(ARA) – It’s no secret that Americans are busy, and getting together for dinner often seems like an extraordinary task. As food prices continue to increase, families are not only taking hits to their household budgets, they are experiencing long work hours, conflicting schedules and not finding enough time to cook a meal and have dinner together.
A June 2008 survey of more than 1,000 Americans conducted by eNation found that those responsible for planning meals usually spend an average of 30 minutes per day shopping for and preparing those meals, …

(ARA) – Providing a family with nutritious, well-balanced meals is hard enough for busy consumers, but in today’s changing economy, affordability is also a factor. While it may seem like the cost of everything from gas to groceries is on the rise, the good news is that you can feed your entire family organic and natural foods at a lower cost without having to make an extra trip to a specialty health food store. Now you can find a variety of organic and natural products at your local supermarket, for …

(ARA) – Think it’s tough managing your grocery budget and making the most of family mealtime? Meet Kathryn Sansone, a St. Louis mother of 10 who, along with her husband, puts dinner on the table six nights a week. If anyone knows the value of stretching the dinner table dollar, it’s the woman who sets a table for 12 almost every night of the week.
“Cooking for my family is not just about feeding them — it’s another way my husband and I express love to our kids,” says Sansone. “We’ve …

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. …

As gas prices plummet, retailers are discounting everything from clothes to shoes to lure shoppers in stores. So, why aren’t grocery prices headed south, too?
In the most recent report by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, food prices in the Boston area in November were up 7 percent from a year earlier. During the same period, gas prices, which had a huge run-up, declined 28 percent.
The reason? High fuel prices – which factor in at every level from farmers growing food to trucks transporting it – was but one component …