Cut Your Grocery Bills
The average family of four with school-age children spends about $235 a week at the supermarket. But by following these nine expert tips, that family could shrink its receipts by $50 a week.
1. Make a list. Planning your meals for the week means you're less likely to buy extra food—or run short and call for takeout. It may also help check your impulse buys: About 20 percent of grocery purchases are unplanned, according to research.
2. Grab the bag. Five-pound sacks of onions, potatoes, and oranges are often half the price of the same items sold loose.
3. Weigh the options. Before you buy in bulk, check the cost per unit, or CPU, displayed on the shelf, to make sure a larger container is indeed a better value.
4. Do your own prep work. Grated cheese and prewashed salad can be convenient—but they're also costly. Shredded carrots, for instance, may run you nearly five times more than whole carrots by weight.
5. Post your receipt on the fridge. It's an easy inventory of what's waiting to be eaten, and the sum at the bottom provides a gentle reminder to dine at home.
6. Use, don't lose. Americans toss 14 to 25 percent of the food we purchase, according to experts. To keep this week's meat and cheese from becoming next week's trash, designate a use-it-up area in the fridge, suggests Jonathan Bloom, author of American Wasteland. Make sure items on the brink of expiration are stored front and center.
7. Put it on ice. Freeze bread and other baked goods, hard cheeses, most fruits and vegetables, meat, poultry, and soups until you're ready to eat them. Use ice trays to freeze baby food, sauce or stock, raw egg whites and yolks (separated or whisked together), and chopped fresh herbs in water.
8. Make your own soda. Is the family's six-pack habit adding up? Consider a SodaStream seltzer machine (from $80). Your DIY fizzy beverages will cost about 25 cents per 12 ounces.
9. Score a deal. Every week, two to three categories in your supermarket (say, detergent and snack bars) go on sale, says Teri Gault, founder of thegrocerygame.com. Her members-only site tracks these sales, as well as unadvertised deals, specials, and coupons. You can sign up online for a one-month trial, with the option to continue membership for as little as $1.25 a week.
Potential total savings for all nine tips: $2,600 per year
Hopefully you caught this in today's Parade Magazine...lots of hints
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