Released April 11, 2008
SEARCY, Ark. -- Food prices continue to rise and all of us need to watch how we spend our food dollar.
"Did you know that you can stretch your food dollar at the grocery store, but still buy food that tastes good and is good for you?" asks Katie Cobb, White County extension agent with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. "With careful planning and preparation, you can stretch your money farther than you thought possible."
Cobb offers these suggestions for each trip to the grocery store:
- Avoid buying convenience foods, which are more expensive than made-from-scratch meals.
- Buy low-cost foods such as dry beans and peas, in-season fresh fruits and vegetables, and regular rice and potatoes instead of instant.
- Remember portion size when buying meat. One serving of cooked meat is about the size of a deck of cards.
- Buy whole chickens and turkeys, which are less expensive than pre-cut ones.
- Buy large packages of meats and divide them into meal portions for the freezer.
- Check the grocery store’s lower shelves for better buys since the most expensive items will be at eye level.
Cobb continues with additional tips for stretching meat dollars.
- Remember that we need about 5-6 ounces of meat or other protein each day as a part of a balanced diet.
- Select high protein foods such as kidney beans, chickpeas or peanut butter. These substitutes are healthy and less expensive than meat.
- Stretch meatloaf or meatballs by mixing ground meat with whole grain bread, brown rice or barley or grated vegetables, including carrots, onions or zucchini.
"Plan out a week’s worth of menus, make your grocery list, stick to your list, and plan out preparation strategies such as cooking the brown rice and chopping the vegetables the night before, taking frozen food out of the freezer the night before to thaw in the refrigerator or soaking the beans," Cobb said.
For more information about stretching your food dollar, contact your county extension agent or visit http://www.uaex.edu and select Families & Consumers, then Money. The Cooperative Extension Service is part of the U of A Division of Agriculture.
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http://www.uaex.edu/news/april2008/0411fooddollar.htm
Contact: Lamar James, (501) 671-2187 or (501) 753-0207, ljames@uaex.edu
