A dollar doesn’t buy what it used to at the grocery store, but it can still buy a surprising amount of food if you know where to look. Grocery prices were 2.7% higher in July 2026 than a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and USDA expects food-at-home prices to rise about 2.7% for 2026 overall.
That makes the old “$1 per serving” test an interesting way to evaluate what’s actually providing value in your shopping cart. The idea is simple: divide the price you pay by the number of realistic servings the package provides, and anything costing $1 or less passes.
