Coverage spread: 2 sources — 1 center · 1 right
Lean ratings via AllSides / Media Bias-Fact-Check. How this works.
Where they agree
- Both sources agree grocery and food prices are a leading financial pressure point for American households right now.
- Both point to concrete behavioral responses to that pressure — one highlighting debt tools (credit cards, buy now pay later), the other highlighting cooking and shopping habit changes.
- Both rely on large-sample surveys (tens of thousands or thousands of respondents) rather than anecdote to make their case.
Where they differ
- CNBC frames the story around macro data and financial strain — CPI figures, McKinsey/Kellogg’s 30,000-person mobility survey, and Urban Institute findings on credit card and BNPL use for groceries.
- The New York Post focuses on consumer behavior and food choices, drawing on an Idaho Potato Commission-sponsored survey emphasizing home cooking, meal planning and the comeback of staples like potatoes, eggs and rice.
- CNBC includes expert commentary from McKinsey’s John-Paul Julien and Georgetown’s Marshall Lux on the complexity of tracing financial distress to specific spending; the Post’s sourcing (Idaho Potato Commission’s CEO) reflects a commercial interest in promoting potatoes as a budget staple.
- CNBC cites hard inflation data (3% year-over-year food CPI); the Post’s figures are entirely self-reported consumer sentiment with no independent price data.
A new survey-based report finds that grocery prices, more than housing or health care, are the cost Americans worry about most, with 90% of respondents citing food as a top concern. Separate research shows many households are covering food costs with credit cards or buy now, pay later loans, while a consumer survey finds a third of Americans are now cooking at home more and leaning on cheap, versatile staples like potatoes, eggs, rice and beans to stretch their budgets.
What did the McKinsey and Kellogg report find?
The McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility, working with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, surveyed 30,000 Americans across income levels and concluded that affordability is the “defining challenge” standing in the way of economic mobility. Ninety percent of respondents named groceries and food prices as their top cost concern, ranking above housing and health care. John-Paul Julien, a partner at McKinsey and co-founder of the institute, said that while people experience the economy differently, there’s a shared sense that rising costs are making it harder to get ahead.
That sentiment lines up with recent inflation data. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer price index showed overall prices pulled back in June, but food costs rose again, up 3% year-over-year. Prices for food eaten at home — a proxy for grocery-store costs — also climbed compared to a year earlier. The next CPI report, covering July, is due August 12.
How are households paying for groceries?
A separate analysis from the Urban Institute, based on its December 2025 Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey of more than 10,000 adults, found signs of financial strain tied to food costs. About 35% of adults said they pay for groceries with a credit card and pay off the full balance each month — a low-cost way to use credit. But another 20% carry a partial balance while still making minimum payments, and 8.7% sometimes miss even the minimum payment, exposing them to interest rates that average more than 20%.
Buy now, pay later use for groceries is also climbing. The Urban Institute found nearly 1 in 10 adults used BNPL installment plans to pay for food, and about 35% of those users missed at least one payment, which can trigger late fees or deferred interest. A March survey from LendingTree of more than 2,000 adults found 29% of BNPL users had tapped these loans for groceries specifically, a figure researchers said is rising. Marshall Lux, a visiting fellow at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, said grocery spending is often bundled with other credit card purchases, making it hard to isolate exactly what’s driving missed payments, but he called the growing reliance on BNPL for everyday expenses a more persistent, worsening problem.
How are shoppers changing their habits in response?
A consumer survey of 2,000 Americans, conducted by Talker Research on behalf of the Idaho Potato Commission, found that 31% of people say they’re cooking at home much more than a year ago because of tight budgets, and 26% now choose ingredients that can be used across multiple meals. Respondents estimated that a $100 grocery budget should stretch to cover roughly two more meals than it actually does.
Meat and poultry take up the biggest share of grocery spending, cited by 60% of respondents, followed by dairy and eggs (30%) and frozen or convenience foods (22%). When choosing what to buy, shoppers said they prioritize minimizing food waste (73%), shelf life (72%) and nutritional value for the money (71%). Sixty percent said they now plan weekly meals around ingredients that can overlap between dishes, and 63% said an ingredient’s versatility across breakfast, lunch and dinner is a strong factor in whether it makes their regular shopping list.
Potatoes topped the list of ingredients seen as versatile staples, cited by 40% of respondents, with eggs, potatoes, rice, pasta and beans all reported as foods people are relying on more than they did a year ago. About a third of respondents said they’ve reconsidered foods they once avoided, with red meat, white rice, potatoes and eggs making comebacks in many kitchens — largely, respondents said, because they needed affordable options once they started cooking more at home, or because they realized an ingredient was more adaptable than they’d assumed. Idaho Potato Commission President and CEO Jamey Higham said the shift reflects shoppers trying to “cook smarter,” not just spend less.
Why does this matter?
Together, the findings describe a squeeze that’s showing up in multiple places at once: in how people rank their financial worries, in the debt tools they’re leaning on to cover basic needs, and in the actual food choices landing in their carts. Food inflation running at 3% year-over-year, combined with rising credit card and BNPL use for groceries, points to a strain that touches middle- and lower-income households differently but is felt broadly enough that researchers are calling affordability a defining economic issue rather than a niche complaint.
What’s not yet clear
None of the reports fully untangle how much of the credit and BNPL use for groceries reflects short-term convenience versus deeper financial distress, and the July CPI data due August 12 will offer the next real-time read on whether food price growth is easing or accelerating.
Sources
Featured photo: FOTO:Fortepan — ID 84652: Adományozó/Donor: Magyar Hírek folyóirat. archive copy at the Wayback Machine via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)