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Some
tips for fighting grocery store sticker shock
May 08, 2008
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
Most
of us are getting hit with sticker shock in the grocery store.
My own personal barometer of food cost has been a box of cereal.
When my favorite brands hit $3, then $4, then as much as $5
per box, I got serious about trying to save money.
There are many small ways to do it, and collectively, they
can add up to substantial savings. It starts with being creative
in the kitchen.
A good place to begin is in the recesses of your freezer and
the back corners of your pantry. That’s where we tend
to accumulate the odds and ends that can languish for years
if we’re not diligent about using them up.
It’s as good as found cash.
For example, my own pantry contains an impressive collection
of different varieties of rice, including rice pilaf and other
boxed rice mixes. I’m working now to use them up.
Rice makes a good side dish, and I can mix it with refried
beans for burrito filling. Add leftover cooked rice to tomato
soup, use it to make casseroles or serve it as red beans and
rice or Cuban-style black beans and rice, one of the most
delicious, healthiest and lowest-cost meals possible.
What else can you rotate into use? Start adding raisins and
chopped dates to your oatmeal. That high-fiber, flax-and-pumpkin
seed breakfast cereal nobody wants to eat? Use it to make
a batch of cookies.
Other ways to save:
* Eat more meals at home. When you do cook, make large batches.
Freeze part and reheat at times when you’re too tired
or short on time to cook from scratch.
* Use low-cost, foundation foods. Think of the “Hamburger
Helper” model. The idea is to use nutritious and inexpensive
staples to stretch a meal. In addition to rice, other good
meal-extenders include beans, whole wheat pasta and broth
used as a soup base. Use the most expensive ingredients –
meat, cheese, tempeh – as the minor components of a
dish. Treat them more as a condiment than the main course.
* Shop at farmers’ markets, pick-your-own farms and
roadside stands. Better yet, grow your own tomatoes, basil,
lettuce, cucumbers and bell peppers.
* Shop for value. Buy private label and store brands. Buy
some of your groceries at big box and discount stores, where
you can save a high proportion of the costs of some of the
higher-cost foods that families tend to eat in volume, including
breakfast cereals, frozen entrees, fresh fruits and vegetables.
Americans spend about 40 percent of our food budgets on meals
eaten away from home, so there’s plenty of room for
savings there, too. Here’s how to do it:
* Drink water with meals. Skip the soft drinks and iced tea.
If you’re in the habit of buying a $4 latte on your
way to work, invest in a coffee maker for your office and
brew your own.
* Bring your lunch from home. It’s a good way to use
up the odds and ends in your refrigerator – leftovers
that aren’t enough to serve for dinner and would otherwise
get thrown away.
* Use a refillable water bottle. It’s cheaper than buying
individual bottles, and you’ll leave a smaller footprint
at the landfill.
* Stretch your order. Split an entrée with a companion
and add a tossed salad. Have a cup of hot tea or coffee in
lieu of dessert and you’ll save money and calories.
And look on the bright side. While saving money, your health
will benefit, too.
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