I don’t know about you, but it feels as if my grocery budget is stretched so thin it’s about to rupture — and honestly, it seems like that’s the case for everyone I know. People are swapping brand names for store brands, buying less prepackaged foods, investing in small appliances to make cheaper meals more accessible (a bit of irony, I know), and all of it kind of makes you feel like you’re failing at adulting.
But the truth is, it’s not you, and it’s not me — it’s groceries. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics just released its yearly Consumer Expenditure Survey for 2023, and the numbers don’t lie. American households spent $6,053 last year on groceries — not including alcoholic beverages — up 15% from $5,259 in 2021.
What did they spend it on? I’m glad you asked. Here’s how the numbers break down.
1. Cereals and bakery products
There’s no reason to deny that Americans love their carbs, and for good reason. Many cereals and grains are great sources of vitamins and minerals, and breads are a universally recognized base for so many different Euro-centric and American meals that it’s no surprise that households spent $830 last year on them. What’s more of a shock is that this is more than $100 over what they spent in 2022.
2. Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs
Almost every category of groceries saw an increase in spending in 2023, except for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs. This category actually dropped by about 4.5% between 2022 and 2023, from $1,216 to $1,164.
Subcategories on the decline included beef, pork, other meats, and poultry. Eggs and fish and seafood saw increases — egg spending quite dramatically went from $87 in 2022 to $99 in 2023, a nearly 14% rise in one year.
3. Dairy products
Spending on dairy products was up to $602 in 2023, but it wasn’t across dairy categories. We spent substantially more on “other dairy products,” going from $364 in 2022 to $452 in 2023, but our spending on milk and cream dropped from $168 in 2022 to $149 in 2023.
4. Fruits and vegetables
The good news is that we seemed to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables in 2023, but the bad news is that overall spending on fruits and vegetables is on the decline. In 2023, spending was at $988 for this category, down from $1,099 the year prior.
However, fresh fruits saw a bump from $406 to $413, and fresh vegetables from $352 to $405 – this could be due to increases in pricing, but I hope that it’s due to increases in consumption. The BLS did change how it tracks the subcategories of processed fruits and vegetables last year, however, so this could account for the lowered spending across this category.
5. Other food
Other food at home, by the BLS’s definitions, includes nonalcoholic beverages (soda, seltzer, etc), sugar and other sweets, fats and oils, and just a category for whatever doesn’t fit anywhere else called “miscellaneous foods.” In this category, we spent a lot more, going from $2,144 in 2022 to $2,469 in 2023.
I’m not at all judging that candy bar or soda you splurged on at the market, it’s been a rough few years.
6. Food away from home
Along with groceries, otherwise known as “food at home,” the Consumer Expenditure Survey tracks how much we spent on food away from home. This is generally meals eaten in restaurants and takeout, but anything eaten away from home could be included.
In 2023, we spent $3,933 per household on food away from home, which is a huge jump from 2021, when we spent just $3,030.
7. Alcoholic beverages
Although not counted in the food categories by the BLS, I think I’d be remiss to skip our national spending on alcoholic beverages in this article. It’s technically food, and can be purchased at a lot of markets nationally, so let’s talk about it.
In 2023, American households spent $637 on alcoholic beverages, up from $554 in 2021. Hopefully this isn’t where the missing spend for fruits and vegetables ended up, but I digress.
It’s the question I keep asking myself, and after reading this study, I’m asking it for all of us. How do we make grocery shopping cheaper this year? It really depends on where you live, but buying fruit and vegetables in season, and buying foods you know you’ll like in bulk have always been fairly universal tricks.
Personally, I’m using more cash back apps, like Ibotta. These are programs you load on your phone that will pay you back some of the cost of certain products, based on deals made with manufacturers.
You can get cash back on generic products, but mostly, these tools work best for name-brand goods, so if you only buy the store brand, that won’t help much. Still, it’s an easy download and worth checking out during your next really boring meeting at work or long wait in the pickup line at school.
