Holiday cookouts tick upward this Fourth of July

FORT MYERS, Fla.(WINK) — As families across Southwest Florida prepare to fire up the grill this Fourth of July, many are finding they need a different strategy at the grocery store.

A new survey from the American Farm Bureau Federation found the average Independence Day cookout for 10 people will cost $73.82 this year, up 4% from last year and the highest total since the organization began tracking holiday cookout prices in 2016.

The survey includes traditional Fourth of July favorites like hamburgers, chicken, pork chops, potato salad, baked beans, strawberries, lemonade and ice cream.

For Fort Myers resident Logan Whitby, the rising cost of groceries means shopping smarter, not necessarily buying less.

“Groceries are expensive for everybody,” Whitby said. “I always start at the cheapest place. If that’s Sunflower Market or Aldi, that’s where I go first. I love Publix, but I don’t go there first. I go there last to round out everything else I need.”

Whitby said saving money often means making several stops instead of buying everything in one place.

“It would be more convenient to get everything at one place, but that’s just not how it is sometimes,” she said.

She’s even changing his holiday menu based on price.

“Maybe we don’t need burgers and hot dogs. Maybe I’ll just get hot dogs because then you’ve got to buy the burger buns and the hot dog buns. That’s how they get you,” Whitby joked.

According to the Farm Bureau survey, several cookout staples saw noticeable price increases this year. Ground beef rose 5.5%, hamburger buns climbed 7.7%, chicken breasts increased 3.5%, pork chops were up 4.7%, strawberries jumped 12.4%, and pork and beans increased 13.8%.

Not every item became more expensive. Potato salad ingredients fell nearly 18%, while egg prices dropped significantly after recovering from recent outbreaks of avian influenza.

For Mary Ellen, a retired Fort Myers resident, budgeting has become a way of life.

“I’m officially retired now, so I have to shop differently than I used to,” she said. “I wasn’t concerned about what I was spending every week before. Now I live differently.”

She now shops sales, looks for discounted products and supports locally owned businesses whenever possible.

“Budgeting and planning…$75 is a lot of money when you have a limited amount of retirement income,” she said.

Even so, Mary said she’s still focused on helping others.

“A lot of what’s in my cart today isn’t about me,” she said. “It’s about how many people I can provide for with the small amount of retirement money that I have.”

The Farm Bureau noted that while consumers continue paying more at checkout, farmers receive less than six cents of every food dollar, with the remainder covering processing, packaging, transportation, marketing and retail costs.

Despite higher prices, shoppers said Fourth of July traditions aren’t going away, they’re simply becoming a little more intentional.