Cost of 4th of July cooking at record high due to Biden inflation

Americans awaiting July 4th cookouts will face record food prices due to rampant inflation under the Biden administration.

A new report from the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) found that a 10-person cookout that includes items such as cheeseburgers, chicken breast, pork chops, homemade potato salad, strawberries and ice cream would cost a bill of 71 .22 dollars. This marks a five percent increase from last year, a nearly 30 percent increase from five years ago and a record high for the organization’s annual survey.

“Your grocery bill may be a shock, but it’s in line with the inflation that has rocked the economy — including the farm economy — over the past several years,” wrote AFBF economists Bernt Nelson and Samantha Ayoub.

Prices of individual goods have risen dramatically nationally, with some items seeing a “double-digit year-over-year increase.”

The report found that two kilograms of beef now costs $12.77 on average, an 11 percent increase from last year. A half gallon of ice cream now costs $5.65, up seven percent from last year. The cost of lemonade has increased by 12 percent, and the costs of pork chops and chips have increased by eight percent.

The AFBF report from 2021, Biden’s first year in office, finds that the same meal for 10 people costs $59.55. The total bill has increased by $11.67 under the administration’s disastrous inflation.

“Higher grocery store prices reflect a number of challenges facing America’s families. Lower availability of some cooking products and inflation are hitting people in the wallet,” said AFBF Chief Economist Roger Cryan.

This AFBF report coincides with a recent Gallup poll showing voter concern about skyrocketing prices. Only 38 percent of voters say they are convinced Biden can “do it [or] recommend the right thing for the economy.”

“With Americans less optimistic about the state of the U.S. economy than they have been in recent months and concern about inflation lingering, their trust in President Joe Biden to recommend or do the right thing about the economy is among the lowest Gallup has measured for every president since 2001,” the report said.

Inflation has risen over 19.9 percent in the three years since Biden took office, according to the seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Monroe Harless is a summer intern at The Federalist. She is a recent graduate of the University of Georgia with degrees in journalism and political science.