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With some study and planning, you could save 4 to 6 percent of your earnings, improve your diet and double your child tax credit.
Topics to study: These might be food budgeting, planning, and shopping; avoiding food waste; how to make fast, inexpensive, and nutritional meals and the recipes to do so; time efficient ways to cook; how to cook ahead; food safety; how to adjust recipes and substitute for less expensive ingredients; one-dish meals; different ways to cook; products such as rotisserie chickens and dinners to heat; and how to inexpensively eat out.
Supporting figures: These figures are based on government averages and conservative estimates of yearly expenditures. You could try for a 50 percent cut on your spending of $5,000 on food services (40 percent of your food dollar); and try for a cut on the U.S. average of $1,500 for food waste. Also, by using the “topics to study” above, you could possibly save 10 to 15 percent of your nearly $14,000 grocery bill (based on the USDA’S “Moderate Cost Food Plan” for March 2023).
Best of luck!
John B. Kirk
Gorham