As my most recent sandwich survey shows, the average sandwich price has reached another all-time high.
If you’re like most people, it’s been hard not to notice the increase in your monthly grocery bill since the pandemic. After a huge run-up in prices for everything from gasoline to food – and despite the latest consumer price index showing that inflation in 2026 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 latest annual brown bag sandwich price survey show that most folks will spend far less than that this year.
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 sandwich price survey. The survey was conducted on August 1st, 2026. 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 2026
Here are the official Len Penzo dot Com rankings of the ten most common brown bag sandwiches this yea. Rankings are based upon total ingredient unit costs, from least to most expensive.
As you can see, at just 52 cents, the unheralded-but-mighty PB&J sandwich remains the undisputed Most Economical Sandwich. Notably, this is only the fifth time in 18 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, although there was little movement at the top and bottom ends of the table, there was a big shake up in the middle positions. PB&J and bologna held their positions at the top of the list, as did the perennial basement dwellers: Roast Beef & Cheddar, Tuna Salad, and BLT. In the midsection, Salami was the biggest mover, dropping two positions from #3 to #5.
Sandwich Survey Historical Price Data
The next chart is an annual comparison of each sandwich since my inaugural survey in 2009. This year, Egg Salad was the only sandwich that was cheaper than last year. Needless to say, the overall effects of food inflation on the surveyed sandwiches – especially since the pandemic – continue to be 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 $1.71; that’s 17% higher than last year! The only year with a steeper increase in the average sandwich inflation rate was 2022, when it skyrocketed 27% over the previous year.
Even more alarming, this year’s average sandwich price is 52% higher than the 2021 average – and 80% more than it was in 2018. Ouch.
The only sandwich that saw a price decline this year was Egg Salad; at 89 cents per sandwich, it’s 18% cheaper than last year. Only PB&J, bologna and American cheese are less expensive.
Tips and Observations
- Five sandwiches in this year’s survey cost less than a buck. Ironically, despite the steep rise in overall sandwich costs, that’s one more than last year.
- After climbing 15% two years ago, this year the price of wheat bread rose another 50% (!) to $2.69. If you think that is alarming, since 2018, the price of bread is up 167%.
Ten of the 18 sandwich ingredients saw price increases this year. From highest to lowest: ham, bread, tuna, tomato, salami, turkey, roast beef, bologna, Cheddar and Swiss.- Among all of the ingredients, ham saw the largest price increase this year (80%).
- Are you hooked on tuna? After a massive 97% increase in 2022, albacore tuna prices retreated 90 cents over the following two years. Unfortunately, the surveyed price of albacore tuna is rising again; it climbed 44%. And that’s after rising 30% in 2025.
- The price of a BLT rose a relatively modest 8% over the past year. The good news is, even at $4.55 this year, a home-cooked BLT is still $2 less than the average price of 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