The $6 Loaf of Bread

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As the U.S. economy slips into recession, the Congressional Budget Office projects that a record 28 million Americans will require food stamps this year. And since this year's allocations are based on prices as of last June, federal aid won't go as far. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the prices for staple groceries have risen sharply in the past year: white bread (16.3 percent), milk (13.3 percent), eggs (29.9 percent). Americans don't starve, says Stacy Dean, director of food assistance at the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, "but we have a very significant chunk of the population that isn't able to eat a bare-bones, basic healthy diet." Food pantries across the country are feeling the sting of rising food and gas prices. Barb Prather, director of the Northeast Iowa Food Bank, estimates that her group's food bills have increased 30 to 40 percent in the past year—at a time of rising demand.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/134311/page/1