Stretch That Grocery List in Lean Times

By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
Monday, July 21, 2008; 10:00 AM

Copyright © 2008 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

MONDAY, July 21 (HealthDay News) -- With the exception of housing, and maybe gassing up your car, groceries are likely the next biggest expense in your family's budget. And increasingly, food is gobbling up more and more of the average Americans income.

During all of 2007, food prices rose almost 5 percent. Then, in just the first five months of 2008, food prices jumped 6.3 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

So, does this mean your family has to forgo meat and fresh produce, or head to the drive-thru to get a less-healthful but possibly less expensive meal?

Definitely not, said nutritionist Holly Scherer, from the University of Michigan Health System.

"If you're buying the basic ingredients to make a well-balanced meal, it's much less expensive to make it at home than to go to a fast food restaurant," said Scherer.

For example, in the New York metropolitan-area, a fast food meal for four, including two adult-sized specialty hamburger meals and two kid-sized hamburger meals with fries and sodas totals around $18. At the grocery store, the ingredients for similar meals, with leftovers, would cost about $14. If meat were on sale, the cost would be even less.

But, does saving money on food mean you have to sacrifice time? Not always, said Scherer. Buying a store brand instead of a name brand can save money, as can buying certain products when they're on sale and freezing them. Scherer said that's an ideal strategy for saving money on meat, which can be one of the most expensive items in your food budget. Buy meat in bulk when it's on sale and separate it into freezer bags and freeze it to use at a later date, she advised.

And having a meatless meal -- using beans or eggs instead of meat -- once or twice a week can also shave dollars off your food budget without draining your time.

The National Institutes of Health also suggests signing up for your local grocery store's frequent shopper card so you can qualify for additional savings. And, the NIH said, shopping without the kids will likely save you money by cutting down on those impulse purchases.