More for Your Food Dollar – Resources Worth Sharing

My last few trips to the grocery store again had me shaking my head at higher prices on many of the regular items I buy. (FYI – corn and ethanol are not THE reasons for higher food prices, as some would have you believe. Higher energy prices and local/global weather events have much higher impacts on our food supply and the prices we pay at the grocery.)

Unfortunately I have not learned the art of creative coupon clipping; those “extreme clippers” crack me up. What the heck are you going to do with 100 bottles of mustard? Are you sure need all those candy bars? I have made sure to clip a few coupons on things that I know I buy and use regularly, but I don’t want to eat and breathe coupons. I am all about buying in bulk and stocking up when things are on sale, some suggestions that the following folks share. Check them out.

Arizona Farm Bureau - @Cottonaggie does a fabulous job posting weekly menus and tips that help save consumers money. Check out these pages:

• 10+ Tips for Stretching Your Food Dollar: http://fillyourplate.org/news/10plus-easy-tips-to-help-stretch-your-food-dollar.html  

• Latest Food Price Trends: http://fillyourplate.org/latest-food-price-trends.html

• Menus and Shopping Lists to Stretch Your Food Dollar: http://fillyourplate.org/stretch-your-dollar-menus.html

Food and Farm Hour with Ray Bowman (@jrfarms) on America’s Web Radio – Jenna Hogan, a nutrition and wellness educator with the University of Illinois, shares ways to save while not skimping on quality or nutrition: www.feedstuffsfoodlink.com/Media/PodcastItems/Jenna%20Hogan%20food%20prices-072911-3_0.mp3

I also like to buy food that are processed as little as possible. That way more money goes back to the farmer and not the processor. If you have tips you would like to share for saving money at the grocery, please post in the comments below.

More for Your Food Dollar: Low-Calorie Juices

Tonight’s trip to the grocery store inspired this latest segment, which I will try to provide regularly.

Our favorite style of orange juice was missing due, so I decided to try the 50% less sugar version since it was on sale. Not only did the certain brand claim less sugar and calories, but no added artificial sweeteners. It sounded great, but the taste was not.

I started to think about it a bit, read the back, and wondered why I was so stupid to buy juice that was just watered down. Eureka, it does not take a genius a figure out they are getting more money out of us by providing us less and playing to our health-consciousness. I also wondered why I thought this juice was different since I knew exactly that is what another company did to make a “tots” version of apple juice.

I have been cutting fruit juices with water for years for my kids, especially for my toddler, to do just what they are offering – reducing the sugar and calories.

So the moral of the story is, never pay for low calorie juices. Add water to the good stuff and get twice as much for the same money.