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Gina Zakaria, a mother of two based in Los Angeles, considers herself to be a savvy shopper.
As someone who has been making content about frugal living on her social media since 2017, she’s become an expert on finding deals at the grocery store—but as prices have continued to climb upwards in recent years, even she has been feeling the pinch when shopping for necessities.
“I always look for sales,” she says, “but I do feel the difference in my total.”
Prices in grocery stores across the country are now up 25% from pre-pandemic levels, data from the Bureau of Labour Statistics shows. Staring down rising prices at the supermarket checkout line, many Americans are feeling the impact. Within the last few years, 80% of Americans say they’ve felt a notable increase in the cost of groceries—and more than a quarter have said they’ve occasionally skipped meals as a result of rising costs, according to a study conducted by Qualtrics on behalf of Intuit Credit Karma.
“As prices continue to rise, people may be afraid to go shopping, which leads to them eating out more or not [making] the best decisions when it comes to cooking,” says Will Coleman, a chef and content creator who shares tips for saving money on groceries on his Instagram. Most recent USDA data from 2022 shows that Americans were spending an average of 11% of their discretionary income on eating both at home and in restaurants—the highest percentage since 1991. “With prices going up, there must be more resources and knowledge being shared about shopping and cooking [more accessible],” Coleman notes.
TIME spoke with experts about why groceries are so expensive and ways to keep costs down while you shop.
Why are groceries so expensive right now?
Rising prices can be traced back to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused major supply chain disruptions and worker shortages, says Ronald Hill, a Professor at American University’s Kogod School of Business. “It blew up the supply chain,”…
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