Groceries Driving Up Your Food Bill the Most

We are all mindful of the big pounds, but it’s these small pennies that are actually picking us with a prick.

 

Every six months or so, a daily-essential shopper is found to return with a lesser number or quantity of items for the same amount of money. It’s true that the prices of everything are always on the rise. Food costs which depend on several important components like trending prices of oil increased expenditures in transportation and the supply-demand ratios. Factors like natural calamities and growing population also contribute greatly to the last stated element.

Over a period of ten years, inflation has risen by about 21.9 percent; however, during the equivalent period, the food price index has increased higher at 26.8 percent.

 

Butter And Margarine

 

Decadal increment: 54.9%

Spreading the butter/margarine on your bread is increasingly weighing on your grocery bill and that too faster than any other grocery product. Both a sub for the other, the prices of butter and margarine grew by 42.1 and 62.1 percent respectively.

 

Salt, Seasonings And Spices

 

Decadal increment: 36.5%

Nearly every recipe has to use salt. So, irrespective of its increase in price, the per-head consumption of salt has remained unchanged for the last ten years. In keeping pace with it, the prices of allied seasonings and spices have also crept up.

 

Fats And Oils

 

Decadal increment: 34.9%

Interestingly, it was the rise in the prices of the peanut butter that led to the rise in prices of fats and oils. Between 2008-11, the production of peanut butter decreased by 30%, resulting in an uptick in its prices. But even after that production had stabilized, the fats and oils kept on enjoying the boom since then.

 

Biscuits, Rolls, Muffins

 

Decadal increment: 33.0%

Along with the price of butter (see above), the price of flour and prepared flour mixes has also moved north — about 26.0% in the last decade. It’s only natural that biscuits, rolls and muffins whose main ingredients are those two will also see an elevation in its sale price.

 

Rice, Pasta, Cornmeal

 

Decadal increment: 32.4%

Who knows, low carb diet may be in vogue simply to account for the increasing purchase cost of these high carb ingredients. Well, while it may not be true, there’s no denying that the prices of these items are moving up surreptitiously.

 

Bread

 

Decadal increment: 31.8%

This staple commodity might have fallen out of favour due to the low carb trend with some completely doing away with it, yet, there has been a simultaneous increase in demand for its artisanal varieties.