Spend Less—and Eat Better—With ShopSmart’s 21 Easy Shopping and Cooking Tricks

YONKERS, NY — Coupons, circulars and store brands are helping women save at the supermarket but, according to a new poll featured in the September 2009 issue of ShopSmart, from the publisher of Consumer Reports, most women are overlooking the biggest place for savings—their own kitchens. Even though less expensive meals are just a few tweaks away, only 29 percent of women say they budget or estimate how much a weekday dinner will cost and one in 10 women flat out refuse to eat leftovers.

The cooking poll was conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center and is part of the ShopSmart feature on saving more at the supermarket. The article includes easy shopping and cooking tricks, including 21 creative ways to cut food costs, surprising savings in your own fridge and pantry, the best reusable grocery bags, readers’ tips and online recipe resources to help save money.

“Women are spending only one dollar less on groceries than they were 18 months ago, and this shows that we need to look beyond the supermarket to cut costs,” said Lisa Lee Freeman, editor-in-chief of ShopSmart. “The biggest place for savings is right in your kitchen, and our tips for buying foods and tweaking recipes will shrink your food bills and increase the flavor of your meals.”

Grocery Shopping:

• Women are making fewer trips to the grocery store now compared to 18 months ago.
• Women who do at least half their household’s grocery shopping report they spend, on average, $115 per week on groceries, only a dollar less than the average in November 2007.
• Seventy percent of married women do all or most of their household’s grocery shopping.
• Forty-two percent of women are stocking up on on-sale food items more often and 35 percent are purchasing more generic or store brand items more often due to the economy.

Cooking:

• Seventy percent of married women are primarily responsible for cooking weekday dinners.
• Most women (55%) do not mind cooking weekday dinners; 18 percent dislike it.
• When deciding what to cook, women go through the refrigerator and pantry to see what they have (86%), decide what can be prepared quickly (78%), and pick what will be nutritious or healthy (72%). Less than a third (29%) say they budget or estimate how much the meal with cost.
• Thirty-eight percent of women are cooking at home more often and 35 percent are preparing less expensive meals more often due to the economy.

Eating:

• On average, women spend 45 minutes cooking a weekday dinner and 31 minutes eating it.
• In a typical week, women eat about five home-cooked or home-prepared dinners.
• Two-thirds (66%) of women watch TV during dinner at least once a week.
• Fifty-three percent of women eat dinner between 6-7pm, with 6 pm being the most common time.
• Forty-seven percent of women have water with their weekday dinner meal and only 14 percent opt for milk.

ShopSmart Highlights Creative Ways to Cut Food Costs
Including These Tips and More in the Issue:

1. INSTEAD OF buying potatoes by the pound, TRY picking up the bag which is often cheaper.
2. INSTEAD OF the average priced $2.99 bottle of salad dressing, make your own for far less money.
3. INSTEAD OF packaged bread and rolls, TRY the often cheaper supermarket baked goods.
4. INSTEAD OF bottled lemon juice, TRY slitting a fresh lemon and squeezing out juice as needed.
5. INSTEAD OF whole peppers or onions, TRY the supermarket salad bar if all you need is a little bit.
6. INSTEAD OF ready-made croutons, TRY recycling stale bread by cutting into cubes and crisping with some olive oil in a skillet.
7. INSTEAD OF ground pepper, TRY whole peppercorns that are cheaper and have more flavor.
8. INSTEAD OF buttermilk in recipes that call for a cup or less, make an easy substitute of milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar.
9. INSTEAD OF pasta sauce, TRY buying canned tomatoes and making your own.
10. INSTEAD OF hamburgers, TRY substituting beans for just one meaty meal a week to save over time.

ShopSmart Brand Loyalty Poll Methodology
The Consumer Reports National Research Center conducted a telephone survey of a nationally representative probability sample of telephone households. 1,001 interviews were completed among women aged 18+. Interviewing took place over April 23 – April 27, 2009. The margin of error is +/- 3.2% points at a 95% confidence level.

About ShopSmart magazine:
Launched in Fall 2006 by Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, ShopSmart draws upon Consumer Reports’ celebrated tradition of accepting no advertisements and providing unbiased product reviews. The magazine features product reviews, shopping tips on how to get the most out of products and “best of the best” lists. ShopSmart is ideal for busy shoppers who place a premium on time. ShopSmart has a newsstand price of $4.99 and is available nationwide at major retailers including Barnes & Noble, Wal-Mart, Borders, Kroger, Safeway and Publix.  ShopSmart is now available by subscription at www.ShopSmartmag.org.