How the high cost of groceries is changing what American shoppers put in their carts

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The cost of groceries has been a big issue for many people, and it turns out that inflation and shrinkflation are driving shoppers to shake up their grocery budgets - less brand name yogurt, more fancy beef jerky. Confused? NPR's Alina Selyukh explains.

ALINA SELYUKH, BYLINE: It's fair to say Americans are recalculating their love for brands at the supermarket. Take Angela Hayden from Fort Wayne in Indiana, who shops for her mom. She's 98.

ANGELA HAYDEN: I have to keep a goodly supply of snacks on hand because she's a junk food junkie.

SELYUKH: Chips, pretzels, cookies, used to be brand name only.

HAYDEN: I mean, Lay's potato chips all day long.

SELYUKH: Rising prices have her trying cheaper options, and she's found nice granola bars at the discount chain Aldi and even tasty chips at Walgreens.

HAYDEN: Just kind of mix it up like that because those bagged snacks - their prices have gone sky high, and the quantities in the bags - a lot more air as opposed to snack.

SELYUKH: She's not wrong. Inflation and shrinkflation have hit the snack aisles and in salty snacks especially that's chipped away at brand loyalty that long seemed uncrackable, like Hayden and her Lay's chips forever. A few other categories where store brands are gaining ground the most include soda and lunch meat.

SALLY LYONS WYATT: Bottled water and butter, cold cereal and yogurt.

SELYUKH: Sally Lyons Wyatt is with the market research firm Circana. Its data shows something counterintuitive. At the same time as people are trading down to private label, they're also upgrading to more premium items.

WYATT: Because at least it's a little treat. It's a little, like, reward.

SELYUKH: It's like a recalibration of where people are willing to put a few extra dollars. It's still costing more to go out, to eat, grab a drink, or catch a movie. While grocery prices have largely leveled off, some even started falling, many people are making the same calculation as K.D. Deshmukh from Tulsa, Okla.

K D DESHMUKH: Instead of going to a restaurant, let's go splurge on a piece of salmon.

SELYUKH: Fresh from a local seafood market to get roasted at home with love.

DESHMUKH: It's a bit of premium, but definitely worth it.

SELYUKH: And so the data finds people trading up on fancy seltzers, the good wine, nicer spaghetti sauce, better pizza dough. Maybe you're sensing a cuisine trend here.

WYATT: The Italian night is still huge, especially the premium Italian night.

SELYUKH: The premium Italian dinner, served at home, not a restaurant, with nice pasta for a bit more money and company that's priceless.

Alina Selyukh, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.