20 January 2023
Grocery prices at large are not going down. But there are some exceptions.
Record inflation has severely impacted fuel costs and pricing for virtually all of our everyday necessities, including weekly groceries. Many factors have contributed to the surge in pricing, including producers’ increased cost to package goods and extreme weather conditions that destroyed crops. Grocery prices are up about 11.8% between December 2021 and 2022. The increase from November to December is more moderate, at just 0.2%.
While costs remain high overall, prices for some food items came down last month. Stacker used monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics data to find the 10 grocery items that experienced the largest price decreases in December, using year-over-year changes as a tiebreaker where needed. Stacker excluded some hyper-specific meat categories in order to better understand grocery price fluctuations more broadly.
#10. All-purpose white flour (per lb.)
– One-month decrease in cost: -0.4%
– Annual change in cost: +34.5%
– December 2022 cost: $0.52
#9. Ground beef (per lb.)
– One-month decrease in cost: -0.4%
– Annual change in cost: +0.2%
– December 2022 cost: $5.19
#8. Bananas (per lb.)
– One-month decrease in cost: -0.5%
– Annual change in cost: +1%
– December 2022 cost: $0.63
#7. Whole chicken (per lb.)
– One-month decrease in cost: -0.7%
– Annual change in cost: +13.9%
– December 2022 cost: $1.83
#6. Beef steaks (per lb.)
– One-month decrease in cost: -0.8%
– Annual change in cost: -4.8%
– December 2022 cost: $9.46
#5. Lemons (per lb.)
– One-month decrease in cost: -1.7%
– Annual change in cost: +3.5%
– December 2022 cost: $2.09
#4. Ice cream, prepackaged in bulk (per 1/2 gal.)
– One-month decrease in cost: -2.8%
– Annual change in cost: +16.7%
– December 2022 cost: $5.56
#3. American processed cheese (per lb.)
– One-month decrease in cost: -3.7%
– Annual change in cost: +19.7%
– December 2022 cost: $4.66
#2. Ham (per lb.)
– One-month decrease in cost: -5.4%
– Annual change in cost: +9.2%
– December 2022 cost: $4.05
#1. Navel oranges (per lb.)
– One-month decrease in cost: -9.5%
– Annual change in cost: +2.6%
– December 2022 cost: $1.49