Grocery Prices Rising, Have You Noticed?

According to this article, grocery prices have risen 1.5 time the rate of inflation this last year and are expected to rise 4% next year. I can't say I've noticed. Maybe it's because we are an area where prices seem to be lower overall, or maybe it's because while grocery prices were rising I was just beginning my efforts to really cut our grocery bill by shopping sales and using coupons.

The first couple of months that we started this I sat down after every grocery trip and added all the prices of all the items we bought into a spreadsheet. This was my effort to learn of one grocery chain really had higher prices than the other; Kroger vs Publix. What I learned was that the answer was "not really". On some items, yes Publix runs higher regularly, but then on some items Kroger runs higher. Oddly, however, I found that their regular prices on the items that are staples in our house were basically the same (within pennies, if not identical). So I stopped worrying about it.

Now, I just shop the sales and use coupons (religiously), for the staples I just grab them at whichever store I am at when I need that item (if I remember). That's probably been the one downside about shopping sales so much, I often forget to grab the milk that I'm out of.

So, what about it? Have you noticed an increase in grocery prices?