Seasonal Basket
The July 4th Cookout Index
U.S. city average · May 2026
A Fourth of July cookout for a small gathering cost $47.58 in May 2026, based on Basket Report's fixed 9-item Cookout Index of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics average grocery prices — up 0.0% from the previous month and up 6.4% from a year earlier.
Cookout cost since 2006
Total basket cost (USD) · Monthly · January 2006 to May 2026
What's in the cookout basket
The Cookout Index is a fixed 9-item grilling spread — burgers, grilled chicken and pork chops, cheddar, buns, lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes for potato salad, and a bag of chips. In May 2026 it came to $47.58, up 0.0% from the prior month and up 6.4% from a year earlier. The priciest line is ground beef at $13.49, and the cheapest is bread at $1.83. Over the past year tomatoes moved most, up 46.0%.
| Item | Unit price | Qty | Cost | MoM | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burgers — ground beef (2 lb) | $6.75/lb | 2 | $13.49 | ▼ 2.2% | ▲ 12.8% |
| Grilled chicken breast (2 lb) | $4.17/lb | 2 | $8.34 | ▲ 0.1% | ▼ 1.1% |
| Pork chops (1.5 lb) | $4.91/lb | 1.5 | $7.36 | ▲ 6.7% | ▲ 8.9% |
| Cheddar slices (0.5 lb) | $5.69/lb | 0.5 | $2.84 | ▼ 5.7% | ▼ 3.8% |
| Buns — bread (1 lb) | $1.83/lb | 1 | $1.83 | ▼ 2.1% | ▼ 2.5% |
| Lettuce (1 lb) | $1.96/lb | 1 | $1.96 | ▲ 20.6% | ▲ 36.6% |
| Tomatoes (1 lb) | $2.49/lb | 1 | $2.49 | ▼ 7.4% | ▲ 46.0% |
| Potato salad — potatoes (3 lb) | $0.89/lb | 3 | $2.68 | ▲ 4.0% | ▼ 6.7% |
| Potato chips (16 oz) | $6.58/16oz | 1 | $6.58 | ▼ 2.5% | ▼ 2.2% |
| Cookout total | $47.58 | ▲ 0.0% | ▲ 6.4% |
Methodology. The Cookout Index is a subset of Basket Report's 24-item grocery basket: the 9 tracked staples above, each at a fixed quantity, priced at the BLS U.S. city average. It is not a survey — every figure is the official average retail price for that item, and the month-over-month and year-over-year changes are computed like-for-like (only over months where all 9 items are priced). Quantities are fixed and shown so the total is reproducible; a change to them is a versioned methodology event (see methodology and corrections).