Experts see seesaw effect on Super Bowl party foods ahead of the big game

Yahoo

27-01-2025

(WJET/WFXP)– The stage is set for Super Bowl 59 and people across the country will be gathering for watch parties with plenty of food, but how does the cost of Super Bowl snacks this year compare to 2024?
Each year, Wells Fargo's Agri-Food Institute releases its Super Bowl Food Report detailing the price changes of the most popular foods and drinks watch parties and how much it would cost to host a party of 10 people to help hosts be food-fluent with their budget.
This year, experts are advising shoppers to find the balance between store-prepared food and home prep to have a winning game plan for the biggest football game of the year calling the graph for popular foods a playground seesaw stuck in the middle.
While the cost for this year's big game celebrations did go up by 0.1% at an average cost of $139, the prices for individual items varied with the cost of wings and avocados going up and the cost of frozen pizza and celery going down.
Protein lovers this year face a bit of a conundrum, chicken wings are as popular as ever but this increase in demand has also come with an increase in price with raw, unfrozen wings seeing a price jump of 7.2% from 2024 while shrimp on the other hand saw a 4% decrease.
Experts attributed the rise in wing prices to consumers supporting them with their spending habits and that consumers can vote those increases down by looking into cheaper alternatives.
Vegetables may actually be the MVP of this year according to the report with celery also seeing a drop in price of 8.4% and researchers highlighting how GLP-1 injections like Ozempic have shifted shoppers' habits to healthier alternatives but if saving money is the goal there are a few staples that have gone up in price.
Red bell peppers, prepared carrots, avocados and cherry tomatoes all saw price increases this year with the latter two seeing the largest increases out of all measured foods this year with 11.5% and 11.9% increases respectively.
Speaking of veggies, a spread of healthy snacks isn't complete without a dip to go with it, just like chips, and avoiding the savings made on vegetables could be undone with onion-flavored dips seeing a price increase of 1.5%.
Chips haven't been forgotten either with tortilla and potato chips both seeing price decreases along with salsa and nacho cheese dip, making game planning a little difficult for hosts trying to balance healthy options with costs.
Drinks meanwhile were described as an instant replay of last year with both beer and wine seeing a minor 2% increase and you can still get savings on soda by going with the classic tow-liter bottle as opposed to cans.
For a full detailed breakdown of this year's costs, you can read Wells Fargo's
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