Last year your food bill grew by 3.5% thanks largely to COVID. This year and next should see continuing increases according to USDA economist Carolyn Chelius.
She says you are likely to be paying two to three percent more at checkout, about the same as a month ago. One category that had increased in the latest projection is meat – there, Chelius says, beef and veal prices could be 3 to 4 percent higher, pork prices between 4 to 5 percent up and poultry higher by 2.5 to 3.5 percent. She notes meat has seen increases for the past four months.
Now that restaurants are opening again, demand for meat is soaring while cost to produce meat is increasing, especially in the area of livestock feed and fuels.
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