Consumers Are Finding Creative Ways to Cope With High Food Prices
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your Monday briefing for Thursday, February 29th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. As the hole that food prices dig into your wallet gets deeper, consumers are becoming more resourceful when it comes to shopping and planning meals.
We talk to shoppers who really check their pantries before going to the grocery store and make sure they know what they actually really do need because they really want to eliminate food waste. You know, a lot of people are making more, you could say, humbler meals. Maybe instead of big, elaborate dinners, they're just doing something like a simple casserole to try to save money.
Why are food prices still high and what factors are driving inflation now?
We'll talk to Wall Street Journal reporter Heather Haddon about other ways consumers are trying to trim their grocery bill after the break.
Stubborn food inflation is causing consumers to get creative in their kitchen and the grocery store. Wall Street Journal reporter Heather Haddon joins me. Heather, you recently reported on how high food prices have gotten, and people responded to your story with all the strategies they've used to cope with inflation. Before we get into the creative ways they're saving, tell me why food is so expensive right now.
Well, there's many reasons that food has gone up. We've been experiencing inflation for lots of products since the pandemic and since we've been battling this inflationary spike. And aspects of the food basket, some of those inflationary pressures have just lingered longer. So there's a lot of inputs that go into food, some which are still inflationary, like cocoa is one when it comes to food. packaged food. And on the restaurant side, particularly labor, has really been a pressure that is not going away and is not expected to go away anytime soon, both because of minimum wage increases and also just the need for restaurants to staff up. They ended up spending a lot more and they have to pass along those costs, and that means higher prices for shoppers.
One place where people see the high cost of food almost on a daily basis is at the grocery store. How are some people adjusting their approach to shopping for food?
People are really doing a more surgical approach to their grocery shopping. I mean, maybe in the past people would just go in, not have a list necessarily, not have coupons. But now people are really prepared. We talked to shoppers who really check their pantries before going to the grocery store and make sure they don't need anything extra and make sure they know what they actually really do need because they really want to eliminate food waste. That's something that really came out through all this reporting is people are much more conscious of wasting food than they used to be because they're food is so expensive. So people are going to more affordable kinds of grocery stores, like an Aldi. Instead of maybe hiring grocery stores, they try to just really pare back what they're buying.
How are shoppers changing their grocery habits to cut costs?
And, you know, a lot of people are making more, you could say, humbler meals. Maybe instead of big elaborate dinners, they're just doing something like a simple casserole to try to save money.
Yeah. Some people talk to you about being more creative with the ingredients for meals. What do they tell you about that?
You know, you can look in your pantry and take, say, like one consumer, canned tuna, canned cream and mushroom soup, onions and garlic, egg noodles, boom, you got a casserole. And that sounds nourishing and hearty, but maybe it's not as good as some of the pork tops they used to make. So that's kind of an example of ways to just be a little more frugal and economical and maybe look at pantry staples as a way to cook. We talked to consumers who are just avoiding organic The price of meat, for one, has risen sharply.
Are people adjusting their actual diet in order to save money?
Yeah, we definitely talk to people who... said they were vegetarians before, ate a few pieces of meat before, and now they really are steadfast on that, and they're trying to get their family members to do the same.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:03–0:38
2
Why are food prices still high and what factors are driving inflation now?
0:38–2:59
3
How are shoppers changing their grocery habits to cut costs?
2:59–4:40
4
What pantry‑based meal ideas are people using to save money?
4:40–5:40
5
Are consumers changing their diets, like eating less meat or hosting vegetarian potlucks?
5:40–6:25
6
How much can backyard gardening and freezing extras reduce grocery bills?
6:25–7:05
7
What budgeting and price‑tracking tactics are people using to monitor food costs?
7:05–7:30
8
What must happen for food inflation to ease and which items might drop in price?
7:30–7:30
Speakers
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