There's still one more stop before food makes it to your table. We're talking about grocery stores. They also feel the effects of rising costs for producers and trucking companies. In turn, those costs are passed along to each of us as we put food on our tables.

Recent price jumps are even surprising some long-time grocers. Chuck Cremer, the vice-president of operations for Albertsons grocery stores, has been in the business for 33 years. He said recent prices are even surprising him.

He said over the years customers have become more demanding and that could be part of what is driving food costs up. "Customer's demands are greater Tuesday," he said. "Thirty years ago when I was stocking the frozen food aisles, we had maybe 15-20 doors of frozen food. Tuesday we have upwards of 115 doors of frozen foods."

He said people are demanding meals that are quick, wholesome and easy to make. These demands are driving food costs up. "In the past year we've seen milk increase in cost to us about 90%," he said. "Eggs are up about 50%." If the costs are up for the grocer, you can bet you're paying more at the check out stand. Rose Hampton has been checking customers out for more than 25 years.

"The orders that we're averaging about $20 are now like $40-50," she said. "So they are pretty much almost doubling." Cremer said a grocery store is ultimately a business, so as their costs go up, so do their prices. They've got to make some cash to pay employees. There are some ways around the high prices.

"As we find deals we pass those on to the consumers," Cremer said. "That typically finds its way into our Wednesday and Sunday circulars. Store branded items can also save 25-30% with little to no difference in quality." In fact many store brand items are manufactured right along side the name brand products.