As my most recent sandwich survey shows, consumers are finally starting to see some much-needed price relief in 2024.
If you’re like most people, it’s been hard not to notice the increase in your monthly grocery bill over the past three years. After a huge run-up in prices for everything from gasoline to food – and despite the latest consumer price index showing that inflation in 2024 is currently running at an annual clip of “just” 3% – more grocery shoppers than ever can be seen visibly wincing when the final total flashes at the checkout counter.
Meanwhile, the estimated cost of a school lunch this year is $3.50. For a family with two kids, that amounts to $1260 during the course of a 180-day school year.
Oh, sure; $3.50 for lunch may sound like a great deal, but the truth is, despite food inflation and those ever-rising grocery bills, people who choose to brown-bag a sandwich, piece of fruit, and carrot sticks or a serving of chips, are always going to spend less than the folks who buy their lunch at a restaurant, school cafeteria or fast-food joint.
On the other hand, not all sandwiches are created equally, as celebrity chef Martin Blunos demonstrated a few years ago with his decadent $184 cheese sarnie. The good news is, while food prices are climbing faster than ever, the results of my 16th annual brown bag sandwich price survey show that most folks will spend far less than that in 2023.
How I Conduct the Sandwich Survey
As usual, I visited my local grocery store and recorded the per-serving costs of various ingredients for ten of the most common brown bag sandwiches: peanut butter & jelly (PB&J); bologna; tuna; ham & Swiss; roast beef & cheddar; egg salad; salami; American cheese; turkey; and bacon, lettuce & tomato (BLT).
For consistency, I only selected items with the cheapest per unit costs, regardless of brand. And to keep it simple, I also assume that all sandwiches are with wheat bread.
Sandwich Survey Ingredients Data
Here are the results of this year’s price survey. The survey date is August 3rd, 2024. The first graphic shows the sandwich serving sizes and per-serving costs for each ingredient. It also includes the percentage increase or decrease in the per-serving price of each item from last year’s survey:
With that data in hand, and using my handy spreadsheet, it’s no effort at all to determine the most economical sandwiches.
Sandwich Survey Rankings for 2024
Here are the official Len Penzo dot Com rankings of the ten most common brown bag sandwiches in 2024. Rankings are based upon total ingredient unit costs, from least to most expensive.
As you can see, at just 46 cents, the unheralded-but-mighty PB&J sandwich has reclaimed the honor of being the undisputed Most Economical Sandwich in 2024.
That’s right; the popular kids’ brown bag staple is back!
That being said, PB&J’s presence alone at the top of the survey represents a minor upset. That’s because this is only the third time in 16 years that bologna has failed to hold at least a share of the Most Economical Sandwich crown.
As for the rest of this year’s rankings, there was plenty of turmoil. In fact, only two of the ten sandwiches managed to maintain the same position they held last year: Turkey & Swiss and the BLT (ranked sixth and tenth, respectively).
By the way, Ham & Swiss saw the biggest jump in the rankings this year, although it was modest; it climbed from seventh to fifth place. At the other end of the spectrum, the salami sandwich fell four slots into seventh position.
Sandwich Survey Historical Price Data
The next chart is an annual comparison of each sandwich since my inaugural survey in 2009. This year seven sarnies are cheaper than they were in 2023. Even so, the overall effects of food inflation on the surveyed sandwiches are striking.
In 2010, the average price of all ten sandwiches was 84 cents – that was the all-time low. This year, the average cost of the survey’s ten sandwiches is $1.39; that’s 11% lower than last year. However, this year’s average sandwich price is 24% higher than the 2021 average – and 47% more than it was in 2018. Ouch.
Tips and Observations
- For the fifth year in a row, five sandwiches in this year’s survey cost less than a buck; that’s down from seven in 2018. Even so, the sticky impacts of past food inflation remain.
- After reaching an all-time survey high of $1.99 last year, the price of bread fell 25% to $1.49. That’s the same price it was back in 2022.
Seven of the 18 sandwich ingredients saw price declines from the year before: ham, bacon, wheat bread, tuna, American cheese, eggs and lettuce. And prices for our other ingredients remained the same as last year: peanut butter, Swiss cheese, turkey and mustard.- The price of Swiss cheese more than doubled between 2019 and last year. Thankfully, the price of Swiss held steady this year. Compare that to the prices of American and Cheddar, which have remained fairly stable over the same period.
- After climbing 57% between 2020 and 2022, the price of a Roast Beef & Cheddar sandwich has reversed course; it has fallen more than 20% over the last two years.
- Are you hooked on tuna? After a massive 97% increase two years ago, albacore tuna prices retreated 50 cents last year and another 40 cents this year. Unfortunately, the surveyed price of albacore tuna is still 49% higher than it was in 2020.
- After two consecutive years of massive price increases, the price of a BLT had the second largest price decrease among the ten surveyed sandwiches, falling 19%. The good news is, even at $4.04 this year, a home-cooked BLT is still $1.25 less than a Big Mac.
- Cooking your own ham and turkey and slicing it yourself is a great way to reduce your grocery bill. It’s also cheaper to buy block cheese and slice it at home.
- If you’re like me and love to put tomatoes on a sandwich, grow your own— you’ll save a bundle. Best of all, they taste much better than anything you can buy from your grocer.
- You can save upwards of 40% by purchasing store-brand products. As my popular blind taste tests have proven, their quality is often just as good — if not better.
Photo Credit: neil russo
What? No meatloaf sandwich?
I love meatloaf sandwiches, but I don’t include them because they are a by-product of the previous night’s dinner.
The government plays with the facts by referencing inflation that purposely omits volatile items. (Think food and energy.) Here is an excerpt:
“Core inflation removes the CPI components that can exhibit large amounts of volatility from month to month, which can cause unwanted distortion to the headline figure. The most commonly removed factors are those relating to the costs of food and energy. Food prices can be affected by factors outside of those attributed to the economy, such as environmental shifts that cause issues in the growth of crops. Energy costs, such as oil production, can be affected by forces outside of traditional supply and demand, such as political dissent.”
From 1957 till 2018, the average core inflation rate in the United States was listed as 3.64%. The all-time high was 13.60%, which occurred in June 1980. The lowest rate was recorded in May 1957 with an inflation rate of 0%. As of 2018, the Federal Reserve’s goal rate for core inflation is 2%.
This is why consumers intuitively know the rate of inflation published by the government makes no sense to what we see in our household costs.
There are multiple indexes for measuring and reporting inflation.
It’s no secret that the Fed began adjusting its inflation methodology in 1980 to begin hiding the true inflation rate. Since then, they have changed their inflation methodology several times to minimize the final number. Of course, consumers know today’s “official” inflation figures are BS because they pay the bills.
The Chapwood index is a much better gauge of inflation today. You can also go to ShadowStats to see what the inflation rate is when measured via the pre-1980 methodology. It’s currently 8%.
Len, I still love a good PB&J, esp. since we now grow rhubarb and peaches and make our own jam. When the kids were in school, they got to buy lunch on Fridays only, bringing it from home the rest of the week. A good compromise, imo. 🙂
Hi Lauren! Nothing wrong with a little treat now and then!
I’m going to use your comment to give a shout out to my old elementary school cafeteria cooks – most of them were very sweet, older immigrant Italian ladies. Twice a month we had pizza days – and let me tell you, it was really quite delicious considering their limited resources. (It was always topped with shredded Cheddar cheese and ground hamburger – the same stuff they used for taco days LOL!). Thankfully, they used fresh ingredients and had real ovens and stoves for cooking.
Nowadays, I suspect most (all?) school cafeterias are dishing out mainly prepackaged meals – most of which can be tossed in a microwave. (Hope I’m wrong though.)
Mmmm, sounds like your school cafeteria was worth buying lunch at, Len! 🙂
It was! I think it was a quarter! I know us kids could also buy a small carton of milk for a nickel. (Yes, I’m old.) 😛
I love that you do this list! I would like to see an egg McMuffin column. The pricing of a sandwich at some of these fast food chains is out of hand. I can make an egg McMuffin for around $1. McDonald’s in MN is $4.39! Ouch! I like to make my own bag breakfast sandwich! Keep it up Len!
Thanks for all of your content.
Thanks, Jeff!
Thank you for my very favorite annual column Len!
Lots of prices are suddenly dropping like the price of gasoline which is due to the upcoming election as the Democrats “magically” arrange for price drops. Of course when the Democrats take the White House Bidenomics will roar back into life and gasoline will suddenly hover near $5 a gallon and food inflation will continue to soar. Democrats love taxes because while heavy taxes do not grow the economy they do take more of your money away so you have less control of your own life and then they give your money to the non productive to buy votes. But I digress.
I’m with you Len, not only the tomato comes from the garden, but the leaf lettuce too, plus the rhubarb and blackberries for jam. Good shopping plays a part in cost and value. Oscar Meyer bacon is on sale this week for $3.99 a pound ($1.70 per pound savings). I’m the person sorting through every single package of thick cut bacon to find the four with the most red (the actual meat) while discarding the mostly white ones with the higher percentage of fat.
I’m surrounded by people who zoom in, take the top package without glancing at the contents and move on. Breakfast every morning from July 1- mid October (garden tomato season) is a bacon and tomato sandwich. Arnold’s whole wheat bread is on sale for $3.99 instead of the usual $5.69. Four loaves go home with me and three go into the freezer. When bread is $5.69 I pull out one of the sale loaves, pleased to save the $1.70. There’s only the refrigerator’s freezer unit but it helps a lot without the expense of a chest freezer which is not necessary for two people.
Thank you again for this entertaining (and sobering) annual article!
My pleasure, Karen! 🙂