Dr. Mike Walden, North Carolina Cooperative Extension economist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State University, responds:

"Well, the obvious plus is that if you do expect food prices to rise very rapidly in the future, then buying today means you get a much lower price. Although I should caution people in saying although there is a lot of headline inflation related to specific items like meat and eggs and bread, overall food inflation is actually not that bad. It's about 4.5 percent. But never the less, if you think the items you are interested in are rising rapidly, then buying earlier makes sense. But there are costs to this. Number one, you have got to store the food somewhere. So you've got - unless you have excess space in your home - you've got to find places to put that food. Another cost recognized is that you've got your money tied up in this food that you've stockpiled. Think of it, what you're really doing is investing in food because you're worried that it's going to rise in price. So for example, if you think food is going up, let's say at 4 percent a year, and you're buying that food - more food than you need right now - stockpiling it, it's like earning a 4 percent interest rate. But the way you should look at that is say, Well could I invest my money somewhere else and earn more than a 4 percent interest rate? So you need to recognize these costs and benefits. And then I guess the final thing I would say is that many economists are thinking that we've actually seen the worst in food price inflation, and actually, as we move through the year, food prices will begin rising closer to maybe 3 or 3 and a half percent. So you have to ask yourself the question, Are you just going with the flow here or are you just caught up in the moment? And is this not really something good for the long run?"