Coastal Georgia food prices keep rising despite Trump’s victory declaration. We checked.

Touting his economic policies in northwest Georgia, President Donald Trump declared victory on affordability.

“I’ve won,” Trump told supporters in Rome in a 69-minute speech. His administration’s handling of the affordability issue had prevailed over the narrative espoused by the “fake news” and the Democrats, whom he blamed for the problem.  

Not only that. The administration had fixed the problem of high consumer bills. “We’re going still lower” on prices, he said, “but we’ve solved it.”

Many Coastal Georgia consumers, however, might be forgiven for not feeling the thrill of victory.

Little relief despite lower gas prices

Although consumer prices, specifically for groceries, have come down in a few specific categories in the first year of Trump’s second term as president, most food prices were up, according to a survey of grocery stores by The Current in Chatham and Glynn counties.

Meat prices have increased substantially. The price of 80% lean ground beef at a Kroger in Chatham rose from $5.99 on January 20, 2025 — the date Trump was sworn in for a second term — to $9.99 one year later, a 66% increase. At a Publix in Glynn, the price was $9.89.

Bone-in pork loin chops went from $3.99/lb. to $4.49/lb. at the Chatham store and to $5.36 at the Glynn market. For Perdue-brand chicken drumsticks, the price was up to $2.99/lb. from $2.49/lb. The same Publix-brand item in Glynn was $4.51/lb.

Prices also have soared for some staples.

A 27.5-ounce container of Maxwell House original roast coffee went from $9.99 to $15.99 in Chatham and to an eye-catching $19.99 in Glynn. An 8.9-ounce box of Cheerios that cost $2.79 in Chatham on Trump’s second inauguration day goes a year later for $4.29; in Glynn, for $5.79.

There were notable exceptions to these sharp price increases.

Prices for fruits and vegetables grew only slightly or remained roughly the same in the one year since Trump’s swearing-in.

For instance, the cost of fresh carrots remained at $1.69/lb. at the Kroger in Chatham, though it jumped to $2.99 at the Publix in Glynn. A three-pound bag of Gala apples in Chatham went from $3.69 to $3.99, and in Glynn to $5.99.

The cost of a dozen, grade A large eggs rose by a relatively modest $0.50 to $3.99 in Chatham. The cost of whole milk even dropped, with the cost of one gallon going for $2.89 in Chatham, down $0.30 from a year earlier.

During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump and his supporters, including Coastal Georgia’s congressman, Earl “Buddy” Carter, insisted that a drop in energy prices, including gas, would bring down food prices.

And indeed, gas prices at Chatham-area gas stations on Jan. 20 averaged about $2.95/gallon, down $0.20 from a year earlier. In Glynn, they were even lower — an average of $2.65/gallon.

That decline in gas prices, however, does not appear to have stopped increases in the prices of popular food items, let alone reversed them.

A year after Trump took office for a second time, the cost of 20-ounce loaf of white bread at a Kroger in Chatham, for example, had risen to $1.99 from $1.79; in Glynn, the same package was priced at $2.67.

‘Starting Day One’

During the 2024 campaign, Trump held a news conference at his New Jersey golf club flanked by two tables loaded with milk, eggs, meat and other grocery staples and promised he would, if elected, “immediately bring prices down, starting on Day One.”

Despite that promise and his latest declaration of victory on the affordability issue on Thursday, since taking office more than a year ago Trump has focused blame for persistently high and in some cases increasing grocery prices on the Biden administration and the legacy news media.

He has called affordability a “fake word” and derided it as a “hoax,” a “con job” and a “fake narrative” pushed by Democrats that “doesn’t mean anything to anybody.” He insisted in December that prices have come down “very substantially.”

Contradictorily and in a tacit acknowledgement many Americans are feeling squeezed, the president has also preached austerity. Late last year, he suggested that school children could cut back on pencils to save money and could get along with five dolls instead of 30.

His agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, said people could get a nutritious meal consisting of a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, a corn tortilla, and “one other thing” for just $3.

For his part, Coastal Georgia’s Carter made “Bidenomics” and “Kamalanomics” a constant target during Joe Biden’s four years in office. He often took social media to disparage the Democrat’s economic policies for the high cost of holiday menus, including July 4th (“This weekend’s BBQ: more expensive thanks to ‘Bidenomics’,” he wrote on X in 2023).

With Trump in the Oval Office, the U.S. Senate candidate from S t. Simons has counseled patience.

Last March, during a virtual town hall for residents of the 1st Congressional district, Carter responded to one Coastal Georgian’s concerns about rising grocery prices by counseling patience.

“As we get energy costs down, you’re going to see you’re going to see the price of groceries go down. As we get inflation down, you’re going to see the price of groceries go down.”