Texas woman's decade-old receipt shows how grocery prices have soared
For Zoe Dippel, a walk down memory lane looking through family photo albums became a quick lesson in inflation.
Dippel, a 24-year-old dental hygienist living near Austin, said in an interview with USA TODAY that she was flipping through her sister-in-law's baby album when an envelope fell out.
"We open it up and first thing we see are her sonograms from when she was a baby, because she was a twin," Dippel said. "(Then) we pull out the receipt, and we're like, 'Oh my gosh, this is a huge receipt. Like, this is so long.' And I'm like, 'What's the date?' "
The receipt they found was for a 122-item order at H-E-B, a Texas grocer, from just after her sister-in-law was born. The large order cost $155.34 in 1997. But after Dippel posted video of the find to TikTok, she decided to find out what the same order would cost today. Her two videos about the 1997 receipt have gone viral and have a combined 3.4 million views as of Jan. 16.
She found that the same order came out to $504.11 when ordered through H-E-B's curbside pickup.
"It's just crazy to me," Dippel said of the price jump.
Dippel told USA TODAY that the exercise made her question how people are able to afford the basics, a question that has become a centerpiece of politics in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent period of inflation.
"I think about the people that don't have the privilege to go to college and make it (and) have a good career," Dippel said. "I'm thinking about the people that work, for example, fast food or even working at H-E-B or grocery stores. I think about them making $15 an hour. I'm like, 'How do people even survive?'"
What did the receipt show?
Dippel provided USA TODAY a spreadsheet showing the comparison of the 1997 receipt to the modern curbside pickup order. She noted that she could not find exact matches for each item but sought the closest equivalent when necessary.
Notable price jumps included a nearly $8 rise for frozen corn dogs and a jar of baby food going from 55 cents to $1.97. A 78-count package of Pampers diapers more than doubled, going from $12.99 to $31.47; Folgers French Roast coffee went from $7.99 to $14.57; and kids' apple sauce went from 45 cents to $2.07.
USA TODAY has reached out to H-E-B for comment and did not receive a response.
How have grocery prices changed
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Inflation Calculator, $1 in June 1997 would have the same buying power as $2.02 in December 2025, the last month available for the calculator. That is a 102% difference from 1997 to 2025. For Dippel's updated calculations, the $155.34 in 1997 and the $504.11 cost now is a 224% increase.
According to USA TODAY’s grocery tracker, the all-category grocery price index compiled by Datasembly was down 5% in the week ending Jan. 10 compared with a year earlier, but remained 28% higher than before the pandemic.
Last month, a Swiftly survey found that 68% of shoppers said they were struggling to afford groceries. Over the last 12 months, food at home costs have increased 2.4%.
The latest Consumer Price Index report showed the cost of food at home increased 0.7% in December, exceeding the last available monthly increases of 0.3% in September and 0.6% in August.
Cardiff Founder and CEO William Stern said in a note to USA TODAY that politicians may "take a victory lap" with the lower-than-expected inflation readings but "that just means prices stopped spiraling."
“They never came down... and families feel that every time they check out,” he said.
Contributing: Suhail Bhat, Rachel Barber – USA TODAY