These things are now WAY too expensive!
Alright. So the current inflation rate has now reached 3.4%, which is higher than the Fed’s longstanding target of 2%, but way more forgiving than a couple of years ago when it spiked to 40-year highs and approached double-digits.
However, prices don’t seem to be cooling evenly, and there are still some products and services that are getting increasingly more expensive. Many others cost way more than they did a few years ago, even if their prices are now holding steadier than ever before. So we wanted to make a breakdown of all the products that got more expensive in 2024, in case you didn’t have a clear reason to get angry today. You’re welcome!
A trip to Disneyland
Disney’s California theme park has recently announced another round of parkwide price increases. Whether you knew this or not, the one came right about this time the year before. We’re talking day passes, multi-day passes, park-hopper tickets, and even annual passes, parking, and hotel valet services. All of these are now more expensive, with huge increases topping the 10% threshold.
A visit to Disney World
Well, it’s not just Disney’s SoCal location. The flagship park in Orlando also spiked annual pass prices by 10%, where the most expensive Incredi-Pass now sells for $1,449.
Airfare
Whether you decide to visit Disneyland or not, you should expect to pay around 10% more to fly than you would have before the pandemic, and that’s because of high fuel costs, a labor shortage, fewer flights, and strong customer demand.
Hotels
In 2023, the average U.S. hotel room rate became 17% higher than in 2019 and 38% higher than when rates were much lower during pandemic-era shutdowns.
P2P Rentals
If the rising cost of hotel rooms doesn’t appeal to you, don’t expect to find relief with p2p rentals. The cost of Airbnb bookings increased by 36% between 2019 and 2023, which is twice the hotel inflation over the same period of time.
Camping
At the end of 2023, the campsite booking app The Dyrt conducted a survey, and they discovered that half of all campsites raised the rates in 2022, and another half planned to do so at the end of 2023. There’s more: over a quarter raised their rates in both years.
Sugar
The cost of sugar has been rapidly rising since the pandemic. In September, the price hit an astounding $0.97 per pound, up from $0.60 at the start of 2020.
Cereal
As the infamously high price of eggs has drastically increased since its peak two years ago, cereals are now making breakfast way too expensive. We don’t like that. Prices have increased 14% on a yearly basis, with a single blox now costing more than $5, due to rising grain and sugar prices.
Milk
A gallon of milk was around $2.85 at the start of 2019, but the pandemic, the biggest culprit, sent dairy prices all the way up to over $4.20 in the fall of 2022. As prices dipped in the following months, a gallon is now getting closer to $4 once again.
Cooking fats and oils
The cost of edible fats and oils, such as peanut butter, is up to 5.6% on a yearly basis.
Rice
The cost of rice increased by 5.5% between the end of last summer and this one, outpacing the overall inflation rate.
Apples
Even if food inflation has been subsiding, the price of apples increased by 8.5% between last summer and this one.
Household paper products
The price of housekeeping supplies, as a general rule, seems to have gone up over the last year. however, household paper products led the pack with a 6.5% increase since last fall.
Bacon
The pandemic fried the bacon prices, peaking at over $7.60 a pound in October 2022. Even if breakfast lovers got some temporary relief in the following months, it’s now back at over $7.00, up from $5.25 in March 2020.
Pantry Seafood
The price of shelf-stable fish and other types of seafood is now up by 5.3% from the start of last fall.
Steaks
Steaks were already quite pricey in the post-pandemic meat aisles. But now, the cost of uncooked beef steaks increased by over 10% between last fall and this fall.
Beef and veal
It’s not just T-bones and ribeyes. The overall cost of beef, but also veal, increased by 7% year-over-year this September.
Turkey
The price of poultry, in general, has dropped over the course of last year, but not the uncooked one, so expect to pay almost 7% more for your bird this Thanksgiving than the last one.
Baked goods
In 2023, the year-over-year cost of baked goods increased by 12.9%, which is double the rate of food inflation and more than three times overall inflation. Cookies are now 16% more expensive than they were last year, and bread is 12% more expensive.
Snacks
The wide majority of food companies such as Nestle, Pepsico, Coca-Cola, and Unilever decided to increase their prices over the last year, even if the overall food prices have cooled. This sent the cost of many popular snacks they produce up high.
Candy and chewing gum
The rising cost of sugar also pushed up the cost of candy by 7.5% between last September and this September.
Chocolate
On October 2023, cocoa futures hit no less than $3.786 per metric ton, which is the highest since January 1979, because of global shortages. As there is generally a delay between changes in commodity futures and other supermarket prices, the cost on the shelf hasn’t changed that much. However, analysts still agree that the highest cocoa prices in 44 years might translate to soaring chocolate prices in the upcoming months.
Vending machine food and drinks
If you find yourself avoiding the high cafeteria prices at work or school, don’t expect too much relief at the vending machine, as prices already rose by a sky-high 16% year-over-year.
Adult beverages
The price of beer, wine, and spirits all rose way faster than overall inflation since last fall, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg. According to Vinepair, the price of packaged adult beverages has also soared by almost 103% since 2000, which is huge.
Frozen juices and drinks
Consumers already enjoyed relief at the markets over the last year, but still not in every aisle. For example, the cost of frozen juices and noncarbonated drinks soared by over 21% between September 2022 and September 2023.
Frozen and refrigerated bakery products
Frozen bakery foods such as pies, tarts, and turnovers are 7.7% more expensive than they were at the beginning of last fall.
Frozen vegetables
Juices and drinks aren’t exactly the only budget busters when it comes to the freezer aisle. The September CPI report also found that frozen vegetables cost 14.7% more than they did at this time last year.
Sauces and gravies
A 6.7% increase in sauces and gravies in between last summer and this one has made it way harder for families to add flavor to their meals.
Salad dressings
Even if shoppers noticed that prices weren’t rising as fast in the produce aisle over the last year, the cost of salad dressing increased by 12.1% between August 2022 and August 2023.
Condiments
Anyone who hosted a barbecue the last two summers in a row probably noticed already that the price of condiments increased by 8.9% between last August and this August.
Restaurant dining
Rising restaurant prices were definitely one of those defining features of post-pandemic inflation, and diners are still watching menu prices rise way faster than food. For example, the cost of dining out increased by another 6% between September 2022 and September 2023.
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