INDIANAPOLIS—The prices of groceries are still high. Recent numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show prices are up 2.4% from April of 2024 to April of this year.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” said Karmen Carpenter.
Carpenter was picking up some groceries from Aldi. She says she tries to find the best deals.
“Seek them out, try to see what's on sale, see who’s got the best deals,” said Carpenter.
While prices are up from last year, there is some good news.
“Over the last couple of months, the prices have stabilized a bit, they’ve been relatively flat,” said Kimberly Palmer, a finance expert with NerdWallet. “For people who shop at the grocery store, plan their meals ahead of time, there are a lot of ways to stretch your budget right now given the stability of those grocery prices.”
Palmer says some of the ways you can stretch your budget is planning meals ahead of time, incorporating leftovers into other recipes, and shop the perimeter of the grocery store.
“Because once you get into the interior of the grocery store aisles, the prices actually go up a lot,” said Palmer. The perimeter you have produce and meats and you can shop across those categories in a way you can save. I would also recommend finding coupons that are available.”
Palmer also suggests apps to compare prices, like Flipp.
“You put in your zip code and it pulls in all the grocery stores in your zip code and you can actually shop across categories and see oh, the items I wanted to buy actually cost less at this store,” said Palmer.
