5 Grocery Items That Cost More Than Last Year—and 3 That Cost Less

With inflation, conflicts and natural disasters around the world, and a variety of supply chain issues still in play, grocery prices seem to be in a near constant flux, particularly for certain items like eggs and chicken. According to the recently released Consumer Price Index for January 2023, which measures the change in prices paid by consumers for goods and services, inflation rose 0.5 percent in January, and 6.4 percent over the past year. Food in particular, especially groceries, has largely been hit hard, with overall grocery prices rising more than 11 percent since January 2022.

More specifically, the CPI, which is released monthly by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, showed a month-over-month increase in nearly all of the major grocery categories, including cereals and bakery products, meat, poultry, fish, and eggs, and non-alcoholic beverages. Fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, actually saw a month-over-month decrease from December 2022, to January 2023, though the cost of those items is still up year over year.

Curious to know where you can expect to see specific price increases—and a few drops—at the grocery store? Keep reading for more details.

Grocery Items With Rising Prices Right Now

Per the CPI data, all grocery prices rose from December 2022 to January 2023, with the exception of two categories—dairy prices stayed flat, while fruit and vegetable prices fell by 0.5 percent. Here are some items that have seen steep increases over the past month and year.

Cereal

The morning staple has seen a 1.3 percent price increase over the last month, as well as a whopping 15.6 percent increase from January 2022 to January 2023. Instead of buying cereal, opt for fruits and vegetables, which you can use to make a variety of healthy breakfast smoothies.

Rice

The pantry staple is another item that has seen a significant price increase, according to the CPI. From December 2022 to January 2023 the cost of rice rose 1.4 percent, and year-over-year the cost has risen 14 percent. The cost of rice is likely going up due to rising wheat prices that have been driven up by the Ukraine conflict, as well as other food export bans or disruptions.

Cookies

If you’ve got a sweet tooth, you may want to put back the box of cookies and pick up another sweet treat from the grocery store instead. Cookie prices have jumped 2.5 percent just over the last month, and have increased 17.7 percent over the past year. Since certain ingredients typically used to make cookies (like eggs and flour) are now more expensive, the price jump for the finished product isn’t exactly a surprise.

Eggs

You’ve likely heard about the surge in egg prices, caused, in part, by the recent avian influenza outbreak and ensuing egg shortage, but are you aware of exactly how much egg prices have gone up? The increase over the last month has been 8.5 percent, and over the past year grocery store eggs have increased in price by more than 70 percent. Since a price increase like this is hard to ignore, it might be time to consider stocking up on these egg substitutes instead.

Ham

The price of ham, excluding the canned stuff, is up 3.5 percent month-over-month, and exactly double that year-over-year. While canned ham hasn’t seen quite as big a jump from December to January, you might want to start cooking with pork roast instead, which has seen a decline in price since December 2022. More on that below.

Grocery Items With Lower Prices Than Last Year

Though prices for many of your favorite foods might still be higher than they once were, several products have seen significant decreases in price from January 2022 to January 2023—including a few unexpected items.

Pork roasts, steaks, and ribs

In addition to pork roast, pork steaks and pork ribs have all seen a decline in price. Month-to-month the price for all three cuts of meat has fallen by 2.3 percent, and from January 2022 to January 2023, the price has come down by 1.9 percent.

Bacon

Bacon (and related products) has seen a month-over-month decrease in price of 0.6 percent, and a year-over-year decrease of 3.9 percent. In other words, the next time you stop by the grocery store, bring home the bacon!

Uncooked beef steaks

While the price of uncooked beef steaks rose 1.3 percent from December 2022 to January 2023, the price of the meat aisle find has actually fallen 3 percent year over year. So if you like steak, fire up the grill!