Strategies and Tactics for Grocery Shopping

You can save a lot of money at your local grocery store. Here are several approaches that can help you save.

1) Stick to the grocery list. The grocery store wants you to make impulse purchases. If you make a grocery list at home and stick to it relentlessly, you will not be buying things you don't need.

2) Don't shop hungry or thirsty. If you are hungry when you shop, you will buy more to satisfy your voracious hunger.

3) Abandon brand loyalty. Brands use advertising to attract consumers. Advertising adds to the price of goods. Many private label food items are made in the same facilities as brand name items. Even with a coupon or sale, brand name foods are generally unable to beat store-brand foods on price.

4) Look for the lowest unit cost. Every time you pick up a food item, divide the price by the product weight or number of servings.

5) Clip coupons. Coupons can help you save a considerable amount of money on brand name items. If a coupon can lower the price of a product to the point where it is the cheapest on a per unit basis, then use it to buy the product. You can get coupons off of the internet from sites like www.couponsuzy.com and from manufacturer sites.

6) Shop sales. The weekly sales circulars at the grocery store and in your local paper can be helpful in creating your shopping list.

7) Stick to staples. In good economic times, gourmet foods were an indulgence that made many Americans feel rich. However, in bad times, they simply increase a family grocery bill. To save money, stick to the basic staple items that you really need.

9) Pay with Cash. If you take a set amount of cash with you to the grocery store, you will be forced to stay within the money you have.

Healthy Heart Tips

The economic news is enough to weaken anyone's heart, and it sometimes does with people feeling stressed, eating poorly and cutting out workouts while trying to make ends meet. Here are some basic healthy heart tips:

Eat better; exercise more. Eat a healthy diet, including five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. By cooking simple fresh foods at home, rather than indulging in restaurant fare or fast foods, you can save money and your health.

Don't skimp on health care. Putting off doctor visits, especially when you have symptoms, hurts your health more in the long run, as does skipping medications or splitting pills to cut costs.

Reduce stress. Find a positive outlet -- such as exercise, meditation or the company of others -- to ease stress and improve your health.

Maintain healthy cholesterol levels. Get your levels checked and talk to your physician about the best plan of action to keep your LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels low and your HDL ("good") cholesterol levels high.

Check your blood pressure. Several effective treatments are available for high blood pressure. If your blood pressure is normal, maintain it with a healthy lifestyle.

Irish Apple Pie

1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cake flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon white sugar

1 cup unsalted butter

3 tablespoons shortening

1/4 cup sour cream

1/8 teaspoon lemon juice

5 large Granny Smith apples-peeled, cored and sliced

1/2 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 tablespoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon lemon juice

1 egg, beaten

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 inch pie pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine flours, salt and sugar. Cut in butter and shortening until coarse crumbs are formed. Mix in sour cream and lemon juice. Keep mixing until dough forms a ball; dough may be slightly lumpy, this is fine. Wrap dough ball in plastic wrap and allow to chill for 1 hour.

3. Once chilled, take dough out of refrigerator and cut it in half; keep one half covered and in the refrigerator. Roll dough to 1/8 of an inch. To lift pie shell, roll dough around rolling pin and then unroll into pie pan. Trim overhanging edges of pie crust.

4. To Make Filling: Place apples into pie shell. In a small bowl, combine sugar, flour and nutmeg; mix thoroughly. Sprinkle mixture over apples. Squirt lemon juice over apples. Place pie in refrigerator while top crust is rolled out.

5. Remove pie from refrigerator. Brush outer edge of bottom crust with beaten egg. Place second crust on top of pie; crimp pie shell edges together. Brush entire top crust with egg and cut 4 steam slots into it.

6. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow pie to completely cool before serving. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.