Increase in food prices pressures seniors’ savings
For the better part of the past year, Marilynn Miller stretched her food budget.
With a monthly Social Security check as her only income, Miller, 89, shops for her groceries at Walmart. Occasional dinners out with friends have become too expensive. She no longer buys any prepared meals because of the cost, and eats cheese and beans instead of meat.
“I’ve probably eliminated 90% of buying any meat because it’s so expensive,” said Miller, who lives in a senior community in Crest Hill, Illinois, about 40 miles southwest of Chicago.
Rising prices at grocery stores and restaurants have altered how many Americans — including a good number older than 65 — shop and eat out. After climbing nearly 10% last year, food prices are expected to rise another 7% in 2023, according to the Department of Agriculture.
Combined with higher transportation and housing prices, the rising cost of food is being felt disproportionately by lower-income households, meaning those with $50,000 or less in annual income, according to a study released in January by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. And in 2021, about 6 million Americans over 65 — more than 10% of their population — were living below the poverty line, according to Census Bureau data. And while Social Security benefits increased 8.7% this year, their biggest inflation adjustment in decades, it is still not enough for many retirees.
As prices climb, experts worry that older individuals who are in poor physical or mental health or who have lower incomes are at greater risk of not having enough food or of eating less healthy foods. The squeeze also has the potential to isolate them socially if they back away from activities like eating out with friends.
“This is a group that has diabetes, heart disease and cancer risk,” said Dr. Preeti Malani, a professor of medicine at the University of Michigan and a member of the National Poll on Healthy Aging research team. “For them, food is part of their health and right now, money has become a big barrier to eating healthy for a lot of people.”
While many have only slightly moderated their grocery shopping and dining-out habits thanks to significant savings, or income from pensions or other retirement accounts, a number of retirees across the country say the prices have altered their behavior.
Some are clipping coupons and planning weekly menus. Some now shop at Walmart and other discounters. Some say they buy less meat and “treats,” such as soda, ice cream or alcohol.
While Sharon Cohen, 73, and her husband, Jeanhenry Mathurin, 80, have retirement savings plans from their employers, they are trying to save that money in case one or both need to stay at a health care facility at some point. In the meantime, they’re trying to pay their bills, including repairs and upkeep on their 300-year-old home in Newtown.
But after two bouts with cancer in the past five years, Cohen said she was also conscious about eating healthy.
“I realized that I can’t just cut back on everything,” she said. “So we are now buying in smaller quantities and trying to stretch the foods we make over several days. We now cook a chicken and that becomes chicken salad and chicken soup.”