The price to host a summer picnic will cost you a little more this year than it did last year, thanks to two main culprits: meat and dairy.
Smaller beef cattle and hog inventories, coupled with high demand for dairy products both domestically and abroad, have driven up prices of picnic staples such as hamburgers, ribs, cheese and milk.
The American Farm Bureau conducts an informal survey each year to estimate the average cost to host a summer picnic for 10 people. Retail prices were collected for typical picnic food items from 25 states across the country.
The overall picnic price for this summer was up 5 percent from last year. Seeing the biggest leap in price were American cheese slices, up 14.3 percent from last year. Others that climbed significantly were ground beef, up 13.4 percent; pork spare ribs, up 13.2 percent; and chocolate milk, up 7.6 percent. As shown in the chart below, other picnic staples saw only a slight bump in price, and many actually went down in cost.
Fortunately, the average expense to hold a picnic for 10 people was still just $58.72, or $5.87 per person. At that price, there is still reason to celebrate.
