13 Items Getting More Expensive At The Grocery Store And What To Buy Instead

Yahoo

16-03-2025

Yes, you're probably noticing that your weekly or biweekly grocery run is ringing up a little higher than normal, but sometimes it's difficult to see just how much individual grocery prices have increased, particularly when they increase little by little. However, if you look at data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service, the difference in grocery prices over the last four years is stark. Since 2020, the service reports that U.S. food prices have risen by nearly 24%. That means, if you were spending $200 on groceries every two weeks for your family, now you're spending about $250 — and if your income isn't keeping up, that's a tough bill to swallow.
Even over the last year, grocery prices have increased to a noticeable degree — and the experts expect those prices to continue going up. According to the Consumer Price Index, grocery prices rose 2.5% between January 2024 and January 2025, and the index expects grocery prices to increase another 3.3% over the year ahead, with some prices potentially rising by as much as 7%. Where are you likely feeling these high prices the most, what should you maybe leave out of your grocery cart in the months ahead, and what should you buy instead? Here are some of the items becoming noticeably more expensive at the grocery store and what to replace them with.
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Let's start with the obvious, shall we? Everyone's talking about the rising cost of eggs. According to data compiled by Nerdwallet, the cost of a dozen Grade A large eggs had risen 53% between January 2024 and January 2025, with average costs sitting at $4.95. As of March 2025, you'll pay closer to $6 buying the same at Walmart. Yes, the rising cost of eggs can be chalked up to the growing concerns over bird flu and reports of egg producers needing to wipe out huge numbers of birds in order to contain the spread. However, the rise has been so dramatic that, as of March, the Department of Justice announced an investigation into egg pricing practices, to see if something more nefarious and conspiratorial is going on.
Whatever the case may be, if you're not exactly up for spending about $0.50 per egg these days, there are plenty of top egg substitutes you can use, for a cheaper price. In baking goods, carbonated water can act as an egg used as a leavening agent. Used a can of chickpeas? Hold on to that aquafaba that you'd otherwise throw away and use it in place of egg whites.
The rising cost of chicken has been credited to many of the same reasons that eggs are going up in price. Luckily, the cost of chicken hasn't risen quite as dramatically. According to U.S. News & World Report, in 2019, you could buy a whole chicken at a per-pound cost of $1.47. By the end of 2024, that cost had only risen by about $0.60 per pound.
Still, if you're trying to pinch pennies where you can, you might make a few changes to your chicken-buying practices moving forward. For example, if you're not buying a whole chicken, you can choose the cuts of chicken that are trending cheapest. U.S. Foods, reporting on the poultry market in early March 2025, for example, noted that prices for boneless, skinless thighs, and all chicken breast meat, increased in the early part of the month. Meanwhile, small chicken tender pricing remained stable, and wing prices declined. You might also choose other forms of protein altogether. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' average retail food and energy prices for January 2025, while chicken is still some of the cheapest fresh meat you can buy at the grocery store, some cuts of pork may actually be cheaper, by the pound.
While you're perusing your options in the fresh meats section of the grocery store, you may think that ground beef is the better way to go. However, while the rising cost of ground beef isn't as well-publicized as the rising cost of eggs, it's still there — and substantial. One NPR study found that the cost of ground beef rose 7.2% between December 2023 and December 2024. If you compare ground beef prices from December 2024 to August 2019, you'll notice a whopping 33.9% difference.
There are several reasons why the price of beef is going up. Primarily, farmers' costs have gone up, due to drought and rising feed costs. Additionally, the number of cattle farmers in the United States has decreased over the last several decades, lessening supply and further driving costs upward. If you're looking for a suitable protein replacement to take the spot of your ground beef, consider what you could do with a boneless pork chop — the same NPR study found that, between December 2023 and December 2024, the cost of boneless pork chops had actually decreased by more than 20%.
The price of coffee hit an all-time high in January 2025, with prices increasing 80% year over year and more than 40% since late 2024. There are numerous reasons why this is the case, including climate change and geopolitical issues. Drought has affected coffee producers in Brazil. Floods have impacted coffee producers in Vietnam. It's not just coffee beans and grounds that are going up in price, either. Even instant coffee has risen in price, by more than 4%.
As such, you might want to consider cutting back on the number of cups of joe you drink per day, or replacing some or all of them with tea, instead. While the tea industry is by no means immune from global warming, a cup of black tea is still cheaper than a cup of black coffee, with 100 cups of Lipton selling for under $5 at Walmart. In contrast, a 25.9-ounce container of Folgers Classic Roast is just under $12 at Walmart. You can get about 23 cups of coffee out of a 12-ounce bag, so it's safe to assume you'll get about 50 cups of coffee out of 25.9-ounce container — so half the number of cups of tea for double the price.
Both eggs and chicken are going up in price. It just makes sense, following the same logic that, if the price of beef is going up, the price of milk is going up, too. NPR's study tracking Walmart prices over six years found that, from December 2023 to December 2024, a gallon of 2% milk rose nearly 20% in price. On average, a gallon of whole milk in 2019 was $2.91; at the end of last year, that same gallon was $4.10. It's expected these high prices are here to stay for the year, too, due to demand outpacing production.
To save money on milk moving forward, be sure to compare prices for non-dairy alternatives. While some, like oat milk, are notoriously more expensive than traditional milk, others may be very comparable, such as some soy milks, which you can buy for around $2.40 per half gallon. You can also try making your own oat milk at home, which literally requires only water and a cup or so of rolled oats.
As NPR found, from December 2023 to December 2024, Tropicana orange juice didn't just go up in cost by more than 13%. The brand also reduced its package size, so you get less juice with each purchase. It's likely that you're now paying a quarter more for each 32-ounce jug of orange juice you buy, compared to February 2024.It's not just the "fresh" OJ that you buy in the dairy aisle that's increasing in price, either. Frozen juice prices are up, too. Unfortunately, this has been a long-standing issue. Record-high orange juice prices were seen last year due to extreme weather and disease impacting orange groves. In fact, the same poor weather in Brazil that's impacted coffee prices is also impacting orange juice prices, as the country is the world's largest orange juice exporter.
If you're trying to reduce the amount you spend on OJ, you might consider picking up another juice variety. With Great Value 64-ounce cartons of orange juice going for over $5 at Walmart, you could save yourself a few dollars by choosing a 64-ounce bottle of apple juice ($2.14) or cranberry juice ($4.23), instead.
It's not uncommon to open up a new bag of potato chips and wonder if they just don't contain the same number of chips anymore. Whether or not the bag is filled with more air than spuds these days, though, one thing is clear. From December 2023 to December 2024, Lay's party-size potato chips rose in price more than 9%, (via NPR). Today, a bag will run you $4.50 at Walmart, at the "rollback" price that chips are often marked at.
So what can you replace your potato chips with? Rather than paying $4.50 for 13 ounces of potato chips, consider buying a 12-count box of popcorn, instead, with many options available for $6.36 at Walmart. A pack of Orville Redenbacher popcorn will produce about 11.25 cups of popcorn. That's about 135 cups of popcorn in one box — way more cups of snackage than you'll find in a bag of potato chips.
In the realm of snack food, soda isn't faring much better than potato chips. The price of a 2-liter bottle of Coca-Cola rose more than 8% from December 2023 to December 2024, (via NPR). You'll pay $2.78 for 2 liters of Coke at Walmart, and more than $7 for a 12-pack of 12-ounce cans. Increases in soda prices aren't new, though. From April 2018 to October 2023, prices for a 12-pack of 12-ounce sodas rose nearly 65%. However, some worry that soda prices could just continue on rising, due to tariffs impacting the aluminum used for canning.
However soda prices fluctuate in the months ahead, your wallet may find a little relief if you look toward a simpler (and healthier option). A 12-pack of 12-ounce cans of sparkling water, for example, goes for $4.73. If you sacrifice carbonation, but still want flavor, you can save even more, by, for example, buying flavored drink mixes and bottled water, for more than 20 drinks for about the same price as a 12-pack of 12-ounce cans of Coke.
Chocolate prices were reported to be at extreme highs in 2024, and that trend has continued in 2025. As of February 2025, cocoa prices are at a 50-year high due to, in part, climate change impacting cocoa-producing countries around the world. During the Valentine's Day rush for chocolate, it wasn't uncommon for consumers to see prices 10% to 20% greater than what they might've in the past. Reese's and Hershey's prices jumped 13% and 12%, respectively, year over year. Lindt Chocolates also saw a significant increase, with prices from December 2023 to December 2024 rising nearly 8%, per NPR.
While it's easy to pick up a cheaper, non-chocolate candy option when you're looking for a sweet treat, though, it might not be as easy adjusting your favorite baking recipes to adapt to higher baking chocolate prices. The good news? Cocoa powder is still significantly cheaper than baking chocolate, so you can save a bit by swapping the latter out for the former. For every ounce of unsweetened baking chocolate you want to replace, use 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.
Yogurt — specifically Yoplait yogurt cups — likewise rose in price by about 7%, from December 2023 to December 2024, according to NPR's Walmart pricing study. NPR found that, since mid-2019, Yoplait's prices had risen 28%, with the brand citing dairy inflation. Today, a 6-ounce Yoplait cup at Walmart is $0.77.
If you're looking for a cheaper alternative to yogurt, you may want to consider sour cream. While you're not exactly going to want to sit and eat it with a spoon like you might your morning cup of yogurt, for recipes and a cheaper price for ounce, sour cream makes a suitable yogurt substitute, particularly if your recipe calls for an even pricier yogurt, like Greek yogurt, which can go for $0.72 for a 5.3-ounce cup. That adds up to a cost of $2.17 per pound. Comparatively, you can buy a 1-pound container of sour cream at Walmart for $1.97. You can substitute sour cream for yogurt in cold, savory and sweet dishes like dips at a 1-to-1 ratio.
NPR's Walmart study found that medium raw shrimp prices between December 2023 and December 2024 had risen just under 4%. Simultaneously, NPR found that Walmart's Great Value pink salmon fillets actually decreased in price during the same time period, quite a lot, by 25%. As such, while shoppers may've normally reached for shrimp as a more affordable seafood option, now they might want to consider salmon, instead.
Prices for salmon in 2025 may continue going down as well, due to a few reasons. For one, the number of farmed salmon is expected to increase this year, by as much as 4%, particularly in Norway and Europe. With greater supply available, this allows producers to be more competitive with cheaper-priced proteins, including beef, pork, and chicken.
Even if you don't buy salmon this year, though, due to potentially further reduced prices, if you're looking for other alternatives to shrimp, just be sure to steer clear of some of the cheap fish that are really not worth buying, according to experts. Fish like tilapia, monkfish, catfish, orange roughy, and fluke may come at somewhat cheaper price points than other options, but they're usually better left at the grocery store, due to factors such as lack of quality or questionable fishing practices.
Olives and olive oil are pricier than normal at the moment. Olive prices are up nearly 3%. Meanwhile, olive oil has been jumping in price for years now, with a nearly 200% increase in price since 2019. The reason? Again, it's all about climate change. The areas of the world that produce the most olive oil and olives are hit hard by changing, extreme weather. For example, Spain has seen particularly hot weather for several years in a row. Olive groves in other areas of the world, such as Greece and Turkey, picked up the slack, but they're not able to produce large harvests year over year, so that leads to further shortages. In some cases, like in Italy, disease threatens the olive trees.
Today, you can buy a 7-ounce jar of Great Value olives at Walmart for about $2. To get more for your money, consider buying other, similar ingredients that could be used as snacks or in recipes like salads — something like giardiniera ($2.87 for 16 ounces), pepperoncini ($1.97 for 12 ounces), or gherkins ($2.52 for 16 ounces).
The same issues impacting the cost of orange juice are impacting the cost of canned fruit. Canned fruit prices have risen nearly 3% due to climate change. As such, while canned produce is often touted as more affordable and just as nutritious as the fresh stuff, that might not be the case moving into 2025, at least where cost is concerned. For example, at Walmart, you can now buy fresh peaches for a cheaper price-per-pound ($2.48) than canned peaches ($2.69), depending on factors like brand purchased.
As is the case with many grocery items that are becoming more expensive in 2025, to find the best deals on fruit at the grocery store, consumers will need to compare and contrast their options like never before, to uncover what truly is the most affordable product. Items that were previously assumed to be more expensive, like fresh food or even locally grown food (one study from the USDA found that local products at a farmers market are competitively priced to the same products at retail stores, within a 10% price range, the majority of the time), might now be the cheaper buy.
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