As America prepares for the Labor Day weekend to end the summer, there will be last-chance visits to the beach, perhaps trips to a vineyard, or plans to fire up the grill for a backyard barbecue. If the latter is in your plans, you’ll find some cookout staples have gone down in price.
Unfortunately, other items likely to be on the menu have gone up – at lot. Datasembly, which tracks grocery prices in realtime, says the overall cost of the cookout should only be 1.38% more than last year.
But an itemized list shows some wide variations. The price of 1.33 pounds of ground chuck burgers is 9.20% more than in 2023. Even switching to hot dogs won’t help a lot, since the price of 16 beef hot dogs is 7.67% higher than last year.
Condiments show a huge variation in price. Mayonnaise costs nearly 15% less than last year while sweet relish, a 12.7 oz. bottle, costs 21.61% more.
Plastic cups cost a little less but disposable plates cost more. American cheese is the same price as last year.
Here’s the complete price comparison for items Datasembly says will likely be part of most end-of-the-summer cookouts:
Item Description | 2023 | 2024 | Percent Change |
Disposable plates, 7 inch 50 ct | $4.15 | $4.24 | 2.17% |
Canned Soda, 12 pack | $7.87 | $7.77 | -1.27% |
Mayonnaise, 12oz | $5.25 | $4.47 | -14.86% |
Sweet relish, 12.7oz bottle | 2.73 | $3.32 | 21.61% |
Tomato ketchup 20oz | $3.86 | $3.78 | -2.07% |
Ground Beef Chuck Burgers 1.33 lbs (4 ct) | $7.83 | $8.55 | 9.20% |
Baked beans, 16oz | $2.32 | $2.40 | 3.45% |
Beef hot dogs, 16 ct | $9.26 | $9.97 | 7.67% |
Hot dog buns 8 ct | $3.06 | $3.04 | -0.65% |
Hamburger buns 8 ct | 3.06 | $3.04 | -0.65% |
American Cheese - 24ct | $5.49 | $5.49 | 0.00% |
Plastic cups, 30 ct | $6.31 | $6.10 | -3.33% |
Yellow mustard, 14 oz | $2.79 | $2.69 | -3.58% |
| TOTAL | $63.98 | $64.86 | +1.38% |