Nicole Lemoine has a few strategies to escape the full impact of inflation that’s driving up the cost of food and groceries.

The Manchester resident pushes her cart along a supermarket’s outlying edge where fruit and vegetables, fish, meat and dairy items line the aisles and avoids many costly and unnecessary items on the shelves in the central area.

“You have to shop the store perimeter to save money and eat healthy,” Lemoine said outside Stop & Shop in Manchester where she was recently unloading bags into her vehicle. “You just have to say no to things.”

She skips chips, snacks and processed foods. “No Pop-Tarts,” Lemoine said. Same with paper plates that she said are selling for $18 a package. She also avoids purchasing items not marked down.

“We have to buy everything on sale,” Lemoine said.

The weekly grocery tab for herself, her husband and four children between the ages of 9 and 18 has climbed to $350, possibly $400, from about $250 a few months ago, she said.

Like most everyone else, Lemoine is losing purchasing power in the worst inflationary spiral to grip the U.S. since the early 1980s and is figuring out how to get by. Corporate executives are carefully watching changes in consumer behavior to determine whether adjustments are needed to preserve revenue and profitability.

Inflation increase described as ‘broad-based’

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday that prices in June jumped 9.1% year over year, describing the increase as broad-based. Gasoline, shelter and food were the greatest contributors, with the cost of food at home surging 12.2%.

The reasons are many and complicated, and inflation may have peaked as commodity prices are showing slight drops. But no one is predicting that inflation will be wrung out of the economy anytime soon

Rising costs follow supply chain bottlenecks lingering from COVID-19 that coupled with surging demand by consumers who had been shut in by the pandemic. Energy costs have soared due to an uneven recovery from the pandemic when demand plummeted and has since snapped back. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia, a major exporter of natural gas, has rattled global energy markets.

Rising energy prices boost the cost of transporting everything from furniture to vegetables and are passed on to consumers in virtually everything they buy.

In an election year highlighted by inflation as a major political issue, some economists blame President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress — and President Donald Trump earlier — for contributing to inflation by unleashing trillions of dollars in federal spending at a time of rising consumer demand and supply chain bottlenecks.

Retail analyst Burt P. Flickinger III said consumers have few choices as they navigate their way around rising prices. Selecting store brands can save shoppers as much as $5,000 a year and bulk purchases at retailers such as Costco Wholesale Corp. and B.J.s Wholesale Club also can yield savings, he said.

Consumers’ disposable income hit on all fronts

It’s the first time inflation has reduced shoppers’ disposable income in all 12 key monthly spending areas, putting “unprecedented pressure” on consumer spending, Flickinger said. He cited clothes and shoes, debt service, education, entertainment, food, health care, housing, insurance, mobile phones, taxes, transportation and utilities and services.

“There’s no place to hide, except doing without,” he said.

Anthony Francis, owner of Anthony’s Jamaican Restaurant in Manchester, said he’s limited in how he can respond to rising prices for food he buys. “I can’t keep raising prices,” he said. So he instead tries to reduce portions and look for the best deal.

Lettuce and peppers, for example, that cost $12 from a wholesaler a few months ago are now $17, he said. “It’s just ridiculous.”

Bettina Brewer of Glastonbury has been shopping for 16 years for Companions & Homemakers, which helps seniors with daily living. She said she pays as much as $50 more a week at the checkout, despite getting the lowest prices.

She buys more chicken than other meats, but on occasion will shop at high-end markets for meat. And Brewer said she tries to “stick to store brands” to save money. Price increases, she said, are “across the board.”

Corporate executives see the impact on their profit and revenue from shifting consumer behavior. Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart Inc., told analysts on a conference call in May reviewing first-quarter financial results that rising food costs “pulled more dollars away” from general merchandise than the retail giant had expected. Customers are increasingly buying store brands to save money, he said.

Todd Vasos, chief executive officer of Dollar General Corp., told industry analysts on a call in May that customers are starting to “shop more intentionally.” Customer traffic was down, but consumers were buying more in response to inflation, he said.

That supports what Rory Smead, an associate professor of philosophy at Northeastern University, calls “inflationary psychology.” Consumers have come to expect inflation from what they read and hear in the media and from their own observations.

Painful for low-wage to middle-income workers

“They spend money now because they worry about prices in the future,” he said. “It drives up prices faster and leads to more inflation.”

Inflation is particularly painful for low-wage to middle-income workers. Lemoine, who works with foster youth, said she recently got a $5-an-hour pay increase, but it barely makes a dent when she has to spend $50 or more to fill up at the gas station.

The impact of sharply higher prices is felt further up the salary scale, too. Smead said he and his wife pulled the plug on a big renovation of their Boston-area home. The project was not feasible due to rising interest rates and project quotes that were 70% to 100% more than the architect’s estimate, he said.

That might not be the case for items that are not big-ticket purchases. Executives at Macy’s told industry analysts in May that luxury sales “remained a standout,” with shopping among high-income consumers less affected by inflation.

Motorists are catching a break — a very small one — as record high gas prices edge down. Lower prices follow falling demand, from 9 million barrels a day in June to about 8.6 million barrels now, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

But even falling oil prices are not entirely good news. Prices of numerous commodities are dropping on investor fears of a recession as Federal Reserve officials raise interest rates to combat inflation.

Gasoline is still not a bargain. It was selling for $4.46 a gallon at an ExxonMobil station in Manchester where Roseann Burgess of Brooksville, Florida, recently filled up her SUV. That’s nearly 40% higher than a year ago, according to federal energy officials.

Burgess said she monitors the distances she drives and consolidates errands to save money.

“It’s out of control. I just don’t know how people do it,” she said.

Francis, the owner of the Jamaican restaurant, said the economy is in its worst shape since he got into business in 2008 at the start of the Great Recession.

“I didn’t know what I was doing. I know what I’m doing now,” he said. “You’ve got to make adjustments. All of life is adjustments.”

Stephen Singer can be reached at ssinger@courant.com.