Here's what effect the Inflation Reduction Act had on your Memorial Day weekend barbecue

Doug P. | 1:51 PM on May 29, 2023

After President Biden signed the ironically-titled Inflation Reduction Act we were told to brace for prices for everything from gas to electricity to food to start to begin to return to 2019/2020 levels:

When it actually came time to do something about inflation around the kitchen table, Republicans in Congress voted against the Inflation Reduction Act. pic.twitter.com/QHS2G0lshX

— President Biden (@POTUS) October 17, 2022

“When it actually came time to do something about inflation around the kitchen table, Republicans in Congress voted against the Inflation Reduction Act.”

Good for those Republicans, because it’s had the opposite effect as the “Inflation Reduction Act” in actuality had nothing to do with reducing inflation (quite the opposite actually). Here’s how the Inflation Reduction Act brought down “kitchen table” items this holiday weekend:

With inflation still sizzling, most of the fixings for your Memorial Day weekend barbecue will cost more. https://t.co/5PtnJ64JUR

— Axios (@axios) May 29, 2023

Surprised? Neither are we:

The big picture: While the latest Consumer Price Index found food prices were up 7.7% in the 12 months through April, prices for classic barbecue staples like ketchup and mustard have had much larger increases, research firm Datasembly told Axios.

A Memorial Day basket of seven barbecue essentials cost $27.32 in 2023 compared to $25.07 the same time last year, a nearly 9% increase, per Datasembly’s analysis.
More than 75% of consumers said they expect rising prices to impact their holiday spending, according to a survey by Numerator.
By the numbers: A 32-ounce bottle of ketchup had the biggest increase at 27.9%, followed by a 20-ounce bottle of mustard that went up 13% and relish up 12.3%, Datasembly found.