No surprise to anyone:  Food prices continue their upward spiral.

The American Farm Bureau tracks the prices of 16 commodity food staples - determining an average price for necessities.

The organization sends volunteers to shop at local grocery stores and focus on a list of 16 items. This list included some of those must-have things like bread, milk and eggs.

These ended up costing an average of $50.33, which is up from just the second quarter this year.

What's impacting the prices?

“Most of those increased costs are due to energy and the increased cost of energy to get the food from the field to the grocery shop,” said Andy Dietrick, public relations director at the Indiana Farm Bureau.

It's a domino effect. The energy prices go up, and the each link in the food chain has to make up for it.

Increased prices have changed some consumers shopping habits.

Traveling down the grocery aisles has become all about strategy as they try to compare prices.

“When they come in, they are looking for bargains,” said Angel Walker, an employee at Save-a-lot.

 

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