By Teresa McUsic

Have you seen the price of eggs lately?

I’ve heard that question all over town in the past couple of weeks, and since I’m not one of those people who is good at keeping grocery prices in my head, I started digging around to find out if the price of eggs had gone up, and why.

I found the answers with Cheryl Abbot, a regional economist at the Southwest office of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks food prices.

Sure enough, Abbot said eggs were up a whopping 34 percent over 12 months ago, at $2.17 a dozen, according to the latest figures in the consumer price index.

But grocery price increases didn’t stop there, she said. Other items with double-digit cost increases included whole and skim milk, tomatoes, chicken, bread, and frozen fruit juice and drinks.

Why is everything so expensive?
Abbot pointed out one of the leading causes for this increase: unleaded regular gasoline is up almost 35 percent from last year, she said.

“If it’s wrapped in plastic and transported from far away, like the West, you’re going to see an increase in price because of the increase of crude oil,” she said.

In addition, cereal and baked products are competing with ethanol and other energy uses for grain, causing a spike in demand that is affecting grain goods, she said.

Bottom line: Many of these grocery prices are here to stay or going to get higher. If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to start cutting your costs by seriously playing the grocery game.

How can I save more?
With the right shopping strategies, a family can save $200 to $300 a month on groceries, said Stephanie Nelson, author of Advanced Grocery Shopping Strategies, an e-book that can be downloaded free from her Web site, www.couponmom.com.

Nelson offers a free service to her 300,000 members through her Web site, which aggregates weekly sales by local grocers with newspaper and online coupons to show shoppers how to maximize savings.

Consumers are suddenly taking grocery shopping seriously, Nelson said.

“My Web site has been going crazy since Jan. 1, and I know it’s a reflection of the economy,” she said. “New memberships doubled from December to January, and February is getting even bigger.”

Nelson recommends shoppers track the prices of their most-bought items for four to six weeks to find the lowest price point and then start stocking up.

“Know the prices of your items,” she said. “Some prices will fluctuate by 100 percent over a four- to six-week period.”

Get organized
Donna Montaldo, who writes on bargains for About.com, suggests carrying a price book with you to track costs of the items you buy most. That way you know whether a sales price is the best deal.

“You don’t have to be a coupon junky to save money,” she said. “But when you really get involved with strategies, you can save two-thirds off your bill.”

However you decide to save, remember that buying your food and cooking it at home is still the cheapest way to eat. So for some of us, just eating at home may be the first way to save on food dollars.

Trimming the Fat
Here are some strategies from grocery-shopping gurus for cutting the costs of putting food on the table:

Download e-coupons
Kroger.com now offers electronic coupons that can be linked to your loyalty card and realized at the cash register once you buy the item. Nelson said to look for grocers to offer more innovative savings ideas like this.

Shop around
Check out drugstores for lower prices on some items. Many stores such as CVS and Walgreens are pushing their grocery lines and often have better prices on dairy products, soda and coffee. Personal-care products are generally 25 percent cheaper at discount drugstores than grocery stores.

Convenience costs more
Buy concentrate and make your own juice. Bottled juices cost 60 percent more on average than concentrate. Bottled water is also more expensive than buying a water filter (with a coupon) for your sink.

Capitalize on savings
Use store savings plans. Learn your grocery’s coupon policies, such as double or triple values and other savings policies, like certain shopping days for senior discounts. Combining the store’s policies with the sales price and coupons is where you can realize deep discounts.

Get your coupons
Buy the Sunday newspaper or visit the Star-Telegram’s Web site, www.star-telegram.com (search for coupons). The Sunday newspaper carries about 100 coupons, and you can buy multiple copies or ask friends and neighbors for their coupons. Other coupons are also available on the Web site.

Coupons can also be obtained on grocery and food manufacturer Web sites, as well as aggregate sites such as coupon.com and coolsavings.com.

Go generic
A Consumer Reports study on generics a few years ago showed that store-labeled brands are usually cheaper and taste the same or better.

Plan meals first
This is a must. Take time to organize your meals for the week and write a list before you go to the store to focus on what you need to buy instead of what marketers are working to get you to buy.

Make your own
Mix things up yourself. Food with added sugar, spices or sauces can cost up to 50 percent more than buying the add-ons separately. Sugar-coated cereal and frozen seasoned dinner mixes are two examples.

Buy sales items in bulk
Even two weeks’ worth of sales items will save you.

FOOD ON THE TABLE
National grocery prices have soared over last year, fueled in part by an increase in gasoline prices, which are up about 35 percent.