The total cost of 12 food items used to host a summer cookout for 10 totaled $75.50, an increase of 7.5% from last year’s state average, according to the latest informal Wisconsin Farm Bureau Marketbasket survey.
At $7.55 per person, this price marks the highest total for the summer Marketbasket survey since its inception in 2013.
“Wisconsinites can expect to see a higher total when shopping for their Fourth of July barbecue,” said Cassie Sonnentag, WFBF senior director of public relations. “From availability to inflation, we are seeing increases across many of the food items on the shopping list.”
The same survey conducted on the national level by American Farm Bureau totaled $73.82, a jump of 4% from last year’s national average.
The increase of Wisconsin’s picnic price is largely driven by the cost of ground beef, which came in at $7.30 per pound, a 23.3% increase over the 2025 average. This increase is due to a combination of a tight cattle supply and a continued demand for beef.
Ground beef remains a summer staple, especially across the holidays. Ground beef sales surpass $337 million in sales for Memorial Day, and $422 million during the week of July 4.
Ground beef was not the only staple item seeing an increase. Fresh strawberries increased 25.5% to $8.10 for a two-pint package, and vanilla ice cream increased 25.3% to $4.67 for a half gallon. Additional items, including chocolate chip cookies, pork chops, potato chips and beans also saw marginal increases contributing to this year’s price.
The Marketbasket Survey is an informal measure of prices at grocery stores in Wisconsin. The prices reported reflect variations in communities and retailers. The prices reported are not validated by any outside source.
Prices were collected for this survey in the communities of Shawano, Beloit, Burlington, Chippewa Falls, DePere, Dodgeville, Eau Claire, Frederic, Kenosha, Madison, Medford, Menomonie, New Richmond, Sauk City, Sheboygan, Sun Prairie, Tomahawk, Waupaca and West Bend.
