Thrifty Shoppers Hurt By Rising Food Prices

In tough economic times, many careful shoppers turn to affordable staples to help feed their families nutritious, filling meals: things like ground beef, potatoes, chicken, and eggs. However, as a recent NPR article describes, basic food items like these have experienced a disproportionately large rise in price in the last year. The 10% spike in the cost of these foods is triple the overall rate of inflation last year (3.4%). The prices of food eaten at home (groceries) rose substantially faster than the prices of foods eaten away from home (fast food, restaurants).

While eating at home is still much cheaper than eating out, these rising food costs can place a large burden for a family with a tight food budget. Although global food prices have begun to drop since their peak in February 2011, food prices in the grocery stores, particularly for beef and wheat products like bread and cereal, should continue to rise throughout 2012.