However, the effects of the Midwest flooding will soon be seen by all of us in the grocery store. For instance, the 1.3 billion acres of corn destroyed by the flooding will leave a serious void and skyrocket the already record high price of corn products. Items like soda, candy bars, cereal, corn chips, etc that are made using corn syrups are also going to be affected and thus increase in price. The price of meat will rise as farmers reduce the size of their herds to save money on feed made from corn.

On talk radio I hear people calling in everyday that they cant afford the rising cost of food due to gas prices and are skipping meat at many meals to save money. The bad thing is we are paying more than we ever have for gas plus paying more for any object transported by gas – this includes our food. In the coming months many are going to find it hard just to afford the gas to get to the grocery store, but even if you can afford to get there what will you buy? Probably not anything made of corn unless you are a millionaire. To add to the problem gas jumped twenty two cents in Iowa and delivery trucks are being rerouted due to flood areas. These increase cost is going to be passed on the remaining agriculture sects and then again passed on to the consumers.

Let me add one more little insult to your pocketbook. Flooding will also affect the cost of the corn used for Ethanol production of gasoline. No doubt adding again to the increase cost of U.S. gas products.

So when it rains it “poors“.

It is said by the media that the grocery prices should go down in about two years. Since when does this ever happen? In all of my life since I can remember going to the grocery store, prices either stay the same or rise. Therefore, I have no hope that prices will go down anytime in the future or ever. There are a couple of factors leading into why the food prices continue to go up.

One reason food prices have been rising is due to weather. There is a drought that has been going on in Australia that is drying out crops. This in particular has hurt the world exports for milk and wheat. Over the past couple of years the weather has damaged crop production in Europe, Ukraine, and parts of the United States which will lead to higher prices.

The economy in China, India, and Malaysia is doing well enough that there has been more purchases of food and a larger demand on the global food supply there. The tremendous population that they have in China and India in particular has increased on the need for more food. This has created another problem for the rising cost of food.

Since the dollar continues to lose its value it has a direct effect on the food surplus. The food goes overseas which inevitably rises prices here.

We cannot leave out the fact that the cost of gas a part in it. In order to send the food to various parts of the country it costs more money since the large trucks have to pay more for gas to get to their destination. This causes problems for companies to maintain an income without losing too much by having consumers pay a part of the cost.

Have you noticed how much bread has gone up from the past price of $1.29 to almost $4.00? There used to be a store down the street from my house that only sold bread. All of the bread was sold for only $1.00 each. They have gone out of business since they couldn’t maintain the low cost any longer. Milk has gone up to $4.00 a gallon when it used to be $2.50 and that was considered high.

The only way to not spend too much at the grocery store these days is to use coupons that can be found in newspapers either daily or weekly. Only buy the item if it is on sale unless it is like milk and will never go on sale and you can’t live without it. Despite buying milk that isn’t on sale, if most of everything else you buy is on sale or you have a coupon then this will help you not have to continue to pay the increasingly high prices.

For instance, if you see an item that you enjoy eating and you can freeze it for awhile without it spoiling then buy several of the same item when it goes on sale. Items you can live without do so. If you think about it, as we continue to decrease the food we eat and increase the amount of walking or biking we do in a day (since gas prices are so high that we would rather not drive) then imagine how much healthier we will become.