I normally live on Cape Cod but I've been staying in Manhattan for the past week. I'm having a great time and loving the city but I have a question for any Manhattanites reading this post: why is everything at the grocery store at least 30% more expensive than it is on Cape Cod, or pretty much everywhere else I've been with the exception of Nantucket?

I just saw a box of shredded wheat -- $5.69, which is especially bad when you consider the fact that cereal boxes have been shrinking over the past year because of rising commodity costs.

Now I don't really consider myself a miser. But let me be clear: I refuse to pay $5.69 for a box of cereal. I would rather head over to Central Park on my hands and knees armed with a bottle of blue cheese dressing and forage. Part of the problem may be that Wal-Mart has not yet been able to colonize New York in the face of opposition from union leaders and socially-conscious types. I'm all for principles and whatnot -- but not if it means paying $5.69 for a box of cereal!

If you live in New York, it may actually be cheaper to buy some groceries on Amazon.com: you can get Post shredded wheat, 12.2 ounces, for $3 per box in packs of 6. Shipping is free if you spend more than $25.

A video from MSNBC has some great tips on saving money at the grocery store. They're mostly common sense, but they're gaining new relevance with gas prices and food costs on the rise: shop at the least expensive grocery store even if it's not the closest, use coupons, buy in bulk when the prices are good.

But there are a couple problems: first, never underestimate the value of your time and energy. If you don't like driving or shopping, don't drive all over the state looking to save on paper towels. Save your energy! You'll be more productive and you can find other ways to save money or add to your income.

And then there's the advice to "shop where the prices are good." The problem is that prices vary from item to item. It's well-known that it's often cheaper to buy milk at the convenience store, for example.

Yes, we all know that food prices are rising. It's worth remembering that this isn't just happening in the United States but that food prices have risen worldwide. If you look at the global picture, you won't complain about paying $4.00 for a gallon of milk. Bottom line? We are still food rich and we have lots of alternatives if we don't want to pay more for groceries.

Thinking about food purchasing and preparation is another opportunity that the recession brings for recalibrating how we live and spend. We eat and spend too much and move around too little.

Here's a challenge.Take a small spiral notebook and use to it keep track of what you eat and what you pay for the next week. Include the bottle of diet coke that you buy at the gas station, the $28 you spend on take-out, the totals at the grocery store, the five cups of coffee or vitamin water. At the end of the week, sit down with the local store circulars and see whether you can't easily feed your family for less than 2/3 of that amount.

As expected, inflation rose last month due to higher energy prices. Diesel costs, in particular, are sending food prices soaring, and everyone is feeling the pinch. Which is the really bitter part of this quasi-recession: We've already resigned ourselves to stay away from new watches, cars and other luxury items, but now the essentials (food and gas) are turning on us.

According to the Labor Department, food prices rose 0.2 percent in March and 4.4 percent over the past year. Some food staples have really surged: Over the last year, bread has risen 14.7 percent and milk 13.3 percent. French toast, anyone?

Right now the best approach, aside from watching the mail for those stimulus checks, is to shop smart at the grocery store. If you buy cheap, you'll get cheap. However, the expensive brands don't always deliver great value. Consumer Reports, which is subscription-only, has teamed up with AOL Money & Finance to present a free, whopping-long list of supermarket products that combine high quality with great value. Testing a wide range of products, including BBQ sauce, hot dogs and olive oil--not to mention storage containers, insect repellent and sunscreen--the gallery will not only help you make the best purchase decision, it may also introduce you to wonderful new products. Like, Black Magic "Wet Shine" Liquid Car Wax.

Just because you can't afford to fill it up doesn't mean you can't make it look good.

B. Brandon Barker also writes for Political Machine.

E-tickets, e-cards, e-gift certificates, and plastic currency. We're used to spending paperless; now how about paperless savings?

Last month I wrote about the Grocery Game, an online subscription service that can enhance coupon savings by matching grocery store specials with coupons. Grocery Game, and a similar (free) coupon tracker, Coupon Mom, both feature printable coupons on their sites. But our own AOL takes couponing to the next stage of digital evolution with Shortcuts, paperless coupons that you store to your grocery store membership/discount card.

Now we're talking.

Just the other day, I came home from a grocery run (where I realized nearly 50% savings, thanks to coupon/sales matching), and realized I'd left about $5 worth of additional savings on the table. Literally. My kitchen table. Grocery Game or not, it's hard to keep track of all those flimsy bits of paper, let alone clipping and sorting them. I love the idea of having them stored on my Kroger card. No coupon left behind!

Unfortunately, the Shortcuts selection at this time is woefully limited. A measly eight coupons. And while my regional chain, Kroger, is a partner store, the full list is quite limited. But I have high hopes that my cutting and sorting days will soon go the way of the 8-track, so I'll be checking back.

Shortcuts is free to anyone with an AOL or AIM account.

Kyran Pittman blogs about life at Notes To Self, where her musings on culture, soul and laundry have been picked up and published three times by Good Housekeeping magazine.

The rising food prices have hit everyone in the pocketbook. Almost no food item is immune to an increased price when the cost to make or grow food has gone up so dramatically. Probably the single biggest contributor to this problem is ethanol. Ethanol is a jackpot for corn growers, but a nightmare for consumers. While farmers sell their corn for this inefficient, expensive fuel, those who used to use corn for animal feed or ingredients in their food products are feeling the pain.

Media reports show food prices up 5% in 2007. With that kind of increase, families are forced to be more frugal with their grocery dollars, looking for bargains and buying more economical items. U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics show that a family of four now spends $904 a month for food, compared to $824 a month two years ago. I don't think it has caused a huge hardship for many quite yet, as we could all be a little more conscious of how we're spending on groceries.

Over the Easter weekend, after taking my four-year-old to see Horton Hears a Who, we dropped by our neighborhood grocery store to buy soda pop and dog food. By the time we were finished with our trip, I had spent $76.

Naturally, I bought a few other items, but what struck me as the number on the cash register kept getting larger and larger was how little food there actually was for having spent $76. Not that I want to blame all of this on my daughter, but I did listen to most of her grocery suggestions. Aside from the soda and pet food, our cart was full of doughnuts, Lucky Charms cereal, cookies, Goldfish crackers, a bright bouncy ball that retailed for $1.49, and then a few smarter items like some yogurt, toilet paper, paper towels and, yes, some actual food, enough for -- two dinners.

Granted, I broke a lot of rules. I didn't go in with a prepared grocery list, or coupons, and I brought in a precocious four-year-old who I have a tough time saying "no" to, unless it involves her playing with sharp knives or matches. But I'm beginning to think, with food prices rising the way they have been, that it's time to consider the idea of dropping by a discount grocery store.

Whether you prefer organic milk or orange juice for breakfast; whether coffee or cola gets you caffeinated; whether it's beef or chicken that's for dinner, you're paying more for it this month than ever before. Our friends at AOL Money & Finance took a look at a group of groceries on many people's shopping list and compared the average U.S. prices in December 2006 to the prices in December 2007. What we weren't surprised about: all these prices are higher this year than last. What we were surprised about: some of the increases are truly monumental.

You can browse through our gallery to see the ones we thought would impact us the most, and what were the highest increases -- over 30% in two cases! But I was amazed at how universal the increases were. While lemons don't make up a big portion of my grocery budget, it's shocking to see that the prices are up 23.2%. And sweet peppers, a staple in many Tex-Mex and Cajun dishes, are up 15.7%. The aforementioned orange juice, part of that complete breakfast the cereal makers are always advertising? Up 13.3%.

It's happened to every one of us who has ever shopped at a grocery store. It's a variation on the old bait and switch game which draws you into a store with promises of a great deal on something you want or need. The problem is that once you are in their door, you may find that the deal you came to take advantage of is not really such a good deal after all because the store raised their margin on your target item prior to creating their " special discount." Blogger Paul Michael examines the problem in his blog post, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this any more."

The solution can be as simple as using a bit of basic math to verify that you truly are getting the discount that you think you are. When the store offers you a two for one deal, don't assume that buying two of the item will save you money. Take your total cost for the items and divide it by two, then compare that price per item to the regular price for buying just one of them. Often times you'll find that the only advantage to be had is that the store has sold you a second item.