2026 Cookout Cost Survey Reflects Inflation Increase

Smith: Families celebrating the Fourth of July holiday with a cookout will pay slightly higher prices at the grocery store this year. Faith Parum, an economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, said the Bureau's annual cookout survey cost reflects the overall rate of inflation.

Parum: The American Farm Bureau has been surveying volunteer shoppers on the cost of a cookout survey since 2016. For this year, a cost for ten guests will be $73.82 or about $7.38 per person.

Smith: Parum said this is an increase, but it's important to remember the economic context of the basket.

Parum: This year, the basket is a bit more expensive, but it's actually holding pace with inflation, so our cost is up about four percent from last year, but the overall annual inflation rate in the United States is 4.2 percent, and so we're right at the inflation levels. We've been holding steady the last few years when we adjust for inflation, down from some of those record highs we saw in 2022.

Smith: Parum said most of the items saw an increase this year.

Parum: The first is beef. We see higher beef prices this year. For strawberries, we saw a price increase that's mainly due to a devastating freeze in Florida. We have two items decreasing: potato salad and chips. That's mainly due to the decrease in potato prices, but for potato salad, it's largely being driven by the decrease in egg prices.

Smith: Learn more at fb.org/news. Chad Smith, Washington.