Personal Finance
How to save on groceries amid food price inflation
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Signs of strain: Grocery debt, food pantry visits
Higher food costs have influenced how many consumers pay for groceries, and how well they are able to keep up with other bills.
“You can’t avoid needing to buy food, needing to buy groceries,” said Kimberly Palmer, a personal finance expert at NerdWallet.
From February 2022 to August 2024, as food prices swelled, credit card delinquencies increased 39.8%, according to a recent report by the Urban Institute. In 2023, the research firm found that about a quarter of adults paid for groceries on a credit card and took on debt as a result.
More Americans are using buy now, pay later loans to buy groceries. About 25% of respondents said they have used buy now, pay later loans to buy groceries this year, up from 14% in 2024, LendingTree found. More are also falling behind on those bills: 41% of respondents made a late payment on a BNPL loan in the past year, higher from 34% the year prior, the report found.
Some consumers are in more dire straits. In the past year, about 19% of polled Americans said they had to get food from a food bank or a pantry, according to a new Pew Research Center report.
‘Use all available resources’ to save on food
When it comes to saving on groceries, you want to do as much preparation as possible, experts say.
“Try to use all available resources,” like comparing prices or going to wholesale or discount locations, Bankrate’s Kates said.
Here are five ways to save on grocery costs:
1. Plan your meals
A good first step is to plan out your meals in advance, said Thomas Gremillion, director of food policy at the Consumer Federation of America.
Once you have an idea of the kinds of meals you’re going to prepare, write out a list of the things you’ll need before stepping into the grocery store.
People tend to spend less money when they go to the grocery store with a list, Gremillion said.
Look over supermarket sales circulars as you plan. Often, they feature discounted prices on certain brands or cuts of meat, said NerdWallet’s Palmer. “Maintaining that flexibility can help,” she said.
2. Stack discounts and coupons
Joining your local store’s loyalty program can help you get additional discounts on top of any weekly sales or deals, Palmer said. While you may have to trade personal information like your phone number or an email, you typically get lower prices in exchange, she said.
On top of sales, look for manufacturer’s coupons, Kates said.
3. Consider store brands
About 56% are buying generic or store-brand products, Credit Karma’s report found.
Doing so can help save on costs. Store brands can cost about 5% to 72% less per serving than name-brand products, according to a 2022 blind test conducted by Consumer Reports. About three quarters of the 70 store-brand products used in the test tasted just as good as the name brand, researchers found.
4. Reconsider where you shop
Compare store prices on their websites and apps, and try to time specific purchases when they’re on sale, Kates said.
In Credit Karma’s report, 22% of consumers said they are prioritizing shopping at retailers that offer promotions. Another 35% are shopping at discount stores like Dollar Tree or Dollar General.
And it’s no secret that shopping in bulk in a wholesale club can also provide savings. Wholesale clubs like BJ’s Wholesale Club, Costco or Sam’s Club offer different membership tiers with fees ranging from $50 to $55 for the most basic plans to $110 to $130 for premium versions.
5. Tap government, local aid
The Credit Karma report found that 17% of respondents applied or considered applying for food stamps while 16% are relying on food banks. Those can be valuable resources for families in need.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP benefits, is a federal government program that provides food benefits for qualifying low-income families, said Courtney Alev, the consumer financial advocate at Credit Karma. Contact your local SNAP office for more information; you may need to meet certain requirements in order to qualify.
Local food banks and pantries are available to anyone struggling to afford groceries, and typically more accessible compared to benefits like SNAP, experts say.
However, you might be required to provide information, depending on the food bank’s specific criteria or policies, experts say. For instance, some might require a proof of residence and income, Alev said.
You can look up your nearest food bank on websites like feedingamerica.org or 211.org.
A Social Security Administration (SSA) office in Washington, DC, March 26, 2025.
Saul Loeb | Afp | Getty Images
The Social Security Administration has now processed about 91% of cases related to a new law that is prompting higher benefits and lump-sum retroactive payments for nearly 3 million people, according to a new update from the agency.
The Social Security Fairness Act, which was signed into law in January, eliminated two provisions — the Windfall Elimination Provision, or WEP, and the Government Pension Offset, or GPO — that previously reduced benefits for individuals who also receive income from public pensions that did not require the payment of Social Security payroll taxes.
At the start of the year, the Social Security Administration said affected beneficiaries may have to wait more than one year to see their payments adjusted.
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The agency credits automation for helping it to expedite those payments.
The Social Security Administration currently plans to update all beneficiary records affected by the law by early November.
However, the agency is “working to exceed its estimate” under new commissioner Frank Bisignano, a Social Security Administration official said via email.
“Commissioner Bisignano committed to senators during his confirmation process that this would be finished ‘while the weather is warm’ and he will keep his promise,” the Social Security Administration official said.
Here’s the latest on the Fairness Act payments.
Who does the Social Security Fairness Act affect?
The Social Security Fairness Act, which was signed into law on Jan. 5, affects certain individuals who are eligible for Social Security benefits, but who also receive pensions from work that did not require the payment of Social Security payroll taxes.
Examples of those affected include teachers, firefighters and police officers; federal employees covered by the Civil Service Retirement System; and people who are covered by a foreign social security system, according to the Social Security Administration.
Notably, not everyone in those groups will receive a benefit increase, according to the agency. About 72% of state and local public employees pay Social Security taxes, and therefore were not affected by the new law, according to the agency.
The provisions that had previously been in place reduced Social Security benefits for more than 2.8 million people, according to SSA. To date, the agency has processed about 2.5 million cases, the agency said in its latest update.
Railroad Retirement Board beneficiaries also stand to receive adjusted annuity payments because of the law. New monthly annuity amounts for most individuals will begin in July, and one-time retroactive payments are due to arrive by the end of July, according to a Railroad Retirement Board spokeswoman.
How much are the benefit increases?
Individuals affected may see monthly Social Security check increases ranging from “very little” to more than $1,000 per month, according to SSA.
The changes will result in higher monthly payments ranging from $360 to $1,190, depending on individual circumstances, the Congressional Budget Office previously estimated.
Affected beneficiaries will also see lump-sum payments dating back as far back as January 2024. Notably, Social Security benefit payments for January 2024 were received by beneficiaries in February 2024, according to the Social Security Administration.
For each beneficiary, the monthly benefit increases and any back payments are processed together, the Social Security official said.
Who is still waiting for benefit adjustments?
The Social Security Administration is now prioritizing the remaining complex cases that could not be automated, according to the Social Security official.
Those cases require additional time to manually update records to process both the retroactive and new benefits.
The roughly 300,000 individuals who are still waiting may have unique circumstances, notes David A. Weaver, a former Social Security Administration executive who currently teaches statistics at the University of South Carolina.
For example, some eligible beneficiaries who have recently died may qualify for the lump-sum retroactive payments, Weaver said. In those circumstances, the Social Security Administration would likely try to issue that money to survivors.
Others may be affected by overpayments, whereby the Social Security Administration issued benefit payments that were too high. In those cases, the agency will generally seek reimbursement for the excess sums that were issued.
In addition to the cases that require manual processing, there are people who are now newly eligible to apply for Social Security benefits as a result of the law, Weaver said.
Those individuals may need to file an application, according to the Social Security Administration. The date of the application may determine benefit start date and benefit amount.
What could happen next?
As the implementation of the Social Security Fairness Act moves to completion, it may be wise for Congress to ask the Government Accountability Office to audit that process, Weaver said.
That may allow for an evaluation of the final administrative costs for processing the benefit changes due to the law, including both the manual cases and additional new claims, as well as phone calls from the public about the changes, he said.
That investigation could also evaluate whether other agency work was sidelined as the benefit changes were processed, he said.
Have your Social Security benefits been affected by the Social Security Fairness Act? If you would be willing to share your story, email [email protected].
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks to the media after the House narrowly passed a bill forwarding President Donald Trump’s agenda at the Capitol on May 22, 2025.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images
As Senate Republicans debate trillions of tax breaks advanced by the House, some business owners could be blocked from part of the proposed windfall, policy experts say.
If enacted as written, the House GOP’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” would raise the federal deduction limit for state and local taxes, known as SALT, to $40,000. That would phase out once income exceeds $500,000.
The bill would also boost a tax break for pass-through businesses, known as the qualified business income, or QBI, deduction, to 23%. But the measure would end a popular state-level SALT cap workaround for certain pass-through business owners.
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Here’s what to know about the proposed change and who could be impacted.
SALT deduction cap ‘workaround’
Enacted via the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or TCJA, of 2017, there’s currently a $10,000 limit on the SALT deduction for filers who itemize tax breaks. This cap will expire after 2025 without changes from Congress. The SALT deduction was unlimited before TCJA, but the so-called alternative minimum tax reduced the benefit for some higher earners.
The cap has been a pain point in high-tax states like New York, New Jersey and California because residents can’t deduct more than $10,000 for SALT, which includes income, property and sales taxes.
However, most states now have a “workaround” to bypass the federal SALT deduction limit for pass-through business owners, explained Garrett Watson, director of policy analysis at the Tax Foundation.
As of May 9, some 36 states and one locality, New York City, have enacted a workaround — the pass-through entity, or PTE, level tax — since the 2017 TCJA limitation, according to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, or AICPA.
While each state has different rules, the strategy generally involves paying individual state and local taxes through a pass-through business to sidestep the $10,000 cap, Watson said. Owners can then deduct their share of SALT paid.
How the SALT workaround could change
Certain white-collar professionals — doctors, lawyers, accountants, financial advisors and others — known as a “specified service trade or business,” or SSTB, can’t claim the qualified business income deduction once income exceeds certain limits.
As advanced, the House bill would block SSTBs from using the SALT deduction workaround, which would be “substantial” for those impacted, Watson said.
Meanwhile, some non-SSTB pass-through businesses would have two benefits under the House-approved bill. Depending on income, they could qualify for the bigger 23% QBI deduction. They could also still claim an unlimited SALT deduction via the PTE workaround, experts say.
The revised provision has faced some pushback among certain organizations.
“This loophole is likely expensive, and lawmakers and the public should demand a clear accounting of the fiscal cost to bless workarounds for this favored group,” New York University Tax Law Center deputy director Mike Kaercher said in a statement after the revised House bill text was released in late May.
Some industry groups, such as AICPA, have urged the Senate to maintain the SALT deduction workaround for SSTBs.
If the House bill is enacted as written, SSTBs would be “unfairly economically disadvantaged” by existing as a certain type of business, AICPA wrote in a May 29 letter to the Senate.
Since many SSTBs can’t organize as a C corporation, there’s “no option to escape the harsh results of the SSTB distinction,” which could limit these professionals’ SALT deduction, AICPA wrote.
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