Grocery Standards

Found this on a friends blog. Don't want to add unwanted traffic to her blog, so I copy and pasted it here. I thought this was good to know. Here it is:

I have had some interesting suggestions via email. I will address those suggestions later. Here are a few standards that should never be broken (i.e. you should never spend more than this amount) if you want to avoid being "ripped off".

• NEVER spend more than $1.00 per pound on apples
• NEVER spend more than $.60 per pound on bananas
• NEVER spend more than $1.25 per pound on strawberries
• NEVER spend more than $.60 per pound on oranges
• NEVER spend more than $1.00 per pound on pears
• NEVER spend more than $1.00 per pound on grapes
• NEVER spend more than $1.00 per pound on carrots
• NEVER spend more than $.50 on a green pepper
• NEVER spend more than $1.50 per every 5-lbs. of potatoes
• NEVER spend more than $1.00 per pound on tomatoes
• NEVER purchase lettuce (I'm talking sweet baby lettuce, red lettuce, etc....the dark green stuff) for more than $1.50 regardless of whether it's a head of lettuce or a package
• NEVER spend more than $.90 on a package of frozen vegetables. (My favorite tasting frozen vegetables are the Steamfresh variety, and I can typically find a good coupon to use when they go on sale.)
• NEVER spend more than $.50 per can of vegetables

PLEASE NOTE: You have to be willing to wait for sales and purchase what is on sale. However, some grocery standards have to be adjusted. Within the last year, bananas have doubled in price, so that standard had to go from $.30 to $.60 because nobody puts them on sale for $.30 or less anymore. Be patient...the sales will come, and then you'll be glad you waited!

Grocery standards for Once in a Whiles:

Once in a whiles are foods that I will only buy every now and then because they are, in my opinion, highly processed and otherwise "bad-for-you" foods. However, they do please the taste buds, so here are the prices for my once in a whiles.

• Never spend more than $1.70 per box (10 pouches/box) of fruit snacks
• Never spend more than $1.70 on any bag of chips, Cheetos, etc.
• Never spend more than $2.00 on a box of granola bars (I know they have oats, but have you ever read the ingredients???)
• Never spend more than $2.00 per half gallon of ice cream
• Never spend more than $2.00 on a bag of chocolate chips
• Never spend more than $.50 on Jell-o instant pudding, or regular Jell-o for that matter
• Never spend more than $.15 on Ramen noodles
• Never spend more than $.50 on Kraft brand Mac'n'Cheese
• Never spend more than $.75 on a package of hot dogs
• Never spend more than $1.00 on any single serving frozen meal

I'm sure there are more once in a whiles that I have missed. In case there's something you look for that's not included in my list, there's a general rule of thumb that I use. For example, say I would like to purchase a box of Lucky Charms. I start mentally tracking the sale prices for this cereal. This process takes about three months. Then, say I notice that Lucky Charms goes on sale about once every three weeks or so, but the sale prices are all different. Pick the lowest sale price, and set that as your standard for that product. Typically, packaged/processed foods will go on a really good sale about once every three months.