50 Ways to Leave you Richer — Part IV

iz Pulliam Weston posts an article on 50 Ways to Trim your Budget. The points in this series of posts will be taken from her list in this article.

This installment will address food costs. I hope you enjoy this series!

23) Bring lunches and snacks to work.

Buying snacks at work involves paying a huge markup. I went around with a gentleman who was selling a small vending machine route, and he revealed that his markup was about 100% above the price at a wholesale club. This is one time that you pay dearly for convenience.

24) Cook once, eat twice: Double whatever you're making and freeze the excess for a later meal.

Just be sure that you don't forget about the saved portion! Tossing it out is tough.

25) Make at least one or two meatless meals each week.

The idea here is that meat is expensive, and there are non-meat ways to get the protein you need. Additionally, you don't get all of the cholesterol and fat that you do with some meats, so by some measures it's healthier, too.

26) Avoid over-packaged, over-processed and highly advertised foods. The closer a food is to its natural state, the less it tends to cost.

Packaging costs. Cartoon characters cost. Storage on the shelf costs. One exception: once the movie has been released and there's no longer a need for advertising the movie, the Shrek version of M&Ms shows up at discount grocery stores, as do Star Wars Pez dispensers, etc.

27) Buy fruits and vegetables in season.

Large supply means lower prices, and it's fresh.

28) Cruise through your fridge daily to use items before they go bad.

This is related to #24 above. A corollary to this is to buy only what you know you'll go through before it spoils. The 10-lb bag of carrots is cheaper per pound than the 5-lb bag, but if you only get through 6 lbs before they rot, the carrots ended up being more expensive than if you had bought only 5 lbs or even three 2-lb bags.

29) Give up a vice (smoking, drinking, soda, salty snack foods).

Even better than bringing your own snacks to work is giving them up if they're really not that good for you. One time my grandfather measured out how much sugar was in a single can of regular Coke. It's almost a tenth of a pound; a 12-pack has a pound of sugar in it. She didn't believe it, but the food scale wasn't lying. So if you need motivation to kick a soda habit, that may do it.

30) Use the weekly grocery store circulars to see what's on sale and plan meals accordingly.

We're going to be having sweet potatoes for a while — 29 cents a pound!

That's it for this installment! Next: Personal Finance and Retirement!