Do you remember a famous magazine that would take photos of people on the streets of New York and label them either a fashion do or a fashion don’t? The people, unaware that they were being made examples of, would at least have that black rectangle over their eyes, so they couldn’t be identified.
I would really like to be able to do the same sort of thing, but instead of going out into the street and taking photos of fashion, I would go into homes and take photos of them eating. This way, I could point out each food do or food don’t for saving money.
Here is an example. How many people go out and buy the expensive half and half creamer for their morning coffee when there already is milk in the fridge? Not only are you paying more money for the half and half, but most of the time, I bet a carton never gets to the bottom before it sours. If you really like the taste of cream, consider substituting evaporated milk. it is thicker, but less expensive, and you can open one can at a time.
A big food do is to make do. I wouldn’t mind catching people in the act when instead of running out to the store for that one missed ingredient for their recipe, they go the distance and make do with a substitution. For example, let us say someone runs out of bread crumbs for a casserole. Well, instead of running out for the bread crumbs, why not substitute a different topping, such as potato chip or cereal crumbs. Or you can lightly toast a slice of bread and turn it into crumbs. Save yourself the cost of the trip to the store which will probably include the cost of picking up extra items that weren’t on your list or in your budget.
Play food editor. What food do and what food don’t would you feature?