Is Your Food Bill Too High? Three Quick Testsby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 09 Oct 2007 06:22 AM Are you spending more than you should on groceries? How can you tell? You could add up your yearly bill, factor in the times you eat out, calculate for the size of your family and ages of the family members, consider your annual income and your geographical location, and then compare it all to averages of other families across the country. Or, you can take a couple of quick tests to give you a general idea that will help you tell if you are spending too much for your food. The meal planning test Do you know what you are having for dinner tonight? Do you have items in your pantry to pull together a meal? What about your freezer? Are there some pre-made dinners in your freezer? If you are always playing the "What's for dinner" game, then you are probably relaying a lot on eating out or expensive pre-packaged meals. Both will raise your food bill. The packaging test Take a quick look inside your grocery cart or kitchen. How much packaging or preparation has been done to your food before you have purchased it? Is the cheese shredded or in block form? Do you have lots of convenience foods in little packages? Do your raisins or chips come one large canister or several small boxes or bags? Whenever you see the words "snack pack" or "handi pack," you can be pretty sure that you have spent more money than you needed to. The fridge test How organized is your refrigerator or freezer? Without opening it up, can you tell exactly how many leftover meals are in it right now? What about the produce? Is it still good? Is something hidden in the back that is past its prime? The more your refrigerator is organized, the more likely that you will use all of your food and reduce waste. There have been studies published that say that the average American household throws away 25 percent of its food! If you spend $10,000 a year on groceries, that amounts to $2,500!!! Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here. Related Articles Grocery Sneaks: How One Item Can have Three Different Prices Five Bread Prices for Five Families Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments No comments on this article yet. Be the first to comment! Community Tags frugal, Food, groceries, saving money Discuss this article
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