Agriculture secretary says healthy meals cost as little as $3; shoppers disagree.
In a television interview early this year, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins defended the updated food pyramid released by the Trump administration in January, which shifts the recommended dietary focus from whole grains to vegetables and meat protein.
“Are we actually asking Americans … to spend more on their diet? The answer is no,” Rollins told anchor Connell McShane of NewsNation. “It can cost around $3 a meal for a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, a corn tortilla and one other thing.”
Though Rollins has since clarified her statement, it has spurred significant backlash from critics, who argue that Rollins’ meal suggestion was an unrealistic goal for shoppers and that the available options in that price range lacked necessary nutrients or required extensive preparation times.
Whatcom and Skagit County residents shared that in their experience, Rollin’s claim was far from reality.
JAE RANNEY / SALISH CURRENT 2026. A container of Michelada mix sits on a shelf at Video La Gloria Corner Market in Everson. While small in size, the market offers a variety of food items and household goods.
“I think that they are disillusioned to the fact that most average Americans are still struggling,” said Dickie Gleason, a shopper at Super Duper Boomtown in Sumas. “It’s extremely expensive, and with things internationally, it’s only getting worse.”
From March 2025 to March 2026, the U.S. saw a nationwide 2.7% increase in grocery prices. The average gallon of whole milk — $3.20 per gallon in 2020 — now sits at $4.07 per gallon. Similarly, products like beef and chicken breasts have increased in average price by over a dollar per pound in the last five years.
“You can’t go to the grocery store to get eggs, milk, cheese, some bread and maybe a bunch of bananas,” said Gleason. “You’re still walking out of there spending almost $50, $60. Maybe $100. It’s ridiculous.”
Sumas, which sits along the Canadian border in northeastern Whatcom County, only received a full-sized grocery store — Sumas Market — in 2022 after a period of nearly six years without.
Among the customers who shared their experience with Salish Current, several said that extra time spent shopping across multiple stores was necessary to meet their budgets. Neko Wolf, a shopper in Bellingham, said that she mainly circulates through stores like Grocery Outlet, Costco and WinCo Foods to feed her family.
“There aren’t consistent items at Grocery Outlet, so that is a bit of a challenge. There are a few things that I predict I can get here that are way cheaper than anywhere else,” said Wolf. “I spent $300 here today, and it would have been ridiculous anywhere else.”
Grocery Outlet operates on an opportunistic buying model, where instead of sourcing products based on demand, they purchase cheaper surplus goods from manufacturers. While this leads to unreliability on the consumer end, it also allows Grocery Outlet to sell goods at heavily discounted prices. According to the nonprofit Consumer’s Checkbook analysis service, Grocery Outlet stores in the Puget Sound area sell goods at 21% lower than average prices.
Justin Ver Burg, another Bellingham shopper, has been following some of the new recommendations under the updated food pyramid. While he found the information helpful, he disagreed with Rollins’ statement.
“I found that way off,” said Ver Burg. “Especially if you’re going to eat whole foods that are healthy, like what RFK Jr. is recommending, I feel like it’s going to be way more than that.”
Bellingham is home to large retailers like Walmart, Costco, Safeway and Fred Meyer, making trips between them slightly more manageable. For people in more rural communities, the search for affordable deals looks far less realistic.
A one-way drive from Everson — sparsely populated with local markets — to the Safeway or Grocery Outlet in Lynden, takes at least 10 minutes. Factoring in the time it takes to shop, the drive home, and the likely possibility that even cheaper groceries lie another 26 minutes away in Bellingham, makes the difficulty of maintaining a $3-a-meal diet apparent.
“$3 for a healthy meal? No. No, no, no,” said Wolf. “If you can find what you need at Grocery Outlet or places like that, I feel like there it will be $3 on the lowest end, but it’s closer to $5 per person, if not $6 or $7.”
—By Jae Ranney