Paying Less for a More Expensive July 4th Cookout
With your Southeast Regional Ag News, I am Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network.
How’s that for total confusion? It’ll cost you more and less to get that family fed barbecue-style this holiday. Here’s what I’m getting at. This year’s cookout will cost significantly more than two years ago, although prices have fallen slightly from record highs in 2022.
Families will pay $67.73 to host an Independence Day cookout with ten family members or friends, based on the 2023 American Farm Bureau Federation marketbasket survey. That grocery bill is down three percent from 2022, but still approximately 14 percent higher than prices were just two years ago.
Last year set a record high since AFBF began the survey in 2013, and 2023 comes in as the second-highest cost.
The marketbasket survey shows a year-to-year increase in the cost of hamburger buns, beef and potato salad, while there are drops in the cost of chicken breasts, lemonade and cookies.
Bottom line, these people are obviously more focused shoppers than me. Although historically high, the cost of the cookout breaks down to less than $7 per person.
