The Price Makes Cents

Part of eating right is eating smart. Most families have a limited grocery budget, to account for how much money they should be spending on food. But how do you know you're spending smart?

There are two factors to consider when purchasing food on a budget. One is the overall price of the food, and the other is the price per serving of the food item.

Most grocery store tags will tell you the price per serving (sometimes called the "per unit") of a grocery item. You may have to hunt to find this information on the price tag. If you can't find this information, you'll have to look at the price of the item and the servings contained in each item, and do the math yourself (or use a pocket calculator.) Be sure to compare items, to find out which brand and size has the lowest cost per serving.

It's generally more affordable to buy food in larger quantities at a time, especially if you know you can use all of the food, or you can freeze it and save it for later. However, before making the commitment to buy more than you can use right away, check the cost-per-unit and see if it's really worth the deal.

Calculating Cost Per Serving

Divide the total cost of the product by the amount of servings inside to find the cost per serving.

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