SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Theresa Rios came to the grocery store this week with a shorter shopping list than usual. And she's also paying even more attention than usual to price.

Walking past a shelf of items labeled "Real Bacon Bits" next to packages of imitation bacon bits, Rios doesn't hesitate. "This is $2.19 and this is $1.59," she says, "so I'm going to buy this."

Rios is a regular at the Save A Lot store in Springfield. But since she started hearing that her federal food assistance might soon be cut off, she has been trying to put some of the money she receives aside, just in case. And, she's no longer giving all her business to Save A Lot.

"I'm at the point where I am shopping for deals at three different stores," she says. "So I'll come here because this is cheaper than Stop & Shop,

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