Memorial Day staples rocked by inflation, ketchup up 27.9%

This Memorial Day, Americans are spending more for barbecues as the necessary fixings cost nine percent more than last year, while food prices have generally gone up 7.7 percent as the country continues to wrestle with record-setting inflation under President Joe Biden.

According to Axios, the research firm Datasembly told the outlet that "barbecue staples like ketchup and mustard have had much larger increases" than what the Consumer Price Index clocked as a 7.7 percent increase in food prices over the last year. The firm said that a "Memorial Day basket of seven barbecue essentials cost $27.32 in 2023 compared to $25.07 the same time last year."

Ketchup came in with the largest increase in cost as a 32-ounce bottle was up 27.9 percent. Mustard came in second with a 20-ounce bottle up 13 percent. Relish rounded out the top three with a 12.3 percent increase in cost. 

Hotdogs cost three percent more, and both hotdog and hamburger buns were up around 7.4 percent from 2022, a year which found the product up 16.3 percent from 2021.

Ribeye steaks were up 11.6 percent from last year, with a pound of the beef product costing on average $12.57.

One item that decreased minimally in cost was a pack of 80/20 beef burgers, as it went down by three cents.

According to Numerator, over 75 percent of consumers claimed that they expected inflation to affect their spending during the holiday.

In 2021, the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan and $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill spending plans were passed under Biden, and then the $739 billion Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022.