Rising Cost of Your Summer Cookout

Ah, the temperature is high and the living is easy.

(Image credit: Thinkstock)

Ah, the temperature is high and the living is easy. Nothing like having a few friends over, grilling some meat and mingling over a few cold beers or glasses of wine. What's not to like?

How about rising prices: Be prepared to shell out more than you did last year for those burgers, ribs, chicken and seafood. The same goes for other summer fare -- watermelons and potato salad, for example.

The good news? Cheaper guacamole. Wine, too, will cost less than last summer. But beer prices? A tad higher.

Here's what you can expect to pay and why. And don't blame us if you get hungry.

Disclaimer

Sources: USDA, DOL, Calif. Ext. Service, Md. Dept. of Agriculture, National Watermelon Promotion Bd., Wash. State Fruit Comm., Mich. Farm Bureau Fed., Kraft, Nat'l. Confectioners Assn., World Cocoa Fdn., Allied Grape Growers, SymphonyIRI Group (hot dogs)

Ed Maixner
Editor, The Kiplinger Agriculture Letter
Maixner was a student of news writing, agriculture and public policy before starting as editor of The Kiplinger Agriculture Letter in 2003. Raised on a ranch in western North Dakota, he kept a foot in the family farm and the farm news beat through 20 years with North Dakota newspapers – interrupted to study economics and finance while finishing an MA degree in journalism as a Kiplinger fellow at Ohio State University. Ed worked on legislation in agriculture, natural resources and international trade as an aide in the U.S. House and Senate, then ran a Washington, D.C., agricultural news bureau before joining Kiplinger. He was president of the North American Agricultural Journalists in 2011-12.