How Much Publix Groceries Cost In 2003 (And One Of The Only Items That's Stayed The Same Price)

A trip to the thrift shop ended up triggering a journey down memory lane for a Reddit user who found a grocery store receipt from 2003 in a vintage Coach bag they purchased. The receipt is dated February 1, 2003, when the original shopper bought $69 worth of medicines, food, drink, and other assorted items at a Publix in Roswell, Georgia. The Redditor posted an image of the receipt on the Publix subreddit, sparking a flood of comments about rising grocery costs — and the surprisingly stable price of bananas.

Unsurprisingly, shopping was considerably cheaper a quarter of a century ago. The shopper purchased Publix half-and-half for $1.89, milk for $2.99, butter for $1.99, grapefruit for $2, and chicken thighs for $3.29. Comparable items at Publix today generally cost significantly more, often close to double those prices. One user in the thread ran a rough calculation on the entire bill and estimated that a similar shopping trip today would cost somewhere between $193 and $206. Another poster estimated the total would be closer to $122. If you want to feel a little better, it might be worth considering that $100 worth of groceries in 1960 would cost four figures in 2026.

In this particular Publix receipt, the comparisons and estimates are rough for a reason: Several items don't list exact quantities, while others are no longer sold. In a few cases, however, it was possible to do an exact like-for-like comparison.

One of the most discussed items in the thread is Diet Coke. While this shopper paid just $3 for a 12-pack in 2003, the same product is listed at $12.79 on the Publix website today. The increase is a result of a mix of factors, including the conflict in the Middle East, a large exporter of the aluminum used to make soda cans, post-COVID inflation, and brands focusing as much on improving margins as on driving sales. Smart shoppers work around those higher prices by simply waiting for the right deal. One Diet Coke fan, for example, reported finding the 12-pack on a buy-two-get-two-free deal at their local Publix and picked up eight of them for an effective price of about $6 per pack. While that's a great deal, it's also some serious amounts of caffeine. 

Bananas, meanwhile, have stayed roughly the same. According to the 2003 receipt, they cost 50 cents per pound back then and are available at 70 cents per pound on the Publix website today. "It's crazy to see their price hasn't changed that much in 20 years," one user wrote, while another added that they remembered buying them for 29 cents per pound. When Trader Joe's raised the price of bananas in 2024, it made headlines because it marked the first increase in 20 years.

Banana prices have largely remained low for several reasons, including their abundance, their importation from neighboring countries with cheap labor, and their short shelf life. So, while grocery prices will look very different in 2050, you can probably expect bananas to remain as cheap as they are today.