I like to browse Oprah Winfrey’s web site for many reasons. She has such a wide variety of information on many topics, and I find that the information on the web site is meaningful as well as interesting. Today I was browsing in the “money” section of the site and came across a headline that really got my attention. The headline said “Spend Just $40 A Week On Groceries”. I had to read on, because if the information in the article is something that I can apply to my family’s grocery budget I will be ecstatic.
Like Melba Newsome, the author of the article, I occasionally run to the store for ingredients for dinner and end up spending twenty dollars or more. Newsome says in her article that by applying four strategies to food shopping she has been able to trim both her grocery budget and her waistline. This is likely because she has been buying less processed and convenience food and cooking more from scratch, which cuts down on fat, sodium, and sugar.
While the article does not specifically say what a person should buy for $40 per week or how many people the $40 will feed, it does offer solid suggestions for getting more out of your grocery dollars. One interesting tip is that if you buy spices in the international foods section of the grocery store they cost much less than they do if you buy them in the spice aisle. Save money on fresh produce by eating what is in season, and you will also build variety and balance into your diet. Making things from scratch, such as salad dressing and chicken stock not only costs less, it also cuts out the preservatives that are commonly found in those items when you buy them from the store. The fourth suggestion is to take it easy on the meat – meat is expensive, and some studies indicate that people that eat a lot of meat may be at a higher risk for certain illnesses. I found the article to be a good starting point for families that would like to cut their grocery budget because many people do buy a lot of packaged food. As for myself, I can try cutting back on the meat a little. The other suggestions like eating in season and cooking from scratch are things that I already do and have been doing for a while.
Photo by Alvimann on morguefile.com