Americans spending more on groceries, buying less

COLUMBIA, S.C. (CNN)—People are spending more on groceries even though they are actually buying less.

The market research firm Circana reports this year through May 21, sales of fresh eggs fell nearly 5%, compared to the same time period in 2022.

It also reported that milk dropped nearly 4% and packaged bread fell by nearly 4%.

However, prices of each of these items rose during that period; fresh eggs prices by more than 48%, bread by 12.7% and milk by 5%.

Execs with Circana say by volume, grocery sales are still generally up compared to 2019.

Still – that increase isn’t so much a sign of extra cash as it’s a sign that people are trading down from restaurants to preparing food at home.