Are prices – specifically grocery prices that affect the typical family – rising? Prices for those 46 items that comprise the PracticalDad Price Index food basket have been collected for December 2010 and are presented below. There are some comments:
- The final cost of the market basket is based upon the average taken for items from three separate and unrelated grocery stores.
- In the majority of cases, the item size is consistent across all stores. For a very few items however – a box of kitchen trash bags for example – there are three different box sizes and I have recalculated the price to be equivalent to the same size across all three stores. In the case of the trash bags, two stores had their prices recalculated from box sizes of 22 and 20 bags to equivalent costs per box of 26 bags. This methodology was used last month and will used consistently going forward.
- The cost of December’s basket was $179.79 versus November’s basket cost of $178.39 for an increase of $1.40. This is a cumulative monthly price rise of 0.78%, annualized to a rate of 9.42%.
- Using the November basket figures as the baseline of 100, the December results raise the PracticalDad Price Index to 100.78.
- One grocery store provided an example of phantom inflation as the coffee price remained the same ($3.19) but the can size decreased from 13 to 11 oz. I recalculated the price to an equivalent price at 13 oz, which would reflect a price of $3.77; this was an increased coffee price of 18% at that particular store.
- While I expect statistical noise on a monthly basis, I was surprised at the extent of a monthly price rise in two commodity-based items, coffee and aluminum foil. While aluminum foil only rose $.07/75 sq ft roll, this is still an increase of 2.4%, annualized to almost 29%. Both the coffee and the foil are household examples of the effects of excess liquidity sloshing into raw materials and driving up prices for the end consumer.
| Item | Size | Category | 11/10 Avg Price | 12/10 Avg Price |
| hot dog rolls, store brand (ct) | 8 | bread | 1.09 | 1.09 |
| loaf, white bread, store brand (oz) | 20 | bread | 1.12 | 1.12 |
| spaghetti, store brand (oz) | 16 | bread | 1.11 | 1.11 |
| children cereal, sugar flakes, store brand (oz) | 17 | cereal | 2.53 | 2.74 |
| cereal, rice chex, store brand (oz) | 12.8 | cereal | 2.69 | 2.66 |
| oatmeal, one-minute, store brand (oz) | 42 | cereal | 3.12 | 3.12 |
| milk, 2% (gallon) | 1 | dairy | 3.54 | 3.54 |
| butter, unsalted (lb) | 1 | dairy | 3.56 | 3.49 |
| vanilla ice cream, store brand (qt) | 1 | dairy | 1.85 | 1.88 |
| grated parmesan, store brand (oz) | 8 | dairy | 2.99 | 2.99 |
| American cheese (lb) | 1 | dairy | 5.85 | 5.52 |
| peanut butter, store brand (oz) | 28 | grocery | 2.96 | 2.96 |
| grape jelly, store brand (oz) | 32 | grocery | 1.82 | 1.82 |
| kidney beans, dark, store brand (oz) | 15.5 | grocery | .86 | .86 |
| can green peas, store brand (oz) | 15 | grocery | .89 | .89 |
| can diced tomatoes, store brand (oz) | 14.5 | grocery | .94 | .94 |
| can cut green beans, store brand (oz) | 14.5 | grocery | .89 | .89 |
| can corn, store brand (oz) | 15.25 | grocery | .89 | .89 |
| spaghetti sauce, store brand (oz) | 26 | grocery | 1.13 | 1.13 |
| cola, store brand (L) | 2 | grocery | .89 | .89 |
| caffeinated coffee, store brand (oz) | 13 | grocery | 2.96 | 3.25 |
| diapers, size 3, store brand | 104 | baby | 17.35 | 17.35 |
| formula, Enfamil premium Lipil (oz) | 23.4 | baby | 22.93 | 24.02 |
| child ibuprofen, OS, store brand (oz) | 4 | hlth/bty | 4.69 | 4.82 |
| adult ibuprofen, caplet, store brand (ct) | 100 | hlth/bty | 6.79 | 6.72 |
| shampoo, Suave (oz) | 22.5 | hlth/bty | 1.74 | 1.74 |
| pads, long, Poise brand (ct) | 42 | hlth/bty | 16.09 | 16.09 |
| bath soap, Dial brand (ct) | 8 | hlth/bty | 5.39 | 5.39 |
| aluminum foil, store brand (sq ft) | 75 | hshld | 2.90 | 2.97 |
| kitchen trash bags, store brand (ct) | 26 | hshld | 4.11 | 4.11 |
| paper towels, 2 ply, store brand (ct) | 8 | hshld | 7.26 | 7.26 |
| hot dogs, meat franks, store brand (oz) | 16 | meat | 2.46 | 2.46 |
| ground beef, 80% lean (per lb, bulk) | 1 | meat | 3.02 | 3.02 |
| eggs, large (dozen) | 1 | meat | 1.62 | 2.01 |
| lunchmeat, ham (lb) | 1 | meat | 5.56 | 5.12 |
| chicken, roaster (lb) | 1 | meat | 1.52 | 1.52 |
| fish sticks, Gorton (ct) | 44 | meat | 7.69 | 7.96 |
| tuna, water packed, store brand (oz) | 5 | meat | .96 | 1.32 |
| banana (lb) | 1 | produce | .58 | .58 |
| apples, Red Delicious, bag (lb) | 3 | produce | 3.66 | 3.59 |
| carrots (lb) | 2 | produce | 2.02 | 2.02 |
| OJ, original, store brand (oz) | 64 | produce | 2.66 | 2.16 |
| potatoes, Russet (lb) | 5 | produce | 3.82 | 3.99 |
| sugar, store brand (lb) | 5 | staple | 3.12 | 3.12 |
| flour, all purpose, store brand (lb) | 5 | staple | 1.96 | 1.96 |
| canola oil, store brand (oz) | 48 | staple | 3.12 | 3.12 |
| rice, white, long-grain (lb) | 2 | staple | 1.69 | 1.59 |
| total | 178.39 | 179.79 |