Tips to keep grocery costs down and healthiness up – despite rising food prices

A June 2007 report from the U.S. Department of Labor shows that certain food prices have risen dramatically in recent months, due to a combination of weather, energy prices and the diversion of corn from human and animal use to ethanol. Most affected: bread, beef, eggs, apples, lettuce, oranges, salad dressing and soft drinks.

So what’s an economical shopper supposed to do? Consider this an opportunity to change some grocery habits and improve dietary in the process.

Ch-change? Do I have to?

This is a free country and you can do whatever you want when it comes to eating. Just look around – it seems with two-thirds of the adult population overweight or obese, few of us feel fettered in what and how much we eat.

But when you compute the costs of, for example, an 18.6 percent rise in egg prices over last year (now $1.62 per dozen, up 54 percent over the past five years), then add in increases over the past five years for navel oranges (up 34.1 percent), white bread (up 20 percent), ground beef (up 24 percent), you get a sense that food prices are taking a bigger chunk out of your wallet. In certain markets like Chicago during the past year, processed cheese is up 33 percent and soft drinks rose 12 percent (nationwide these prices are up but to a lesser degree).

And prices aren’t likely to stop where they are at in the summer of 2007. Executives from Dean Foods Co., America’s largest dairy producer, recently told analysts in Paris that adverse weather, feed and energy prices will further drive up milk prices to consumers later this year. Already the company and retailers have absorbed raw milk price increases, but they predict an “absolutely stunning rise” at retail.

So before you make your next trip down the aisle of your grocery store – or to the website of your online grocery delivery service – at least do yourself the favor of making a few substitutions here and there.

Your primary motivator may be price, but layer over that the idea of nutrition improvement. Perhaps the combination will get you to make some incremental dietary shifts that you know you should be making anyway. Herewith are some recommendations on key food categories:

White bread. Are you really still eating white bread? The difference between white and whole grain is the latter contains the full complement of what nature (and agricultural development) provides in wheat and other grains: the bran, endosperm and germ. There’s not strong evidence that whole grain breads are much less expensive than white, but the savings might come in other ways. Those fibrous parts take longer to digest and consequently stave off hunger further into the future – additional savings if it means less snacking. Perhaps also a reduced need for commercial fiber supplements. More nutrients overall come from whole grains, which might ultimately impact your health care costs.

Note that peanut butter has come down in price over the past several years. Slather some of that on your whole grain breads and you get a pack of protein and good fats that satisfy hunger and sustain you longer than snacks made of processed carbohydrates alone.

Ground beef. You don’t need to go full vegetarian to reduce your consumption of red meat. But it makes complete sense that the price for anything cow-based would be on the rise, given how cattle ranching, slaughter and transportation are huge resource and energy hogs. The same goes for hogs (see Bacon, below), and a bit less so for chicken. It takes about five (some say as much as ten) times the resources to produce the nutrients found in beef as in grains, including water, which we are told is increasingly scarce in cattle-raising regions, suggesting a long-term trend. So what are the best protein substitutes? Learn to prepare and appreciate fish (farm-raised varieties and those sold in cans are cheaper), and to stretch beef-based meals with grains and legumes. For example, mix more black beans into a chili stew (or make it entirely meat-free). Surprisingly, canned salmon can be tasty when stir-fried in a vegetable oil with mashed garbanzo beans, corn (for sweetness and texture), lemon juice and strong spices and herbs such as chili pepper and cilantro.

Bacon. Sheesh. See Ground beef above. And if still you insist on eating the fattiest part of the pig, do so more sparingly. I mix a small amount of bacon pieces into a cabbage salad (use vinegar, olive oil, mustard, salt and caraway seeds) and it tastes good enough to serve to guests.

Eggs. This is tough to cut back on if you’re a cook and use eggs for recipes, for which there aren’t any true substitutes. But if it’s a matter of changing breakfast habits, this is a great opportunity to reverse your cholesterol numbers with an oatmeal breakfast instead of two eggs over easy.

Milk. Soy-based milks are becoming more available, along with an aggressive marketing program (you know, the talking cows that are somewhat conflicted over their switch to soy milk). For a time, that will likely bring down prices, comparing favorably to milk. Nutritionally, soy milk can be just as high in fat (or reduced), but it comes with plant-based nutrients not found in cows’ milk.

Soft drinks. Consider this: a single 12-ounce can of regular cola is 150 calories. If you drink four per day, that’s 600 calories. If you cut out those 600 calories five days per week, in three months’ time you’ll reduce calorie consumption by 36,000, enough to lose ten pounds. If you drink diet soft drinks instead, consider how you’re not really taking in any nutrients other than water. And water is either free or readily available in bottles everywhere on the planet.

Red delicious apples. This is tough, because an apple a day truly does fend off M.D.s. The fiber in the skin slows digestion and is a great appetite suppressant (eat about 30 minutes prior to a meal). The pectins, found just under the peel, have the added benefit of helping remove metals such as mercury from the body. If a substitution is to be made, it might be toward other fruit in season or just different varieties of apples – the pigments that create redness also are why this variety is less tasty anyway.

Navel oranges. Again, this is a tough call because orange consumption is a nutrition plus. So keep eating them, but try to rotate in other fruit for variety’s sake.

Frozen orange juice. Here’s where substitutions might well be made, given the high sugar content of orange juice. Search out other fruit juices that might be lower-priced per ounce, but be careful to read ingredient labels. A “juice cocktail” means that sugar has been added, represented on the label in various forms: high fructose corn syrup, grape juice, apple juice, etc. The nutritionally best juices come with pulp or are cloudy, meaning real fibrous parts of that fruit are still in the product – best when there’s no sugar added.

If you find an exotic juice that's favorably priced – Costco carries pomegrante, cranberry, grape and cherry juices in interesting, no -sugar-added blends – you can cut the cost and calories in half by mixing them in a 1:1 proportion with tap water. Because it's a flavor you might not already know, you're more likely to like the taste.

Sugar. If you’re using a lot of sugar, it means you’re a baker. And if you’re a baker, you’re eating a lot of dessert, or you participate in a lot of bake sales. Who am I to tell you to cut back on those things? Just keep it good and special and perhaps strive toward making things that contain real fruit.

Coffee. Mmmm, caffeine. It’s what fuels the western world. A green tea, even regular tea, carries certain health benefits not found in coffee. Give those a go.

Potato chips. We’ll assume you buy these infrequently, say, for kids parties. And how many times a year do you subject yourself to dozens of children running around your house? Yeah. That’s about how often you should be eating these fried (or baked) bundles of processed starch, salt and fat.

Check out the video attached to this article. It's an illustration of someone who simply doesn't get it. To her, a substitution for a snack food is a "healthier" (baked) chip versus a traditional variety (3.5 grams of fat per 11 chip serving versus 8 grams). It's the dietary version of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. She needs to leave the packaged goods section of the grocery store altogether and visit the produce area, then study up on how the water content and fiber in fruits and vegetables will help her feel fuller longer – and give her far more micronutrients than a salty bowl of chips.*

If a person can’t see living without these or other salty snacks, they simply just don’t want to change.

And that’s ok. They just aren't entitled to complain when they pay for it in higher health care problems in the future.

*For more on that, see my Hub article on Energy Density.