Grocery prices did not move together from August 2025 to August 2026. The U.S. city-average CPI-U for food at home rose 2.2%, while food away from home increased 3.4%. Within the grocery basket, beef, coffee, rice, and some poultry categories rose sharply, while eggs, cheese, chicken, and several fruit and vegetable items declined.
Contents
- How grocery prices compared with restaurant prices
- Cereal, rice, pasta, bread, and bakery items
- Meat, poultry, and seafood
- Eggs, milk, cheese, and dairy
- Fresh fruit and vegetables
- Canned, frozen, and dried foods
- Beverages and meal-planning staples
How grocery prices compared with restaurant prices
These figures use the U.S. city-average Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), and each comparison covers August 2025 to August 2026. The grocery-store measure, food at home, rose 2.2%. The broader all-food index rose 2.7%, while food away from home rose 3.4%.
| CPI-U food measure | Change, August 2025–August 2026 |
|---|---|
| Food at home | 2.2% increase |
| All food | 2.7% increase |
| Food away from home | 3.4% increase |
| Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs | 1.1% increase |
The meats, poultry, fish, and eggs grouping rose 1.1%, below the 2.2% increase for food at home. That broad grouping hides large differences between individual foods: eggs fell 23.0%, while fish and seafood rose 6.5%, and uncooked poultry including turkey rose 11.5%.
For household meal planning, the comparison is most useful as a category map rather than as a promise about a particular store’s shelf price. The CPI-U figures describe changes in average consumer prices across U.S. cities, not a price quote for one supermarket, package size, brand, or region. The measurement period is August 2025 through August 2026, so it should not be read as a weekly or monthly sale comparison. Consumer Price Index - August 2026, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Cereal, rice, pasta, bread, and bakery items
Cereals and bakery products increased 2.6% over the period. The combined result was steadier than several of its components. Cereals and cereal products rose 3.1%, and breakfast cereal also rose 3.1%. Rice, pasta, and cornmeal increased 3.4%, but rice alone rose 4.7%.
Flour and prepared flour mixes were comparatively stable, rising 0.6%. Bakery products increased 2.4%, while bread rose 3.8%. This produces a useful comparison for planning meals around low-cost staples:
- The 0.6% increase for flour and prepared flour mixes was the smallest change in this group.
- Rice rose 4.7%, 1.3 percentage points more than the 3.4% increase for rice, pasta, and cornmeal together.
- Bread rose 3.8%, compared with 2.4% for bakery products overall.
- Breakfast cereal and cereals and cereal products each rose 3.1%.
These measures do not establish that one item is cheaper in dollars than another. They show how each CPI-U category changed over the same year. A meal plan that rotates rice, pasta, flour-based dishes, and bread can therefore encounter different rates of price movement even when all four are treated as pantry or bakery staples.
Meat, poultry, and seafood
Meat and seafood showed some of the widest increases in the grocery comparison. The CPI-U for meats, poultry, and fish rose 3.5%, and meats alone rose 3.6%. Beef and veal increased 5.9%. Within beef, uncooked ground beef rose 7.2%, uncooked beef roasts rose 8.4%, and uncooked beef steaks rose 4.0%.
Pork rose 0.6%, but the pork subcategories did not move uniformly. Bacon, breakfast sausage, and related products fell 2.3%, while ham rose 4.2%. Poultry rose 0.5%, and chicken fell 2.3%. At the same time, uncooked poultry including turkey rose 11.5%, the largest increase among the listed meat and poultry measures.
Fish and seafood rose 6.5%. For a meal planner, the contrast matters: the overall poultry category was nearly flat, chicken declined, and the broader uncooked poultry including turkey measure increased sharply. Those are separate CPI-U categories and should not be blended into a single assumed poultry price trend.
The category comparison is:
| Meat, poultry, or seafood category | Change, August 2025–August 2026 |
|---|---|
| Meats, poultry, and fish | 3.5% increase |
| Beef and veal | 5.9% increase |
| Uncooked ground beef | 7.2% increase |
| Uncooked beef roasts | 8.4% increase |
| Pork | 0.6% increase |
| Chicken | 2.3% decrease |
| Uncooked poultry including turkey | 11.5% increase |
| Fish and seafood | 6.5% increase |
Eggs, milk, cheese, and dairy
Dairy-related measures moved in opposite directions. Eggs fell 23.0% from August 2025 to August 2026, the largest decrease among the supplied grocery categories. Dairy and related products overall fell 0.3%. Cheese and related products fell 3.8%, and ice cream and related products fell 1.8%.
Milk moved upward despite those declines. Milk rose 4.1%, fresh whole milk rose 4.7%, and fresh milk other than whole rose 4.0%. In other words, the dairy category’s small overall decrease does not describe every dairy staple: milk prices rose while cheese, ice cream, and eggs declined in the listed CPI-U comparisons.
For meal planning, this is a reminder to check the specific ingredient category instead of relying on a broad label such as dairy. A breakfast plan centered on eggs and milk faced two different directions in the data, while cheese-based meals and frozen dessert purchases had their own declines. The percentages describe year-over-year CPI-U movement, not a claim that every carton, dozen, or package changed by the same amount.
Fresh fruit and vegetables
Fresh fruit rose 3.8%, but the individual fruit measures varied. Apples increased 5.4%, citrus fruits increased 2.4%, and oranges, including tangerines, fell 0.9%. Bananas fell 1.4%. The citrus aggregate and the oranges-and-tangerines measure should be kept distinct because they represent different CPI-U groupings.
Fresh vegetables rose 2.6%. Potatoes increased 3.6%, tomatoes increased 5.8%, and other fresh vegetables increased 2.0%. Lettuce moved in the opposite direction, falling 2.2%.
The produce figures support a more precise shopping comparison:
- Apples: 5.4% increase.
- Bananas: 1.4% decrease.
- Citrus fruits: 2.4% increase.
- Oranges, including tangerines: 0.9% decrease.
- Fresh vegetables: 2.6% increase.
- Potatoes: 3.6% increase.
- Lettuce: 2.2% decrease.
- Tomatoes: 5.8% increase.
- Other fresh vegetables: 2.0% increase.
A produce-heavy plan therefore contains both rising and falling categories. The data does not support assuming that all fruit or all vegetables became more expensive at the same rate. It supports comparing the particular foods used in the plan and tracking the measurement period explicitly.
Canned, frozen, and dried foods
Processed fruits and vegetables rose 3.2% from August 2025 to August 2026. Canned fruits and vegetables rose 4.0%, with canned fruits up 3.4% and canned vegetables up 4.0%. Frozen fruits and vegetables rose 2.4%, while frozen vegetables alone rose 2.3%.
Dried beans, peas, and lentils rose 3.5%. Frozen and freeze-dried prepared foods were nearly unchanged, rising 0.1%. The comparison suggests that preservation method and product type mattered within the broader convenience-food group: canned vegetables rose 4.0%, frozen vegetables rose 2.3%, and prepared frozen or freeze-dried foods rose only 0.1%.
These are category-level changes, not a quality or nutrition ranking. They can help organize a pantry-focused budget, but they cannot establish that canned food is always less expensive than fresh food or that frozen food will cost less than a comparable fresh package. Package sizes, brands, and local prices are outside the supplied CPI-U comparisons.
Beverages and meal-planning staples
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials rose 3.7%. Juices and nonalcoholic drinks rose 3.5%, while carbonated drinks rose 4.4%. The split between frozen and nonfrozen noncarbonated drinks was substantial: frozen noncarbonated juices and drinks fell 0.3%, while nonfrozen noncarbonated juices and drinks rose 3.2%.
Beverage materials including coffee and tea rose 4.0%. Coffee rose 6.1%, roasted coffee rose 4.9%, and instant coffee rose 11.0%. Other beverage materials including tea rose 0.4%.
For a meal-planning budget, coffee is therefore a particularly important subcategory to separate from the wider beverage-materials measure. Instant coffee had the largest listed beverage increase, followed by coffee overall and roasted coffee. Tea and other beverage materials were comparatively stable at 0.4%.
The full comparison shows why category detail matters. Food at home rose 2.2% overall, but the same August-to-August period included a 23.0% decline for eggs, an 11.5% increase for uncooked poultry including turkey, an 11.0% increase for instant coffee, a 5.8% increase for tomatoes, and a 2.3% decline for chicken. These are U.S. city-average CPI-U changes for August 2025 to August 2026 from the Consumer Price Index - August 2026; they are not forecasts, store-specific prices, or independently verified legacy figures.