When it comes to consumers and how they think about inflation, the cost of food gets a lot of attention. It’s something we buy every week, instead of, say, once every decade, like a car. In the latest inflation numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the price of food at home rose 1.3% in the last 12 months. The numbers say one thing, but what do shoppers say?

In the parking lot of the Fiesta supermarket in southwest Houston, I catch up with Agensis Rodriguez as she loads grocery bags into the backseat of her blue Nissan. Today she’s taking home vegetables, bananas and chicken to make chicken soup, as well as tostadas, flour and candy. The total cost? $126. She says she’ll make this stretch for two weeks or so for her family of three.

She finds prices to be much higher, especially for things like chips, soda, chicken and eggs — which increased nearly 9% in price from November to December. 

Also shopping at Fiesta today is Rocio Garcia, whose cart is filled with onions and dozens of Ramen noodle packages. They’re cheap and easy. 

“Put in hot water, and there’s your meal. And then if you try to cook a meal, then it’s $50 for the whole family,” she says.

Garcia has 10 mouths to feed at home between her mom, her brother and nephews while also managing higher water bills and property taxes. She works at Fiesta and says her pay isn’t keeping up with inflation. 

“They don’t give raises or bonuses, nothing like that,” she says.

Just a few minutes away from the Fiesta, outside a Kroger, I talk to another shopper, Becky Hines. She loves coupons and shops sales at different stores. 

“Everything’s more expensive. The good stuff like the fish and everything, out of sight, it’s just too high,” Hines says. “We love fish, but we can’t buy it as much as we’d like.”

She’s buying for herself and her husband, plus her daughter’s family. 

““I cook for six people, six of us. So, you know, I tried to really economize,” she says.

These days, Hines says she’s putting into practice what her mom taught her — how to make cheap, nutritious meals that last.