Tri-State grocery bills ease in June as produce drops, but deli turkey jumps 5%

June brought modest relief to Ohio grocery shoppers, though deli turkey kept getting more expensive.

Lower prices for summer produce helped pull overall grocery costs down, but rising prices for lunch meat and some beef cuts continued to weigh on household food budgets.

What's happening?

The UC Alpaugh Economic Center's monthly tracker found that grocery prices across the Tri-State, which includes parts of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, were 0.91% lower in June than in May, as reported by Local 12. Researchers said that kind of June dip is common when seasonal fruits and vegetables are more plentiful.

Eggs fell 6.3% to $1.72 per dozen as poultry flocks continued recovering from bird flu, and several summer produce items posted even larger declines. Peaches dropped 24.9% to $2.38 per pound, plums fell 12.3% to $2.59, and tomatoes and blueberries each declined 11.5%, to $1.61 and $5.72 per pound, respectively.

Those savings did not extend to the deli counter. Sliced deli turkey reached an average of $6.48 per pound in June, nearly 5% higher than in May and more than $1.30 per pound above its September price.

Phil Lempert, food industry analyst and editor of The Lempert Report, said bird flu has sharply disrupted supply. "Keep in mind that because of bird flu since 2022, we've lost about 20 million turkeys," Lempert said.

Why does it matter?

Lempert said the supply rebound is slow because the tom turkeys typically used for deli meat need months to mature. "So these tom turkeys take about five months to actually grow before they're used in our food supply," he said. "That's one of the reasons that we're seeing this huge price increase."

Beef prices were also still climbing as grilling season picks up. Top sirloin rose 5.73% to $14 per pound, flank steak increased 3.77% to $14.58, and ground beef climbed 2.46% to $6.46. Lempert said, "The problem with beef is we've got the smallest herd that we've ever had."

What can I do?

June's lower prices were most noticeable in seasonal produce categories such as peaches, tomatoes, plums, and blueberries. Lempert said one of the simplest ways to save at the grocery store is to throw away less food. "Forty percent of all of our food in the U.S. is wasted," he said.

Preparing more realistic portions for cookouts or weeknight meals can help households avoid throwing money away. That could mean serving sliders instead of oversized burgers, buying only the amount of deli meat a household will actually use, or asking guests to bring side dishes and condiments to summer gatherings.

He also recommended buying bigger packs from warehouse clubs or dollar stores only when doing so truly saves money, and the food will actually get used.

"We're going to continue to see high prices for beef probably through the beginning of next year at best," Lempert said.

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