Summer cookout costs more this year

INDIANAPOLIS — Hoosiers can expect to pay around 8% more for their summer cookout this year, according to Indiana Farm Bureau’s annual summer cookout survey.

Shoppers are paying an average of $69.47 for a cookout feeding 10 people, or $6.95 per person.

This includes ground beef, cheese, hamburger buns, pork chops, chicken breasts, pork and beans, potato salad, strawberries, chips, ice cream, cookies and lemonade.

This is the first time Indiana customers have paid more than the U.S. average since 2019.

Additionally, the Indiana price is up 5%, or 34 cents more, than the average price for the Midwest region of $6.61 per person.

“We are still seeing food inflation throughout the whole supermarket, specifically with items that require more processing, labor and transportation,” said Todd Davis, INFB chief economist.

“This impacts items like cookies and chips that are non-perishable with no urgency to sell by a strict deadline, meaning grocery stores don’t need to discount to move inventory.”

All items on the shopping list are more expensive in Indiana than last year, except cheese and pork chops, which were relatively unchanged.

Many items were less than the national average, including ice cream, strawberries, pork and beans, hamburger buns, lemonade and potato salad.

The items that came in significantly above the U.S. average were chocolate chip cookies, chicken breasts and chips.

While food prices have increased, so have input prices for the farmers growing that food.

Drought in the West and Midwest has significantly impacted feeding costs for livestock, which has increased consumer prices for meat, as well.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 14 cents of every retail food dollar can be attributed to farm production, after accounting for input costs. Using this figure, the farmer’s share of this $69.47 market basket would be less than $10.

The rest is for food processing, packaging, transportation, wholesale and retail distribution, and food service preparation.

“Like consumers, farmers are price takers, not price makers,” said Isabella Chism, INFB second vice president.

“While food prices are increasing, the amount farmers are being paid doesn’t cover the sharp increase in their input expense. When our crops or animals are ready to sell, we have to sell at the current commodity price.”

Customers may be able to save money during holiday sales.

Farm Bureau’s study lines up with results from the Consumer Food Insights Report at Purdue University.

Consumers say they are spending 6.9% more on food, an up-tick from last month, according to the May survey report.

Other survey results include:

• Food insecurity is up to 16% from 14%, but remains within the same 3 percentage point range seen since January 2022.

• Grocery stockouts continue to trend downward, hitting their lowest point since January 2022, as few foods are hard to find.

• Thrifty food spenders are more likely to eat vegetarian, grow a food garden and compost food scraps.