Clipping, Scrimping, Saving

By Jane Black

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, May 1, 2008; Page A01

Egg prices are up 35 percent, with milk and bread not far behind. Consumers are scrambling to find ways to cope.

The last thing Marti Tracy wants to do on a Saturday is clip coupons. But last month the 34-year-old Bowie resident felt she no longer had a choice. She'd already given up organic meat and decided to buy organic milk only for her 2-year-old son, not for the whole family.

Tracy and her partner also stopped buying the cereals they like in favor of whatever was on sale; stopped picking up convenient single-size packs of juice, water or crackers; and, in order to save gas, stopped going to multiple stores. "I find the whole thing a huge hassle, but I've reached a tipping point," said Tracy, a government human resources specialist who is pregnant with her second child. "Clearly, I'm not unable to feed my family. But I just can't feed my family the way I'd like to feed them."

Find story here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/globalfoodcrisis/