Tuesday morning, SuperValu (SVU) was one of the biggest losers on the Street, with a drop in excess of 12% thanks to its third-quarter earnings report.

The supermarket operator reported a third-quarter loss of 95 cents per share ($202 million) compared to a profit of 51 cents per share ($109 million) a year ago. The recent third quarter includes write-downs of $1.19 per share ($252 million) and was impacted by weaker sales and margins. The firm's quarterly revenue dropped 5.9% to $8.67 billion, which is a sour follow up to the 9.5% drop from a year ago.

Grocer Safeway Inc's (SWY) stock has meandered since the February 20, 2009, buy call at a price of $20.90, but I'm reiterating my rating. Here's why:

The view from here argues that the thesis that food margins sector-wide will decrease is flawed. Grocers will continue to see more consumers shift to 'generic' labels, but overall margins should stabilize as demand rebounds as the major lay-off period in the U.S. job market subsides in 2010.

On Tuesday, Kroger (KR) reported third-quarter earnings -- and missed the Street's estimate.

The grocer announced that it lost $1.35 per share during the quarter, down sharply from a 36-cent profit during the same quarter a year ago. Taking one-time costs out of the equation, the grocer earned 27 cents per share during the quarter. These results were far short of the Street's expected 36 cents per share.

Leggo my Eggo. No, seriously! There's a shortage on the familiar brand of frozen waffles, spurred by problems at Kellogg (K) bakeries in Atlanta and Rossville, Tennessee. The former plant saw flooding last month and had to halt production, while the Tennessee location needs extensive repairs, which has shut down several lines for the time being.

There will be a shortage of the baked good through 2010, according to reports from the cereal giant. Other Eggo-branded products, such as syrup, pancakes, and other breakfast items, will be impacted as well.

This was a complex call, but I'm Reiterating my Buy rating for Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY) first recommended on February 20, 2009 at a price of $20.90.

Safeway is likely to continue to benefit from rising food demand for cheaper food, as the pronounced recession in California -- one of the states hardest hit by the housing downturn -- compels citizens to belt-tighten and seek less expensive food options. The FY2009/FY2010 EPS estimates for SWY are $2.11 to $2.29.

It was easy to discount a company dedicated to selling high-end groceries in the midst of a terrible global downturn. And Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFMI) has indeed suffered from investor fears. Shares of the company fell from year-ago levels of about $22 per share to lows of near $8 per share in the dark days of December 2008. They have since rebounded to the $22 level on green shoots speculation. On Monday, however, they tumbled again to $18.80. Is it time to buy?

That's a tricky question. First, the positives. Whole Foods is a well-managed grocery chain. It has been extremely disciplined in its expansion push, choosing good locations. It has also overcome relatively low revenues per employee by posting higher margins on items and much higher average cash register rings.

More wonderful and weird tidings: Bain Capital, the brainiac Boston buyout fund, has hired salvage consultancy AlixPartners to extricate any remaining value from its bankrupt buy-out, Outback Steakhouse Incorporated. Outback is the originator of mega-calorie Blooming Onion, and is apparently too many calories for Bain, as the company reported a quarterly loss of a whopping $750 million.

Big grocery chain The Kroger Company (NYS: KR) reported strong earnings. That's the good news. The bad news? Growth was fueled by record growth in purchases by customers of its private label goods, which rose to a stunning 35% of total store purchases. Not only cat food, but white label cat food for the recession, people.

Call me sentimental, but there are many things I miss about my old stomping grounds of Cincinnati, Ohio. The trendy but well-run restaurants lining the Hyde Park neighborhood. Joseph-Beth, the best bookstore I've ever entered. Certain karaoke bars. Cincinnati chili, of course.

And Kroger. Yes, Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), headquartered in the Queen City, is the top grocery chain in the country, but has no locations in Chicago. I miss its store-brand crackers, its salad bar, and occasionally, even its commercials.

Time was, we all felt rich. And we all felt entitled to spend money on ridiculous items at chocolate stores like Godiva, coffee shops like Starbucks (NYSE: SBUX) and, yes, upscale supermarkets like Whole Foods (NASDAQ:WFMI).

Those days are long gone, and even today's reduced expectations for this extremely well-run company are possibly too optimistic. EPS for 2008 were down 20% and company shares, floating in the $7-$10 range, are well off of 52-week highs.

This whole investing game is quite easy and predictable.

A hot new company goes public, attracts investors and its stock goes through the roof. Everyone wants all-in until the price reaches an unsustainable level, and then the selling begins.

Eventually either the hot company crashes and burns, or recovers to provide more rational returns in the future.

Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFMI) is a great example of this evolution.

Five years ago, this alternative grocery store was all the rage. The stock appreciated as investors believed that shoppers would be more than willing to part with more dollars in order to get food that was naturally raised without chemicals and pesticides.

It doesn't take a genius to project that earnings reports will reflect slow retail sales activity in the last quarter of 2008.

In fact, reports in the last few days have, for the most part, reflected lower results than had been projected by the companies and the analysts following them.

The first read of the third-quarter results for Supervalu (NYSE: SVU) appeared to confirm that the company was performing consistent with the trends. SVU reported a loss of $13.95 per share, mostly resulting from a $3.3 billion charge for the writedown of goodwill and other intangible assets.

The reality is, however, that Supervalu is performing better than many of their competitors, such as Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), which reported sales and earnings well below expectations.

In its report to investors, SVU lowered its guidance for the full fiscal 2009 year to reflect the impact of higher commodity prices and cautious consumer spending.

When a stock comes in with earnings under analyst estimates, it usually gets punished. But in today's market any positive news is enough to keep shares in the green, and that is what we are seeing today with Safeway (NYSE: SWY) which is up strongly despite missing estimates for its third quarter.

First, let's get the bad news out of the way. Going into this morning's earnings announcement, analysts had been looking for earnings of 47 cents per share, but the company's actual earnings missed by a penny, with a reported 46 cents a share. With today's market environment, that in and of itself could have been enough to send shares crashing, but instead the stock is actually trading up 5.6% to $23.00, and earlier in the day was up as high as $23.75. Sounds crazy, but there is some good news to follow.

What the market is really interested in now is a company's forward looking estimate. Here the company showed real strength, and stood by its full year forecast of $2.25 to $2.35. Revenues during its third quarter were also strong, as the company showed revenues of $10.17 billion, verses estimates of $10.08 billion.

Much of the U.S. economy -- save the oil/oil services sector -- is in a consolidation and right-sizing mode, or something resembling it. Retail chains, home builders, auto manufacturers etc. are all thinning their employee and production ranks, in anticipation of a period ahead with lighter demand. And most investors and readers all familiar with the consolidation in the investment banking sector.

Add another sector to the list: the grocery store sector. After more than a decade of building bigger and bigger stores (and superstores) retailers are experimenting with considerably smaller grocery stores that feature prepared meals in gourmet delis, and fresh produce, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY) has opened a smaller-format store in Southern California, Jewel-Osco is building one in Chicago and Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NYSE: WFMI) is considering opening smaller stores, The Times reported.

In tough financial times, certain food products and food preparation ideas seem to gain increasing favor with consumers. People try to find ways to prepare nutritious and interesting meals while gaining greater purchasing power from their hard-earned dollars.

Just the other day, some of us bloggers were engaged in a lively email chat regarding some of our tried-and-true strategies for stretching our grocery dollars. As you can guess, ramen noodles almost immediately took center stage. I was entertained with stories of the many ways that the slender pasta can be made quite appealing. For instance, if you take any brand of chunky salsa, cut it 50% with water, add a sliced hot dog and pour the heated mixture over the noodles, it's really a very delicious and satisfying meal.

As the discussion ebbed, I couldn't help but be amazed that no one had mentioned SPAM, by Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE: HRL). Surely, I thought, these people must know about the illustrious history of SPAM! Could they ignore the fact that SPAM has carried literally millions of people though hard times since prior to World War II? Though there is probably a ratio of three SPAM jokes to every one SPAM recipe, the fact remains that Hormel's SPAM, in all its variations, still sells exceptionally well. It sells even better as times get tough, as indicated by a recent Associated Press overview.

A man's gotta eat, but there's no such thing as a free lunch, what's a guy to do? According to a piece in today's Wall Street Journal, food prices have advanced by a sizable margin of late, jumping more than they have in 17 years. And its not just the price of caviar and fine cheeses. Basic staples such as eggs, milk, and bread have surged as fuel costs crimp suppliers and global demand for meat and milk grow.

Here are some specifics:

• The average retail price of a dozen eggs went up 38% to $1.86 in November 2007 from a year earlier.
• The average cost for a gallon of milk rose 30% to $3.90.
• An average head of Iceburg lettuce rose 16.5% to 99 cents a pound .
• The average loaf of whole-wheat bread hit $2.67, up 12% on a year-over-year basis.
• Overall, food prices as indicated by the consumer price index jumped 5.3% on a seasonally adjusted annual basis through November, compared with a 2.4% increase through the entirety of 2006.

Naturally, the change in food costs is impacting restaurants as well. Sandy Levine of New York's Carnegie Deli told the Journal that "Between weather conditions, fuel charges, and labor, everything's going up." The venerable deli is subsequently hiking its prices on several menu items this year. Burger King Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: BKC) lifted prices by 1% in July; McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD) nudged its menu prices by about 3.5% during the past year and will continue to do so in an effort to keep pace with rising dairy and poultry costs.

So what can the average consumer do? Get more creative with ingredients. Learn to love generic and store-brand names instead of their pricier rivals. Don't let things go to waste! Look for farmer's markets that eliminate the middle man (cutting down on shipping expenses). And dine in more than carrying out (home cooking is costing more, but is still cheaper than take out... and often better for you). What tricks for eating well while watching one's budget would you suggest?

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.