In an interview with NewsNation, Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins claimed that grocery prices have fallen except for that little hiccup during the holidays because people spend more money at the grocery store during the holiday season. How that increases prices is above and beyond me. 🙄
Unless you frequently buy dented cans of food or meat that expires by the time you get it home, according to the latest Consumer Price Index, the cost of groceries jumped by 0.7% in December. Certain foods increased more than others. Beef, which has been moved to near the top of the food pyramid in the new dietary guidelines Rollins unveiled this month, rose by 1% for the month and 16.4% from a year ago.
NEWSNATION: Grocery inflation is up. When is that going to change? BROOKE ROLLINS: The cost of groceries is actually coming down. There was a little blip at the end of the year because it's the holiday and a lot of people are spending a lot more money at the grocery store.
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 14, 2026 at 1:21 PM
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But, what really sparked everyone’s attention was Rollin’s $3 a day meal plan that she claimed was based on running “over a thousand simulations.” The ‘tasty’ Rollins Meal consists of a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, a corn tortilla and one other thing that she cannot recall:
Brooke Rollins: "We've run over 1,000 simulations. It can cost around $3 a meal for a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, corn tortilla, and one other thing. So there is a way to do this that actually will save the average American consumer money."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 14, 2026 at 1:23 PM
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“We’ve run over a thousand simulations,” she said. “It can cost around $3 a meal for a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, a corn tortilla and one other thing. And so, there is a way to do this that actually will save the average American consumer money.”
The Department of Agriculture did not respond Thursday to a question about how many calories the meal described by Rollins would contain, according to their simulation.
A spokesperson did say their analysis showed “hundreds of thousands” of other options to eat healthy for $3 a meal, built around foods including poultry, cottage cheese, frozen broccoli, sweet and white potatoes, frozen blueberries, whole grain bread and butter.
