And there is definitely a trend to eating more at home. I guess some of them are going to have to learn how to cook now. I know that I went out for dinner for the first time in months this weekend and thank heavens I was being treated (thanks Paula) because I just can’t rationalize spending $60.00 for dinner anymore.

Check out the statistics below:

Coupon use is up 23 percent for the first half of 2009, according to Inmar CMS, a company that manages coupon promotions for packaged-goods manufacturers. The rise appears to be tied to the bad economy, with coupon use seeing double-digit growth since October 2008. Food was the biggest beneficiary, with food coupon redemptions up 28 percent in the first half of 2009. But food marketers are also driving the increase, putting out 29 percent more coupons in the first half of 2009, compared with 13 percent more coupons from nonfood manufacturers.

As my mother used to say as me, my sister, brother and father would call out the correct answer to some obscure Jeopardy question, “Why do you people know this?” Because it is out there and we just love to know useless facts.

If you like trivia here is more at the Daily Commercial.

Here’ are a few interesting facts on how coupons became coupons:

– In 1894, Atlanta businessman and co-owner of Coca Cola, Asa Candler, used handwritten tickets for a free glass of Coca Cola to help market his new soft drink. Within one decade Coca Cola was in every state and within two decades one in every nine Americans had received a free Coca Cola soft drink.

– One year later, grocer C.W. Post began using coupons to help sell groceries. His coupon gave people a one cent discount on his new breakfast cereal, Grape Nuts.

– By the 1940s chain supermarkets, which were popping up all over the country, continued the tradition of using coupons that the smaller neighborhood grocery stores had developed.

– In 1957, The Nielson Coupon Clearing House was established devoted entirely to coupon redemption.

– Half of all American households were clipping coupons by 1965.

– The first National Coupon Month was in 1998. In 2000, the program expanded to help parents teach children about the importance of saving money.

That is one drawback – you can get used to a certain product and they stop carrying it. For months I was eating red licorice covered in dark chocolate from Australia. I miss that stuff.

Folgers Coffee

Right now Big Lots is selling Folgers coffee so that’s what I am drinking. I paid $3.00 per 12 ounces. I can pay $5.25 in the grocery for Folgers or get it online at Amazon for $3.76 each if I buy 6. That gave me savings of $0.76 to $2.25 per tub depending on where I was buying it and how many I was buying.

Big Lots also had stuffed green olives for sale. Olives are one of my favorites but I don’t want to pay $7.36 per pound. I got these olives I had never heard of for $3.00 per 13 ounces. My Big Lots’ olives work out to $3.69 per pound for a savings of $2.98 per bottle.

Stuffed Olives

And finally the score of the day. ORGANIC Muir Glen Pasta Sauce (25.5 oz) was on sale for $1.30 per bottle. The sauce retails for $5.19 and discounts to $3.89 so I saved $2.59 to $3.89.

I bought 3 of each item and spent $21.90. I saved $18.99 at the low end and $27.36 at the high end on these products. Which is 44 to 54 percent of retail prices. Not bad.

Muir Glen Pasta Sauce

I notice that Big Lots carries brands from a fair number of countries. It is always a treat when I find something from home or my travels. If I find a brand I don’t recognize I may only buy one as a tester. There is nothing worse than buying 6 of something you don’t like.

I also check out their kitchenware department every time I am there. Over time I have collected some really useful tools.  I have gotten some great Calphalon kitchen utensils for $2.00 and $3.00 that retail for $7 to $15.

Some things to remember when buying food at Big Lots:

1. Check expiration date of products
2. Only buy as much as you can use before the expiration date
3. Only buy one of an item to test if you are unsure
4. Have a price book so you can recognize a deal
5. Check end caps for really good deals
6. Food will be progressively marked down
7. Don’t buy food you won’t eat just because it is on sale
8. Buy food you have never eaten just because it is on sale

A potato chip (American English chips, British English crisps) is a thin slice of potato deep fried or baked until crispy depending on the company it originated from. Potato chips serve as an appetizer, side dish, or snack. Commercial varieties are packaged for sale, usually in bags. The simplest chips of this kind are just cooked and salted, but manufacturers can add a wide variety of flavoring (mostly made using herbs, spices, cheese, artificial additives or MSG). Chips are an important part of the snack food market in English-speaking countries and many other Western nations.

Back in the day when I was a starch-eating-type-of-girl I loved potato chips. Whenever I went grocery shopping I would usually pick up a bag of salt and vinegar or sour cream and onion. Occasionally, as a treat, I would buy ketchup chips.

I would get the normal grocery-store-sized-bag. Which, as you know, is like buying in bulk for a single person. But it was cheaper than getting individual potato chip bags. So I was saving money – yeah, me.

The problem was once I opened up that bag of chips I was obligated to eat them and fast. Otherwise they would go stale and I would waste money. So instead of wasting my hard earned dollars I was eating 16 servings of potato chips in 4 days. That is a lot of potato chip calories. Especially considering I didn’t slow down eating anything else.

I rarely eat potato chips these days so naturally now is the time I finally find the solution to the stale potato chip dilemma. I was speaking with an old friend and she told me to do the following:

After opening your bag and have a serving of potato chips. Close up the bag and toss the bag into a Ziploc bag and put that bag into your freezer. When you want a handful of chips you grab them from the freezer and they defrost in a minute or so. And the amazing thing is the frozen chips taste even better than the unfrozen serving of potato chips.

I asked her how long chips would stay fresh in the freezer and she didn’t have a clue. So when in doubt I always say 6 weeks. I may be wrong but it keeps my freezer rotating.

I wandered over to the Snack Food Association website (you just knew there had to be one) and read their 2009 State of the Industry Report that they had posted. According to the report:

A changing definition of affordability has brought about significant changes in shopper rituals.

· One quarter of consumers have actually reduced snacking frequency.
· Again, stretching products surfaces, with one-third of consumers trying to make their snack purchases last longer.
· And, about one-half of shoppers are spending less on snacks and/or purchasing whatever is on sale rather than their preferred brands.

I am definitely a consumer that has reduced my snacking food to next to nothing. And I have become obsessed with food waste. I shop at Big Lots so I am buying whatever was on sale in another country. Love me some chocolate covered licorice from Australia.

So try it. Freeze your potato chips and see if they really do last longer and taste better than fresh out of the bag.

Paying the real price
One of Food, Inc.’s most frustrating scenes follows a family of four to the produce section of the supermarket. Says the mother: “Sometimes you look at a vegetable and say, ‘Okay, well, we can get two hamburgers for the same amount of price.’ ”

As Pollan points out in the film, that’s no accident. “Bad calories” are cheaper because “those are the ones we’re heavily subsidizing” via farm policies that favor crops like corn and soy. It’s no accident either that the biggest predictor of obesity is income level. Or that diabetes is an epidemic.

“You’re not seeing the real price tag when you go to the supermarket,” says Kenner, who points out that an uninsured person with diabetes “could be paying $1000 a month for medicine. Is that ‘cheaper’ food?…”

One of the many reasons I eat as healthily as possible and stay fit is the high cost of getting sick. I just can’t afford to get sick in this country.

Have you ever wondered how much each additional pound of weight you carry over your ideal weight costs you? There must be figures somewhere but…

It cost you time and money to accumulate that extra pound. Now you have to lug it around and that costs you extra physical effort. That pound will eventually get sick and you will have to take it to the doctor, which costs money. The doctor is going to send that pound to the pharmacy to get some medicine that costs you more money. Then your health insurance company either drops you or raises your premiums.

I think it would be interesting if food companies had to also put on their labels what their food was additionally going to cost you in ill-health and medical costs down the road. I think a lot more vegetables would be sold.