Cheddar cheese, ice cream, and other groceries that dropped in price in the West last month
Jeff Whyte // Shutterstock
Cheddar cheese, ice cream, and other groceries that dropped in price in the West last month
Grocery shoppers felt a slight reprieve this spring as grocery prices fell after a run of increases spanning back to September 2020.
Grocery prices remained relatively unchanged in May and June, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. It certainly didn’t undo the two years of historically high inflation, and prices were still up 4.7% from June 2022. But urban prices have fallen in many grocery categories, including eggs, meats, vegetables, grains, and dairy products.
Many factors have contributed to past surges in pricing, including producers’ increased cost to package goods, extreme weather conditions that destroyed crops, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the lasting effects of COVID-19.
While costs remain high overall, the decreases mean dollars can stretch a bit further at the grocery store. Stacker used monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics data to find the grocery items that experienced the largest price decreases over the last month in the West, using year-over-year changes as a tiebreaker where needed. For this analysis, the West includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Stacker excluded some hyper-specific meat categories in order to better understand grocery price fluctuations more broadly.
Canva
#6. Bananas (per lb.)
– One-month decrease in cost: -0.3%
– Annual change in cost: -3.1%
– June 2023 cost: $0.71
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#5. Whole milk (per gal.)
– One-month decrease in cost: -1.8%
– Annual change in cost: -7.8%
– June 2023 cost: $3.99
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#4. Wine (per 1 liter)
– One-month decrease in cost: -1.9%
– Annual change in cost: -9.1%
– June 2023 cost: $13.72
Canva
#3. Ground coffee (per lb.)
– One-month decrease in cost: -2.8%
– Annual change in cost: -2.5%
– June 2023 cost: $6.11
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#2. Ice cream, prepackaged in bulk (per 1/2 gal.)
– One-month decrease in cost: -3.8%
– Annual change in cost: -3.6%
– June 2023 cost: $6.51
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#1. Cheddar cheese, natural (per lb.)
– One-month decrease in cost: -9.7%
– Annual change in cost: -12.7%
– June 2023 cost: $5.39
