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New Yorkers at East Harlem food pantry stretch meals as food prices climb
By
Karen Yi
Published Mar 12, 2025
Modified Mar 12, 2025
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Karen Yi / Gothamist
By
Karen Yi
Published Mar 12, 2025
Modified Mar 12, 2025
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Older New Yorkers waiting to pick up free groceries at the New York Common Pantry in East Harlem said it's getting harder to pay their food bills.
Some say they've stopped buying meat or consuming as many eggs, which are just too expensive. Others say they eat just enough to fill their stomachs.
Mercedes Rodriguez said she had to put some of her grocery bills on her credit card, then took out a loan to pay that down.
“ I buy whatever's on sale,” she said.
Rodriguez is among the 52% of New Yorkers who have taken on debt to pay their grocery bills in the last year amid soaring food prices and the end of pandemic-era benefits, according to a recent poll. According to the survey by the nonprofit No Kid Hungry New York, 52% of residents also said their physical health was suffering due to higher food prices, while 61% said their mental health was affected.
As the Republican-led Congress eyes deep cuts to food subsidy programs, local pantries question whether they'll be able to fill the gap when the need is already so high.
“ We heard from other families who told us that they have had to not only put more debt on their credit card but to take money out of their 401k due to the rising cost in food,” said Rachel Sabella, director of No Kid Hungry New York.
“When they go to the grocery store, they are making choices. ‘Is this on sale? Is this in my budget? What can I do right now?’ And the rise in costs, the tariffs, the challenges mean New Yorkers are eating less,” she added.
Rodriguez says she stretches her budget by loading up on starch.
“I'll buy foods that will last, like rice, potatoes, more starch than anything,” said Rodriguez, who lives in East Harlem. But she said she had to be careful about how much starch is in her diet because she has diabetes. She said she hasn’t had eggs in more than a month and now shops mostly at discount supermarket chain Aldi’s, where prices tend to be cheaper.
“ I buy whatever's on sale,” she said.
Prices for meats, poultry, fish and eggs in the New York region rose 5.9% in January compared the year before, data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show. One in four New Yorkers lived in poverty in 2023, nearly twice the national average, according to new data released last month by Columbia University and the Robin Hood Foundation, an anti-poverty group.
At the East Harlem pantry, dozens of older New Yorkers waited for their names to be called to pick up nonperishable groceries. Almost everyone had a strategy for making their food go further.
“I'm not having a spoonful more of what I'm eating. Just because it's maybe delicious, I don't let that tempt me to eat more. I'm pretty much eating to the point where I feel fulfilled and satisfied and I refrain,” said Calvin Davis. “I'm good at stretching out meals.”
Altagracia Grullon said meat is so expensive that she doesn’t really buy it anymore. She can’t afford it with her Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, known as SNAP, which pay an average of about $6 a day per person, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
“You can’t throw away food,” she said in Spanish. “You have to control yourself a little more in order to survive.”
Demand at the city’s food pantries and soup kitchens has been rising due to inflation and an end to pandemic-era aid that boosted food stamp benefits. The Trump administration’s agenda could further fuel the need by slashing spending on SNAP benefits that distribute subsidies to about 1.8 million New Yorkers. Food organizations say those cuts would be devastating and leave a gap that would be impossible to fill.
“ That's a large part of everything, is just the uncertainty right now,” said Judy Secon, deputy executive director of New York Common Pantry. ”How many more people will that then bring to our doors?”
Secon said demand at their sites has increased 7% in the last two months, compared to the same period last year. The nonprofit has nearly doubled the number of meals it distributes a year. It distributed 6 million meals prior to the pandemic and is on track to distribute 12 million this year.
Department of Social Services Commissioner Molly Wasow Park said New Yorkers are still struggling to put food on the table, even with current federal funding levels for food insecurity programs.
“So if you roll them back further than that, I think we're going to see really devastating consequences for lower-income New Yorkers,” she added.
Volunteers and workers at New York Common Pantry distribute shelf-stable foods to older adults on a recent Monday morning in East Harlem.
Karen Yi / Gothamist
Tagged
economy
east harlem
Karen Yi
Karen Yi covers homelessness and poverty. She joined the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom in 2020. Before that, Karen covered Newark for the Star-Ledger and spent almost a decade working for newspapers in New Jersey and Florida. She grew up in Miami and has a dog named Cashew. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-589-1460.
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