1. Food Budget Unit ARR2 Randall
Shopping for food
Food Budget Unit
ARR2
Randall

2. What is a food Budget?
A food budget is an amount of money the family plans to spend on food.
Includes:
Food eaten away from home
Food eaten at home
Pre-planning menus will help you make wise budgeting decisions.
$40,000 salary = $100/wk

3. What effects the cost of food prices?
Food prices depend on many economic, or cost-related, factors such as:
Processing Brand
Packaging Ready-to-eat
Variety Fresh fruits & vegetables
Store-type Ingredients
Transportation

4. How can a shopping list be beneficial?
A shopping list is an important food budget management tool. A shopping list can help you:
Shop faster & save money
Prevent impulse buying (something you don’t need, but appeals to you
Avoid repeat trips
Buy exactly what you need (check your pre-planned menus)
Staples- basic food items that are frequently used.
Organize shopping by grouping like items together- efficient shopping

5. What are staples?
Flour
Sugar
Rice
Pasta

6. What should you look for in a store?
You have many choices when shopping for food. When deciding where to shop, consider:
Location
Prices
Store hours
Types of food sold

7. Give local examples of the following stores:
Supermarkets: sell thousands on foods. Offer specials, food sampling, coupons, pharmacy, florist, and/or bank services.
Specialty stores: Fish markets, butchers, bakeries, ethnic foods
Convenience stores: small stores with limited selection, higher prices
Food Cooperatives: Buy food in large quantities and sell to members
Farmers’ Markets: sell locally grown and produced foods
Warehouse or Discount stores: large quantities at low prices
Online: expensive for having the convenience of home delivery

8. Regardless of when you shop, you should look for . . .
The product’s FRESHNESS.

9. TYPES OF STORES
Supermarkets: sell thousands of foods. They offer specials, food sampling and coupons. Many provide pharmacies, florists, or bank services.
Specialty stores: Fish markets, butchers, bakeries and ethnic food stores
Convenience stores: Small and limited selection of foods. Many sell packaged snack foods and prices are usually higher.
Food Cooperatives: Large quantities and sell to members at lower prices. Limited varieties.
Farmers’ Markets: Sell locally grown and produced foods.
Warehouse/Discount stores: Larger quantities at lower prices.
Online stores: Expensive because you are paying for the convenience of home delivery.

10. When is the best time to go food shopping?
How often you go food shopping depends on your schedule, your storage space, and your personal preference. Some people prefer to buy their food fresh daily. Others prefer once a week. Some prefer to shop during less crowded/busy times. Shop when you are not hungry! A hungry shopper often buys more food than they need and is more likely to make impulse buys on snack foods.

11. Items that are required by law to be on a food label
Identity- the contents of the package
Portion size- ounce, number, cups
Number of portions in the container
Information panel- name and address of manufacturer
List of ingredients- most to least
Nutrition label

12. Items on a nutrition label
Calories calorie diet
Fat grams and percent
Cholesterol grams and percent
Sodium grams and percent
Carbohydrates grams and percent
Protein grams and percent
(Additional- vitamins and minerals)

13. Other Label information
Organic- 100 or 95%, regulated by the USDA, look for the USDA Organic Seal
Natural- label must explain why it is natural (ie. No artificial ingredients)
Fresh- only on raw food that has not been frozen, heated or treated with preservatives.

14. Comparing food prices
When comparing costs of similar foods and different size packages look for the UNIT PRICE.
The UNIT PRICE may be found on the shelf.
It gives a price per ounce, pound, or other unit.
Calculated by dividing the price by the unit.
$.95 for 6 ounces = $.16 per ounce

15. Types of brands
Store Brand- the stores own brand (ie. Wal-mart has Great Value)
Generic Brand- usually a plain label with no brand name.
National Brand- sold by major food companies (ie. Nabisco, Pepsi Co.), usually more expensive due to promotions and advertising.

16. Buying Large Quantities
When comparison shopping, it might be best to buy larger packages when the unit price is lower than that of a smaller package.
$1.99 for 16 oz. = $.12 per ounce
$2.29 for 24 oz = $.10 per ounce

17. How to determine the quality of food
Always check for FRESHNESS when buying food.
Look for the dates
Damage to the package
Bruising, damage to fresh fruits and vegetables

18. Product dates
Open Dating - indicates how long the product will be fresh.
“Sell Buy March 15” - buy and store it for a reasonable time.
“Best-if-used-by March 15” is at its peak quality.

19. How to be courteous at the store
Return food that you don’t intend to buy
Be patient
Report any spills or clean-ups