Indiana shoppers paying more for Fourth of July cookouts

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Hoosier shoppers are facing higher prices at the grocery store, meaning the traditional Fourth of July cookout will cost a bit more this year.

A cookout for 10 people featuring summertime staples like cheeseburgers, potato salad, chicken breasts, strawberries, and lemonade will cost an average of $64.32, or $6.43 per person, according to data collected by Indiana Farm Bureau. That’s a 13% increase compared to 2021.

Several factors, including fuel prices and inflation, are driving up food costs, says Isabella Chism, second vice president of Indiana Farm Bureau.

“By the time the food leaves the farmer’s field or their barns, you’ve got transportation costs and processing costs. We’ve also got the supply chain issues that have been going on globally, as well as the lingering COVID-19 effects. We also have the war in Ukraine that is also contributing to all of these cost increases.”

However, Hoosiers will enjoy cheaper food prices than shoppers in other states. The cost of a Fourth of July cookout in Indiana is about 7.7% lower, or 56 cents less, than the U.S. average price of $6.97 per person, according to Chism.

Most of the items on Indiana Farm Bureau’s shopping list, including ground beef and ice cream, are more expensive than they were in 2021, but almost all of the summer cookout items came in at less than the national average.

“Basically, everything has gone up, other than lemonade and strawberries,” Chism said. “I do think that we need to continue to remember, though, that the silver lining in all of this is that here in Indiana, we are seeing less of an increase than the rest of the country.”

Only cheese is more expensive in Indiana this year than it is nationally, at 3 cents more than the average.