Health+Harvest

Whaddaya Knead? Yeast And Baking Powder Top America's Shopping Lists

NPR | By Camila Domonoske

Published April 3, 2020 at 4:24 PM CDT

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A grocery store worker stocks bread at a MOM's Organic Market in Washington, D.C., on April 2. Last week, bread sales jumped 30% compared to a year ago. But yeast sales were up more than 450%.

Yeast, baking powder and spiral hams were big hits in America's shopping carts last week.

As the country settles in — possibly for the long haul — under stay-at-home orders, baking projects appear to be a common distraction, while panic purchasing of some products seems to be subsiding.

Sales are still up significantly compared to a normal week. And shelf-stable foods, meats, produce and snacks are all flying off shelves at unusual rates.

But for many products, the remarkable sales spikes from early March have started to subside.

It's all relative, of course. We're still buying four times as much oat milk as we used to — just not six times as much.

Here's more of Nielsen's data on what Americans were buying in the last full week of March.

Don't see the graphic above? Click here.