Prepared meals, meat and milk, among what became most expensive

Consuming food and drinks outside the home, meat, milk, transportation, as well as personal care and education, constituted the highest expenses in the food and non-food basket for Mexican families at the end of 2025, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).

Mexicans resented the rise in the price of the basic basket which, until December of last year, stood at 4,818.14 pesos per person in urban areas and 3,451.13 pesos in rural areas, according to data on the food basket plus the non-food basket. These were the highest figures since at least 1992, the year considered the statistical base of Coneval and which is now continued by Inegi.

The urban basket rose by 177.98 pesos and the rural basket, by 116.89 pesos. Thus, the cost of products in the food and non-food baskets had an annual increase of 3.5 percent in the countryside and 3.8 percent in the cities, above general national inflation, which was 3.69 percent in 2025.

The category of food and beverages consumed outside the home showed an annual increase of 7.3 percent, and beef (regardless of the cut), of 17.6 percent. These expenses were the ones with the greatest impact in rural areas. Ground beef, which rose 17.5 percent, was the third product that contributed the most to the increase in the food basket. In urban areas, it was pasteurized cow’s milk, which rose 9.4 percent.

Regarding the non-food basket, the items of personal care and public transportation stood out for being the ones with the highest incidence in rural areas (6.2 and 6.6 percent annually, respectively). In the urban area, education, culture and recreation, as well as personal care, stood out, with increases of 5.7 and 6.3 percent, respectively.