Groceries are cheaper in Jackson than New York City and southern California, recent transplants report.
But that’s not saying much. One recent Smith’s shopper, Veronica Reynoso, was appalled by a small tub of parmesan cheese that cost $7. She put the blame on politicians.
“I wish they were actually working for the people like the government’s supposed to,” she said.
The physical therapist and mom still put the cheese in her cart. Like most other shoppers surveyed by KHOL across several locations, she wasn’t changing what she buys despite higher prices.
A trio of private school teachers shared a bounty of locally grown vegetables at one of the last People’s Markets of the season. Jessamyn Biette said she prioritizes “quality of food over price,” while Lena Goss said “I’m just more mindful about the joy that tomatoes bring.”
That’s different from a lot of the rest of the county. With prices up 33% since 2019, according to a summer AP analysis, many shoppers are changing where they shop and searching for deals.
One quirk of the higher stickers at grocers is that local providers are suddenly more competitive with similar pricing. That dynamic combines with federal dollars to make it easier for nonprofits like One22 to buy fruits and veggies that haven’t spent weeks on the road.
Executive Director Sharel Lund said COVID-era American Rescue Plan Act dollars helped build relationships with local growers.
“And now we’re finding that that gap is shrinking as we watch prices on imported produce, particularly, increased dramatically over the past year,” she said.
The name of the game is strategic swapping to stock free cupboards throughout town.
“We don’t even stock limes anymore because the price went through the roof,” Lund said, “so we just lean into lemons.”
The arrangement benefits growers like Squire Farms in Star Valley. Their beef and dairy goes to nonprofits like Lund’s and the People’s Market. Farmer Suzanne Maté says federal dollars help put prized French cows from Normandy on the plates of low-income families.
“That’s super awesome because I’m one of those people that think that nobody should ever go hungry, no questions asked,” she said. “If you see it from that perspective, then it’s easy for me to be proud to be able to feed people high quality, fancy beef.”
A few years ago, the idea of using local partners to fill the nonprofit’s free pantries would have seemed outlandish. Now Lund knows them by name: Curtis Haderlie of Thayne for pork, Huidekoper Ranch for carrots and zucchini, Linn Ranch for greens and spinach, and Shoshone River Farms for garlic, celery, potatoes and onions.
Nationwide, quarts of orange juice and pounds of ground beef are up nearly a dollar since Trump took office, while eggs are down and chicken is steady, according to NBC News tracking.
Price increases could be the reason for an uptick at another Jackson nonprofit, Hole Food Rescue, which collects unsold food from grocery stores and restaurants and delivers it to residents for free. Last year, it served an organization record 2,071 people per month. This year, leaders say that’s up 7%.
Together with One22, the nonprofits helped the University of Wyoming survey pricing and shopping decisions this summer. The results will be published at the beginning of November.
Back at Smiths, Jackson native Justin Finch said groceries have always been hard to afford.
“I can remember going to stores here with my mom and getting two grocery carts full and it was like $600,” the preschool teacher said. “She had the same complaints that we do now.”
Shane Prokuda, who gets a birds-eye view of Jackson as the crane operator for the under-construction Justice Center, said he’s cutting back in other ways. As diesel hit an all-time record high of $6.53 per gallon in September, he bought a new pickup truck that takes gas.
