Hampton Roads consumers find rising cost of groceries hard to stomach

Angie Zawistowski eased through the grocery store, pushing her shopping cart with one hand and checking off items on her detailed list with the other.

“I don’t ever go without a list,” she said. “That’s a huge budgeting tip.”

Zawistowski, who runs a meal planning and meal prepping business, is doing her best to keep her set prices.

Grocery prices in the U.S. have increased 32% over the past 10 years, exacerbated by the pandemic and recent inflation, according to the change in the Consumer Price Index for food at home. And the U.S. Economic Research Service expects grocery prices to increase another 2.4% this year.

The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press took a look at how shoppers in Hampton Roads are adjusting as food costs continue to go up.

Saving time and money

On a visit to Lidl in late March, Zawistowski — who is known as The Foodie Mama — was shopping to prepare three meals each for six client families: chicken Parmesan, chicken and steak fajitas, and chicken tortellini pasta.

“Within the last five years, I’d guess they’ve risen approximately $5 to $8 per entree,” she said. “My meals are usually a five to six entree pickup, so overall a $25 to $30 increase per pickup in recent years.”

With the cost of beef the highest it’s been in years, she is weighing her meals more heavily on other sources of protein. Compared with 2016 prices, boneless round steak is up 69% from $5.90 to $9.97 per pound and ground beef is up 80% from $3.75 to $6.75 per pound, according to annual averages based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

While Zawistowski admits she is not the best with coupons — she cuts them, but then they sit — she does check the circulars for savings, but primarily sets her sights on which proteins are on sale.

“It could be three, four or sometimes $5 off beef a pound on sale,” she said. “The cost of beef right now is outrageous.”

She uses her shopper card to save points, looks for the manager specials, sees the value in buying in bulk and often cooks in bulk and freezes meals, too.

“If you’re a budget shopper you cannot be a name brand person,” she said. “Because oftentimes the store stuff is literally exactly the same taste-wise. But I’m a Pittsburgh girl, so I will only buy Heinz ketchup.”

It’s easy to see that Zawistowski is on a mission when she steps foot into the grocery store — usually every other day if not daily. She always follows a certain route, trying to stick to the outer perimeter of the store where the fresh foods are stored versus the processed and packaged goods.

The former first grade teacher turned stay-at-home mom started her small business 13 years ago. The Virginia Beach mother of three considers it essential to help other busy families save time and money by providing them with healthy home-cooked meals to enjoy at their dining room tables.

While she’s not against dining out — and does enjoy it on occasion — Zawistowski aims to educate people on stretching their dollars, planning their meals and saving on the increased costs associated with eating at local restaurants, she said. Restaurants typically mark up prices by two to three times the food costs to incorporate overhead and labor, according to industry blog SpotOn.

“We can still get good quality food at home and make it enjoyable,” she said.

Throughout the years, she has scoured local grocery stores and knows her top go-to favorites: Lidl, Kroger and Food Lion. Aldi is where she generally goes for fresh vegetables and salmon, she said.

Buying fresh vegetables versus the packaged vegetables is always a big savings, she said.

“I buy the large piece (of salmon) and then I portion it out. … It’s the most bang for your buck type deal,” she said. “You’re not wasting and throwing away a lot, which is obviously super important to save money.”

Two more mouths to feed

Fallon Whidden said things changed in her household last year when it became multigenerational.

That’s when Whidden’s mother and stepfather moved down from New Jersey to help care for her children, now 3 and 6 years old. Mary Ann Dippolito, a retired nurse and Italian matriarch, took over the family meals.

“Her love language is cooking,” Whidden said. “She’s a great cook and nobody’s going hungry.”

Dippolito heads to the grocery store almost daily and buys items in bulk from local wholesale clubs.

“She breaks up all the chicken or meat, vacuum seals it and freezes it,” Whidden said.

A second fridge in the family’s garage enables them to stock up, especially on sale items. That’s a big change from how Whidden, a Virginia Beach attorney, used to handle the family’s meal planning.

“I shopped on Sunday with a list and tried to meal plan for the week,” she said.

But the busy mom still makes weekly grocery store stops to pick up staples for the kids, including milk, yogurt, eggs, cereal, snacks and lunch items.

“Even that little stuff adds up to over $100,” Whidden said. “I’ve definitely seen prices go up, so I try to plan accordingly.”

Prices for eggs, milk, bread have increased over the past decade, though egg prices are down to $2.35 per dozen, less than half of their $6.23 average March price last year, according to federal data. She said the kids’ favorite Wegman’s brand macaroni and cheese has gone up from 33 cents a box to approximately $1.25.

“I definitely utilize the apps for the store savings,” Whidden said.

Whidden is also a client of The Foodie Mama and picks up three fresh sheet pan meals on occasion to give her mother a well-deserved break from the kitchen. And while there are more mouths to feed, splitting the costs with her mother is a big savings.

“I feel like all of us living together has saved me money,” Whidden said. “It’s as much of a benefit for me as it is for them.”

Making it stretch and cutting back

Larie Duke of Portsmouth said it’s been a struggle. She makes less frequent trips to the store to make sure the family uses up the groceries before the next haul.

“I have done a lot of modifying with my grocery shopping,” Duke said.

She now looks for the deals, plans out family meals for the week and is much more conscientious about making it stretch.

“If I buy ground beef, we’re going to have tacos on this day and then the next day I’ll make a meatloaf and stuffed peppers the day after that,” Duke said. “So I buy the larger size and divide it up.”

Yekaterina “Kate” Rosa said her family is really feeling the rising costs and have cut back on dining out.

“I used to work in the restaurant industry, so going out was always something typical for us,” Rosa said.

Instead, the Chesapeake resident is trying to be more creative with her home-cooked meals that feed her husband, 4-year-old daughter and mother-in-law.

A member of Sam’s Club for years, Rosa said buying in bulk is helpful for some items, especially paper goods, but she relies on the buy one, get one free deals for food items at Harris Teeter.

“You can’t beat that anywhere else,” Rosa said.

Helpers pay it forward

Attorney Charlene Morring knows the struggles associated with food insecurity, and she is eager to pay it forward.

Morring remembers standing in food stamp lines years ago as a single teenage mother. That’s why she wholeheartedly supported creating an event five years ago through the Morring Foundation to purchase and give away gift cards from E. Palmer Supermarket in the Berkley area of Norfolk.

“We want to give them an extra boost so they can get into the habit of buying healthier things, which creates a more healthy environment and a healthier community, which gives longevity to us all,” Morring said.

The event not only helps people dealing with hunger, but also helps the market — located in an area underserved by grocers — to stay in business.

The line of people wrapped around the store with some arriving as early as 8 p.m. the night before the mid-February giveaway to set up their chairs and camp out. The atmosphere — filled with music, dancing and a real sense of revelry — is one that Morring insists upon.

“We wanted to bring some level of dignity to it,” she said.

The giveaway tallied $8,000 its first year. This year, it totaled $40,000, plus two $1,200 gift cards that were raffled off. In the last five years, the event has given away more than $137,000 toward groceries.

Morring dug into her own wallet this year to buy a few extra gift cards to make sure everyone who attended received one.

“It’s our job to serve each other and be kind to each other,” she said.

Norfolk residents Rashawna Griffin and her mother, Lawanda, stood in line eager to do some grocery shopping.

“Everything is high,” Lawanda Griffin said. “You try to eat healthy, but the fruit, vegetables, eggs and peanut butter are all expensive.”

Ralph and Amanda Williams drove almost an hour from Carrollton to attend the gift card giveaway.

“We’re trying to stretch our meals, buy it in bulk and do the best we can,” Amanda Williams said. “Thank God it’s just the two of us because if we had other people to feed, I don’t know how we would balance it.”

The retired couple lives on a fixed income and since the price of groceries has increased, it’s been a major — not a minor — change to their lives, she said.

“I’m praying that things will get better,” Ralph Williams said. “But it is hard to see that happening in this time in society.”

‘Come get your food’

Pastor Michael and minister Valerie Baker have been feeding the community since the inception of their Suffolk-based ministry, Greater Works Community Outreach Ministries, a week before the pandemic began in 2020.

“When everything shut down, that’s when we opened up,” she said.

The ministry has grown from a van they drove through neighborhoods to provide food, gift cards, gas cards, and other resources to a mobile market called Feeding the Body, Reaching the Soul that provides food to 250 families each month.

“I feel humbled,” she said. “I feel that God is using us to make a difference.”

They also have a House of Bread food pantry — in partnership with the food bank and retail rescue programs at Food Lion and Publix — where clients have a two-hour window to shop every Wednesday night for what they need for free.

Their newest venture, Garden of Eden, is a 12-tower aeroponic garden flourishing year-round with fresh vegetables, including collards, kale, lettuce, broccoli, cucumbers and tomatoes.

“It’s very nutritious because it doesn’t have to travel thousands of miles, and it’s not sitting in someone’s refrigerator for a week,” Baker said.

She said it’s important they provide their handouts with love. Baker, one of nine children in her family, recalled spending time in the lunch line at the community center long ago.

“My dad used to always say, if we didn’t have to eat, we’d be all right,” she said. “I never understood what he meant, but as I’m older I understand food insecurity.”

Nowadays, the Bakers hear from people who are forced to make tough choices between buying groceries, getting gas to drive to work, filling their medications, paying utility bills or buying shoes for their children.

“We have them divert that money to the other things they need and they can skip a cash register,” Valerie Baker said.

She said they are able to assure some people by telling them: “We have the food. You come get your food.”

Increase in U.S. prices of select food items, 2016 to 2026

• 83%: Romaine lettuce, from $1.92 to $3.52 per pound
• 80%: Ground beef, from $3.75 to $6.75 per pound
• 69%: USDA boneless round steak, from $5.90 to $9.97 per pound
• 51%: Large eggs, grade A, from $1.68 to $2.54 per dozen
• 35%: White bread, from $1.37 to $1.85 per pound
• 28%: Sliced bacon, from $5.42 to $6.94 per pound
• 28%: Boneless chicken breast, from $3.25 to $4.15 per pound
• 27%: Whole milk, from $3.20 to $4.06 per gallon
• 21%: Navel oranges, from $1.25 to $1.51 per pound
• 14%: Bananas, from 57 cents to 65 cents per pound
• 2.6%: Field-grown tomatoes, from $1.93 to $1.98 per pound

(Sources: 12-month 2016 averages and January-March 2026 averages of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data)