Between groceries and restaurants, Americans are spending more of their income on food than they have in 30 years.
That’s according to the latest data from the USDA, which shows that U.S. consumers spent more than 11% of their disposable income on eating — whether at home or at a restaurant — in 2022, the highest percentage since 1991.
“This is really a metric that’s about the share of our disposable personal income which the USDA tracks, and which recently was at essentially a 31-year high,” Jesse Newman, food reporter for the Wall Street Journal, told CBS News.
Experts say painfully high food prices, and ongoing inflation more generally, help explain why many Americans are down on the economy despite low unemployment, rising wages and steady economic growth. Inflation is expected to continue slowing this year, with the National Association for Business Economists on Monday forecasting that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) — a basket of common goods and services — will decline to an annual rate of 2.4% this year, compared with 4.1% in 2023 and 8% in 2022.
Man, I just spent $6.29 for a plain loaf of wheat bread! Where are you getting $3 a loaf bread?!
It’s the acme brand plain white loaf, it’s probably been about 6 months since I went in the bread isle but that bread is horrible by the time you buy it, at least at my store, and really only good for toast.
When we were buying bread we would buy something with family in the name? Which was the next cheapest one at around $4-5 for a plain white loaf.