Consumers made substantial changes to their grocery shopping in 2025, largely driven by economic pressures, according to the December Consumer Food Insights Report (CFI).
Posted on January 21st, 2026
Consumer Food Insights, Volume 4, Issue 12, December 2025
Key insights include:
- The Sustainable Food Purchasing (SFP) Index continues to exhibit little change, reflecting stability in consumer food purchasing habits and
intentions. Households with higher incomes have a higher score in the SFP index. - Food security (14%) was 2 percentage points lower than November.
- The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for food at home rose by 3.8% over the past 12 months.
- Most consumers (82%) made changes to their grocery shopping in 2025, though only 5% currently expect to implement those changes in
2026, suggesting adaptations were largely reactive to economic pressures that consumers expect to be temporary. - Nearly one-quarter of households (24%) sought out more sales and discounts or used more coupons in 2025 as a cost-management
strategy..
Survey Questionnaire: December 2025
Formulas and Calculations
Past Consumer Food Insights
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT CONSUMERS?
If you are interested in additional analysis or adding questions to the survey, consider joining our Consumer Insights consortium. Contact rdevans@purdue.edu to learn more.
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