Expect These Grocery Items to Cost More in Louisiana in 2024

When families in Louisiana "make groceries" this year it's going to cost a little bit more than it did last year. Rising grocery prices are not a shock to most of us. The shock comes when we get to the checkout line and discover that all of those "little increases" have turned into sticker shock when receive our final totals.

The United States Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service studies prices and how they ebb and flow across the country throughout the year. Yes, at certain times of the year, certain items are indeed more expensive. By the same token, sometimes those prices fall and it's the job of the Economic Research Services to let us know when that's going to happen as well.

Many factors contribute to price changes in consumer goods. Supply and demand is one of the simplest economic principles and yes, that does drive price change, especially in seasonal situations. That's why Louisiana strawberries are inexpensive around Easter and can be quite costly if you want to have some in the fall.

Believe it or not, the price of oil, an important commodity to Louisiana's economy, has a lot to do with how much consumer goods increase or decrease in price. If producers or manufacturers are paying more to run the plants that create the products they will most certainly be passing those costs on to you.

Or, they'll commit an even more heinous "crime", at least in my opinion, they'll make their products smaller in size and not tell anyone. Just take a look at candy bars through the years. That's a great example of maintaining price stability by reducing the size of the product. Oddly enough, the packaging still looks to be the same size to me, maybe they use the Frito-Lay method and just load everything up with air.

Anyway, back to the USDA and how they forecast prices for months and years in advance. The Economic Research Services Department uses data collected from the Department of Labor, the Consumer Price Index and the Producer Price Index to quantify their projections. Here is what they are expecting will cost more for shoppers in Louisiana in 2024.