As a wave of food-price inflation is navigating its way throughout the world, it seems as if talk of the world food crisis is everywhere you go these days. The chatter is not just limited to what is happening in countries like Haiti, Cameroon, and Bangladesh, as right here in Jamaica consumers are feeling the pinch in their pockets each time they visit local markets and supermarkets.

Just last week in the parliamentary budget debates, participants from both the government and the opposition addressed the looming food issue after indexes unveiled by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica and the Bank of Jamaica indicated that food prices were up by 25% on the island (conservative estimates calculate this as 20% in other countries).

In a country where the National Minimum Wage is $3,700 for a 40-hour work week, the only option that many Jamaicans have to stretch a dollar is to cut back on overall expenditure and most certainly on their food bills.

This week Thursday Food randomly browsed the aisles of John R Wong Supermarket in New Kingston and made a basic food basket that would adequately feed a family of four for one week. Our cart, which included staples such as bread, flour, crackers, corned beef and chicken, contained 36 items which totalled $3,410.85 and did not include vegetables, as we figured shopping at a market rather than a supermarket for these items would help to decrease the grocery bill.

Although the sum of all the groceries turned out to be less than one week's minimum wage, there was so little change left over after paying for the groceries that with other added expenses saving is barely an option.

Additionally, we were interested in what shoppers had loaded their carts with, so we asked a few people to share with us the contents of their baskets, the prices they paid and how they felt about the cost of the items purchased.

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