NORFOLK, Va. — A new study showed that over 2 million adults in Virginia skipped meals or lightened portions to adapt to rising food costs as inflation hit a 40-year high.
Coupon Birds, a coupon website that aims to save people money, surveyed 3,500 American adults and found that nationally, 42% of adults said they have eaten less food as a result of inflated, unaffordable food prices in 2022.
In Virginia, 31% of adults have skipped meals due to rising prices, the survey found. That comes out to roughly 2.05 million people.
West Virginia was the state where the highest proportion of adults said they skipped meals with 75% of adults saying they had done so.
Inflation has driven grocery prices up 12% since last year, according to the Consumer Price Index.
Cherry Digital, the public relations and content marketing agency that circulated the study, said that the price of eggs went up by 32.2% from May 2021 to May 2022. In that same timeframe, meat, poultry, and fish prices increased by 14.2%, and dairy products saw an 11.8% jump in price.
"Prices for food increased 10.4% for the 12 months ending June 2022," according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. "The largest increase since February 1981."
That food inflation number includes both the "food at home" and the "food away from home" category. Prices in those categories are up 12.2% and 7.7%.