Consumers in the United States are expected to pay just a few cents more for their favorite Independence Day cookout foods compared to last year, including cheeseburgers, pork chops, chicken breasts, homemade potato salad, pork & beans, strawberries, potato chips, fresh-squeezed lemonade and vanilla ice cream with chocolate chip cookies for dessert.
American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) analysis reveals the average cost of a summer cookout for 10 people remains affordable at $59.50, or less than $6 per person. The cost is up just 16 cents (less than 1%) from last year, but 8% higher compared to 2019.
The largest year-to-year price increase was for strawberries. Survey results showed two pints of strawberries at $5.30, up 22% from last year, due to strong demand and the effects of several weather events including severe rain, hail and high winds that caused significant setbacks to the harvest early in 2021.
Retail price changes for products in the meat case are a bit more nuanced, according to AFBF Economist Veronica Nigh.
“Beef and pork processing plant disruptions that occurred in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic have been resolved, leading to lower retail ground beef and pork chop prices in 2021 compared to 2020,” Nigh said. “However, consumers looking a bit farther back to compare prices are seeing higher prices for ground beef, pork chops and chicken breasts compared to pre-pandemic (2019) prices. That’s due to continued strong demand for American-grown beef and pork from both US and international consumers.”
“According to the Agriculture Department’s revised Food Dollar Series, farmers currently receive approximately 8% of every food marketing dollar,” Nigh said. “The farmer’s share of the retail food dollar is as low as 2% to 4% for highly processed foods such as bread and cereal, and as much as 35% for some fresh-market products.”
This year’s survey combines Bureau of Labor Statistics food price data with results collected by more than 160 volunteer rural shoppers across the country and in Puerto Rico, including Farm Bureau members and others.
A full list of foods and prices included in the survey follows.
Individual Prices, AFBF 2021 Summer Cookout
◦2 pints of strawberries, $5.30 (up 22%)
◦13-ounce bag of chocolate chip cookies, $4.02 (up 11%)
◦8 hamburger buns, $1.66 (up 6%)
◦2.5 pounds of homemade potato salad, $2.75 (up 3%)
◦2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, $6.74 (up 1%)
◦32 ounces of pork and beans, $1.90 (down 13%)
◦2 pounds of ground beef, $8.20 (down 8%)
◦Half-gallon of vanilla ice cream, $4.69 (down 5%)
◦3 pounds of center cut pork chops, $11.63 (down 2%)
◦2.5 quarts of lemonade, $3.65 (down 2%)
◦1 pound of sliced cheese, $4.05 (down 1%)
◦13-ounce bag of potato chips, $4.93 (down 1%)
