Higher Food Prices in Perspective

From Yahoo Finance, some historical perspective on food prices.

I've excerpted a bit below. Prices for most items are about double what they were 30 years ago. Most of us are making--I would guess--more than double what we were back then. If prices are killing us, I would venture to say it's not food that is to blame.

10 Everyday Grocery Items: Now and Then
by Lauren Covello


Rising prices may be top of mind for consumers right now, but they're nothing new. Here's a look at how the price tags on these 10 basic items have changed over the last three decades.


©Fox Business

1. Bread

What you pay now: $1.41 (average price for a pound of white bread)

What you paid ...

Last year: $1.37
5 years ago: $1.08
10 years ago: $1.00
15 years ago: $0.88
20 years ago: $0.71
25 years ago: $0.57
30 years ago: $0.53


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2. Butter

What you pay now: $3.69 (average price for a pound of salted butter)

What you paid ...

Last year: $3.13
5 years ago: $2.92
10 years ago: $3.30
15 years ago: $2.05
20 years ago: $1.94
25 years ago: $2.15
30 years ago: $1.99


©Fox Business

3. Eggs

What you pay now: $1.73 (average price for a dozen Grade-A eggs)

What you paid ...

Last year: $1.66
5 years ago: $1.31
10 years ago: $0.93
15 years ago: $1.11
20 years ago: $0.99
25 years ago: $0.87
30 years ago: $0.90



Data courtesy of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. ("What you pay now" is the average price for March 2011; historical prices were calculated by averaging the monthly price data for the years noted.)