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LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Standing at the trunk of her car, Christine Wiley loaded her Smith’s groceries that now cost hundreds of dollars more than months prior.

The snacks, meat, and chicken she purchased are some of the most expensive they’ve ever been, but it might be because the food is not from Nevada.

Retail experts from the Retail Association of Nevada are spilling the beans about why Nevada leads the nation in second-highest weekly grocery costs, and the answer is a bitter pill to swallow.

Inside a Las Vegas Smith’s grocery store (KLAS)

“We do not actually support or have a large agricultural system that sustains having those groceries locally made here,” Bryan Wachter, RAN Director of Public and Government Affairs, said. “Nevada is importing most of those things unless you are looking for alfalfa and a very small amount of beef.”

The cost of transportation, shrinking cow pastures, citric orchard tree viruses, and recent weather conditions are partly to blame for an overall increase in grocery costs. Wachter also points to recent inflationary factors leading this generation of shoppers to have eye-popping reactions.

The snacks, meat, and chicken shopper Christine Wiley purchased are some of the most expensive they’ve ever been, but it might be because the food is not from Nevada. (KLAS)

“We are going through an economic time of this level of inflation that most Americans, certainly under the age of forty, have never experienced in their lifetime,” he said. “I think it’s a shock to the system more than it is anything else in terms of just the psyche of being a shopper.”

The Help Advisor report illustrates one state is seeing higher weekly grocery costs, California.

Top five average household amounts spent on groceries each week

  1. California                                 $297.21
  2. Nevada                                    $294.72
  3. Mississippi                               $290.64
  4. Washington                             $287.67
  5. Florida                                      $287.27

Bottom five average household amount spent on groceries each week

  • 45. Indiana                                     $239.38
  • 46. Michigan                                  $236.38
  • 47. Nebraska                                  $235.12
  • 48. Iowa                                          $227.32
  • 49. Wisconsin                                $221.46

Parking lot problems

Shoppers outside the Aliante Smith’s Food and Drug store spoke to 8 News Now about the changing prices they face walking down the aisle.

“Over the past couple weeks, I’ve seen a rise in basic stuff, butter, eggs, milk,” Erica Yarber said. “We are not talking a few cents we are talking from $3.99 for an 18-pack of eggs up to $5.99 within this last week.”

The cost of transportation, shrinking cow pastures, citric orchard tree viruses, and recent weather conditions are partly to blame for an overall increase in grocery costs. (KLAS)

Yarber and her family have noticed something else about prices in the grocery store, a balance of discounts that don’t match price increases.

“The sale prices that they are shouting out overshadow the real prices that have been going up,” she said. “We think we are getting a great sale but the prices of the things we need to buy are increasing.”

A box of Oreo cake mix was a point of grief for one shopper who spoke with 8 News Now, the shopper theorized “shrinkflation” has caused the box to get smaller while the price increases.

Christine Wiley closed her trunk before leaving the Smith’s parking lot but not before pointing out the cost she faces at the store, stay with her even after checkout.

“It’s not good, I want to spend my money on other things,” she said.