How Higher Food Prices Cause Heartburn

If you've noticed your grocery bill climbing higher even though you're not buying more food than usual, there's a reason. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal by Scott Kilman, grain prices are soaring and driving the cost of food up all over the world. The cost of a loaf of bread is up 24% from only a year ago, and milk is up 26% at almost $4 a gallon on average.

This wouldn't be so bad if wages increased at the same rate. Most people are lucky to get a raise at all, much less a cost of living increase. Unless you're pretty well-off financially we all have a pretty tight food budget. It's harder every month to fit the bare necessities into that budget, much less any luxury food items.

I usually do a "big" shop for the week and pick up an item or two or three a couple of other days. The last time I went grocery shopping I bought veggies, soymilk, cheese, a couple of family packs of lean pork and chicken breast, lunch meat, cereal, school snacks, drinks, wine, coffee, toilet paper, and a few other odds and ends. My bill was just under $200. That doesn't even count the bathroom/shower supplies or things such as plastic wrap and charcoal that I bought at a different store.

I write a lot of articles about food, fitness and living a healthy lifestyle. Yet I can see that if food prices keep increasing in this manner it will get harder for middle class people to eat well without having to give up something else. Perhaps their mortgage or electricity payment? I know that there are ways to cut down the grocery bill but I already practice a lot of them. As far as I'm concerned coupons don't work for me because most of them are for junk food or items I never use. What happens when the day comes that I can't buy a nice wedge of blue cheese or some juicy Kalamata olives because a half-gallon of soymilk costs $10? My daughter's favorite breakfast cereal, Special K Red Berries, is now at $5 a box!

I know I shouldn't complain when there are lots of people without any food at all. However, that's kind of my point. If it's getting harder for me to eat, and eat well, with a husband who pulls down a really good salary, how hard can it be for them? I'm not sure what the solution is, but I wonder what will happen to the price of milk, bread, spinach, and other essential foods when nobody can afford to buy them any longer?