Does Inflation Affect Healthy Food More Than Fast Food?

More than the egg, or bread, or orange juice listed by the CPI (Consumer Price Index), our real spending combines them as our breakfast. Consequently, seeing that an egg, cheese, and bacon combo costs more, we are focusing on what we actually spend.

Continuing, let’s see the difference between a healthy meal and some fast food.

Restaurant Prices

Since January 2020, the average wage was up 27 percent. But, because restaurant prices rose even more, their increase was particularly painful.

A Healthy Food Meal

For eggs, avocado toast, yogurt, and coffee, my check would have gone up by 44 percent since January 2018 and 52 percent during the past five years.

Although all items were pricier, the avocado boosted the increase the least and the eggs, the most:

Fast Food

At fast food restaurants like McDonald’s or KFC, we usually buy an entree with side dishes and a drink. Here, the side dishes rose the most but all of the meal’s elements were up substantially.

At 52 percent since 2018 and 37 percent when we return to January 2020, the price of a fast food meal also soared:

Our Bottom Line: Causes of Inflation

Reflecting continuing inflation, prices are up. However, because the inflation rate is down, they are rising more slowly.

When economists explain inflation, they say the cause could be “demand pull,” or “cost push, or a single commodity. On the demand side of markets, when too many of us have lots to spend, we bid prices higher. Somewhat similarly, cost push inflation takes us to more expensive land, labor, or capital. And, for that single commodity, the perfect example was how 1970s rising oil prices nudged all prices skyward. In addition, we should note that a group of economists called the monetarists attribute inflation primarily to an excessive money supply.

As for right now, University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers suggests we might continue worrying about the spread between our wage increases and rising prices because tariffs cause the cost push inflation that places a lid on our income.

So yes, although the rate of inflation has plunged, still, we feel the pinch every time we go out to eat, whether it’s fast or healthy food.

My sources and more: Having followed the breakfast combo’s prices, I was delighted that Catherine Rampell and her associates took the next step in a Washington Post article.