The Consumer Game

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Shop for Food!

    Challenge:

    Create a weekly food plan that takes into consideration your food budget, a balance of food groups, and family likes and dislikes. This will involve calculating prices of food, comparing items from different stores, and taking advantage of any applicable coupons and sales.

    Getting Organized:

    STEP 1-

Look at your budget. How much have you allocated for food each month? Divide this by 4 to get the amount you can spend on food in a week's time.

Take stock of your family's eating habits and nutritional requirements. Create a sample 7-day menu. (You can check out the Tips for Healthy Thrifty Meals web page for ideas and a review of the basic food groups.)

Make a list of needed items. From this list of food items estimate how much of each you will need for the week (1 quart vs.1 half gallon milk or 1/4 lb. vs. 1/2 lb. hamburger, for example). Don't forget to add bathroom and personal grooming supplies such as toilet paper and toothpaste to your final shopping list.

     Gathering Information:

    STEP 2- Figure out which store would generally give you the best prices. There are many ways to make this decision:

    Look at the latest grocery ads and coupon books in the newspaper or weekly mailer to evaluate prices and savings at the various stores.

    Pick two or three items to compare at a couple of stores. Phone the stores to gather price comparisons and make your decision based on the lowest prices. * Caution: some supermarkets use "loss leaders"( items priced at cost or less than cost) to get you into their stores while keeping most other items priced higher than at competing stores. Be careful not to choose one of these items.

    Sorting and Analyzing:

    STEP 3- Go to the store of your choosing with your list. Before you go, turn your shopping list into a table where you can record the price for each item. Also, find at least 3 coupons you can use to save on needed items. While you shop, watch for opportunities to save money by choosing house or generic brands rather than buying national brands. Make a note of any such savings. 

    Creating the Final Answer:

    STEP 4- After your "shopping" trip, take your list and add the totals to see if you stayed within your budget. If you did not, think of several ways to alter your list in order to meet your budget. Find 5 to 10 items which you could either live without or look for less costly items to use as substitutes. Also consider making items from "scratch" instead of purchasing pre-packaged foods

    Evaluation:

     STEP 5-Turn in the following documents to your teacher to have them signed off:

  1. Your grocery list, complete with totals and comparisons from your shopping trip.
  2. Sample 7-day menu for your "family". Be ready to show how it meets average daily requirements from the basic food groups.
  3. A summary and analysis of what you learned from this experience. How much did you save using coupons? How much did you save using house brands? What did you learn that was new to you from this experience? What would you do differently? How would no children change your food choices? How would having 2 more children than at present (with the same budget constraints) change your shopping habits?

 

    Be sure to revisit your monthly budget and adjust the monthly amount estimated for groceries.

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