Can Food Budgets Help our Waistlines?

Memorial Day weekend marked the beginning of the warm summer barbeque season ahead. But this season we all have another food challenge ahead – rising food costs.  According to the Mercury News "food inflation is the highest in almost two decades." As consumers this may make us think twice about buying all those empty calorie foods that most of us don’t really need anyway.

There's a few ways of cutting costs. Even though cheaper cuts of meat may cost less, they certainly won't cut down your waistline with all the extra fat content. You can still stick to chicken breasts, ground sirloin, or lean turkey burgers but watch portion sizes. Three to four ounces is plenty of protein for most people (that's about the size of a deck of cards) not the typical six ounce serving. And, do we need all the chips, dips, sodas, and three desserts every time we are on a picnic? How about iced herbal teas, fresh popcorn, homemade bean dishes, and fresh fruit instead? What may be good for your budget may also be good for your waistline.