In recent months, Butler County father Justin Lackey’s regular shopping trips have brought new challenges.

Finding Similac Alimentum baby formula for his 9-month-old, a weekly necessity, has become increasingly difficult. And when he can find it, it’s increasingly expensive.

“The brand we get went up 5 bucks a container regardless of the size. There’s two different sizes you can purchase, and the midsize one used to be $27 to $28. Now it’s $31 to $32,” he said “The larger one used to be $38, and we just paid $43 dollars for a container. The only way we were able to find it was to get up at 7 in the morning.”

Lackey has found himself changing his shopping habits. His family now shops more at Giant Eagle to find the formula his daughter needs, and to track down other hard-to-find products, such as cat food and cat litter.

“Since we’ve had to go there for baby formula, we’ve kind of just been doing our grocery shopping there and taking advantage of the Fuelperks, because there isn’t much of a savings at Walmart anymore,” he said. “We hardly look at those places anymore for cat food — what you can find, the cost increased.”

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