Lake County Gazette

From the coffee you drink in the morning to the bacon, eggs and buttered toast you eat for breakfast or the milk you pour on your cereal, the cost for almost everything has gone up drastically in the past year. 

State Sen. Craig Wilcox (R-McHenry) spoke out about the soaring food prices by sharing a graphic on social media depicting breakfast items that reflected double-digit increases.

"Take a moment to digest this inflation information," Wilcox wrote in his July 21 Facebook post. "Look at those price increases over just 12 months. Doesn't it leave a bad taste in your mouth?"

Wilcox, who was first elected to the state Senate in 2018, serves on both the Agriculture and Appropriations committees, according to the Illinois Senate. 

In its latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) summary released July 13, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found costs have reached another four-decade high with a 9.1% increase in the past year. The CPI also revealed that in the past month, the cost for energy was up 7.5%, gas rose 11.2% and food prices climbed 1%. Compared to a year ago, gas saw a 59.9% hike with food prices growing 10.4%.

Between May 2021 and May of this year, the cost of chicken went up 17.4%, which is the largest increase ever reported, according to NBC News, citing data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The expense of other meat products also escalated including pork, with a 13.3% increase, and bacon, up by 15%. 

Getting back to that morning brew, other staple grocery items are also more expensive, such as milk, which has risen 15.9% in the past year, and coffee, reflecting a 15.3% hike, the article said.

 "More and more, we're hearing that there is not going to be a significant change until next spring," Christine LaFave Grace, executive editor of Winsight Grocery Business, told NBC. "Six months ago, everyone was saying that we're going to get back down to 4% (inflation) by the end of the year. That's no longer the case."