Cookout price highest on record

Hosting a ten-person barbecue this Independence Day will cost $99 which is the highest total on record.

Soda, beer, beef and lettuce comprise 64 percent of the total cost this year, according to the Rabobank 2024 July 4th Barbecue Index. It could be the last time we will see a summer cookout for ten cost under $100 since food prices are unlikely to get cheaper.

From 2019 through the end of 2023, food inflation jumped 25 percent.

A senior consumer foods analyst says there is heightened fatigue and frugality due to an added two percent price hike in 2024 coupled with the disparity between the cost of eating at a restaurant and cooking at home being at the widest point in history.