Summary: Show Description: Sending your child to school with lunch from home can save hundreds of dollars a year. Yet, over relying on those individually packaged items can actually cost you more. Learn how to spot the real deals while weighing their convenience against price. Show Notes: The report referred to in this segment is called, Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents: A Review of Industry Expenditures, Activities, and Self-Regulation. Here is the Price Comparison Log master copy. Please feel free to print it out and use it. If you already use an item I researched, you might consider copying my findings onto the form you print out, as a starting point. Food Items Discussed: String Cheese--Warehouse Club, $0.19 per 1-ounce stick. No-Frills Grocery Store, $0.30 per 1-ounce stick (same brand name); and $0.28 per 1 ounce stick (generic). Cheesy Fish Crackers--Warehouse Club, $0.12 per ounce. No-Frills Store, $0.22 per ounce in larger bag; $0.38 per ounce for individual-serving bags. (Note: What do you find when you compare this price to that of the square cheddar crackers? Are you paying more for the shape?) Tube Yogurt--Warehouse Club, $0.24 per tube. No-Frills Store, $0.27 per tube. (Note: I compared the per ounce price of the larger, 32 ounce containers to per ounce tube price and found no difference. You might compare your local prices and find a difference). Carrots--Warehouse Club, $1.77 per pound for organic, individual-serving size bags; $1.00 per pound for organic, peeled baby carrots in bulk bag; and, $0.49 per pound for organic, unprocessed carrots. Note: All prices above were recorded and compared in August 2008. Food prices change frequently and vary by location. Check the prices at your stores regularly to achieve the maximum savings. Write us with comments, ideas, or suggestions. Subscribe in a reader There you can select your podcatcher of choice--iTunes, Odeo, Podnova, etc.
