The cost of sausage has risen by more than $3 at H-E-B in Houston.
H-E-B
As a mom of three, I shop for groceries twice a week using my local store’s app.
I compared bills from April 2021 (when inflation started to pick up) and August 2022.
Staples like orange juice, bacon, and strawberries had all gone up, costing me over $45 more a month.
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Like most people, I’m feeling the weight of inflation every time I pick up groceries. With twice-a-week food purchases, I have to affordably feed my family of six.
My three kids have the kind of hearty appetites that only growing children can get away with, while my mother, my husband, and I eat most of our meals at home. All together, it makes for a lot of groceries to keep us fed. Unfortunately, my usual food budget is buying less and less every time.
I compared my receipts from April 2021 and August 2022
With my grocery demands getting more expensive for the same amount of food, I decided to compare costs to see just how much more I was paying for my weekly staples. Since I’ve been utilizing my local grocery store’s curbside pickup option here in Houston since 2020, I have access to several months of grocery receipts to help analyze these increases.
I decided to start looking at my grocery shops from back in April 2021, since that’s when we first saw inflation rates really shoot up. That month the inflation rate was 4.2%, nearly double the 2.6% rate in March 2021. Since then, the rate of inflation has grown exponentially month after month and capped out at 9.1% in June 2022. July 2022 saw interest rates drop a bit, but at 8.5%, inflation is still shockingly high.
ProductCost in April 2021Cost in August 2022IncreaseBread$3.02$3.44$0.42Milk$3.18$3.56$0.38Orange juice$4.82$4.85$0.03Strawberries$2.45$2.90$0.45Oscar Mayer Lunchables$1.52$1.87$0.35 Bacon$4.42$5.14$0.72 Sausage$10.29$13.38$3.09Hard candy$2.25$2.45$0.20Total increase $5.64
As surprised and concerned as I am to see how high inflation has climbed, reviewing my old grocery bills has also made me feel vindicated. I knew that the increases to my grocery bills weren’t just in my head.
Every week, when my usual budget was buying less and less, I found myself angrily placing more expensive grocery orders. As an individual consumer, I have no control over inflation, but tracking the difference in prices does help me make informed purchases.
Comparing my receipts from April 2021 and August 2022 revealed both large and small increases to my favorite essentials. And though not every item I bought in August increased in price, none decreased without the use of coupons.
An increase of $5.64 might not seem like much, but given that I shop twice weekly, this increase comes out to more than $45 a month. That’s more than 18% — significant for any working family.
With the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law this week, we’ll hopefully soon see some relief in prices all around. Until then, I’ll be shopping local and taking advantage of in-store sales to help ease that total at the bottom of my grocery receipts.