Get by on a low food budget

#MiddleburyCT #LowFoodBudget

I recently read a report about price increases and inflation. It was financially technical, meaning it used a lot of terms that regular people would need to look up to understand, which means most of us wouldn’t … which left the writer of the report free to come to conclusions not connected to reality. For example, the report said that during the reporting period we’d had only a very tiny increase in food prices because of a drop in energy costs, and so on, which skewed all the individual numbers when they were averaged out.

This doesn’t help us at the grocery store, does it? Here are some ideas to make our food dollars go further:

Sign up for every local grocery store loyalty rewards program you can find. Those amounts add up, and sometimes you’ll get a surprise with the occasional coupon for a free item or buy two get one free. At the very least, you’ll get a credit on your rewards account. My local store, for example, adds up all the credits for three months and applies them quarterly to my account once I activate them.

Take advantage of the sales at those stores by shopping their weekly flyer, either the paper version or digital version online. See how much of your weekly menu you can create by using those sale items, especially proteins and generic house brands. Keep an eye on the coupons that are issued at checkout, and watch the coupons if you get the Sunday paper.

Check into free senior lunches, the food bank, Meals on Wheels, meals at the senior center, the local Council on Aging and churches with donation pantries as a means of getting no-cost food. The key thing to remember is to eat as well as you can to stay healthy.

© 2024 King Features Synd., Inc.