Your July 4 BBQ will cost you more than ever

TheStreet’s Conway Gittens explains why your July 4 BBQ will be your most expensive one yet.

Transcript

00:00The July 4th holiday is time for family, friends, fireworks, and food.

00:04And this year, that food bill is expected to be 5% higher than last year.

00:10The American Farm Bureau Federation did its annual price check

00:13on the most common items served at a July 4th barbecue.

00:16And here is what it found.

00:18The average bill for a barbecue of 10 people

00:21is expected to be at a record high of $71.22 in 2024,

00:27up from $67.73 in 2023.

00:31More startling, prices for the same basket of goods have soared 30% since 2019.

00:38Now, meat is the star at any barbecue,

00:40and that's where you'll see the heftiest price hikes.

00:43Two pounds of ground beef ring up at $12.77.

00:47That's 11% more than last year.

00:49One package of hamburger buns cost $2.41, up 7%.

00:54Want a cheeseburger?

00:55One pound of cheese costs $3.57, a rise of 1%.

01:01If you're looking for other meat options,

01:03three pounds of pork chops cost $15.49 this year, a gain of 8%.

01:09Good news for chicken lovers, however.

01:11Two pounds of chicken breast now cost $7.83.

01:15That's down 4% from last summer.

01:18Now to the fixings.

01:19The price for a 32-ounce can of pork and beans is up 2% this year,

01:24but making homemade potato salad is now 4% cheaper than it was a year ago.

01:30Snacks are more costly, too.

01:31The price tag for a half-gallon of ice cream is up by 7%,

01:35while a 16-ounce bag of potato chips costs 8% more than last year.

01:40But the biggest sticker shock is not on your plate, it's in your cup.

01:44The price for two and a half quarts of lemonade comes in at $4.19.

01:49That's a whopping 12% surge from last year's barbecue.

01:53The price spike is the result of a bacterial infection that has damaged lemon crops.

01:58While this survey confirms you are paying more for groceries on average,

02:03food inflation is nowhere as bad as it has been.

02:06Government data for May showed prices for food at home rose only 1% from a year ago.

02:12That's way down from 13.5% in August 2022.