020.
In 2022, food prices increased by 9.9%, faster than any year since 1979. All food price categories increased by more than 5%. The USDA says food prices spiked partly due to a highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak that affected egg and poultry prices, along with the conflict in Ukraine, which compounded other economy-wide inflationary pressures such as high energy costs.
In 2023, food prices increased by 5.8%. While prices increased for all food categories except for pork, prices grew more slowly in 2023 than in 2022 for all categories.