Average weekly grocery spending went up in April to $129 per week, according to the April 2024 Consumer Food Insights report from Purdue University. Total food spending has increased 10% from April of last year and 17% from April 2022.
Price (32%), food selection (19%), and fresh produce offerings (12%) were the top three factors for consumers when deciding where to shop for groceries. Price was more important to rural consumers than urban (44% compared to 31%), and food selection was more important to urban shoppers (20% compared to 12% for rural).
The consumer estimate of annual food inflation inched down to 6.3% in April, and their expectations for the next year fell from 4.0% to 3.8%. The government CPI measure remained at 2.2% for the month, marking the first time since August 2022’s peak of 11.3% that inflation hasn’t decreased. This suggests that food inflation may be stabilizing.
Other highlights include:
- The report estimates that the rate of household food insecurity for the month decreased by about 1 percentage point to 11%.
- More consumers reported that they were “rather happy” or “very happy” with their diets (87%) than in January of this year (81%).
- The most frequent shopping habits among consumers included checking the use-by/sell-by date at the store, making efforts to reduce food waste at home, and selecting generic foods over brand-name foods.
