EXPERT ADVICE
If you've noticed a budget emphasis in our Desperation Dinners column, it's no accident: Columnists Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross are the authors of Cheap. Fast. Good! (Workman, 2005), the most recent book on budget cooking from a major publisher. Mills offers these tips:• Produce, protein and prepared foods are the most expensive items in a grocery basket. Save money in these categories and you'll see a real difference.• Read the grocery ads before you shop, buy what's on sale and eat what's in season.• Put your freezer to work: Stock it with protein bought on sale as well as frozen vegetables, which are often cheaper than fresh and at least as nutritious.• The most expensive food you buy is the food you throw away. If you don't finish a half-gallon of milk before it spoils, buy a quart. If you can't get the hang of incorporating leftovers into meals, cook only what you will eat at one time.• If you clip coupons, be strategic. Start with $1-off coupons for items you use anyway. Then watch and wait for the products to go on sale to multiply your savings.Mills, who shops in South Florida these days (her husband is Herald Executive Editor Anders Gyllenhaal), notes that more isn't necessarily better when it comes to coupons -- and organization is a must. If you clip 40 coupons and spend 30 minutes rummaging through them at the store, you'll waste valuable time, and may give up in frustration on a money-saving practice.RESOURCES• TheGroceryGame.com gives you a weekly list of the lowest-priced products at your supermarket matched with manufacturers' coupons and weekly specials -- advertised and unadvertised. A four-week trial membership is $1; after that, you pay $10 every eight weeks for information about one store.• healthyhabitsproduce.blogspot.com is the website of a food co-op with pickup locations in far south Miami-Dade and Coral Gables. Members receive 30 to 35 pounds of fresh, organic produce for $45 every two weeks, and can buy grains and bulk dry goods at substantial discounts. Locally grown produce also is available through Redland Organics ( redlandorganics.com), a community-supported agriculture outlet.These days, it's almost as scary to fill your grocery cart as your gas tank. A gallon of unleaded costs Floridians 20 percent more than it did a year ago. Food costs have zoomed up 6 percent in that time, with double-digit increases for staples like milk and bread.
Retail analyst Howard Davidowitz framed it this way in a recent National Public Radio interview: ``Americans used to spend 10 cents [of every dollar] on food and energy; they're now spending 17 cents.''
The good news is that most people can find ways to save money on food. Just ask Martha Kenyon of the Redland, a mother of six who has always fed her family on one income.
``I basically buy what's on sale, and I buy a lot of it. I have my prices in mind -- I know what I'm willing to pay for grapes, for example -- and if it's not for sale at that price, I wait. My kids eat a lot of fruit, but they eat what's on sale. That's the way I've always purchased.''
A nutrition-minded cook, Kenyon fits whole grains and organic produce into her budget by belonging to a buying co-op.
''You learn to be frugal,'' says Connie Kane of Margate, a single parent and now an empty nester. ``I raised two children with a very simple lifestyle.
``There were no sugary cereals, no soda. Their treat was a half-gallon of ice cream a week, and when it was gone, there wasn't any more until I went to the store again, so they didn't gorge on it.
``We always had fruit in the house, and peanut butter was a healthy food. They would drink iced tea and milk -- chocolate milk was OK with me.''
Kane remembers food rationing during her World War II childhood, when an after-school snack would be ``bread and butter or Saltines and butter -- and I loved it.''
In 21st century South Florida, a week without takeout meals would qualify as food rationing for many. Still, whether you're a free spender or a penny pincher, we've got tips to help you keep your food bill from gobbling up your paycheck.
THE SINGLE SPENDTHRIFT
Your profile: When you're not working, you're out enjoying the South Florida scene.
In your refrigerator: Mostly restaurant leftovers.
How to save:
• For you, buying frozen dinners would be economizing. Look for coupons on these items in the Sunday paper. Organic lines like Amy's and Kashi are tastier as well as more healthful than most.
• If you eat lunch out on workdays, start brown-bagging at least some of the time -- a frozen entree or burrito or a salad you can throw together in the morning from prewashed greens from the supermarket and leftovers from your last restaurant meal.
• Instead of paying vending-machine prices for soda or water, keep a 12-pack in your fridge and bring a can or bottle to work each day.
• Better yet, if you're a water drinker, buy a stainless-steel water bottle, fill it with ice and get your water from the tap.
• When eating out on weekends, go for lunch, which usually is cheaper than dinner.
• Suggested cookbook:Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, a classic learn-to-cookbook.
THE MULTI-TASKING MOM
Your profile: You know how to cook, but job and family responsibilities mean you and your kids know the drive-through staff by name.
In your refrigerator: Leftovers from the weekend (when you did have time to cook) that need to be thrown out.
How to save: You probably know how, but need motivation to get started. Here's one idea from Cheap! Fast! Good! author Beverly Mills:
• Decide on a food budget for the week, and put that much cash in an envelope. Pay only cash at the store, and put whatever's left at week's end in a jar so you can see how much you're saving. As it accumulates, use the extra cash to reward yourself or pay off bills.
• If you shop at warehouse stores, keep a small notebook of prices for items you use regularly so you can tell instantly if the ''large economy size'' is a better buy. Beware of impulse buying, especially pricey prepared and frozen foods.
• Get better at planned shopping with TheGroceryGame.com. In our trial run, we paid $101 for $146 worth of items -- and that was entirely from in-store specials, not clipped coupons.
Suggested cookbook:Don't Panic -- Dinner's in the Freezer (Revell, $14.99) gets you into the cook-ahead mode.
THE PERENNIAL PENNY-PINCHER
Your profile: Yours has always been a one-income family. Or perhaps you're a product of the Depression or of Depression-era parents who passed down their frugal habits.
In your refrigerator: Soup made from leftovers; store-brand labels.
How to save: You probably know all of our tricks and more, but maybe you've never considered food co-ops like the ones mentioned in the accompanying box.
If you're an older empty nester, sharing a warehouse-club membership with a friend or two could be a way to save without letting perishables go to waste.
If you have children at home and extra freezer space, once-a-month cooking may be for you. Several cookbooks and websites tell how to cook for a day or two and eat for a month; search online for ``once a month cooking.''
Cookbook suggestions:More-with-Less, ''recipes and suggestions by Mennonites on how to eat better and consume less of the world's limited food resources'' (Herald Press, $13.99). (More-with-Less is not available through the Miami-Dade and Broward public library systems; most of the other books mentioned here are -- another way to save!)
