Food Prices & Food Insecurities
Grocery store prices have risen steadily since May. Food prices in nearly every category have gone up. Eggs and meat, everyday American staples, have seen the biggest price bump. Beef and veal prices went up 20% and eggs, up 10%, are not far behind.
COVID-19 lock-downs brought everything to a halt. Workers falling ill and forced closures put a kink in the supply chain. Now that things are beginning to move again, these huge industries are scrambling to keep up with such a high demand under decreased production.
The result is higher prices and increased food insecurity. Families are struggling to get the food they need. Lower-income families are being hit the hardest. Schools are out and the kids aren’t getting their free lunches, but some options for parents to drive through some kind of organized situation. The Pandemic EBT program, a program that offered some relief to these families, may not be extended and Americans who are out of work are crunching numbers. How will their families eat now that the $600 in unemployment benefits has run out? Congress is considering a stimulus bill that doesn’t include expanding SNAP benefits. The continual increase in people considered food insecure is staggering. This hike in food prices comes at a time when we’re already drowning financially. According to data gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau almost 30 million of 249 million respondents said they didn’t have enough to eat at some point before July 21st.
