The phrase “bringing home the bacon” is even more appropriate this summer, as the price of the popular breakfast food, salad topping and BLT filling jumped 15.6 percent compared to last year.
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Today reported Thursday that prices for four other grocery staples are also skyrocketing this summer, based on data from from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Prices for whole milk are up 11.2 percent, egg prices are up 5.7 percent, ground coffee is up 1.9 percent and bananas are up 1.2 percent.
Jayson L. Lusk, and head of the Department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University told The Today Show that Americans returning to their pre-lockdown dining habits contributes to driving up prices.
For more than a year, on-and-off COVID-19 dining bans throughout the country forced many Americans to use their kitchens more, or rack up delivery fee charges. Now, people are returning to restaurant dining rooms.
“Food prices, across the board (at home and away from home), are up 2.4 percent in June 2021 relative to June 2020," Lusk said. “Most of the increase this summer is a result of increasing prices of food eaten at restaurants. Compared to last summer, prices of food eaten away from home are up 4.2 percent — substantially higher than the typical rates of annual increases.”
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Extra demand for certain foods and increasing wages for hospitality workers lead to the rising prices, Lusk said.
Although prices for beef and chicken are not much different than last year, Lusk reminded Today that prices for both actually increased last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the beef prices may hit hard during this summer’s grilling season.
Supply chain issues related to the pandemic resulted in prices climbing up last summer. As some of these issues get resolved prices for a few grocery items are falling, including potatoes and flour.
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Some supply chain issues stemming from the pandemic, such as a decreased hog herd, are not easy to fix. This small herd, along with increased prices for soybean and corn feed, has raised pork prices by around 3 percent.
Today recommends meal planning and sale hunting for those who want to avoid having these inflated prices dig into their wallets.
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