We compared grocery prices at 5 Dayton-area stores: Here’s what we found

The Dorothy Lane Market in Springboro. MARSHALL GORBY\STAFF

The Dorothy Lane Market in Springboro. MARSHALL GORBY\STAFF

As part of a recent article on how inflation is affecting grocery prices in the area, we went to five Dayton-area grocery stores to see how prices compared. We checked prices for several popular items, including bread, milk, produce, and dairy.

Below are the prices we found. For each product, we either used the cheapest store brand or one specific name brand, such as Land o’ Lakes or Wonder Bread. An asterisk by a price means we didn’t find the name brand for a product, and substituted a store brand.

Note that an asterisk indicates the store did not carry national brands bought at other stores.

Meat and Eggs

1lb ground beef1 dozen eggs
Aldi$3.79$1.99
Kroger$5.49$2.49
Meijer$5.29$3.19
Dot’s$3.99$2.99
Dorothy Lane$7.99$3.39

An analysis of U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data by software company Trace One PLM found that the cost of ground beef has increased 25.8% since March 2020, and increased 6.2% over the past year.

Egg prices increased the most since March 2020, with a 50% increase. Prices have been cooling over the past year though, with a 6.8% decline.

Dairy

1 gal milk1 lb Land o’ Lake’s butter
Aldi$2.67$3.49*
Kroger$2.79$6.49
Meijer$2.62$6.19
Dot’s$3.39$6.79
Dorothy Lane$3.39$6.79

Butter has increased 29.4% since March 2020, but declined 2.1% last year. Meat, eggs, and milk have all seen more steep increases over the past four years than the 20.9% average price increase for all products.

On the other hand, milk increased 19.2%, since March 2020, and has also gone down 1.6% since last year, roughly in line with general inflation.

Produce

Head of lettuce1 lb bananas
Aldi$1.89$0.49
Kroger$1.99$0.55
Meijer$2.19$0.49
Dot’s$2.99$0.79
Dorothy Lane$2.99$0.99

The price of lettuce has gone up 27.3% since 2020, with a 5.8% increase this past year. Bananas, though, are only 7% more expensive than they were in 2020.

Grains

Box of CheeriosLoaf of Wonder Bread
Aldi$1.65*$1.35*
Kroger$4.29$2.49
Meijer$4.99$2.49
Dot’s$4.49$3.79
Dorothy Lane$6.59$3.79

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