The Murray mom overspent her $650 shopping budget by $100 this month, and still didn't have any meat. So when a $160 Costco rebate appeared in her mailbox, if felt like "a tender mercy from God, just when I needed it."

Other moms in Millar's Murray neighborhood are feeling the same pinch. Several are cutting into their family food storage, she said.

For Millar, gone are dinner dates at restaurants with her husband, a health-care consultant. She writes on cracker boxes, "do not open until May 1," to ration kids' snacks.

Next, she'll plant a garden to trim costs. "Hopefully, that will help a little bit with some of the fresh produce."

Along the Wasatch Front, the price of green peppers went up 33 percent from February to March, according to the Wells Fargo Consumer Price Index. Banana prices rose 14 percent. Meat, poultry, fish and egg prices went up a half of a percent.

Similar rising prices are being felt around the globe. Increased demand for food and energy has given way to six years' worth of increasing prices, the World Bank in Washington reports.

Global wheat prices have nearly tripled over the past three years, and overall food prices increased 83 percent. Some nations are reaching the breaking point.

The World Bank says 33 impoverished nations may face social unrest because of the rising food prices. People in Egypt this spring have rioted over the costs and low wages. In Haiti, people are eating dirt to alleviate hunger pains.

The World Bank has called on other nations to help. President Bush last week released $200 million in food aid, the White House said, not only to help other nations, but to address the impact of rising food and fuel prices on our own country's emergency food programs.

But economists say more help will be needed to combat the ongoing problems, globally and here in Utah.

Social consequences

By 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, a line has formed outside Hildegarde's Pantry at St. Mark's Episcopal Church.

Denise Ham is first. The West Jordan resident has taken a bus to the downtown pantry monthly for the past couple of years to help stretch her Social Security and disability income. Other times, she goes to a Kearns food pantry.

Another man shows abscessed teeth he can't afford to fix.

"We're in a deep mess right now," says a former car salesman as he moves up the line.