Stretch Your Food Dollars
by Mary Hoeft-Leithold

• Make fewer trips to the grocery store. Make a big trip once or twice a month to reduce impulse buying. Research shows that consumers spend 54% more than they intended when they make a “quick trip” to the store.
• Check your inventory at home. Look at newspapers for store specials. Plan simple meals that combine sale items with food you have on hand.
• Make a list in the order of the layout of the store. Organize coupons in the same way.
• Shop alone if possible so that you are not pressured to buy unnecessary items for others.
• Compare prices on all forms of the food you need to buy. For instance, frozen juice may be less expensive than ready-to-drink juice. Generally, the less expensive options, like frozen juice, use less packaging, so you are also contributing to a better environment.
• Bring your own coffee to work ($3 coffee/5 times a week = $780/year).
• Use coupons only for the products you use. Compare the cost to the store and generics brands; they may be cheaper than the product, even with the coupon. Use the unit price, listed on the price sticker, to help you determine which product is the best deal.
• Bring you own snack from home instead of buying a bag at work (1 oz. bag of pretzels from a vending machine = 75 cents; 1 oz. pretzels taken from a big bag at home = 13 cents).
• Bring your own lunch from home ($2 lunch from home = $10/week or $40/month;  $6 lunch out = $30/week or $120/month).
• Buy day-old bread and bakery items.
• Make rice instead of using instant rice. Freeze extra portions for later use.
• Plain pasta shapes can be substituted for fancy shaped pasta and cost less.
• Buy fresh fruits and vegetables when they are in season for the best price. Grow your own produce in a garden. Try container gardening if yard space is limited.
• Use foods such as eggs, beans, tuna, and cheese to make main dishes.
• Inexpensive cuts of beef, such as round and chuck, are just as nutritious as the more tender cuts. Braise, stew, or use a slow cooker to make them delicious and tender.
• Nothing to eat? Mix and match foods you have on hand. Put leftover spaghetti sauce on an English muffin with a little cheese to make a mini pizza. Add a can of vegetables, tuna, and a little dressing to cold pasta for a delicious tuna salad.
• Think “planned-over” meals. Cook poultry and place small portions in food baggies to use in stir-fry, casserole, soup, or cold salad.
• Check out local nutrition resources such as food pantries, free meals at churches, WIC, senior dining, and the Food Share program.

Mary Hoeft-Leithold is a nutrition educator for the UW-Extension Wisconsin Nutrition Education Program (WNEP) in La Crosse County. WNEP is a federally funded nutrition education program that helps families and individuals with limited resources to: choose healthy diets, purchase and prepare nutritious food and handle it safely, plan meals and snacks, use thrifty food shopping practices, and be physically active.

Source for tips:
“Stretching Your Food Dollars: Planning Meals and Shopping” (revised 2002).  WNEP UW-Extension, Cooperative Extension publication B3487 Extension.org