NYC NOW - 2025’s Affordability Hacks for New Yorkers

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

The Mamdani Administration announces an inauguration block party, Governor Kathy Hochul signs a bill to increase state prison oversight and a roundup of New Yorkers’ tips for staying in budget this year.

The Mamdani administration announces an inauguration block party. Governor Kathy Hokel signs a bill to increase state prison oversight and a roundup of New Yorkers' tips for staying in budget this year. From WNYC, this is NYC now. I'm Jinnay Pierre. Zoran Mamdani's inauguration day plans are set. His team announced that the mayor-elect will be joined by public advocate Jemani Williams and control. controller-elect Mark Levine. The elected officials will be sworn in on the steps of City Hall on January 1st. Mumdani's team is also hosting a block party to watch the ceremony along Broadway

near City Hall. The team says those hoping to join need to register on the Transition 2025 website. The block party begins at 11 a.m. on January 1st. The ceremony is at 1 o'clock. Governor Kathy Hokel is signing a bill to increase oversight of state prisons. The law will require more cameras in state prisons and give incarcerated people time after their release to file abuse lawsuits against the state. The Democratic governor pushed for several changes to the measure before agreeing to approve it. She says the installation of cameras was already underway, and she pared back one provision to expand the state's watchdog commission on correction. Hockel says the new law is an important response to the beating debts of two inmates, Robert Brooks and Masayanaanui. Brooklyn State Senator Julia Salazar sponsored the bill.

She says she's pleased it will become law. We're taking a really serious step to make our state prisons less violent and safer for incarcerated individuals and for staff. Up next, a roundup on affordability and what we learned about shopping on a budget this year. That's after the break. We're all spending more at the grocery stores these days. Even I'm doing a double take at the price of orange juice or even mayonnaise. But that's why for the last six months, my colleagues Joe Hong and Karen Ye have been visiting different grocery stores to track prices on different items and help us understand how New Yorkers are dealing with increasing food prices. They're here with me now to share some.

of what they learned. This time about how to shop on a budget. Hey, Joe. Hey, Karen. Hey, Jene. Hey, Jene. I can't believe it's been six months since you two started tracking grocery prices. Somehow, yes, we started tracking the prices of 11 items across 20 stores in the city. And we started in July when it was 90 degrees outside and it was just blazing hot. There were Fourth of July sales everywhere. And when we visited stores in early December, it was freezing cold rain. And actually, there was some Christmas music playing. So now, as we stretched into the holiday season, we wanted to talk to shoppers about how they're navigating the city's grocery stores and finding the best deals. Yeah, and who doesn't want to save a few dollars on their groceries, right?

I mean, what did you find? Well, we put out a call out on air and on her news site, Gothamist, and asked listeners and readers to tell us their ways for shopping smartly. And one of the people who responded was 33-year-old Grace Katzmar. Her big suggestion was to cut out the excess, those nice to have, but you don't really need ingredients. I love an accoutreement, like I love like a garnish or an extra, you know, a salsa or something that goes on the meal. I love like a meal that has lots of little like extra things. I just find that delightful, but it's, it is expensive because each of those little extra things is like a cost. She says use what's in your kitchen, what's in your pantry.

Try not to go out of your way just because the recipe calls for maybe an avocado. Yeah, keep it simple, you know, narrow down the ingredients. I think as a general rule, yes, but I think you really have to look at the prices and challenge your own price perceptions. For example, there's an impression out there that avocados are more expensive than black beans, but sometimes an avocado might be cheaper than a can of beans. Like a regular 99 cent can of beans? How cheap are avocados?

Yeah, well, beans aren't really 99 cents anymore. But at some stores, avocados are cheap enough where maybe you can get a couple of them instead of a can of beans. Especially with beans, we noticed that around the time of the government shutdown that a lot of the shelves were empty. And we think that's probably because folks were stocking up on staples amid all of the sort of uncertainty around Snap during that time. I think beans, if you could tell, like a lot of the shelves are. emptier. I think people have been purchasing a lot of beans because of like snap. Right. Okay. Yeah, no, that makes sense. So when Grace is making dinner, is she still skipping the avocado?

I think generally she tries to, right? But it really just depends on the day and where you're shopping. So according to our sort of data collection, across our 20 stores, we found that the average avocado is $1.18, while a can of black beans is $1.15. 57. So it's really about going in with intention, figuring out what you can afford and what is nutritious. And maybe that will save you money later on so that you can get that avocado later or you can afford your sort of non-negotiables. For example, Grace, sometimes she does want that little extra. I definitely still go like, I, like I made pasta and I didn't have any parmesan cheese and I was like, this is unacceptable.

Like, I have to have Parmesan cheese. And so I went and got it. But, you know, yeah, it was like $8. And that's the thing about shopping in the city. There's like a bodega or a food store usually near your job or on your way home. So it's quite easy to pop in and buy just exactly what you need. And it can be easy to overspend that way too, right? I mean, she spent eight bucks on Parmesan cheese.

I really feel seen here. But if people are trying not to overspend, where are they? going to go to find the best deals? I think the short answer to that is they're going to a lot of places. I think the days of one-stop shopping are kind of over. The big thing we heard from a lot of shoppers is that they go to different stores to get different things on different days. We met Pam and Harold Ryan on Stanton Island, who were making several stops on their grocery runs, and they were driving up to 15 minutes between stores. Where we go? We follow where the sales are. and stuff.

And were you always going to multiple places, or is this something recent? No, always, you always, yeah, especially around the holidays, because the prices vary, you know, sometimes you pay more, sometimes you pay less, but most of the time you pay more. And prices really vary by neighborhood, too. So you have big chains and local stores, and there are many factors that go into calculating prices that you really have to stay on top of, and you just have to track sort of, what tends to be cheaper where. What's something that surprised you to you two while you were out visiting stores?

Well, Whole Foods, they have a reputation for being expensive, but because they're a national chain and they have more buying power, they can get better deals because they're buying so much, like truckloads, right? So some things can actually be cheaper at a New York City Whole Foods when compared to another grocery store in the city. 119 for black beans, non-organic, no goya here. That's cheaper than goya in most places. And overall, Whole Foods fall somewhere in the middle in terms of the stores that we tracked over these last six months.

And milk is a good example of this. So at Whole Foods, milk, a half gallon of milk, was $2.89. And that was cheaper than at more than half of the stores we sampled. And that's including in some low-income neighborhoods. But at the same time, Whole Foods also had higher prices for boneless, skinless chicken breast than other grocery stores in the month of November. So it really depends on how much you buy. Buying in bulk, like family plaques, always tends to be a little bit cheaper. This is $7.99 a pound.

It's like family packs down there. Are $5.49 a pound. I feel like family packs, like the more chicken you get, the cheaper you can get it for. And one tip to remember is that some stores are selling items at low profit or no profit and really trying to make their money off of volume. So if you want a deal, you have to find those items. Yes, exactly. And maybe a store is getting you on premium specialty items,

like we've seen pink pineapple or sea moss at some of these stores. And so maybe go to Whole Foods for those items where they may be cheaper. Or find smaller food stores that sell cheaper fruits and vegetables because they just got them at Hunt's point that morning on sale, and they'll go bad in a few days, so they're selling them at a lower price. Yeah, that makes sense. You know, I've always wondered why some small food stores can have way cheaper berries sometimes than full grocery stores. That's right.

And the last thing we want to leave you with is find a way to reduce your waste while also buying in bulk. At a really nice independent store called Scotty's Marketplace on Staten Island, we actually found a pretty good deal on carrots. This is two pounds. Two for three. Two for three? I don't. Two for three dollars, which is pretty good. Yeah, so to take advantage of a sale, you might have to buy more than a single serving.

So if you have two two pound bundles of carrots and don't know what to do with them, 22-year-old Leandro Arenas has some advice. Instead of like finding a bunch of different ways to cook it into the food, which can be like, you know, difficult and time-consuming, I normally just blend it into a big smoothie and drink it either like every other day or such. And, you know, that keeps me well enough. Yum. Or you could just make a holiday soup.

Oh, I like that. That's a great idea. Yeah, I thought so. That's WMYC's Joe Hong and Karen Yee. Thanks, you too. Thanks, Janay. Thank you, Janay. Got reflections or tips on affordability that you've picked up this year?

Send them to our team. email us at NYC Now at WNYC.org. As always, thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. I'm Jenei Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.