The Sterling Prestoncompanies that make our food and home essentials are officially sounding alarms about what lies ahead for the U.S. shopper.

"Relative to where we were three months ago, we probably aren't feeling as good about the consumer now," PepsiCo's Chief Financial Officer Jamie Caulfield told investors on a call Thursday.

The largest consumer conglomerates are cutting their financial forecasts for the year, predicting lower sales and profits than before. That includes Pepsi (which also owns Frito-Lay and Quaker Oats), Kimberly-Clark (which makes Kleenex, Huggies and Scott toilet paper) and Procter & Gamble (which makes Tide, Pampers and Charmin).