We have taken the availability of cheap fresh food for granted for far too long - possibly the recent floods will act as a timely reminder that despite all our modern farming methods, nature always has the upper hand and that food comes at a cost. The floods, the lack of sunshine and the constant rain during June mean that some crops will never be harvested, some will yield but a fraction of what's expected and others, such as soft fruits, will be so badly rain-damaged that they will be difficult to sell. Then there are the plants and seedlings, transplanted into the fields earlier this year ready for next year's harvest. Many have been waterlogged for so long that they are a complete write off.

Isabel Bretherton, of the South East region of the National Farmers' Union, admits that it is difficult to assess the full extent of the damage at the moment, but she says that food prices will certainly rise during the forthcoming months. The only crop she believes will provide a high yield this year are apples, but they desperately need the sun to sweeten them.

Isabel says that price rises for crops such as wheat are not just due to the weather conditions. "We are all affected by the global market now. The population of the world grows by 70 million each year and they all have to be fed. Many crops that would have normally gone into the food market to meet the needs of a growing population are now being used as bio-fuel."

Warnings of food shortages and higher prices began when the NFU announced that a third of the British pea crop - 50,000 tonnes - had been lost this year and that some new potatoes were becoming impossible to harvest from severely waterlogged fields. Many potatoes that are being dug are suffering from potato blight; crops can't be sprayed when it's raining.

The British Hospitality Association says that restaurants across the board have already started to raise menu prices because of the cost of putting chips and mushy peas on the plate. Those who look forward to fresh runner beans will be disappointed, too. Runner beans love water, but not as much as they have been subjected to recently. Look at any back garden or allotment and you will see limp bedraggled plants struggling to survive.

Paul Clark, of Rectory Farm, Stanton St John, has beans that look pale and ill, but he is convinced that they will come good if we get a few sunny days. Many other farmers, however, have already written off this year's crop.

Tomatoes grown under glass and poly tunnels are doing well. Not so those grown outside. Mustard-maker Bruce Young, from Shaken Oak Farm, at Hailey, near Witney, has lost 200 tomato plants that he was growing for his pickles and sauces. Courgettes are not responding well to the wet weather either.

So how are we all going to cope when the shortages make themselves felt?

First, I believe that we must accept that the days of cheap food really are over and that price rises will reflect some of the many hardships our farmers are facing, and have faced, this year. One way of coping with the high prices is to shop more wisely by only purchasing what we need. At the moment, a third of food grown for human consumption in the UK ends up in the rubbish bin. Food industry and government statistics show that each adult wastes at least £420 of food a year. As I see it, we must reduce the amount of food waste, through careful buying and menu planning.

In a booklet recently published by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) five simple ways in which we can all help reduce food waste are listed.

Their advice includes making a shopping list and shopping with particular meals in mind. Their research shows that people who don't plan their weekly shops are far more likely to over-purchase. They urge us to plan meals with the use-by dates in mind. Apparently, 60 per cent of us end up throwing food away because it's passed its use by date. It's worth remembering that the food industry sometimes put very healthy use-by dates on products because of the tight legislation.

There was a time when food was sold without a sell-by date and shoppers were skilled in judging the quality of a product. Obviously, there is no way of assessing ready-made chilled or frozen meals - we really do have to rely on the manufacturers for those products. But when it comes to fruits and vegetables, common sense will usually guide us through.

The WRAP guide also advises us to learn to love leftovers by turning them into another meal. It's a skill that our grandparents certainly mastered at a time when nothing was wasted.

Two bits of advice not listed in the WRAP Guide - but equally effective - have long been offered by me. One is never go shopping for food when you are hungry. It is fatal. You find yourself buying far more than you need. The second is to pause before you buy a two-for-one bargain. Ask yourself if you really need double the amount, as it's only a bargain if you eat both packs. Statistics suggest the second pack is often thrown away. Speaking on the BBC news celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson endorsed these suggestions when discussing food waste. He said people were too quick to throw food away.

"There's nothing wrong with mouldy cheeses; just cut the mould off," he said, adding that it was good sense to use leftovers. All that was required to use them up was a bit of time and imagination.

So, as food prices begin to rise, let us begin to treat the food produced under such difficult circumstances this year with respect, buying only what we know we are going to use. That way there will be money over to cope with the higher prices and the land-fill sites won't be filled with rotting food.