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Watch That Discount
By Daphne | May 13, 2008
Discount grocers are advertising more now than a few months ago. The financial burden on your wallet has made it more difficult to shop at the larger grocery chains. So now companies are advertising lower cost items.
Raising prices just for a certain day has also become a thing of the past. Mother’s Day there were dozens of roses available at a local chain grocer for only $10 a dozen. Most of the time near Mother’s Day the price of flowers increases dramatically. Not this year. All colors were available, red, yellow, white, peach, mixed and the prices were reasonable. Most of the people seen leaving the store had a dozen or more roses.
Retailers are smart and know what they have to do to keep business - what they would make up in volume would outweigh losing business by raising prices.
There are changes in restaurants. Some restaurants are raising prices subtly - decreasing the portion size or charging for extras to increase their revenues. Even quick food places are cutting back on the portion sizes.
Watch out for the “convenience” of individually packaged meals. The ease of just being able to take out what you need and cook it may be very tempting but compare the price of individually packaged or pre-cooked items. You will pay a lot more for these items. The cost per ounce is generally much higher and you have a lot of waste. If you are buying chicken breasts that are in a larger container than you could possibly use at one time, separate them and package them yourself, you will save money and can even use reusable containers.
Opening your wallet and spending cash takes more thought and makes you consider how you want to spend your money. Although discount grocers may seem tempting, you need to make sure that you can make a meal out of what you buy. Also, check the sodium content. When you are buying less expensive food, sometimes the items are similar to name brands. Other times the sodium content is half of your daily requirements. Salt is cheap. Remember: cheaper is not always better: be judicious when you make purchases and you will be able to survive.
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Topics: May 2008 |