Pick items and quantities; see what your exact cart costs today vs one and five years ago. Current staples (US city average):
The BLS Average Price survey records the shelf price of specific grocery items — a dozen large eggs, a gallon of whole milk, a pound of ground beef — every month in the same outlets that feed the CPI, as a US city average. The cart tool lets a reader pick items and quantities from that list and see what the exact same cart cost today, one year ago and five years ago, with the month-by-month history back a decade and a shareable link. News-organization trackers use fixed baskets on licensed scanner data; this one is the reader's own basket from public data. BLS prices soft drinks per 12-ounce can, so the 12-pack line is twelve times that price.
| Item | Price now | A year ago | Five years ago | Change on the year | Change over five years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eggs (dozen) | $2.27 | $3.49 | $1.84 | -34.9% | +23.8% |
| Whole milk (gallon) | $4.11 | $4.13 | $3.59 | -0.6% | +14.5% |
| White bread (lb) | $1.83 | $1.87 | $1.58 | -2.0% | +15.8% |
| Ground beef (lb) | $6.79 | $6.32 | $4.50 | +7.4% | +50.8% |
| Chicken breast (lb) | $4.20 | $4.17 | $3.52 | +0.7% | +19.5% |
| Bacon (lb) | $6.76 | $7.29 | $7.22 | -7.3% | -6.4% |
| Cheddar cheese (lb) | $6.13 | $6.05 | $5.39 | +1.4% | +13.8% |
| Butter (lb) | $3.96 | $4.79 | $3.57 | -17.3% | +11.0% |
| Ground coffee (lb) | $9.33 | $9.14 | $4.73 | +2.1% | +97.2% |
| Sugar (lb) | $1.02 | $1.04 | $0.688 | -2.2% | +48.1% |
| Flour (lb) | $0.545 | $0.563 | $0.382 | -3.2% | +42.7% |
| Rice (lb) | $1.12 | $1.06 | $0.798 | +5.5% | +40.1% |
| Bananas (lb) | $0.656 | $0.670 | $0.597 | -2.1% | +9.9% |
| Oranges (lb) | $1.72 | $1.80 | $1.35 | -4.4% | +27.3% |
| Strawberries (12 oz) | $2.84 | $2.57 | $2.45 | +10.4% | +15.7% |
| Potatoes (lb) | $0.989 | $1.01 | $0.798 | -2.5% | +23.9% |
| Tomatoes (lb) | $1.99 | $1.91 | $1.83 | +4.3% | +9.0% |
| Iceberg lettuce (lb) | $1.64 | $1.73 | $1.25 | -5.5% | +31.1% |
| Frozen orange juice concentrate (16 oz) | $4.82 (July 2026, the latest BLS price) | $4.64 | $2.61 | +3.8% | +84.4% |
| Soft drinks (12-pack of 12-oz cans) | $7.09 | $6.83 | $5.03 | +3.9% | +41.1% |
| Potato chips (16 oz) | $6.67 | $6.97 | $5.06 | -4.3% | +31.8% |
| Ice cream (half gallon) | $5.93 | $6.40 | $4.90 | -7.3% | +21.0% |
| Chocolate chip cookies (lb) | $5.15 | $5.15 | $3.98 | +0.0% | +29.4% |
| Yogurt (8 oz) | $1.58 | $1.53 | $1.23 | +2.9% | +28.5% |
| Ham (lb) | $5.45 | $5.48 | $4.85 | -0.5% | +12.4% |
| Pork chops (lb) | $4.22 | $4.35 | $4.05 | -3.0% | +4.1% |
| Gasoline (gallon) | $4.48 | $3.34 | $3.27 | +34.2% | +37.3% |
One of each of the 25 items with a full history costs $98.46 at July 2026 prices (the latest month every item has) against $99.47 a year earlier (-1.0%) and $76.99 five years earlier (+27.9%). Rising fastest on the year: gasoline (gallon) +34.2%, strawberries (12 oz) +10.4%, ground beef (lb) +7.4%; falling or flattest: eggs (dozen) -34.9%, butter (lb) -17.3%, bacon (lb) -7.3%.
The CPI's food-at-home index — the weighted average across every grocery category — was 321.8 in September 2026, +1.8% year over year; a personal cart moves differently because it is a handful of items in fixed quantities, so a single egg cycle or a beef shortage swings it more than the index. Average prices are not quality-adjusted and do not substitute across brands the way the CPI does; they answer "what did this item cost" rather than "how much did food inflation run". Shelf prices arrive with the CPI release, about two weeks after the month; the USDA's weekly advertised-price feed on the item pages is the fresher line where it exists. Farm-gate prices and the markup from farm to shelf are on the farm-to-shelf page. Food at home is 8.32% of the Gauge's basket.