Major grocery chains like Walmart and Kroger are lowering prices on thousands of items as they try to compete with warehouse brands’ appeal to shoppers struggling with the rising cost of living.

“I feel like now it’s easier to kind of just go out to eat instead of buying groceries because it’s just going to cost just the same,” Phoenix shopper Jessica Gavilanes told AZ Family on Wednesday.

The annual rate of inflation has surged past 4 percent for the first time in three years, up from 2.4 percent before the beginning of the conflict with Iran.

Food prices, both at grocery stores and resturants was up, 2.7 percent and 3.5 percent year-over-year, respectively, according to new government data.

Retail executives have heard the call, promising to cut prices for their budget-conscious customers.

Kroger CEO Greg Foran recently said that the grocery chain would lower prices on thousands of products.

“The reality is, the basket has to come down. And not everyone’s basket is the same,” he told Bloomberg in May. “It needs to be across thousands of products, and it has to be something that passes the commonsense piece with customers.”

Walmart has also signaled that it would slash prices again after reportedly cutting the cost of more than 7,000 products in 2024.

The retailer’s chief financial officer, John David Rainey, suggested using the money from its anticipated tariff refunds to help its customers lower their grocery bills.

Companies are beginning to receive refunds for the billions of dollars paid under Trump’s sweeping tariff policy.

In February, the Supreme Courtstruck down some of the tariffs Trump slapped on both adversaries and allies last year, ruling them unconstitutional.

“We think that the single best return that we can have on a dollar of capital right now is to invest in the customer, invest in price,” Rainey told investors on an earnings call in May, according to NPR.

A Texas news outlet has suggested grocery chains’ price-cutting efforts are done to attract customers who have turned to warehouse retailers such as Costco, Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club.

Shoppers can buy groceries in bulk at these warehouse stores for a lower per-unit price.

“If you can afford to buy in bulk, now is the time to buy in bulk,” Dominique Jones, a consumer science professor at the University of Houston, told Click 2 Houston.

“You are definitely going to get a better deal, a better unit price,” the expert said.