PENNSYLVANIA, USA — If you've been to the grocery store lately, you've definitely noticed how expensive things have become.
And as prices increase, wages are staying the same, meaning that families are having to budget more and more in order to make ends meet.
In today's Money Smart, FOX43 spoke with Dr. Yeva Nersisyan, associate professor of economics at Franklin & Marshall College about inflation's impact on food prices.
As noted by Dr. Nersisyan, the pandemic is having a continued major impact on the economy. She referenced supply chain shortages, worker shortages, and people being afraid to leave the house due to the pandemic and the rise of the Omicron variant most recently.
"All of these issues are related to the pandemic, so it's difficult to say how quickly they're going to be resolved," she said.
As if things weren't hard enough, research firm IRI predicts that food prices will rise another 5% in the first half of 2022.
"What happened was that we weren't buying airplane tickets or going on vacation," she said. "Instead, we were buying furniture, spending more on goods and less on services...if that changes and people start spending more money on services instead of goods, that will alleviate some of the pricing pressures we've seen on food recently."
Dr. Nersisyan suggests seeking out manager markdowns to save on groceries. This is when products are about to expire or about to be discontinued and stores need to clear shelves for the new items, so certain things are not as expensive.
She also suggested looking around more when searching in a specific section for a food item. The most expensive items are usually at eye level, so just be sure to check out all your options.
Also, try to take advantage of apps that alert you of sales and compare prices. This way, you can be sure you're getting the most out of your money.
Going shopping on Wednesdays is also a good practice. This is usually the first day of deals, and the stores aren't as crowded, so you get first choice of the new sales.
To hear more of what Dr. Nersisyan had to say, check out the clip above.