Consumers Look for Ways to Save Money As Food Prices Increase
By Jennifer Becknell / jbecknell@heraldonline.com
Grocery shopping at a convenience store wasn’t uncommon for Wendy Birt a few years ago, when the working mom’s schedule made convenience more important than cost.
But no longer.
Now she shops carefully, avoids expensive processed items, purchases foods in bulk and doesn’t waste a thing.
She and her family eat less meat, and they eat out much less often, too.
“Now, I look in my fridge and say, what type of dinner can I make?” said the Rock Hill woman, who has planted a garden and wants to learn how to can and preserve foods.
Food prices rose at the fastest clip in nearly two decades last year, and they’re on track to do the same this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports.
A basic grocery list of 10 items will add at least $5.84 to your bill from a year ago, for a more than 25 percent increase. And that’s just for bread, apples, eggs, milk, ground beef, peanut butter, orange juice, carrots, butter and cereal.
Rising food prices, combined with sticker shock at the gas pump, has consumers eating out less and pinching pennies at the grocery store to help balance their budgets.
Prices are rising for many reasons, from higher fuel prices to increasing demand for food from booming regions like China, says Annette Clauson, an agriculture department economist.
Birt, who moved to Rock Hill two years ago from Denver with her husband, Chuck, and their daughter, said she became concerned about gradually rising food prices a couple years ago, when she began to change her lifestyle.
“I just woke up one day and just had a clarity of, we’re gonna have problems here in this country,” Birt said, referring to the food supply. “It was like a consciousness, all of a sudden, that we’re going to have to make some changes.”
Part of that change was the move to South Carolina, where the cost of living is lower. She and her husband run a business out of their home, and they have adopted thriftier living habits.
She tries to purchase only whole foods and serves very little meat.
And she shops at a Charlotte big box store once a month for bargains on eggs, cheeses, milk, frozen fish and other bulk items.
“I don’t waste a thing now,” said Birt. “I used to throw away so much produce and things in my freezer, it was unreal. I never had time to take an inventory of my refrigerator, and not really caring.”
Some of her cost savings include making her own tortilla chips by buying a 100-pack of corn tortillas, then slicing them up and baking them in her oven.
She stretches tomato soup by adding diced tomatoes and tomato sauce, uses canned black beans instead of meat in tacos and Mexican pizza or casseroles and serves tofu, which can be marinated, stir fried or added to pasta.
Birt is not alone in developing more frugal habits. Margaret Dillinger of York said she and her husband and their daughter have been sticking to the basics.
“We’ve had to cut back really,” said Dillinger, 57, who canned vegetables last fall and serves inexpensive one-dish meals like beans and cornbread. Her family fills up on peanut butter or potatoes and sparingly eats costlier foods, like cheese and meat.
“I just don’t have the money to buy it,” said Dillinger, a cake decorator who said she was limited to around $100 for groceries during April. “It’s been like that for a while.”
Hubert Emsermann, 68, said food prices have transformed his garden from a hobby into a necessity. “It’s really saving me money, a substantial amount,” the Rock Hill man said.
Emsermann said he only buys produce that he can’t grow himself – including carrots and some fruits. “It’s amazing how much that little garden produces,” he said.
Birt said the changes her family has made mean they’re not only spending less on groceries, but they’re better off. “We’re so much healthier than we’ve ever been before,” she said.
Jennifer Becknell 329-4077
Wire services contributed to this report.
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