HOUSTON - Chances are, you've noticed a higher total on your grocery bill lately: Higher costs for manufacturers being passed along to you and your family. And the price of one family favorite, in particular, is about to surge starting Tuesday.
It's a lunchtime favorite in the school cafeteria and at home. It's considered a staple since it's found in 90 percent of American households.
But peanut butter - often considered a cheap source of protein - is about to get a lot more expensive. As early as Tuesday, manufacturers are raising prices. One brand is raising theirs by a whopping 40 percent.
Bettina Elias Seigel has two kids who go through the stuff like Halloween candy.
For farmers, it's simply supply and demand. This year's peanut crop is down almost 13 percent. Crops in Georgia, Texas and Alabama were especially hard hit by the brutal summer.
That's sent peanut prices soaring from $450-a-ton last year to almost $1,200 this year.
A recent study of consumer shopping habits shows two-thirds of Americans change what they buy when food costs more. How will that affect peanut butter?
One Texas mom - who writes a blog called The Lunch Tray about kids and food - is concerned that some may have to skip an item they depend on.
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