"Spending on food has risen really, really fast in the past year," says Matt Schulz, Chief Credit Analyst at Lending Tree. An analysis of US Census Bureau data shows household food spending is up 28% since May of last year.
More households are having a hard time fitting the increased cost of food into their budgets. "We have certainly found that more and more are having to rely on credit cards, and plastic, to pay their bills," points out Schulz. The amount of grocery expenses the average household is putting on credit cards went up more than 30% between May of 2021 and last month.
The Lending Tree report finds that the average household is spending $90 more a week in grocery stores and at restaurants than they were last spring. "Spending on food prepared and eaten at home is up 30.8%, from an average of $220.31 in May 2021 to $288.19 in June and July 2022. Meanwhile, food prepared elsewhere rose 21.6% in the same period."