Lower grocery-store prices for hamburgers and hotdogs are helping to keep the lid on the price of a summer cookout, according to spot checks of supermarkets in 26 states. The survey, organized by the largest U.S. farm group and released ahead of the Independence Day holiday, said the grocery bill for enough food to feed 10 people would be $56.06, or $5.60 a person.
“Prices in the meat case are beginning to look better from the consumers’ perspective,” said economist Veronica High of the American Farm Bureau Federation. Meat prices were record high in 2014, when the same 14-item shopping list as this year’s cookout cost 2.6 percent more.
While meat prices are down, prices for watermelon, hamburger and hotdog buns, store-made potato salad, baked beans and cheese are up. A pound of American cheese cost an average $3.07 in the supermarket survey, up 7 percent from a year ago. Watermelon was up by nearly 7 percent. The average price for this year’s shopping list was barely higher than last year.