My food is only about $150-200 a month, and thats when i'm eating 3600 calories a day, instead of my current 2400. I live in chicago land, so it's not like my cost of living is cheap, and i buy good ingredients (ie San Marzano tomatoes and De Cecco pasta). Is there something i'm missing?
This article's source material was focused on where inflation has been the worst, but outside of bread and tortillas, i don't think any of my staple foods have gone up in price in years? I guess tofu has gone up $1 a pound, actually.
But broccoli is still $1 a pound here, beans are still $1 a pound dry, which is 50¢ a pound cooked. Rice is $1.50 dry, which is 33¢ a pound cooked. I guess fresh fruit prices have gone up a bit? But the sale prices are just as cheap as ever, and frozen fruit has only gone up $1 for 4lb since 2020, from $8.99 for strawberries to $9.99.
All of this is to say inflation has barely affected my grocery shopping at all in the last 4-5 years, and that is with me specifically looking for it since my dad promised me it would
I don't eat meat as a part of my diet, so I don't bother keeping track of those prices, nor is it relevant to my food budget per month. My comment was just to detail my experience.
I live in the chicago area and prices have doubled at least. Even on the cheapest stuff. Many things are 3-5 times higher. I don't know where you are shopping?
Most of my shopping is at Meijer, though the $5 5lb bag of beans and $15 15 lb bag of brown rice are at smaller, local store I go to. I also get my spices there, though i replenish them so little i haven't been able to keep track of their prices.
I don't even know of any in the chicago area anymore. our meijer closed up before the pandemic hit. I actually have sorta the same issue. I am pretty aware of the increase in most items but rice and beans keep for long and so I don't buy them often. Im not sure of the price of them back when I was not fretting over my grocery bill. I only really buy lentils though as they are easy to make in the rice cooker.
The things you listed are not only staples, but also pretty basic and essentially the foods when trying to eat on a budget. What about beef, chicken, eggs, etc?