Mom zooms in on grocery store photos from 2019 and can’t believe what she sees

A Pennsylvania mother of three was amazed when she compared grocery prices from a 2019 photo series to the cost of the same groceries today.

Food prices have risen dramatically in recent years. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, food prices rose 25 percent from 2019 to 2023.

It’s a surge that’s hitting consumers hard. Heather Paul of Philadelphia has three young children, ages six, five and two, and says Newsweek She is “absolutely aware of rising food prices.”

“I used to go shopping and not worry about what was in my cart,” she said. “Now I check my bank account before I go to the store, use a calculator and find myself putting things back. I cried in the parking lot while sitting in my car. It was really hard.”

However, the stark reality of her situation became clear recently when she started going through her phone and looking at old photos.

“I deleted old photos. I have a bad habit of never deleting anything and my phone was full,” she said. “I tend to take a lot of photos and videos of my kids everywhere we go.”

As she went back through the images, she came across a series of photos taken in supermarkets in 2019. Paul noticed that the pictures showed the prices of several items at these grocery stores. “I was curious and decided to start zooming and comparing,” she said. “The result was shocking.”

The resulting comparisons were subsequently compiled into a TikTok video shared under her username @heatherbeather88 with the caption: “Do you think they will ever help us? I sincerely hope so.”

The video began with her zooming in on a box containing 28 bags of potato chips, priced at $9.98 in 2019. However, when Paul searches for the same item today, he is shown nearly identical products selling in several stores for around $15 and $30.

According to their search results, ranch salad dressing is on sale for $4.19 in 2019, but costs anywhere from $6.99 to $8.75 depending on where you shop today. Elsewhere, a marinara sauce that cost $6.24 in 2019 is selling for $8.52, while a Salisbury steak meal that sold for $2 then is now $4.49 US dollars, which is equivalent to a discount of $4.99 at a store.

The comparison left Paul cold. “I knew it was bad, but just seeing it side by side is disturbing to say the least,” she said. “To be honest, I wasn’t surprised. I knew it was worse than what they had told us.”

Of all the items she compared, Paul said the price increase for the packet of crisps was the one that “blown her away”. “I used to buy the same box for $9, sometimes less when there was a sale. Now it will be difficult to find them for less than $20,” she said.

Paul also wonders what the price difference would be for things like butter and bacon, which she says were “once commonplace foods that have become a luxury.”

At the time of writing, Paul’s video has been viewed 3.6 million times, with viewers attributing the changes to “inflation” and “greed,” and some even warning, “It’s getting worse.”

Paul is not entirely surprised by the anger the video is causing and is calling for action. “Americans are struggling to afford food. It shouldn’t be like this,” she said. “We are tired. We’re over it. We need a change.”

Whether anything will be done about what they say is a dangerous escalation in the cost of living remains to be seen, but Paul believes something needs to change. “I can’t go on living like this,” she said. “This is not the American dream. It’s a nightmare.”