Looking Ahead: Ideas For Keeping Your Food Budget Under Control

Whether you eat at home or dine out, ways to combat higher prices

As one of my final stories of 2024, I wrote for Food & Wine about the continual increases in food prices, whether at home or in restaurants.

Food consumed at home — everything from bread and meat to fruit and dairy — rose by an average of 21.7% between February 2020 and fall 2024, according to an analysis for F&W by University of Michigan economist Don Grimes, who specializes in consumer trends.

The impact of inflation wasn’t confined to grocery stores. Dining out became even more expensive, with prices at sit-down restaurants, fast-casual chains, and fast-food outlets increasing by 28.5% during the same period.

Let’s put it another way. If your weekly grocery bill was $50 in February 2020, it’s now nearly $61. And if the amount you spent each week on eating out was the same, it now costs you nearly $65. (I’m going to guess that people who eat out spend much more than that.)

If you had parents who knew how to squeeze the most out of a weekly bill, congratulations. Those of us whose folks survived the Depression learned a lot of tricks from them. But there are lots of people who never thought about economizing.

I want to share some relatively easy tips for keeping a budget under control that won’t make you feel like you’re suffering. You may know all these, but some will hopefully inspire you.