Because I lived in Austin, Texas and near Lebanon-Hanover, New Hampshire I was used to shopping in Central Market, Whole Foods and the Co-op. I purchased excellent quality foods that were good value for the dollar for the most part. And I splurged as needed.

I started commuting to Shreveport, Louisiana and had to find a local grocery store to feed me. I began my reconnaissance of the local grocery stores.

Store A is a smallish grocery store conveniently located ¾ mile from my house and serves a mixed socio-economic neighborhood of historic homes. No matter what I would go in there for all I ever come out with was a can of Folger’s and a bag of dog food.

This store specializes in fat, starch, sugar, alcohol and over-priced fresh orange. I was going to starve to death shopping here.

Next I test drove Store B which is 4 miles from my house. This is a grocery store for what was the Shreveport everyman. I began my exploration of the store and was immediately disappointed. There was no variety, no organic foods, no bulk, no nothing. I was so damn depressed. I consulted some locals and they directed me to Store C.

Store C is located 3 miles from my house and serves a higher end socio-economic group. In this neighborhood the houses are beautifully massive and the squadrons of giant flying cockroaches are called water bugs.

I made my trek to Store C to see if this grocery store was going to meet my needs. It has fruits and vegetables, some imported items, organic meat and vegetables and my staples. There is produce that I would consider a staple in Austin that is 3 times the price in Store C so I do without. But still out of the three, Store C was the best suited to my needs.

So you would think the post would stop there:

• Explore your grocery store options
• Pick the grocery store best suited to you
• The End

I thought that was the end too. But a friend, who lives 4 blocks from Store C, told me she was shopping in Store B. I was floored as I had seen what was in her fridge and it looked nothing like what I had seen at Store B.

So BACK I went to Store B. It was fabulous. They had been undergoing renovations for months. I walked into a beautiful produce section immediately hitting a wall of organics that were only pennies more expensive than the regular produce.

Green peppers were $0.99 each at Stores A and C, ORGANIC green peppers were $0.99 each at Store B. I try to stay away from the bakery but they had fresh baked cheese biscuits 3 for $1.00.

The prices are cheaper than Store C, the quality and selection are better than Store A. I was so happy I damn near burst into tears.

I now firmly believe that the choice of grocery store should be revisited annually.

The grocery chain marketing departments are constantly reassessing: what should be sold at each store, improvements and renovations, the pricing strategies, specials, etc. You never know when something is turning to your advantage in a different store.

According to the retail firm Precima, 48 percent of people who said they were saving money on gas are now spending that same money on groceries.

At the P & G IGA Market in Killbuck the store’s customer base is declining even as people purchase more groceries.

Manager Larry Frenette blames the larger national chains for declining sales at local grocers.

“The big box stores have hurt the smaller retailer. That’s been going on for the last few years,” Frenette said.

But the reason customers are turning to the big box store is the belief they can get a better deal and save a few dollars, Frenette said.

Sales may be plunging in everything from cars to clothing, but people still need to eat. And that means grocery stores are a relative bright spot in this recession.

They’re helped by customers who have cut back on dining out and are doing more in the kitchen. Yet even supermarkets aren’t immune to the economy as bargain-minded consumers switch stores, opt for cheaper products and even change how they pay–with some shoppers turning to gift cards.

In general, sales at supermarkets are flat, said Jeff Green of Mill Valley-based Jeff Green Partners, a retail feasibility consultant.

“But in these retail times, flat is the new up,” he said. “Flat is great.”

Safeway Inc., which owns Vons, reported a 3.9% increase in sales during the third quarter of 2008, compared with the same period a year earlier. Many other grocery stores like Save Mart are privately owned and do not report their sales.

In contrast, other retailers reported grim tidings. For instance, third-quarter sales at Home Depot fell 6%, General Motors Corp.’s sales dropped 11% and Gottschalks fell 13%.

But as more people buy Web-enabled cell phones, and as technology for browsing the Web on the go improves, coupons via cell phone may be the next big thing.

Department stores such as Sears and fast food chains such as Hardee’s already send coupons via cell phone, and now Kroger has become the first major grocery chain to hop on board.

Its new program, begun in December, lets shoppers virtually clip coupons for products such as General Mills cereal and Palmolive using their cell phones. The virtual coupons are linked to their Kroger Plus loyalty cards, and the discount is automatically deducted when the shopper buys the qualifying item and scans a Kroger card at checkout.

The numbers are in for 2008 and they look good for the seed industry. They look even better for folks who want to grow vegetables from seed and save money in 2009.

By some estimates, garden seed, especially vegetable seed sales, were up by anywhere from 40 percent to well over 100 percent compared with recent years. In fact, some industry watchdog organizations suggest that seed companies in North America and much of Europe experienced their best year ever in 2008. We’re talking record seed sales … AND they project another record for 2009.

So, what is the fuss all about?

Easy, people are looking for a safer food supply, while adapting to a tighter economic outlook. If you have never grown a vegetable garden, or started your own garden plants, there’s still plenty of time to save money in 2009 by growing your vegetables from seed. If you are like me, you will be amazed, and thrilled, by all the different varieties of vegetable species from which to choose. If you are looking for that little early-maturing tomato called Bison from your youth, you can find seed and save money by growing your own in 2009.

If you want to lose those extra pounds and save money this year, put cooking at home at the top of your New Year’s resolutions list.

Some may say, “I don’t know how.” Others may say, “I don’t have time” or find the convenience of grabbing a hot, restaurant-made meal difficult to let go.

But starting small and cooking once or twice a week will be worth the effort for your wallet and waistline.

A recent article on msn.com cites frequently eating meals at restaurants as one of the biggest causes of obesity in the United States. Preparing more meals at home lets us control portion size and the amount of fat and calories we put into dishes, not to mention the absence of a tempting basket of bread sticks or chips and salsa.

Home cooking also helps keep cash in our pockets. Sometimes it is cheaper to run out and grab a quick bite for yourself, but if you have a family, friends or roommates to feed, it is definitely cheaper to stay in and cook, says cookbook author and cooking instructor Diane Phillips.

Seed seller W. Atlee Burpee & Co. conducted a cost analysis to point out how much money consumers save by growing some of their own vegetables in landscape beds, community gardens or large containers.

“A hundred dollars in seeds will produce $2,500 in groceries,” says George Ball, Burpee chairman. “That’s $2,400 a family can save in five months.”

This month the company introduces the Money Garden packet, which contains six seed packets of easy-to-grow vegetable varieties. The special $10 offer, available only online, is capable of producing $650 worth of groceries, says the company.

Family Dollar and Supervalu both reported quarterly results today and they seem to highlight the shift in where people are shopping.

Family Dollar saw an 8 percent increase in sales, driven in part by food. The company also raised its forecast for full-year earnings.

Meanwhile grocery store operator Supervalu had flat sales and cut its earnings forecast for the full year.

As the economy remains mired in a recession, people have been shopping places where they can save money. Wal-Mart has been the big winner, but Family Dollar says they are getting a share of that business, too.

“As more families face financial challenges in this environment, they are relying on Family Dollar for more of their everyday needs,” Chairman and CEO Howard Levine said in a statement.

With obesity rates soaring, food costs climbing, and family food budgets shrinking, this easy-to-use guide is hitting stores just in time to put shoppers back in control of their health, their wallets, and their waistlines. Available nationwide in stores today, this groundbreaking book reveals hundreds of easy food swaps that can save readers thousands of unwanted calories – without dieting!

What many Americans don’t know is that food marketers have altered the reality of the weekly trip to the supermarket, making it impossible for shoppers to truly see where the battle lines fall in the fight against fat. The food industry spends $30 billion a year on advertising–nearly half of it pitching convenience foods, candy, soda and dessert. Now more than ever, Americans need help deciphering misleading food labels and dubious health claims, as the food we consume today is considerably different from the food that we ate 20 or 30 years ago. And the reasons are as simple as they are sneaky:

– We’ve added extra calories to traditional foods. Today, high-fructose corn syrup is in an unbelievable array of foods, from breakfast cereals to bread, from ketchup to iced tea.
– We’ve been trained to supersize it. The problem is the way we look at food–we should be looking at cutting down calories, not adding them.
– Our fruits and vegetables aren’t as healthy as they once were. Six out of 13 nutrients showed major declines between 1950 and 1999: protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin and Vitamin C.
– We’re drinking more calories than ever. We consume 450 calories a day from beverage, nearly twice as many as 30 years ago, which amount to an extra 23 pounds a year!
– We don’t know what’s in our food. There are now more than 3,000 ingredients on the FDA’s list of “safe food” additives, and any one of them could end up on your plate.

All of these disturbing trends in our food supply are a lot to chew on–but chew on them we do, often because we feel we have no choice. But now you can make the right choices with EAT THIS, NOT THAT! SUPERMARKET SURVIVAL GUIDE.

Packed with smart shopping strategies and savvy food-buying tips, readers will also learn to:

– Pick Produce: From avocados to zucchini, know when produce is ripe, when it’s in season, what nutrients it contains, and how to store it.
– Make Sense of Meat: Understand the healthiest protein options in the store and decode USDA labeling and grades.
– Understand Organic: When it comes to pesticide contamination, not all fruits and vegetables are created equal. Learn when to pay extra for the organic label.
– Make Smart Swaps: By choosing Breyer’s Mint Chocolate Chip over Haagen-Dazs Mint Chip, you’ll save nearly 7 pounds this year! Learn hundreds of other simple changes to cut calories fast.
– Make Budget-Friendly Food Plans: Find out the best day of the week to shop, then maximize a week’s worth of groceries with food plans and healthy, great-tasting recipes.

Investigative and compelling, EAT THIS NOT THAT! SUPERMARKET SURVIVAL GUIDE will show readers how to avoid nutritional pitfalls lurking in every aisle while helping them lose weight, save cash, and make the right food choices every time.

DAVID ZINCZENKO, SVP/Editor-in-Chief of Men’s Health magazine, is the author of New York Times bestsellers The Abs Diet and The Abs Diet for Women. Once an overweight child, Zinczenko has become one of the nation’s leading experts on health and fitness. He is a regular contributor to the Today show and has appeared on Oprah, Good Morning America, Primetime Live, 20/20, The Rachael Ray Show, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

MATT GOULDING is the food and nutrition editor of Men’s Health. He has cooked and eaten his way around the world, touching down in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he divides most of his time between keyboard and stovetop.