The Lowtein Basket Tracker
How good are this week's grocery deals?
A weekly national time series, updated with every refresh — tracking since May 18, 2026. The monthly Grocery Price Index ranks cities; this tracks time.
What this measures — in one breath
Lowtein records the best advertised price for each staple, in every city, every week — deal prices, not average shelf prices, so this is not an inflation measure. The headline series fixes that honestly: deal depth divides each week's best price by the government's official average, so the benchmark moves with real prices and what remains is the question no one else measures — how good are the deals right now?
United States
Deal depth — how far below the government average this week's best prices ran
National median across every city × staple meat, vs the official average (StatCan / BLS). Higher = deeper deals — a strong flyer week.
The basket of best — US$, at each week's best advertised prices
Deal prices, not shelf prices: what the staples basket cost a shopper who grabbed each week's best advertised deal.
Latest week's per-item medians (Jun 29) ▾
| Chicken Breast | 1 lb | US$1.99 |
| Ground Beef | 1 lb | US$2.99 |
| Pork Chops | 1 lb | US$1.99 |
| Beef Steak | 1 lb | US$7.49 |
| Bacon | 1 lb | US$3.99 |
| Eggs | 1 dozen | US$2.99 |
| Butter | 1 lb | US$2.99 |
Canada
Deal depth — how far below the government average this week's best prices ran
National median across every city × staple meat, vs the official average (StatCan / BLS). Higher = deeper deals — a strong flyer week.
The basket of best — C$, at each week's best advertised prices
Deal prices, not shelf prices: what the staples basket cost a shopper who grabbed each week's best advertised deal.
Latest week's per-item medians (Jun 29) ▾
| Chicken Breast | 1 lb | C$5.44 |
| Ground Beef | 1 lb | C$5.99 |
| Pork Chops | 1 lb | C$2.99 |
| Beef Steak | 1 lb | C$12.99 |
| Bacon | 1 lb | C$3.97 |
| Eggs | 1 dozen | C$5.44 |
| Butter | 1 lb | C$4.99 |
Honest limitations
Weekly-best selection is a minimum statistic — noisier than an average, smoothed here by taking the median across 100+ cities. Promotional floors are sticky (a $1.99/lb chicken week can repeat), so short-run moves reflect flyer cycles as much as underlying prices. The series is young (since May 2026) and sharpens every week. The basket: 1 lb chicken breast · 1 lb ground beef · 1 lb pork chops · 1 lb beef steak · 1 lb bacon · 1 dozen eggs · 1 lb butter. Currencies are never merged — the two countries chart separately. Full methodology: how we choose.
Use this data
Free to quote or chart with attribution: "Lowtein Basket Tracker" linked to this page (CC BY 4.0). ⬇ Download the weekly series (JSON) · questions: contact@lowtein.com
Updated 2026-07-03 · Grocery Price Index · lowtein.com