Many Americans experience the tight squeeze of tough economic times. In many parts of the nation, unemployment statistics may unexpectedly soar to an all-time high. When this happens, jobs are hard to find. If you are in a situation where you need to cut back on living expenses to stretch your budget, reducing the amount you spend on food is one of the easiest and most immediate ways to save money. Ben Franklin’s sage advice continues to hold true: “A penny saved is a penny earned.”
While items like the mortgage or car payment are fixed amounts, the amount spent on food is discretionary. Family food expenditures vary widely from household to household. Some frugal folks can feed a family of 6 on $400 a month, others spend that much for a single person.
If you are not paying attention, the dollars spent on foolish food choices add up. Cutting back on a few areas may not seem like much of a saving; however, when added up the monthly total can be substantial.
To put into perspective the differing amounts that families spend on food each year, here are some statistics from The United States 2010 Census report:
- The average cost of a nutritious weekly diet for a family of 4 was $185.50 per week, equating to$9,646.00 per year.
- Families on a “thrifty” budget reported spending $116.20 per week, equating to$6,042.40 per year.
- Families on a “liberal” budget spent $229.90 or more per week. This adds up to$11,954.80 or more a year.
人口普查局建议，每增加一个家庭成员，就增加10%。从这个角度来看，典型的美国家庭在食品上的支出占其年收入的8% - 11%。
Involve The Whole Family
The first step in controlling and reducing your food expenditures is to create an accurate record of all the money you and your family typically spend on food items each month. Include fast food, snacks, candy, bottled water, dining out, the after work cocktail, and your morning latte. Ask each family member to keep a diary for a week and faithfully record expenditures. The project can be enlightening and motivating.
许多人对自己在垃圾食品、零食、糖果和饮料上的花费感到惊讶。讨论家庭健康问题和饮食限制。实行“食物节俭”是很有趣的!你不必放弃所有昂贵的食物，而是应该把它们作为一种特殊的款待保存下来。节制是节俭的关键。
Create A Family Food Budget
Establish a food budget based on a set amount per person, per day. If you prepare a budget of $5 to $10 a person, determine the total amount for the week and stick to it.
If today’s meals cost more than the pre-planned amount, make up the difference by serving leftovers later in the week.
Plan for holiday meals and factor the added cost into your projected budget. Plan a few meatless meals to save for the prime rib and leg of turkey you really want for that future family celebration.
Evaluate Your Daily Diet
During the past two decades, obesity in the United States has risen to unprecedented levels. The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 33.8 percent of adults are overweight.
2至19岁的儿童和青少年中有17%(近1250万)患有肥胖症。如果这些不健康的数据是你或你的家人造成的，那么一个营养丰富、均衡的食物计划可以帮助你减肥，也可以帮助你减少食物预算。如果你不吃那么多，你就不会花那么多钱。
世界卫生组织报告称，全球有1.71亿人患有糖尿病。关于全球健康问题，糖尿病的流行率正在上升。截至1985年，只有3500万人患有糖尿病。
Obesity and unhealthy diets are two of the biggest contributing factors to the rise of diabetes worldwide. Avoiding or reducing the amount of fat-laden, calorie-dense fast foods in the diet, promotes a healthy weight and pares down the budget.
Encourage your family to make wise choices about what food they are turning into fuel.
Pack Your Lunch
Instead of eating an over-sized hamburger, French fries, and a can of soda, enjoy a meal of fresh fruit, vegetables, protein, and whole grains for half the cost. In the United States, a typical fast food meal costs between $6 and $8.
If you indulge in fast food daily during the workweek, you are spending up to $640 a month, or $7,680 a year, on junk food. Packing a lunch is a good way to avoid food that is high in fat calories and low in nutrients, while saving money at the same time.
Give Up Diet Soda
不幸的是，许多儿童、青少年和成年人都沉迷于无糖汽水。无糖汽水价格昂贵，营养不良，而且含有阿斯巴甜。你为什么要喝?美国联邦药品管理局花了16年的时间才批准阿斯巴甜。
It appears they were justified in their caution. Once aspartame became common in diet drinks, and everything from pancake syrup to salad dressing, the FDA received more than 10,000 consumer complaints.
这些投诉的结果是，FDA报告了92种与摄入阿斯巴甜有关的不同症状。症状包括癫痫发作、视力下降、头痛、失忆、昏迷和癌症。科学家还说，阿斯巴甜似乎模仿或加重了与狼疮、注意力缺陷多动症、糖尿病、慢性疲劳、纤维肌痛、多发性硬化症和抑郁症相关的症状。
Try replacing diet sodas with green tea. You will reap a plethora ofhealth benefitsfor a fraction of the cost of a can of soda.
Read Labels
Can you pronounce, or do you even know about, some of the ingredients you ingest in pre-packaged foods? Are these ingredients something you want to put in your body? Whenever possible, substitute commercially canned food products with fresh or frozen ingredients.
许多罐头食品都含有高钠和防腐剂。用当季的新鲜蔬菜做一锅家庭用的蔬菜汤。每份的成本比罐装汤低三分之二!
Pay For Groceries With Cash And Shop Local
避免用信用卡支付杂货店的账单。它让你很容易就能把冲动购买的商品添加到购物车中，而你最终要为购买的商品支付利息。控制你的支出。在你的口袋里只带固定数量的现金去商店。这样做，你将被迫在预算之内购买。
Minimize the amount of gas you spend going to the grocery store. It doesn’t make good sense to drive across town to your favorite store when comparable grocery stores are closer to home.
Plan Your Meals
Maintain a grocery list. Review the store ads and plan meals to incorporate sale items. Be flexible in your meal planning. Be willing to make changes to substitute lower cost items you find on sale. Watch for sales and stock up on staples.
Buy Fresh Produce In Season
Succulent strawberries, crisp asparagus, apples, peaches, pears, and plums can be frozen or canned to enhance winter meals. Buy locally grown fruits and vegetables in season. Many growers let you save more money and harvest the produce yourself.
Learn the old-fashioned methods of canning and preserving to create jellies, jams, pickles, and pie fillings. Sweeten or season to suit your family’s taste buds, assured that the food is free of synthetic preservatives and coloring. Even better, there is a lot of pride derived from a pantry or fruit cellar full of colorful jars you canned yourself.
Cost Per Unit And Packaging
At the grocery store, pay attention to the cost per unit of the foods you buy. Cost per unit price is available, on the shelf tag, for the majority of food items. Read the small print and save a bundle. If brand “A” costs 27 cents an ounce and brand “B” cost 19 cents per ounce, you can easily see the savings add up when you select the lower cost per ounce product.
Just because the bag, box, can, tube, bottle, shaker, or jar of brand X is larger than brand Y, doesn’t mean it contains more of the product. Packaging can be misleading; another reason to carefully read the label.
Buy In Bulk
Pasta, beans, rice, barley, and lentils can be used in the preparation of a diverse range of dishes. These items can “stretch” meals and cut down on the amount of meat you purchase. Dry, bulk foods will last for years when stored in sealed, airtight containers.
Bought in bulk, these items cost a fraction of the amount you pay when purchased in smaller, packaged quantities. Flour, cornmeal, oats, sugar, salt, spices, coffee, and nuts have a long shelf life and are much cheaper when purchased in large quantities. Save even more by joining a neighborhood food cooperative or dividing the product and cost with a neighbor or friend.
Not only will buying in bulk help you save money, but a supply of bulk foods are advised to help you and your family cope with a weather emergency. During a snowstorm, or in the aftermath of a tornado or hurricane, food is usually in short supply. Even when food is available in these circumstances, the price is generally high.
Even if you live alone, buy meat in large family packets. The price is much lower than the same meat wrapped in smaller packets. When you return from the market, wrap the meat in individual portions to freeze for future use.
Avoid Coupons
大多数优惠券都是包装好的名牌商品。优惠券是一种诱惑，让你购买可能不是你家庭食品计划的一部分的东西。
If the coupon is for something you normally purchase, then by all means, take advantage of the savings. Don’t buy a food item just because you have a coupon for it. It will likely languish on your pantry shelf and go to waste.
Grow Your Own Food
A home garden can be a fun family project that saves money on the grocery bill, it is also a learning experience for young and old alike. Raise herbs, tomatoes, and peppers on your patio. Also try planting a few hills of different kinds of squash; it’s fun and easy to grow.
Try Hubbard, butternut, acorn, yellow neck, zucchini, or spaghetti squash. Incorporate the hills into established flowerbeds or a traditional garden plot. Squash stores well in a cool place and will provide you with an abundance of delicious food all winter long.
If you grow more than you need, share with friends or sell for profit at your local farmer’s market.
Make Your Coffee At Home
If you spend $3 to $4 a day on a latte, you will spend as much as $1,460 a year. Think of the cost if you often indulge in two or more per day.
在家研磨高质量的咖啡豆，买一个漂亮的保温杯或咖啡杯，在早上离开家之前准备好你的咖啡因“提神剂”。每年你将节省1275美元或更多。
Stop Buying Bottled Water
Bottled water is incredibly convenient, but not a necessity. Medical science encourages everyone to drink 8 or more glasses of water a day. If you buy bottled water, that is a gallon a day. Many bottled waters cost up to $3 a quart, or $12 a gallon. If you constantly purchase bottled water, you may be wasting hundreds of dollars a month.
America is blessed with water.城市供水系统和农村水井提供了安全的饮用水来源。如果你所在地区的水有一种不愉快的矿物质味道，买一个滤水器，停止购买瓶装水。购买一个不锈钢水瓶，方便携带。你将不再花不必要的钱，不再把堆积如山的塑料扔进垃圾填埋场。
Eat At Home
Although it is tempting to grab a meal out when you are in a hurry or too tired to cook, home cooking is typically tastier, fresher, and more nutritious than restaurant prepared food. It certainly costs a lot less. Save eating out for special occasions. When you do eat out, look for happy hours or senior discounts.
Breastfeed Your Baby
美国儿科学会、联合国儿童基金会和世界卫生组织强烈支持幼儿母乳喂养。母乳喂养为新生儿提供了抵御流感和其他威胁病毒的大量保护。母乳是免费的，而包装好的液体配方和配方粉是一种昂贵的替代品。
Make Your Own Baby Food
As your child grows and is ready for solid foods, the cost of prepared jars of baby food is astronomical. Buy several fresh bananas and mash them for your little one at the same cost of buying one tiny jar of bananas.
The same goes for cereals, meat, and vegetable dishes. When you prepare your child’s food yourself, you can be assured your baby is not consuming added chemicals, fillers, coloring, or preservatives. Before adding salt or spicy seasonings to family fare, set aside a portion for your baby.
Blend baby food in a food processor or grinder to achieve the desired consistency. Baby food can be prepared in bulk and frozen for later use when needed. Freeze individual servings in small freezer storage containers or plastic bags.
References
- Saving Money When You Shop,Consumers.gov
- 9 Ways to Save on Food,AARP
- Reducing Wasted Food At Home,United States Environmental Protection Agency
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