Despite numerous comments from the chattering classes about how Americans are “just misinformed” about the impact of Bidenomics on their daily lives, Labor Departments inflation statistics when it comes to food don’t lie:

Category (Selected) 2020-2024 Cumulative Dec 2022 to Dec 2023 Dec 2021 to Dec 2022 Dec 2020 to Dec 2021 Dec 2019 to Dec 2020
Food away from home 23.4 5.2 8.3 6.0 3.9
Other food at home 26.2 2.8 13.9 5.6 3.9
Food 23.3 2.7 10.4 6.3 3.9
Cereals and bakery products 26.7 2.6 16.1 4.8 3.2
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials 24.8 2.6 12.6 5.2 4.4
Meats, poultry, and fish 24.4 2.3 4.5 12.6 5.0
Food at home 23.5 1.3 11.8 6.5 3.9
Fruits and vegetables 16.9 0.3 8.4 5.0 3.2
Dairy and related products 20.0 -1.3 15.3 1.6 4.4
Eggs 45.7 -23.8 59.9 11.1 -1.5

Over the same time period (2019-2024) our awesome local bagel bakery increased their price for a baker’s dozen bagels by 37%, from $13.95 to $19.05. So I started baking bagels myself. After several weeks of experimentation, I settled on a recipe that produces bagels that are the equal of those from the shop.

And what do they cost?

Ingredient Cost (/gm) Amount Cost Notes
Diastatic Barley Malt Powder $0.02 30g $0.60 Best price for 1.5 pounds from Amazon
Yeast $0.05 10g $0.50 Fleischman’s Active Dry 4oz bottle, retail from Target
Flour $.0026 1100g $1.05 King Arthur Special Patent (50 pound bag from Restaurant Depot)
Baking Soda $.044 10g $0.04 To adjust pH of pre-bake boiling bath
Salt $0.022 10g $0.02 Morton salt, retail
Toppings varies varies $0.50 Retail poppy seeds, sesame seeds, jar garlic
Electricity $0.30/kWh 2 kWh $0.60 Electric stove, Eversource residential rate

Total cost $3.31 per dozen (recipe makes 12 bagels), so $0.28 per bagel versus $1.47 from the bagel shop.