High food prices lead to trade-offs even in upper-income households
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Wall St. Journal] by Ellen Byron - Aug 27, 2014
This fall is expected to bring a new jumps in grocery prices, and a new level of sticker shock to shoppers. WSJ's Ellen Byron joins Lunch Break with Tanya Rivero to discuss how shoppers can handle their budgets. Photo: Mike Bradley for the Wall Street Journal Leanne Powers-Mattioli with her husband, Chris Mattioli, are hosting their annual end-of-summer beach barbecue next month at their shore-front home on Lake Erie for about 200 friends and family members. This year, they won't be serving shrimp cocktail.
Stubbornly high prices for shrimp prompted Ms. Powers to instruct the caterer to substitute locally sourced heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil drizzled with olive oil. And she is opting to serve barbecued chicken, along with potatoes and lots of salads, instead of the usual hamburgers.
"We've always done burgers in the past. They used to cost around $2 per person, but now it's up to $3.75," says Ms. Powers-Mattioli, a clothing-store and dog-spa owner who lives in Hamburg, N.Y. The couple spends a lot on drinks and music, and this year they want to keep the food budget under control, she says. "I thought hamburgers were just an everyday staple, but I'm not going to pay nearly double for them."
After a few years of steadily upward-creeping prices, experts say this fall many more families will start to feel the sting of higher food bills...
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