A price calendar computed from 20 years of the U.S. government’s own grocery prices, not a list copied from another list. For each food: the month it’s cheapest, how much it moves, and how many years that held.
At or near their dearest: iceberg lettuce (+6%), romaine (+4%), cookies (+1.4%), milk (+1.2%).
Each item sits in its cheapest month. Bold = a real season (worth timing); grey = moves under 3.5% all year, so buy it whenever. Percentages are the typical gap below that year’s trend price.
These are the items with a real season: a big gap between their cheapest and dearest months that held in most years. Swing = cheapest month to dearest month, as a share of the trend price.
| Food | Cheapest | Dearest | Swing | Held |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strawberries | Jul −20% | Dec +31% | 51 pts | 15 of 15 yrs |
| Grapes | Sep −21% | May +20% | 41 pts | 12 of 12 yrs |
| Navel oranges | Apr −10% | Oct +15% | 26 pts | 14 of 14 yrs |
| Grapefruit | Mar −10% | Oct +12% | 22 pts | 11 of 12 yrs |
| Cherries | Jul −10% | Jun +10% | 20 pts | 11 of 12 yrs |
| Peaches | Aug −6% | Jun +10% | 16 pts | 14 of 14 yrs |
| Tomatoes | Aug −7% | Jan +8% | 15 pts | 15 of 17 yrs |
| Eggs | Jun −7% | Dec +5% | 12 pts | 17 of 19 yrs |
| Iceberg lettuce | Aug −6% | Nov +6% | 12 pts | 12 of 14 yrs |
| Whole frozen turkey | Dec −6% | Oct +5% | 11 pts | 11 of 12 yrs |
| Bell peppers | Sep −4% | Dec +5% | 9 pts | 6 of 8 yrs |
| Lemons | Mar −4% | Aug +5% | 8 pts | 13 of 17 yrs |
Romaine lettuce (Jun), Potatoes (Dec), Ham (Apr), Flour (Nov), Broccoli (May), Sirloin steak (Feb), Butter (Nov), Bacon (Feb), Coffee (Dec), Ice cream (Jul).
Less than 3.5% from cheapest month to dearest, which on a typical basket is pennies. Buy these when you need them or when your store has a sale: bananas, pork chops, steak, beef roast, chuck roast, ground beef, chicken breast, whole chicken, chicken legs, milk, cheddar, sugar, rice, pasta, bread, potato chips, cookies.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics sends people into stores in about 75 U.S. cities every month to record shelf prices for the Consumer Price Index, and publishes a national average for about 70 foods. We used every month from 2006 to October 2026.
Prices rise over time, so a plain average would make every later month look dearer. Instead, each month is compared with that year’s trend (a 12-month centred moving average), and the calendar shows the median of those gaps across all the years, so one wild year (eggs in 2023, say) can’t make a season. “Held” counts the years in which the cheapest month really was below trend. For fruit that is only in stores part of the year (peaches, cherries), each month is compared with that year’s in-season average instead.
Some series stopped: BLS last published a national price for turkey in early 2020, for bell peppers and broccoli in March 2020, and for peaches, cherries and grapes a little earlier or later; their pages say which years they cover. Butter only goes back to 2018.
Put this month’s list on a shared grocery list: one link, everyone adds and ticks things off on their own phone, no account. To work out what a trip will cost, try the grocery shopping calculator.
There isn’t one month for everything: each food has its own season. Fruit swings the most (strawberries are about 20% below trend in July and 31% above in December; grapes are cheapest in September), baking staples are cheapest in November and December, and most meat, bread, milk and pantry staples move less than 3% all year, so for those the month hardly matters.
November and December, almost tied: the national average for a frozen whole turkey ran a typical 6% below trend in November and 6% in December (BLS priced turkey through early 2020). The dearest month is October. If you have the freezer room, a second bird the week after Thanksgiving costs about what the first one did.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes a national average shelf price for about 70 foods every month, collected for the Consumer Price Index. We took 2006 to 2026, compared each month with that year’s trend price (so inflation doesn’t count as a season), and took the typical (median) month across all those years.
It is a national average, so your store and region will differ, and a sale at your store can beat any month here. The pattern tells you when the baseline is lowest; your store’s weekly ad tells you about this week.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average Price Data (U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted), the shelf prices BLS collects every month for the Consumer Price Index, through October 2026. Seasonal pattern and every number on this page computed by Online List Maker; how.