Americans continue to feel the pinch of soaring inflation as the grocery bill for a traditional Fourth of July barbecue was the second-highest ever, according to a new survey.
The cost to feed a party of 10 totaled $67.73 for the annual cookout this year, according to figures provided by the American Farm Bureau Federation.
That number is down 3% from last year’s all-time record high of $69.68 but 14% higher than two years ago. The American Farm Bureau Federation has been conducting the survey since 2013.
The survey measures 12 staple items in a cookout, including hamburger buns, chopped beef, potato salad, chicken breast, lemonade, pork chops, cheese, potato chips, ice cream, strawberries, and chocolate chip cookies.
The price of a burger and fries, or potato salad, kept costs particularly high as 2 pounds of beef rose 4% this year to $11.54, while the potatoes increased 5% to $3.44 for 2.5 pounds, according to the AFBF.
Meanwhile, hamburger buns soared by a whopping 17% to $2.26 per unit, according to the survey. If you want cheese on that burger, the price from last year remained unchanged.
Other basket items that saw prices increase included a half-gallon of ice cream, which rose 3% to $5.29, and a two-pint package of strawberries, which rose 3% to $4.56.
Other staples saw significant drops. The price of two pounds of chicken breast fell 9% to $8.14, according to the AFBF.
Experts attribute the decrease to a reduction in the cases of avian flu, which forced farms to cull millions of chickens and other birds last year.
The price of lemonade plunged the most, with its 16% decrease to $3.73 nearly offsetting the increase in buns this year, according to the survey.
The runaway inflation that reached four-decade highs last year has begun to tick downwards after the Federal Reserve’s campaign to hike interest rates. An inflation index that is closely monitored by the Fed tumbled in May to its lowest level since April 2021, pulled down by lower gas prices and slower-rising food costs.
The index showed that prices rose 3.8% in May from 12 months earlier, down sharply from a 4.4% year-over-year surge in April.
And from April to May, prices ticked up just 0.1%.
Grocery prices edged up just 0.1% from April to May, providing some relief to consumers, though food costs are still 5.8% higher than they were a year ago.
Gas prices, which sank 5.6% just from April to May, have plunged 22% over the past year.
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