After four weeks of price tracking, we’ve officially wrapped the first month of the Summit Staples Snapshot.  Fort Wayne’s only ongoing look at local grocery prices across multiple stores. From milk and bread to apples and orange juice, we now have a 20-item baseline that tells the story of what it really costs to fill a cart in our city.

🧂 Week 4 Focus: Extras & Household Staples

These are the “quiet” groceries that sneak into every list; orange juice for breakfast, peanut butter for sandwiches, and the bottle of cooking oil that somehow always runs out at the worst time.

📊 This week’s takeaway:
Kroger and Walmart led on price for most items, while Meijer trailed slightly on cooking oil and cereal. Aldi continues to offer strong savings on dry goods but isn’t always cheapest on beverages.

💵 Total Basket Cost:  All 20 Tracked Items

With a full month of data, we can now compare overall grocery costs across Fort Wayne’s big three.

🟢 Walmart comes out lowest, roughly $5.50 cheaper than Kroger or Meijer for the same 20-item basket.

Kroger and Meijer remain nearly identical, just 30 cents apart: a sign of close competition among traditional grocers.

Aldi will join the total comparison next month once all 20 items have been tracked for three weeks straight.

 

📈 How Fort Wayne Stacks Up

• Dairy & Basics (Week 1): Stable prices...Walmart’s milk and eggs slightly cheaper.

• Proteins & Pantry (Week 2): Beef still above $6.50/lb; pasta and veggies under $1.

• Produce (Week 3): Apples ranged from $1.99 to $5.39; bananas steady across stores.

• Extras & Household (Week 4): Larger price spreads on brand items like oil and cereal.

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The first Summit Staples Index Number for Fort Wayne:

🧮 Average basket price across all stores: $53.91

That’s the baseline we’ll measure against moving forward — every month you’ll see whether prices are trending up or down.

🌽 Indiana & National Trends

Across Indiana, grocery inflation has eased, but not vanished:

• Fruit and breakfast foods are still the most volatile.

• Root vegetables and pantry items remain steady.

• Indiana’s overall food-at-home inflation hovers around 3 %, a bit above the U.S. average.

• Since 2020, statewide grocery costs have risen roughly 25 – 27 %.

Fort Wayne’s basket mirrors those trends closely; steady staples, swinging produce, and brand goods that can jump by a dollar overnight.

🔮 Looking Ahead

Next month’s Summit Staples Snapshot will:

• Track month-to-month price changes for each store,

• Add Aldi to the total basket for a 4-store comparison, and

• Update the Summit Staples Index to show which way Fort Wayne’s cost of groceries is moving.

💬 Join the Conversation

What are you seeing in the aisles? Spot a deal that beat our chart or a price that made you blink?

Share your finds and tag your favorite stores in our
Summit City Scoop Facebook Group, your post might be featured in next week’s update!