Budgeting money for groceries to feed Gina Headrick’s family of four is like trying to hit a fast-moving target.
“Every time I go to the grocery store, the prices go up,” Headrick, 26, said as she browned ground beef for sloppy joes in her West Chattanooga apartment kitchen. “I find ways to buy groceries with the money I have one month and, by the next month, it isn’t enough.”
In January, chicken legs cost $1.26 a pound; in February they were 30 cents more. A pound of iceberg lettuce increased from $1.02 to $1.13. Last February, the same lettuce cost 89 cents.
A pound of bacon was $3.40 last February, and last month it was $4.27, according to information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Southern Region.
February had the largest monthly increase in average food costs in 21/2 years, with costs rising for most major groups including meat, dairy products, eggs, fruits and vegetables, according to the Consumer Price Index released in March. The average price of all food went up 0.6 percent, and the price of foods consumed at home rose 0.8 percent.