A recent CNN/Money story says that American households waste an average of 14% of the food they buy and that they also tend to buy more pricey, packaged, ready-to-eat foods.
According to Statistics Canada, the average Canadian household spends $6,910 (or 11% of total expenses) every year on food. If we assume that we waste a similar percentage of groceries as our American friends, we throw a lot of money into our trashcans.
I have to admit that we are pretty bad with groceries in our household. We don’t plan our weekly meals, we buy a lot of packaged food and we throw away food that we let expire or fruit that is starting to go bad. It is true what they say about our parents’ generation. My parents are visiting us and it is amazing to see them operate the kitchen. They shop from a list, roughly plan the meals for every day of the week and use up every last bit leftover in the fridge. I am aspiring for that level of efficiency.
Speaking of groceries, I noticed in The Globe and Mail yesterday a story about thirty families around the world buying a week’s worth of groceries. A family in Darfur, Sudan had the most meagre: $1.23 (US) worth of limes, onions, salts and dried tomatoes. On the other end of the scale, breads, fresh produce, meat, beer, milk and pizza by a German family cost them $494.19.
Saving on groceries seems to be a popular topic. You can check out some more comments at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity and Consumerism Commentary.
