I’ve been going to Costco every week for several years. Pre Covid my big trips were around $350. Yesterday I went and got some beer, wine, and some beef jerky and it came out to $350

My big cart days are a lot closer to $700 too now. Certain items I remember being $10 are now $16-18. It’s insane.

Just a note here, I bet your mom wasn't buying "dinners," she was buying "ingredients." Ingredients take up a lot more space in the cart per dollar spent. Sometimes that's because you pay a premium for prepared foods, (flour vs cookies) and sometimes it's because there's inherent waste, like onion skins, and both ends of that head of celery, and the bones of the whole chicken, and the stem, seeds, and vacant space inside a bell pepper. Also, not judging the beer, but in my childhood Dad bought all the alcoholic beverages from the liquor store in a separate trip. So it wouldn't have been in the grocery bags, nor on that receipt.

Inflation is real. But it's important to:

A. Make accurate comparisons

B. Value the work that went into turning those ingredients into dinners.

I'm really weirded out because I strongly remember averaging $100/week grocery trips as a kid, and now that I have my own family we're averaging $100/week. Checking a CPI calculator I should be spending ~$180/week with the exact same spending habits

They're raising the prices because we're buying "frozen meals, cookies, and beer". All of that can be made at home for cheaper. Well, the beer and cookies may cost the same but they will be twice as good.

Figure out what is your biggest purchase and find the recipe for it. Pasta, Indian food, cookies, and even beer can be made at home if you know what you're doing.

Prices were lower before because everyone knew they could probably whip up something similar. If you have a bag of flour, some butter, and some sugar you can basically make half of the things at the grocery store.