Tips To Get the Best Buy for Your Money
Read and remember these tips, then take them with you on your next grocery shopping adventure. Soon they'll become second nature while you enjoy a little more cash in that pocketbook.
- When buying meat, consider the amount of cooked lean meat or the number of servings obtained for the price. The cut with a low price per pound is not always the best buy. A relatively high-priced cut of meat with little or no waste may provide more meat for the money than a low-priced cut with a great deal of bone, gristle, or fat. See: Meat Food Facts.
- Consider less expensive lean cuts of meat such as chuck or bottom round instead of sirloin. They are just as nutritious as the more expensive cuts but need to be cooked longer at a lower temperature to make the meat tender.
- Use dry beans and peas occasionally instead of meat, poultry, or fish to vary meals and reduce cost. These foods provide protein and many of the same nutrients found in meat.
- Buy fresh fluid milk in large containers (gallon or 1/2 gallon) that generally cost less than milk in quart containers. Fluid milk sold at "24-hour" convenience stores usually costs more than that sold at supermarket food stores. Nonfat dry milk is the least expensive way to buy milk. It may not seem that way when you see the price on the box, but it truly goes much, much further and it takes a long time to spoil.
- Try store brands and generic brands. They are usually less costly than name brands and are equally nutritious.
- Buy bulk foods (when available). They are lower in price than similar foods sold in packages in the store. Also, buy the exact amount needed to control food waste. And be sure you buy bulk products you know your family will use up -- buying something in bulk just because it's a better deal, then winding up tossing out some of it defeats the purpose.
- Foods at salad bars can be costly. Basic food items -- lettuce, cabbage, and carrots -- usually cost less in the produce section of the store than at the salad bar. But for some families, buying a smaller amount of food items at the salad bar may reduce waste and save dollars. You have to assess your families needs and implement accordingly.
- Prevent food waste. Buy the types of food that family members like and the amount that they will eat before the food spoils.
