Food prices held steady in the month of February. According to the most recent nclick="javascript:window.open('https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.htm', '_blank', 'noopener'); return false;">CPI report, the food index saw no change last month. This marks an improvement from January’s 0.4% increase. 

Food at home

The food at home index also showed no change during the month of February. Half of the six major grocery store food group indexes decreased, with the largest decrease being in the index for dairy and related products, which fell by 0.6%. The index for other food at home showed no change over the month.

Price changes for the other major grocery store groups included:

• Cereals and bakery products: +0.5% (-0.2% in January)
• Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs: +0.1% (unchanged in January)
• Fruits and vegetables: -0.2% (+0.4% in January)
• Nonalcoholic beverages: -0.2% (+1.2% in January)

The food at home index went up 1.0% over the past year. The largest increases were seen in the index for other food at home and nonalcoholic beverages, which both rose 2.3%. Dairy and related products saw the largest decrease during the past year at -1.8%.

Food away from home

The index for food away from home went up 0.1% after a 0.5% increase in January. Both the index for full service meals and the index for limited service meals rose 0.1%. This comes after 0.4% and 0.6% increases the previous month, respectively.

The food away from home index went up 4.5% during the past 12 months. The index for limited service meals increased 5.2% during this time, and the index for full service meals went up 3.8%.