Managing that grocery bill
If you’re like me, the person buying groceries for your household, you find the tab at the checkout counter chipping away at more and more of your “disposable” income.
It seems I can’t grab anything off the shelves these days that isn’t $3, $4 or more—from peanut butter to raisins to peanuts to chips to toilet paper.
Even worse, have you noticed how small those bags of chips are getting? I can’t be sure, but I think my large-size Cheerios box got slimmer in the last year or two, as well.
I’m just glad our congressional reps apparently got around to striking a last-minute deal on farm programs to avoid the so-called “dairy cliff” that had some experts suggesting a gallon of milk might spike to $8 or $9. Imagine what that would do to other dairy products and your favorite pizza’s price.
Meanwhile, our paychecks will be trimmed by higher payroll taxes approved by Congress this week. So what can we do today to reduce food costs? A story in Sunday’s Gazette Marketplace section by Anya Kamenetz offered suggestions. Besides the obvious, such as eating out less often or buying foods in bulk or in season, she suggested staying away from center aisles of grocery stores and avoiding temptations near the checkout counters.
In other words, fresh foods such as produce, dairy, meat and breads, which ring the typical grocery, are better nutritional values and can help you cut costs. Processed foods and sweets such as soda, cookies, chips and ice cream gobble 20 percent of our grocery dollars and are the types of foods we should consume less often.
I’ll try to keep that in mind and reach for the “goodies” in those center aisles less often. Perhaps, too, I’ll explore ways to cut up and freeze more fresh foods before they spoil.
Greg Peck can be reached at (608) 755-8278 or gpeck@gazettextra.com. Or follow him on Twitter or Facebook
Jan 4, 2013 at 6:57 p.m.
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irony- fat poor- it is ironic because they don't have enough money to eat yet get free food all over the place and are over weight(not ny 20lbs either- obease!!). What don't you get. I don't get it either.pop isn't cheap, chips are not cheap- no more pricy than fresh veg!!!!!
Jan 4, 2013 at 11:33 a.m.
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Define Irony: Fat and poor
It's as dumb as a billionare saying that taxes are taking food out of his kid's mouth
Jan 4, 2013 at 11:24 a.m.
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America lives to eat, other countries eat to live!
Jan 4, 2013 at 11:04 a.m.
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Good call frogger...generally speaking, people eat to much...just take a look around. We are the only country in the world where our poorest population has a problem with obesity. Contrary to public opinion...healthy food *IS* cheaper than crappier food. We have a problem with convience. People werent overweight 50 years ago like they are now...and they were all eating things that are deemed supposedly unhealthy (Gluton, red meat, bacon, butter, etc..)No on wants to cook or take the time to prepare healthy meals.
Jan 3, 2013 at 9:56 p.m.
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Eat the correct portions and save money and weight less. A 12 oz steak is 4 portions not 1.
I try to all of the leftovers. I will toss to the outdoor kitties now if
I cannot eat it all. Doesn't seems as wastefull then. They will eat mnost anything. Jal poppers too. Spaghetti O's. Cannot eat that twice- yuk ;) Turn you left over into something else if you are bored of the first dinner. Potroast dinner into stew or soup yum or wraps.
Jan 3, 2013 at 6:54 p.m.
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I question the milk subsidy. Where does all that money come from? It's a huge subsidy if we're paying less than $3/gal for milk and it really should be $7-8.
It's either being taken from people who consume little or no dairy products to pay for other people's milk, or it comes from the future.
Jan 3, 2013 at 6:41 p.m.
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Actually, MaryFran, it's a magnificent compound sentence. Bravo.
Jan 3, 2013 at 5:40 p.m.
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That's the worst run on sentence I've ever seen.
Jan 3, 2013 at 5:18 p.m.
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Coupons and sales (better yet, combine the two), buying in bulk, cook from scratch, freeze leftovers for later or to use for lunches at work, buy direct from the farmer, make a list before going to the store (combining with menu planning makes it more efficient), make one major shopping trip a month with small ones only for items that will spoil such as produce and dairy, try meatless meals with beans or eggs, use all parts of the food such as when cutting up meat for a recipe, save the bones to make broth or save the carcass from a chicken or turkey to make broth and/or soup which can all be frozen until needed.
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