Shopper Compares Grocery List From 5 Years Ago To Now, Revealing Just How Much Prices Have Changed
The rising cost of groceries has left many people struggling to afford food.
Drazen Zigic | Shutterstock A shopper dug up their old grocery list from 2020 and shared it on Reddit to illustrate how drastically prices have changed in a short amount of time. They warned that the sticker shock was "brutal," knowing that something as basic as buying food has become more of a luxury than a necessity.
It's no secret that grocery prices have skyrocketed to the point where many Americans are struggling to put food on the table. Over the last several years, the cost of living in many areas has become truly impossible to keep up with.
A shopper compared a grocery list from 5 years ago to now, revealing just how much prices have changed.
"So, a few days ago I found this spreadsheet I made back in 2020 tracking the groceries I normally buy. Thought it'd be fun to update it for 2025... and wow. Just... wow," they began in their Reddit post. "Some prices barely moved, some went up a bit, a few actually went down — but the real shockers? Eggs. A carton of 18 used to be $1.57. Today? $3.22. Yeah, more than double. I did a double-take."
Reddit
In their list, items such as eggs, vinegar, table salt, vegetable oil, and white sugar were purchased for under $2. Whereas milk was only $2.75 and oatmeal was $2.46. But now, in 2025, there's been a $2 to $3 increase on a lot of those products. For example, oatmeal in 2025 is now almost $4, while eggs are $3.22.
"But looking back at the totals... back in 2020, my full list ran me $273. Now? $386. That's $113 more, or roughly 41% higher. And meanwhile, minimum wage hasn't moved an inch, it's still $7.25/hour!" they wrote. "Just thinking about it makes regular grocery trips feel... brutal. Even without adding meat prices, it's clear that keeping a stocked kitchen on a fixed income is way harder than it was five years ago."
A vast majority of Americans can no longer afford groceries.
A report by consumer research company Attest estimated that 59.5% of Americans are facing extreme food insecurity. Similarly, high grocery prices have reached a national weekly average of $152.89 for an individual.
Research has even shown that in order to cover the weekly cost of groceries for many households, average wage earners need to work about 7 hours and 19 minutes a week to meet that cost. For minimum wage workers, the time cost is more than double; they need to work 15 hours and 37 minutes a week to cover the cost of groceries.
Frankly, buying groceries shouldn't be something that people have to agonize over or even budget to the last penny just to make sure their family can eat. It should just be a guaranteed part of life, but then again, so should a lot of things that Americans can't seem to afford anymore.
The fact that prices have risen drastically over a five-year period says a lot about how deeply broken our system really is, when something as essential as eating and having food in the fridge has become so out of reach for too many people.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor's degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
