With the rising prices in fuel and the decline of the economy,everyone is looking for ways to cut back.

Any suggestions guys?

Hi Neville, here are some ways that I use to cut back.

Buy in bulk! Think cost co or sam's
For fruits and veggies I go to the farmer's market

Healthy snacks like popcorn and certain crackers are also cheap.

Buying in bulk certainly helps, but what about using coupons also? There's always great deals going on in the sunday paper.

I sometimes order stuff in bulk from ebay also. It's even cheaper than retail stores.

Avoid eating out a lot, it is always more expensive. It is cheaper to cook your food at home, and besides, you know that you are preparing healthy meals. Preparing your food at home means more money saved.

Some people eat out because of lack of time. Time is gold, so if you could spend your time earning money or relaxing, then it offsets the money lost to time spent cooking. Your thoughts?

Hmm, to solve the money-time trade-off problem, you can buy partially cooked food. It's cheaper than eating out, yet don't take much time to prepare (only takes about 10 minutes to prepare).

johnmichael - 27 November 2008 10:19 PM

Some people eat out because of lack of time. Time is gold, so if you could spend your time earning money or relaxing, then it offsets the money lost to time spent cooking. Your thoughts?

So, it's the information that the original poster did not mention. It depends on your lifestyle, the country that you are in, what kind of food you eat, how many people are there in your household.

But just to give you some ideas (and keep this thread rolling), here are some suggestions:

- Consider having your own veggie garden

- Instead of buying bottled water (is it part of food cost?), invest in a good water filter (it will likely be more costly, but if you compute the long-term savings, then it'll probably save you more)

- If you are living alone, then it is silly to buy in bulk.. you probably won't consume everything, and they'll end up in the garbage can - money lost. Try to pool a group, then buy in bulk.