For most American shoppers, the weekly grocery list is filled with fresh foods: meats, deli, produce, baked goods and the like. For those who have been closely following consumer trends, this comes as little surprise, as Americans have reduced out-of-home dining and cook food at home more regularly.

It is undoubtedly a challenging time for Australia’s grocers. Consumer confidence is down due largely to concerns about the economy and rising food prices and utility bills. As a result, shoppers are tightening their belts and looking for ways to make their dollars go further.

Increasing utility bills and rising costs are driving Russian shoppers to watch their grocery budgets more than ever. Fast-moving consumer goods retailers and manufacturers need to recalibrate strategies to adjust to a more price-conscious consumer.

More consumers are online talking about fresh and unprocessed foods when it comes to healthy eating, and a segment of health enthusiasts are setting trends on ingredients and spices.

The USDA is forecasting overall food prices to go up between two to three percent in 2011, due largely to the rising cost of commodities and lower supplies of basic ingredients – higher than the past few years, but certainly not the levels being encountered around the world.

Food is the age-old bonding agent among friends and family, connecting people in ways technology simply can’t match. As the economy forced families to tighten budgets, food-related activities from watching cooking shows and reading cookbooks to dining-in meal preparations all increased.

As we manage through one of the most challenging U.S. economic downturns, American consumers have made significant shifts in what they buy and watch. From planning their shopping trips to focusing on value to trading down to going out less and staying in more, consumers have pressed the reset button and fundamentally changed their habits.

As U.S. consumers cope with the third year of an economic downturn, which can now be best described as a jobless recovery, an interesting trend has emerged. Consumers have re-calibrated spending and redefined the traditional norms of value.

It has been just over a month since the peak of the May political unrest in Thailand, but most Thai consumers (7 out of 10) say their lives are already back to normal, or will return to normal within a month.

Amid the hype, the truth about assortment trends in retail is somewhat less dramatic. Fact: retailers cut assortment a modest 1% in 2009. A smart move by grocers, because consumers often choose to take a walk, at great expense to retailers, if desired products aren’t on the shelf.