Business: Food Prices Take Off Again

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Some consumers grumble that the food warehouses are inconveniently located and the quality of produce is low. Others complain that products available on one shopping day will not be there the next time. But many customers say that their savings compensate for such minor irritants as longer lines at check out counters and finding the goods still in their shipping cartons. Says Eleanor Conforti, a Western Electric employee in New Jersey: "I don't object to buying from boxes. What's the difference— food is food." And increasingly, that food is very expensive.

—By Julie Connelly.

Reported by William Blaylock/Washington and Sue Raffety/New York