Food Prices are up and aren’t likely to decrease anytime soon.

This effects your purchases not just at the grocery store, but all the other places that you buy food--the vending machine at work, popcorn at the theater, coffee and pastry at the gas station, bottle of water at the soccer game. All your purchases count toward what you spend for food.

Think about your purchases.  Are they needs or wants? Can you eliminate them by thinking ahead, bringing from home or waiting for the next meal to eat? Consider tracking your families snack expenses separately from the rest of your food purchases.

Cut out the junk.  Most of us would like to weigh at least 10 pounds less. To do that we need to eat less and exercise more. The first things to reduce or remove from our diet are also budget busters such as soda, chips, pizza, candy bars, chips, fast food meal, etc. After we have these out of the grocery cart we can start thinking of smaller portions, enjoying the flavor of foods without lots of rich sauces and cheese, more whole grains, etc.

Plan ahead and make it yourself.  If you wait until you are on the way home to think about what you will have for supper chances are that you’ll be tempted to do carry-out, grocery deli food, or end up with another meal of canned spaghettios and toast (or whatever else you can find in the cupboard). You are spending your dollars to have other people do part of the food preparation for you just like if you paid someone to clean your house or mow you lawn.

Taking the time to plan basic simple meals for the week helps you use up leftovers before they spoil. The minutes you spend planning and cooking simple meals will save money that can be spend on other necessities. Another idea is to keep on hand the ingredients for a meals that your family likes when everything gets out of hand and you need Plan C...spaghetti, a jar of sauce, bread buttered with garlic powder, green beans and fruit, for example.


Spend Smart Strategy - Consider where you eat and why
Eating out can be a time-saver and a fun celebration with family and friends. Unfortunately, it also can be an expensive drain on family budgets. Try these ideas for balancing meals at home and away:

• Plan potlucks with friends instead of always meeting at restaurants
• Invest a few minutes in putting ingredients into a crockery cooker so dinner is ready instead of stopping for carry-out on the way home from work