Putting Memorial Day BBQ on the Table May Put a Dent in Household Budgets

It’s Monday and a holiday. The hot dogs are at the ready. The grill’s fired up.

The wallets feel a whole lot lighter.

The Memorial Day weekend stretches out over three days, and millions of households mark their moments of remembrance for those who served alongside a serving up of burgers, hot dogs, chips, veggies, and of course a range of condiments.

And a cross-section of what it costs to get those items from the grocery store to the table offers a stark reminder of just how much inflation has touched every part of daily life.

Prices Keep Surging

Earlier this month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ April Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 4.9% in April as measured year on year. Drill down a bit and groceries were 7.1% more expensive in the same time frame. The data show some real and granular insight into individual “line items” that make up a barbecue. Hot dogs are 2.2% more expensive year on year, outpaced by chicken at 3.4%. If you’ve got egg salad or deviled eggs in the mix, well, eggs are 21% more expensive than they were last year. Steak’s up 2.1%, tempered a bit by hamburgers, 2.1% lower. Making fries puts the heat on the budget even further, as potatoes were up 7.5%. Salad ingredients — through the fresh vegetables and fruits category — were up 2%. Pickles, relishes and the like — the condiments that we put on, well, everything — have seen prices leap more than 13%.

Ice cream and “related products” surged 12.8%. Might want to be a bit parsimonious with the praline n’ cream scoops doled out to the kids.

One bit of news comes in the fact that it costs a bit less to actually heat the grill, as the cost of propane was 3.5% lower than last year, as measured in April.

The statistics, taken as a whole, show that most items are up in the high single-digit percentage points to double digits.

As detailed by PYMNTS in recent research, in a paycheck-to-paycheck economy where 60% live within that reality, two-thirds of consumers have been taking action in the grocery aisles by taking at least one of the following actions: Reducing the quality or quantity of what they buy, or switching merchants. Nearly 15% did all three.

A Boon for Private Label?

Those actions may be enough to make Memorial Day a weekend to remember for the retailing giants that have been betting on private label offerings to lure price conscious shoppers to do some switching.   During their most recent earnings reports firms like Walmart and Target have noted significant surges in grocery shopping. And even higher-income shoppers, according to commentary on the Walmart call, have been finding value in trading down a bit.

Earlier this week, Kroger announced bundles of “Memorial Day grilling options” that range from $5 to $10 per person — where the packages include everything from steak to hot dogs to slaw to ice cream under the Kroger and Private Selection brands. Walmart’s site lists summer cookouts “in just one click” that offer “per person” prices of around $6.50, with several Sam’s Choice items including burgers.

Inflation is forcing us to reconsider how we feed the masses that are our family and friends – with hopes of leaving a little left over in the family coffers to buy things … during those other Memorial Day sales.