Try to cut down on more expensive ingredients by reducing the amount you use in recipes or make up the difference with less expensive ingredients. For instance, use just ¾ pound instead of a pound of beef, and add more chopped mushrooms to stretch the beef. Think of using meat as a flavoring instead of as the main ingredient in entrée recipes.

The price per ounce is the best indicator of value. Larger boxes, bottles, and cans may not always be the better buy. If your grocery store doesn't carry unit pricing information, carry a calculator and figure the cost per ounce yourself. Simply divide the price by the number of ounces in the product. Write this down in your price comparison notebook so you only have to do the work once.

Learn what an actual “serving size” is (see below). Over the past 20 years, Americans have become used to “serving sizes” that are two to three times what the body actually needs. This is not only expensive, but is contributing to our expanding waistlines!

In restaurants and fast-food outlets, serving sizes, especially for meats, are too large. A person doesn't need ½ or even ¼ of a pound a meat in every meal. Your stomach is about the size of your fist. Think about fitting a large restaurant size-meal into something that size! Abide by FDA recommended serving sizes and your family will be healthier and weigh less too.

Serving Sizes

Think about where the food is going to be used. For instance, extra-virgin olive oil isn't necessary if you're using it primarily for sautéing food. Regular olive oil is much cheaper. A generic brand of pasta will be just fine in a casserole, but you may want to buy a name brand if you're making Spaghetti Carbonara or another recipe where pasta is the star.

Generics

Generic foods first made an appearance on the American grocery store scene in the 1970s. These “non-brand” foods offer significant savings over brand name items. Is the difference worth it? What about quality?

Most food brands have to advertise in one way or another. Whether the companies choose print ads, television, or radio, the costs of advertising is included in the price of the food. But generic names don't advertise, so they do cost less than brand name products.

Generic foods are usually processed in the same plant as the brand name foods. The appearance may be slightly different, though. For instance, tomatoes with a less than perfect appearance may go into a can of generic stewed tomatoes. But the food quality, nutrition, and safety are the same. You can buy generic products without worrying about quality.