According to data from market research firm IRI, grocery costs keep climbing — the cost of staples rising 9 percent in 2021 — and will continue to do so in 2022. Supply-chain issues, ongoing labor shortages and the pandemic are to blame.

Doug Baker, vice president of industry relations for the Food Industry Association, recently told CNN, “A lot of that is actually a delayed reaction from the (issues and volatility) that the supply chain has been feeling for the last several months. They put off as long as possible, and now we’re going to feel the effects of that for the next few months.”

With the combination of cargo ships backed up; costs of everything including labor, fuel, ingredients, packaging and transportation going up; and labor shortages, the effects are visible on empty grocery shelves. Those problems will not be resolved quickly.

Though there are no easy fixes, one piece of advice rings through — don’t waste or hoard food and other necessities.

Prices will continue to be high, and shelves will be low-stocked. Don’t go crazy and buy all the toilet paper this time around. Shop smart, buy what you need in shelf-stable products and know that you may have to go without favorite items.

There is nothing the stores can do. Yelling at the workers will not solve anything.

This is a problem beyond the person you see working his or her hardest at the store. Until our broken supply chain is fixed — and surely companies and policymakers have sorted out that domestic production should be part of the answer — we must shop smarter and make better choices. It’s as simple as that.

editorial@vindy.com