Groceries Are Cheap as Hell Right Now

While the price of everything seems to always be on the rise—inflation, inflation, inflation—food prices at grocery stores have actually been down for nine consecutive months now, the longest streak in the last 50 years. That's great for consumers, but it's beginning to hurt grocery stores, which have had to duke it out in promotional price wars in order to stay competitive and get people in the doors to spend more. If you haven't already, now is a good time to load up on Easy Mac and Bagel Bites.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics' consumer price index found that the price of food purchased for the home is down 1.6 percent from the year before, with the price of eggs, beef, and pork declining the most. According to CBS, the average cost of a dozen eggs is down more than a dollar over the past year, from $2.57 to just over a buck-and-a-half. And with the government bailing out the egg industry because so many eggs are piling up, it doesn't seem like prices will be going up any time soon. The overproductive cheese industry recently got a similar bailout, and the price of beef continues to be depressed.

This so-called "food deflation" has shot grocery stores' already thin margins down the toilet and hurt the stock prices of chains like Sprouts, Kroger, Whole Foods and Supervalu, according to the Wall Street Journal. One analyst told the Journal that the low prices aren't headed for an upswing any time soon, and guessed that the deflation period is about halfway through, saying that "you have to eat the cows" before things get better. Time to dig in.

The low grocery prices have led many consumers to eat out less frequently, too, hurting, in particular, fast food restaurants. The exceptions are pizza chains, which have been killing amidst a "restaurant recession" with their bulletproof combination of bread, sauce, and cheese continuing to arrive right at our front doors. Food delivery has taken up a bigger share of the overall food market as a whole as delivery services have flooded the market.

In their quarterly financial reports, grocery stores have said that the coming months will continue to be tough. But until the skies clear for grocery stores, things are looking pretty good for shoppers. Supermarkets are counting on you to load up and help them improve their bottom lines, so don't get used to the lower prices—things will be back to normal in the not-too-distant future.