Saving Money On Food #3

Sometimes it seems as if prices on staples go up at the supermarket from one week to the next.

If you are comparing prices remember that a lot of companies are cutting the sizes of their packaged goods. Ice cream used to be a half gallon. Then the containers became 1.75 quarts and now many or 1.5 quarts. The same thing has happened with many other products where the amount that you are getting is actually less even if the price stays the same.

I also noticed that the Silver Palate line has shrunk their goods enormously. They have new packaging and in some cases the amount is one half what it used to be and the price is the same.

These are just two examples of the shrinkage that is going on with packaged goods.

So take a look at the actual amount that is in the package and see how that compares with other similar items. Also check the unit price, which is the price per pound or 100 units or whatever the measure is for that item. It can be a quick way to see which items are the most expensive and which are the same or similar in price.

Aging of America

As this country is undergoing the graying of America with almost 8,000 people turning 60 every day it is amazing how more and more things have smaller and smaller type. You would think that people in every field would realize that as people age they find it easier to see larger type but the opposite seems to be true. I see smaller type being used wherever I go.

Today in the supermarket I noticed that Silver Palate has redesigned their labels so that the type is smaller. Prevention magazine, which is aimed at an older population, just underwent a redesign and the type is quite small. I see newspapers using smaller type and many books have type that is either small or light and therefore difficult to read.

It's amazing to me how little thought is given in this country to the aging of the population. So many things could be redsigned to make things easier for older people but it seems that just the opposite is what is happening.