PHOENIX — ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ shoppers can expect to find a bit of relief at the grocery store.
New figures Tuesday from the ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ Farm Bureau Federation show that the current overall price of the 16 items in a typical “market basket†has dropped about 2.5 percent since the first quarter of the year. Most of the changes were minor, with the biggest drop coming in the cost of orange juice.
But prices, which tend to fluctuate through the year, still are a bit higher than the same period a year earlier.
Sirloin tip roast has an average cost of $7.39 a pound in ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥, according to the Farm Bureau.
The most expensive item in the basket remains sirloin tip roast, which Farm Bureau shoppers who went to stores around the state reported cost an average of $7.39 a pound.
More significant, that appears to be the new normal for this choice cut of beef. It’s the same price shoppers found three months ago.
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By contrast it was selling for 63 cents a pound less a year ago. And prices had been in the sub $6 range before that.
Boneless chicken breasts are a bit higher now than earlier in the year but still somewhat below what grocers were asking last year at this time.
But it looks like the cost of bacon is on the decline, dropping 12 cents a pound from last quarter and 35 cents in the past year.
The other half of breakfast, however, will eat up the savings, with the price of a dozen eggs now 45 cents higher than last year.
Farm Bureau shoppers base their findings on whatever sale prices are being offered at the time.
What they do not take into account, however, are specials that are offered to those who hold a grocery chain’s “affinity card,†providing additional discounts at the register. And regular grocery store customers also can save with coupons clipped from newspapers and those that arrive in the mail.
