Switching to store brands, looking for sales or eating out less can help keep grocery costs under control. But what happens when those adjustments aren't enough? For some households, making ends meet means cutting back on fresh food, postponing medical care or taking on extra work.
A new Penn State study suggests that how people respond to rising food prices can reveal just how much financial pressure they're under. Published in Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, the research linked higher food prices with increased spending, difficulty accessing food and greater anxiety. It also found that households making the biggest sacrifices were often struggling the most.
Researchers examined U.S. Census Bureau survey data collected between September 2022 and October 2023, when food prices were rising rapidly. They identified four general patterns in how Americans adjusted their spending.
About 44% of households made relatively few changes. Another 28% relied on familiar money-saving strategies, such as buying generic products, shopping at lower-cost stores and cutting back on restaurant meals.
For the remaining households, the choices were harder.
About 20% reported making more significant adjustments, including buying less meat or fresh produce, delaying major purchases and sometimes putting off medical treatment. Another 8% took steps such as working extra hours, reducing savings or cutting back on utilities.
Those differences extended beyond household budgets. People making more extensive sacrifices were also more likely to report struggling to get enough food or experiencing anxiety.
Among those making widespread spending cuts, approximately 81% reported feeling anxious, compared with 48% of people in households that made relatively few changes.
Interestingly, the researchers found that even when money-saving strategies helped limit grocery spending, they didn't necessarily relieve the stress associated with higher prices.
And some of the hardest-hit households showed relatively small increases in anxiety or food hardship as prices continued to climb. The researchers suggested that these families may have already been struggling so much that further price increases made little measurable difference.
As lead researcher Yizao Liu, an associate professor of agricultural economics at Penn State, explained, making major financial adjustments isn't always a sign that a household is successfully managing higher costs. Sometimes, it's evidence of how difficult things have already become.
The study doesn't suggest that shopping for bargains or choosing cheaper brands is a problem. Those can be practical ways to stretch a grocery budget. The concern is when families must sacrifice food, health care or other necessities to make ends meet.
There are some limitations to the findings. The study identified associations, so it cannot prove that rising food prices directly caused anxiety or food hardship. Its main measure of food hardship also included households that couldn't always get the foods they wanted, not just those without enough to eat. A separate analysis focused on households reporting insufficient food found broadly similar patterns.
Although the research reflects household experiences in 2022 and 2023, it illustrates how grocery costs can affect much more than what's in a shopping cart. For families facing serious financial pressure, the biggest sacrifices may happen elsewhere in their lives.
The study used publicly available U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey data. The research paper did not identify a specific funding source.