COMPARISON SHOPPING. 7 Store brands or generic brands usually cost. less than name or national brands. 7 Generic brand foods are safe and good for

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1 COMPARISON SHOPPING Makig smart buys at the grocery store is as easy as learig a few shoppig skills ad makig smart decisios. Before buyig a item, thik about price, coveiece, utritioal value, how you will store the product, ad what your family likes. Bradig Most stores carry atioal brads ad store brads. Natioal brads are advertised o TV ad i magazies. Most supermarkets carry these atioal brads. Some examples of atioal brads are Del Mote, Campbell s, Kraft, ad Gree Giat. Natioal brads geerally cost the most because the expese of advertisig the products is part of the price of the product. Smart shoppig tips to save moey: 7 Buy the brad with the lowest price. 7 The food i the packages may be the same eve if the brad ames are differet. 7 Each compay sets its ow prices, so some brads cost less tha others. 7 Store brads or geeric brads usually cost less tha ame or atioal brads. 7 Geeric brad foods are safe ad good for you. 7 Low-cost brads may taste better tha atioal brads. 7 Check brad prices weekly because the prices may chage. Store brads are sold by idividual chais ad usually are ot advertised atioally. Examples would be Kroger, Piggly Wiggly, ad Wi-Dixie. The utritioal value of atioal brads ad store brads geerally is the same. Read the labels to determie the differece. Uit Pricig Uit pricig is oe of the best methods of compariso-shoppig. Remember, the price of a item is ot always the best way to tell if it is a smart buy. You ca use uit prices to fid foods ad other products that fit ito your budget. A uit price is the cost of a item based o a specific uit, or stadard amout, such

2 as poud, ouce, quatity per cotaier, or square foot. Uit pricig helps you compare the costs of differet brads ad differet sizes of similar items to help you decide which is the most ecoomical. 7 Most grocery stores provide uit prices as a part of customer service. This iformatio is located o the shelf i frot of the item. These labels also may appear above or to the side of the items. Be sure the label matches the product you are thikig about buyig. 7 Uit price labels may vary some from store to store. Basically, the same iformatio should be provided: Name of the product. Cost of the total package. Weight or size of the package. Cost per uit the cost of a ouce, poud, pit, quart, or piece. A ivetory ad price bar code also may be icluded. 7 Use uit pricig to compare prices for differet product forms. For example, you ca compare the cost of fresh, froze, ad caed items, as well as the cost of idividual pieces of prepackaged foods like rolls, muffis, or biscuits. 7 If there is o uit price label, you ca use some simple math to figure out the uit price of a item. For example, a 8- ouce carto of Brad Z yogurt costs 72 cets. A 6-ouce carto of Brad Y yogurt costs 62 cets. Which is the smartest buy? Brad Z 8 ouces $.72 8 = 9 per ouce Brad Y 6 ouces $.62 6 = 10 per ouce Brad Z is the better buy because it costs less per uit (ouce) tha Brad Y. Whe the uit price is the same for two items, pick the item that is best for your eeds. 7 Remember that for uit pricig to work, you must compare similar items. A carto of orage juice, a ca of ready-toserve orage juice, ad a ca of ready-toserve orage drik are similar items. O the other had, a ca of ready-to-serve orage drik ad a ca of froze orage juice cocetrate are ot similar items because you have to add water to the froze juice cocetrate. 7 Uit pricig does ot compare the utritioal value of items. You must compare the Nutritio Facts label of the products to evaluate the product s utritioal value. Uit pricig does ot give iformatio about quality, umber of servigs, or coveiece of the items. Check the Ads Check supermarket advertisemets for seasoal low prices o meat, poultry, fish, fresh produce, ad grocery items. Chage your meu whe you fid a good buy, ad buy oly the amout you ca use before the food spoils. Compare prices of fresh, froze, ad caed versios of the same item, such as cor. Also compare prices of bulk products with the packaged versios. You might fid a large price differece but o differece i the utritioal value. Check the Coupos Coupos will either save you moey or cost you moey. 7 The first thig to remember is to compare the item offered o the coupo to store brads. See if the discout offered o the coupo makes the item a better buy tha the store brad.

3 7 Use coupos oly for products you already use, uless the coupo is for a free item. Do ot sped moey just because you have a coupo. Whe you wat to use a coupo, buy the product at a store that advertises double or triple coupos. 7 Usig coupos, you ofte ca save several dollars a week o your grocery bill. Smart shoppers take the time to look for, cut out, ad use cets-off coupos. You ca fid refud forms ad other moey-savig offers i ewspapers, magazies, ad stores. 7 Coupos are easy to use, but you should store them so you ca fid them quickly. Set up a file by puttig coupos ito groups, such as cereals, soups, seasoigs, or aythig you buy ofte. A shoebox filled with evelopes works well. O each evelope, write the type of coupo iside. 7 Oce you get your coupos orgaized, you quickly ca pull out those you eed. Use them whe you are makig your shoppig list or if you fid a sale i the store. 7 Before you go to the store, write your shoppig list o the back of a plai evelope. Place a mark beside the items you will be purchasig with a coupo. Put the coupos iside the evelope. Read the Labels Whe you are at the grocery store, you must make smart decisios about utritio. If you fid two products that are the same price ad the same quality, you should use the iformatio o the utritioal label to decide which product to buy. Oce you ve decided if a food is a good buy, you must decide if it is utritious. Read the Nutritio Facts label to fid a product s utriet cotet. Remember to look at the umber of servigs, calories, fat, sodium, ad vitamis i each servig.

4 UNIT PRICING SAVES DOLLAR$ AND ENTS What is uit pricig? Uit prices are figures that help you pick the food that is the best buy for your moey. The uit price may list the uit by weight (ouces or pouds), volume (ouces, pits, or quarts), or quatity i the package. Fid the importat parts o each of these labels: The price you pay. A. The weight or size of this package. The uit price. The price you pay. B. The weight or size of this package. The uit price. The price you pay. C. The weight or size of this package. The uit price. The price you pay. D. The weight or size of this package. The uit price. Which cheese product has the lowest uit price?

5 A BETTER BUY UNIT PRICE LABELS

6 LABEL READING FOR BETTER EATING

7 COMPARING THE LABELS Below are labels from two sack foods. If you ate about 32 chips, how much fat would you eat? Cor Chips If you ate about 21 pretzels, how much fat would you eat? Tiy Pretzels

8 The iformatio give here is for educatioal purposes oly. Refereces to commercial products, trade ames, or suppliers are made with the uderstadig that o edorsemet is implied ad that o discrimiatio agaist other products or suppliers is iteded. Distributed by Carol Ball, Extesio Associate III, Food Sciece, Nutritio, ad Health Promotio. USDA is a equal opportuity provider ad employer. This material was fuded by USDA s Supplemetal Nutritio Assistace Program SNAP. The Supplemetal Nutritio Assistace Program (SNAP) provides utritio assistace to people with low icome. It ca help you buy utritious foods for a better diet. To fid out more, cotact your local Departmet of Huma Services. Discrimiatio based upo race, color, religio, sex, atioal origi, age, disability, or vetera s status is a violatio of federal ad state law ad MSU policy ad will ot be tolerated. Discrimiatio based upo sexual orietatio or group affiliatio is a violatio of MSU policy ad will ot be tolerated. Publicatio 2376 Extesio Service of Mississippi State Uiversity, cooperatig with U.S. Departmet of Agriculture. Published i furtherace of Acts of Cogress, May 8 ad Jue 30, GARY B. JACKSON, Director (POD-02-14)