Sunday Real Talk

The Cost of Groceries

Yesterday I shared my Saturday A Taste of Flava about having our groceries delivered.

Well…

Let me tell you what I didn’t tell you.

I spent almost $500. 😳🤣

Now before somebody thinks Lady Flava ordered lobster, filet mignon and champagne…

No. 😂

These were mostly regular family staples for three people.

We had gotten pretty low on groceries, so this was a stock-the-house-back-up kind of order.

There was cat litter and cat snacks in there too. And okay, okay… I bought myself some muffins and a dark chocolate bar. A girl has to have a little something. 🤣

But basically?

Groceries.

Sixty-five items.

My little refrigerator upstairs is now packed to the MAX, and thankfully my food should last me awhile.

But after everything was delivered and I looked at that total, I kept thinking…

Almost $500.

For groceries.

And let me make something very clear.

This wasn’t me casually deciding to spend almost $500 because I have money like that.

I generally don’t.

We needed groceries, and this time I happened to be in a position where I could spend the money and stock our household back up.

I’m grateful for that.

But maybe that’s exactly why that total hit me the way it did.

Because another time, almost $500 worth of groceries might not be something I could just order all at once.

And that got me thinking about how many other people are doing the same thing.

Looking at what they NEED…

and then looking at what they can AFFORD.

I live in Seattle, where practically everything seems expensive. But food is different.

We can put off buying new clothes.

We can decide we don’t need another pair of shoes.

We can skip entertainment.

We can cancel subscriptions.

But what are we supposed to do about FOOD?

We have to eat.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, grocery prices in the Seattle area increased another 1.7% between April and June 2026, with increases across all six major grocery-store food categories.

So when people say they’re feeling it at the grocery store…

They are.

What happens when you have $100 and need $175 worth of food?

What happens when you’re standing in the grocery store deciding between the meat you need for dinner and something else your household needs?

What happens when groceries, rent, utilities, medications, transportation and everything else are all coming out of the same paycheck?

Something has to give.

And sometimes that something is food.

That’s Real Talk.

We hear people talk about eating healthier.

Buy fresh vegetables.

Buy fresh fruit.

Eat quality protein.

Prepare healthy meals at home.

Okay.

But can everybody afford to?

It’s easy to tell somebody what they SHOULD eat when you’re not standing beside them looking at their bank balance.

Seattle has invested millions of dollars into programs such as Fresh Bucks, food banks and meal programs to help people afford and access food.

Think about what that tells us.

People need help feeding themselves and their families.

And this isn’t only about people who aren’t working.

There are working families trying to stretch every dollar.

There are seniors living on fixed incomes.

There are people with disabilities.

There are parents feeding growing children.

There are people paying high rent who make too much to qualify for certain assistance programs but still don’t make enough to comfortably cover everything.

And there are people quietly struggling who may never tell anybody.

That’s why I don’t believe we should look into somebody else’s grocery cart and decide what they should or shouldn’t be buying.

We don’t know their circumstances.

We don’t know their budget.

We don’t know how many mouths they’re feeding.

And we don’t know what they had to sacrifice just to put that food in their cart.

Yesterday I was grateful for the woman who shopped for my groceries.

Today I’m grateful that this time, I could afford to stock our home back up.

This time.

I don’t take that for granted.

Because I understand there can also be a time when you need everything on that grocery list…

and the money simply isn’t there.

Food isn’t optional.

Yet somehow, more and more people are having to figure out how to make an essential fit into a budget that simply doesn’t stretch that far.

So here’s my Sunday Real Talk question:

How much have your grocery-shopping habits changed because of the cost of food?

Are you buying less?

Changing brands?

Shopping at different stores?

Eating differently?

Cutting back somewhere else in your budget?

Or have you reached the point where you sometimes look at the total and think…

How in the world did GROCERIES cost this much?

Because yesterday?

That was me. 😳🤣

Just something worth talking about.

From Flava in Her Tower 🌻