Living In USA

Supermarkets in the United States keep getting bigger, and they are always confusing. How can you decide what to buy amid an amazing choice of items? Understanding some general patterns of packaging and pricing can help you evaluate the options available to you.

Price
You can save a good deal of money if you watch for sales instead of buying the same "brand-name" (a well-known company name) items at regular prices. Many supermarkets have their own label, and these items are almost always less expensive than brand-name items. You'll have to experiment, because some brand-name items are indeed tastier or better quality than less well-known brands.

Look to see if both brands contain the same number of ounces, and look at the list of ingredients to see what percentage is water. By law, actual ingredients must always be listed in order of the amount contained. Using "unit pricing" can also help. If, for example, you are shopping for laundry powder, the unit price will reflect how much you pay per pound. The "per pound" or "per fluid ounce" or the "per quart" prices are more important than the actual cost of an item. Large is not always less expensive.

Food Labels
The U.S. grading system for meat has nothing to do with nutrition, only with federal standards of quality for tenderness, juiciness, and flavor. The most common grades of meat are prime and choice.

Foods are marked using three categories: nutrition information per serving — calories, protein, carbohydrates, cholesterol, fat, and sodium; percentage of U.S. recommended daily allowances of these items plus vitamins and minerals; and the ingredients. It is important to know the size of a serving if you are interested in watching your weight or must eat carefully because of medical conditions such as diabetes or heart problems. Many products also have directions for preparation and suggestions for use.

Warnings
Although an increasing effort is being made to protect the buyer, there are still, unfortunately, a number of "shortcuts" or hidden factors that one needs to watch out for — sizes and weights, for example. A bottle that looks like a quart (or liter) does not necessarily contain that amount. In small print on the label, it may say "contains 24 fluid ounces" (a quart is 32 ounces). Packages meant to look like one pound may actually contain only 14 or 11 or 9 ounces worth of food. By law, weight must be printed on all food packages, under "net contents," so one can always check this, but too many of us do not take the time and trouble. Often the print is very small — on purpose!

Don't be overly concerned about these matters. You will gradually learn by experience and by trial and error, but you can shorten your learning time if you read labels and compare as you shop. You will soon find the foods your family likes and which brands are best for you. Such care and study can save you a considerable amount of money on your food bills. The U.S. Department of Agriculture claims that those who watch carefully and who follow the weekly specials offered in all supermarkets can save about 6 percent per week.

If you have clipped a discount coupon from the newspaper and you find the same item on sale in the store, you save even more. And some supermarkets offer "double coupon" savings, meaning you save twice the amount noted on the coupon.

Any large bookstore will have a selection of books that are helpful as guides to shopping.