Community Magazine September 2009

T hese days, thrift is in high fashion. Consumers are becoming more price conscious and dollar savvy, as they look for ways to stretch their seemingly ever shrinking budgets. Cutting back on unnecessary expenses is no longer a recommendation for the few, but rather an accepted fact of life for people on every financial level. But while the new economy has changed the way many people shop for wardrobes or vacation with their families, few consumers are giving thought to one of the biggest monthly drains on their budget – their grocery expenses. With a little smart shopping, creative cooking and less impulse buying, you can start saving some big dough. File # 3214: Taking Your Food Funds Further 74 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE The Shaatra Files (shõ•trä) n . An outstanding homemaker [Arabic] READER TIPS M ake it a habit to check your register receipts. Besides making you pay more attention to what you’ve paid for an item (that pepper cost me $1.50!?), it can catch mistakes that favor either you or the grocery. S a N. B eware of a common supermarket ploy: the most expensive brands are usually at comfortable eye level, so you won’t notice that a similar item on the bottom shelf is in fact a dollar cheaper. Take a step back and scan the shelves. R. A. I ’ve found that one stop shops like Glatt Mart and Kosher Korner not only tend to have great prices and specials, they also save me valuable time with convenient parking and everything I need under one roof. P. Gin i Send your tips for next month’s subject: Change Gears: Tactics for Long Car Rides with the Kids to: shaatra@community m .com Don’t Try Feeding an Army It’s a Shaatra woman’s worst nightmare. At the Friday night table, a guest reaches for the roast, and realizes there is nothing but a few scattered bits left on the platter. Then you wake up and realize it was just a bad dream. Of course, in reality, at the end of the meal every platter is practically full because your mother always taught you to cook extra, just in case, and then a little more, just to be sure. The most elementary way to save money on food is, ironically enough, the hardest for some, because it goes against habits ingrained since childhood. Even if you plan to use leftovers, starting with a two pound cut of meat, which is just enough for a single meal, instead of a five pound cut, which is what we use to follow the rule of cooking extra and then a little bit more, can save serious money. There is a big difference between serving the leftover rib eye roast from Shabbat at $15 per pound and the chicken and potatoes at $3 a pound that you would otherwise prepare for a weeknight. It is also sometimes difficult to come to grips with the true appetites of our family members. If our kids consistently eat only two of the four slices of rib eye roast we put into their plate, then we are literally throwing several dollars into the garbage every time we over serve them. Fiascos in the Fridge Take an inventory of your refrigerator, noting anything past its prime and use the information to modify your buying habits. Is the Shabbat cake that could have fed thirty people, always thrown out nearly whole on Tuesday? Does the sliced deli seem to constantly get lost in the back of the fridge until it smells like something died? (It did.) Make a firm commitment to eliminate waste. When cooking, don’t feel compelled to always finish the package. It’s okay to cut the recipe in half and put away or freeze small amounts for another time. Go through your fridge more frequently, and place the soon-to-be-expired items where they are most visible so you remember to use them. If fruits or veg- gies are ripening faster than they will be eaten, take the preventative measure of chopping and freezing them for use in fruit tarts, vegetable soups, stir fries and so on. Quit the Club Joined a warehouse club to save money? Guess what, they’re not always cheaper. Your best bet: know your prices. Bought things you didn’t really need just because they were such a great deal? That’s a pretty expensive way to save money. While buying in bulk is usually cheaper per unit, buying more than you need is wasteful, especially when it comes to RACHEL DAYAN