According the U.S. Department of Labor, food costs have been rising an average of 5 percent per year. Low-calorie food options also have increased about 19.5 cents per year, according to a report by the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
An easy way to eat healthy and keep grocery costs down is to focus on vegetables and fruits, said Robert Murray, a faculty member at the Ohio State University College of Medicine.
Buying frozen or canned food can save money. And, since preservation methods have improved dramatically, the nutritional quality of …

Restaurants are on a tighter budget than almost any household. If cooks don’t precisely control food costs, they’ll be left without a penny of profit at the end of the day. At restaurants where ingredients are expensive, making the bottom line work is even more difficult but also even more important. Whether they learn it in culinary school or on the job, restaurant cooks have many tricks that can help you save money without sacrificing quality.
Americans have become used to eating the more tender and more expensive cuts of meat. …

NutriSystem Helps Consumers Who Resolve to Lose Weight, Save Money and Eat Healthy in the New Year
HORSHAM, PA–(Marketwire – December 31, 2008) – Forbes.com finds NutriSystem Inc. to be the lowest priced weight loss program as reported in their 12-23-08, “How Expensive Is Your Diet?” story. The article compared the first week costs of seven popular weight loss programs and stated that, “At $74 for women and $82 for men, NutriSystem was the cheapest option…” Several of the other programs were hundreds of dollars more expensive. For …

There will be little celebration for champagne makers this year.
After last year’s strong 4% sales gain, the biggest since the buying frenzy in 1999 to ring in the new millennium, champagne makers are feeling the impact of the sour economy from $5 sparkling wines to $100 bottles of champagne.
“I don’t have a bright outlook for champagne this year,” says Frank Walters, research director for Impact, which expects the category to be down 1% to 4%, from about 900 million glasses sold in 2007.
“Luxury items are getting hurt, people are looking …

The Wells Fargo Consumer Price Index, released Tuesday, showed that overall, nonseasonally adjusted prices fell 2.6 percent in November. The Utah decrease outpaced the national nonseasonally adjusted decline of 1.9 percent and the 1.7 percent decline after seasonal adjustment. The 1.7 percent decrease was the largest amount on record going back 61 years, as energy costs posted nearly double the decline of the previous month.
Transportation costs led the way in Utah, falling 13.4 percent in November, reflective of gasoline prices. Nationally, gasoline prices fell 9.9 percent.
Transportation accounts for 15.7 percent …