Grocery prices weigh heavily on American minds; executives say 'shoppers will adjust.' Can they afford to?

$100 doesn't stretch near as far as it used to.
(Photo by G. Tovato, Unsplash)

When it comes to minimalist designs, less might be more. But when it comes to American wallets, less is just less. "Prices for hundreds of grocery items have increased more than 50% since 2019 as food companies raised their prices. Executives have said that higher prices were needed to offset their own rising costs for ingredients, transportation and labor," report Stephanie Stamm and Jesse Newman of The Wall Street Journal. "Some U.S. lawmakers and the Biden administration have criticized food companies for using tactics such as shrinkflation, in which companies shrink their products — but not their prices." As grocery costs have risen, so has consumer ire, and some food producers are starting to make changes and offer more deals. 

Instead of anger, some consumers have opted for a more creative response to hikes. Stamm and Newman write, "Sharon Faelten, a 74-year-old retiree from Underhill, Vt., said that instead of a wallet-punishing ordeal, she tries to think of trips to the store like procurement raids depicted in apocalyptic novels, where the goal is to stock her fridge, freezer and pantry for as little money as possible.

The fact that $100 doesn't go nearly as far as it used to makes some citizens more pessimistic about the country's overall economy. "Millions of U.S. households were flush with cash during the pandemic, thanks to stimulus checks, fatter unemployment checks and the expanded Child Tax Credit," reports Aimee Picchi of CBS News. In 2024, most pandemic cash has been spent, inflation is up and affordable housing can be difficult to find. However, the Journal reports, "The price of food and household staples continues to weigh heavier on consumers’ minds than other economic concerns."

Are prices continuing to climb? Yes, but much more slowly. "Grocery prices were up 1% in February from a year earlier, Labor Department data show," the Journal reports. "They were up 10.2% in February 2023 versus a year earlier, and were up 1.2% in February 2019 from a year earlier." In all, Stamm and Newman found that what cost a family $100.03 in 2019 now costs $136.89 . . . . "Some food-company executives have said that shoppers will adjust over time to higher prices, as they have in the past."