We haven't been to an ALDI since we moved nearly 3 years ago. That's where we would do our grocery shopping 2x per month. I'm sad to hear this but it is no surprise.

Folks need to start growing food. If you have your own yard and are able to grow a garden but don't- you probably shouldn't be complaining about the price of food. As a society we need to get back to being more food independent. Personally I view it more as a responsibility than a hobby. It's up to us to learn the skill of seed saving, growing and preserving food. Even if you are in the city. I realize a large family can't be fed by growing food on your balcony but it does help offset costs, and you receive better nutrition. Before I was married, I lived in the city on the second floor of an apartment complex. I had a small balcony. It was crazy how much food I could grow in that small space! Greens, tomatoes, cucuмbers, a ton of herbs and other things.
If your town allows chickens, get a few hens. The eggs add up fast. These are small things that everyone should be doing if able. If you can do none of these things, support your local farmers, ranchers and growers who still can. 

We live in a small midwest town. The groceries here are REALLY high. The other day I was in charge of bringing some chips to a gathering. $6 for a bag of chips!  I don't know how our family would make it on one main income without growing a lot of our own food.

I don't know if I agree.  Not everyone has the resources to grow all the food necessary for their large family to live, don't have room for a couple of cattle in their backyard, chicken coups, etc.  Perhaps they could grow some fruits and vegetables and maybe have chickens for eggs.  Generally speaking, in the past I've found that it would cost more to grow our own food than to just buy it at the store, and while the prices of food at the store are going up, I imagine so is the price of growing it yourself, as the nessary supplies are also going up in cost (which is part of why the food is going up also).

And certainly not everyone has the time to grow enough food for their family.  Perhaps a small part of it, but that's about it.

I definitely agree that we should put away some seeds and other supplies for if/when the food supply chain breaks down, but at this time I don't find that it's a huge benefit.  I find that I need to work approximately 10-12 hours per week to pay for all our food for the week, and I imagine that it would require a lot more than 10-12 hours per week to keep the same amount of food flowing (enough to feed a family of 8).  Also, given that I live in a Northern state, I would have to preserve or can enough food during the growing season to get through the Winter, and canning supplies aren't free either.

It's not the price of food that's the problem. It's access. With the probability of vaccine passports and social credit scoring., you may not be allowed to purchase the food you need. Better to start growing now- there is a lot to learn as well as preserving for the winter. Many pressure canned foods can last for years; including meat.

I made my weekly Aldi run today.  A dozen eggs cost $4.11.  Unbelievable.  I will give them credit, they did have a sign up apologizing for the price increase.

Got to eat one way or the other.  I'm not in a position to grow any significant amount of my own food.  I tried tomatoes last year in containers on my patio and the 100-degree heat much of the summer left me with the ignominy of burnt-up stalks and not enough tomatoes to make a decent salad.  Pity, I had made a lot of pretty fine compost, eggshells, bones, potato skins, even a jar of blackstrap molasses that were inedible, two buckets of worms gave their lives in its creation.  I ended up taking the soil and building up the areas where we had a couple of trees taken up in the yard.

I made my weekly Aldi run today.  A dozen eggs cost $4.11.  Unbelievable.  I will give them credit, they did have a sign up apologizing for the price increase.

Got to eat one way or the other.  I'm not in a position to grow any significant amount of my own food.  I tried tomatoes last year in containers on my patio and the 100-degree heat much of the summer left me with the ignominy of burnt-up stalks and not enough tomatoes to make a decent salad.  Pity, I had made a lot of pretty fine compost, eggshells, bones, potato skins, even a jar of blackstrap molasses that were inedible, two buckets of worms gave their lives in its creation.  I ended up taking the soil and building up the areas where we had a couple of trees taken up in the yard.

Some varieties of cherry tomatoes will set fruit over 90° F., but forget it with standard heirloom varieties. Pots, mounds, or planter boxes in the desert will use 70-100% more water because of the heat/wind exposure, including the exposure of the root system above ground. The U Arizona Ag Extension advises planting in depressions instead of in mounds.  I usually do that with good success, but mobility problems now demand planter boxes.

I don't usually shop for F1 hybrids, but this year I seeded some New Girl and Early Girl hybrids. Interestingly all my heirlooms are trying to set fruit under the inside grow lights and outdoor greenhouse (I over-did it this year because I started so late last year), but the much-touted "early" hybrids are seriously lagging, healthy but almost like dwarfs.

If you can get past the annoying in-your-face "diversity," https://www.nativeseeds.org/collections/tomatoes aims to preserve "native" varieties adapted to the Sonoran desert climate. A few times I have grown "native" adapted melons and tomatoes alongside European heirloom melons and US heirloom tomatoes—and the European and standard heirlooms have consistently been more vigorous producers than the "natives."

This year the only "native" I seeded (directly) was https://www.nativeseeds.org/collections/peas/products/q009 . Though Phoenix borders the Pima Salt River Reservation (I drive through the reservation on the freeway to work), it is no longer surprisingl that the Pima Salt River pea variety is my only pea variety that has not erupted like a volcano. I saw a couple of cotyledons sprout in their location, then nothing… nothing!

So much for "evolution."

…They started taking credit cards, which increase grocery costs by at least 3% (probably more).…

Whether or not true, two decades ago I read that groceries typically only had about a 3% margin. Obviously taking a 3% credit card write-off on a 3% margin means no profit, so clearly times have changed. I'm guessing the small hats moved their goalposts again.

I wonder what the typical margin of profit is for today's groceries.

Some varieties of cherry tomatoes will set fruit over 90° F., but forget it with standard heirloom varieties. Pots, mounds, or planter boxes in the desert will use 70-100% more water because of the heat/wind exposure, including the exposure of the root system above ground. The U Arizona Ag Extension advises planting in depressions instead of in mounds.  I usually do that with good success, but mobility problems now demand planter boxes.

I don't usually shop for F1 hybrids, but this year I seeded some New Girl and Early Girl hybrids. Interestingly all my heirlooms are trying to set fruit under the inside grow lights and outdoor greenhouse (I over-did it this year because I started so late last year), but the much-touted "early" hybrids are seriously lagging, healthy but almost like dwarfs.

If you can get past the annoying in-your-face "diversity," https://www.nativeseeds.org/collections/tomatoes aims to preserve "native" varieties adapted to the Sonoran desert climate. A few times I have grown "native" adapted melons and tomatoes alongside European heirloom melons and US heirloom tomatoes—and the European and standard heirlooms have consistently been more vigorous producers than the "natives."

This year the only "native" I seeded (directly) was https://www.nativeseeds.org/collections/peas/products/q009 . Though Phoenix borders the Pima Salt River Reservation (I drive through the reservation on the freeway to work), it is no longer surprisingl that the Pima Salt River pea variety is my only pea variety that has not erupted like a volcano. I saw a couple of cotyledons sprout in their location, then nothing… nothing!

So much for "evolution."

I'm not in the desert, but the year prior, when the temperatures were more moderate, I grew a bumper crop of smallish tomatoes using containers on the patio.  I kept us in tomatoes all summer.  This year, zilch.  I either grow them from seeds (Ferry-Morse or Burpee) or get Bonnie plants, nothing fancy, just prosaic hobby gardening.  I've also used Seeds of Change in years past.  I just do it on the cheap as a summer pastime.  I also grow kale, peppers, and green onions.  None of them did any good last year, again, the heat cooked everything.

I'm not in the desert, but the year prior, when the temperatures were more moderate, I grew a bumper crop of smallish tomatoes using containers on the patio.  I kept us in tomatoes all summer.  This year, zilch.  I either grow them from seeds (Ferry-Morse or Burpee) or get Bonnie plants, nothing fancy, just prosaic hobby gardening.  I've also used Seeds of Change in years past.  I just do it on the cheap as a summer pastime.  I also grow kale, peppers, and green onions.  None of them did any good last year, again, the heat cooked everything.

Our summer temperatures are never "moderate," but we have a mild enough winter that we have two short growing seasons sandwiched between the hottest and coldest months.

Our whole family loves shishito peppers, a Japanese heirloom.  They are marvelously flavorful and about 1-in-10 are slightly hot. We sear them until just a couple of black spots in a very hot pan with the barest film of roasted sesame seed oil and then just a sprinkle of salt or shoyu.  We've used this company for decades (though last year they handled off sales to some "True Leaf" conglomerate): https://kitazawaseed.com/collections/pepper/products/pepper-seeds-hot-shishito  Sold out there, but still available here: https://www.rareseeds.com/shishito-pepper

Obviously taste is subjective, but I think Black Krim tomatoes are the tastiest— https://www.rareseeds.com/black-krim-tomato —but the plants are moderately hungry, so warrant attentive fertilizing.

Since you mentioned kale… We don't have the space to spare for this novelty…


https://www.rareseeds.com/thousandhead-kale

Our summer temperatures are never "moderate," but we have a mild enough winter that we have two short growing seasons sandwiched between the hottest and coldest months.

Our whole family loves shishito peppers, a Japanese heirloom.  They are marvelously flavorful and about 1-in-10 are slightly hot. We sear them until just a couple of black spots in a very hot pan with the barest film of roasted sesame seed oil and then just a sprinkle of salt or shoyu.  We've used this company for decades (though last year they handled off sales to some "True Leaf" conglomerate): https://kitazawaseed.com/collections/pepper/products/pepper-seeds-hot-shishito  Sold out there, but still available here: https://www.rareseeds.com/shishito-pepper

Obviously taste is subjective, but I think Black Krim tomatoes are the tastiest— https://www.rareseeds.com/black-krim-tomato —but the plants are moderately hungry, so warrant attentive fertilizing.

Since you mentioned kale… We don't have the space to spare for this novelty…


https://www.rareseeds.com/thousandhead-kale

Wow!!!  I have never heard of kale that big before!  That is amazing!