Even though inflation has gone down since its high point in 2022, food prices are still much higher than they were a few years ago. One family in California showed the world how expensive it has become to shop for groceries lately.
It cost Galen Callahan, 39, and her husband $444.38 to shop at Trader Joe’s all at once. “This is what it takes to feed six kids for about a week and a half,” they wrote on the video that showed the receipt. Over 17 million people have seen it.
But Callahan, whose husband works at a title company, told MarketWatch that the post wasn’t meant to speak badly about Trader Joe’s prices. She said that its prices are some of the best in her area.
The person from the Los Angeles area told MarketWatch, “Trader Joe’s is a really cheap option where we live.” “It’s funny to get a grocery receipt that’s the same length as the CVS receipt that everyone makes fun of.” It was just the number of things that made us laugh.
Callahan said that when she goes grocery shopping, she does a lot of maths in her head and thinks about how much food her family can afford for each meal.
“A $444 grocery bill that feeds eight people for three days, or $1.85 each,” she explained. “Where are you going to eat for $1.85?”
Along with many other parents, Callahan told her kids to compare prices at different grocery stores. This is because different stores usually have better deals on different things, like meat, fruits, and vegetables.
She said, “We’ll do Vons and Costco COST, +2.67% maybe once a month.” “Trader Joe’s has really cheap snacks for kids, and their organic fruit is even cheaper.”
The people at Trader Joe’s did not answer MarketWatch’s request for comment.
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis says that Americans are spending about 26% more on food in 2020 than they did before the pandemic. During that time, food prices have gone up 19% more than overall consumer prices.
Here are a few examples of food items that have increased in price in recent years:
- A pound of white bread cost $1.97 in May, up from $1.69 in June 2022
- A pound of ground coffee cost $5.99 in May, up from $5.79 in June 2022
- A whole chicken cost $2.01 per pound in May, up from $1.83 in June 2022.
One new customer survey found that Trader Joe’s is one of the least expensive grocery stores in the US, but not the least expensive. Grocery store prices do change based on where you live, and places with higher costs of living tend to have higher food prices.
A company that works with consumers Six,555 people were asked by MarketForce Information about different aspects of grocery stores, such as which stores gave the best value for money.
In some parts of the country, there are more of certain grocery stores than others. For instance, H-E-B has a lot of stores in Texas, Food Lion is more common in southeastern states, and Woodman’s Markets are mostly found in the Midwest.
People who answered said that Aldi, which is related to Trader Joe’s, gave them the best value for their money. Woodman’s Markets, WinCo Foods, Lidl, and Market Basket came in second through fifth.
