Stretching food dollars is something Gale Hethcoat knows well, but the double-whammy of high grocery prices and the holiday season is putting her shopping skills to the test.
The 67-year-old great-grandmother and occasional DoorDash driver is using several strategies to combat high food prices.
Hethcoat drives from her Wicker Park home — where her disabled daughter, granddaughter and her fiance, and two great-grandchildren also live — to a carniceria and an Aldi in Hammond, Indiana, where the sales tax and gas prices are lower.
She’s watching for holiday sales, still remembering a Christmas ham she nabbed a few years ago at a supermarket for 19 cents a pound. She also goes to the Common Pantry in North Center for milk, eggs, fruit and baby diapers.
“The way that groceries are going right now, I’ve got to [use Common Pantry],” Hethcoat says. “It helps — a lot.”
Since December, the Chicago Sun-Times has been tracking shelf prices monthly of 35 common grocery items at four major Chicago retailers. So far, prices of most items have edged higher or remained unchanged.
- Our total basket price at Jewel-Osco was $282.95 this month, a $20.50 increase from last December’s basket total of $262.45.
- At Mariano’s, our total was $18 higher than in December.
- Our total at Target was up by $11.04 from December.
- One bright spot was Walmart. While the store doesn’t always have the exact items in stock, making it difficult to track monthly, the cost of our basket dipped by $4.56 since December — led by unusually low prices this month for bacon, butter and cheese.
- Prices for diapers (up $3 at Jewel and Mariano’s and $1.50 at Target), menstrual pads (up $2.50 at Jewel and $1 at Mariano’s and Target) and coffee (up $2.50 at Jewel, Mariano’s and Target) rose the most between December and this month.
- Hot dogs, peanut M&Ms, ground beef, orange juice and deodorant also went up at most of the stores.
Consumers have endured years of stubbornly high grocery prices, which soared in June 2022 when inflation hit a 40-year high of 9.1%.
High grocery prices played an important role in the 2024 election, with then-candidate Donald Trump promising to get grocery prices down on “day one.”
On Wednesday, Trump claimed “grocery prices are way down,” but that’s not the case, according to the latest Consumer Price Index. Average grocery prices in September were up 2.7% year over year and about 1.4% higher than they were in January.
Of the 35 items the Sun-Times tracked at Jewel, 16 stayed the same price, 15 rose and four dropped over the past 12 months. At Mariano’s, 17 items stayed the same price, 16 went up and 2 went down.
Prices at Target and Walmart were more volatile over the past year.
Since December, seven items at Target stayed the same price, 18 increased and 10 decreased. At Walmart, seven stayed even, 13 went up and 12 dropped, with three items that weren’t listed online to consistently track.
Shopping around
Rosemarie Nowicki, who lives in Oak Park, shops at Walmart to stock up on staples for Sunday family dinners for her family of seven adult children, 25 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren, with one more on the way.
“I do a lot of shopping and cooking,” Nowicki says.
She watches prices carefully, saying they “never came down” after the post-pandemic inflationary high. She says Walmart is significantly less expensive than other chains for almond milk, pasta, soup and diapers, items she buys regularly.
Nowicki isn’t changing her Thanksgiving menu of turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberries and pumpkin pie, but she is on the lookout for the lowest price on turkeys.
“I will check around and see who has it,” she says.
Edmund Burke, a retired food broker who lives in Oak Brook, says he bypasses the big grocery chains in favor of Woodman’s, a smaller Wisconsin-based grocer with a handful of suburban locations, including in Bloomingdale.
The drive there takes him about 40 minutes, but he offsets that by filling up his car with $2.89-a-gallon gas at Woodman’s gas station next door.
He estimates a family buying a big cart of groceries could save $70 or $80 at the independent store, compared to better-known supermarkets. The one hassle is shoppers have to pay by cash or with a Discover credit card.
On a recent trip, Burke found prices for bananas at 59 cents a pound, Cheerios for $3.69, a 32-ounce bottle of half-and-half cream for $2.69 and Skippy peanut butter for $2.69.
“People struggling to feed their families … this could really help them,” Burke says.
Holidays ‘looking grim’
Common Pantry Executive Director Margaret O’Conor says higher prices at supermarkets combined with high housing costs, fewer jobs and missed payments from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are pushing many families over the edge.
“I liken it to another thousand cuts in an already gaping wound,” O’Conor says.
The nonprofit food pantry served 3,544 people in October, up 21% year-over-year from 2,928 people.
“These are folks that have either never come to our pantry or to any pantry,” she says.
Quintonele Allen, a community health worker who lives in Homan Square, says she uses food pantries whenever she can get a ride, to supplement her grocery budget.
Her neighborhood lacks big-box stores so she often relies on food deliveries from Walmart.
Allen isn’t planning to host big holiday gatherings this year.
“To be honest, Thanksgiving is looking grim. With prices being high, I won’t have family over because I can’t afford to host, and due to my transportation barriers, I don’t plan on visiting,” she says.
Instead, she’ll enjoy a small dinner for Thanksgiving and Christmas, when one of her daughters comes home from college for winter break.
Quintonele Allen has tried to keep costs down, picking up tips at healthy cooking demonstrations and meal prepping so she doesn’t waste anything. But in recent months, food costs have become too pricey and she’s opted to have a small Thanksgiving and Christmas gathering.
Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times
Reasons for price hikes
There are a number of reasons grocery prices tracked by the Sun-Times have increased in the past year.
Analysts have blamed pricier beef, for example, on a combination of drought, low herd sizes and higher feed costs. For coffee, the culprit is poor harvests overseas. Price hikes for diapers and menstrual pads are blamed on inflation and higher costs for raw materials.
Economists have also been bracing for the effects of tariffs on imported grocery items. For now, some importers and retailers have been absorbing the extra costs in hopes that tariffs will be negotiated down. But most economists expect consumers will eventually pay the taxes in the form of higher prices.
Albertsons, the parent company of Jewel, and Kroger, the parent of Mariano’s, didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Hethcoat knows there are larger economic forces working against her ability to feed her family. She used to spend about $300 a month on food, but now it’s closer to $500 a month.
She stretches her budget as much as she can, watching for sales and coupons.
Her Chinese chicken, ravioli soup and arroz con pollo dishes can feed her family with plenty of leftovers for lunch or for storing in the freezer.
She bought a food processor to shred cooked chicken for soups and other recipes. She dreams of buying an extra freezer so she can buy even more in bulk “and load that baby up.”
“I’ve learned how to stretch meals like there’s no tomorrow,” she says.
