How to make food last longer to save money

HOUSTON - With grocery prices up 2.6% since March and family budgets shrinking, getting the most out of the food you buy is more important than ever.

The price of eggs is up 16% and meats are up 3%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

And how often do your fruits and veggies go bad before you eat them?

We asked Roberta Anding, a registered dietician with Corporate Programs at Baylor College of Medicine, for ways to preserve your foods and cut your grocery costs.

"Save your eggs for things that are indespensible, like an omlette or scrambled eggs in the morning.  But when you're baking, there are a lot of substitutes that quite honeslty don't fly off the grocery store shelf," said Anding.

"You could use half a cup of plain yogurt for an egg, you can use a half a mashed banana for an egg, you can use a quarter of a cup of applesauce for an egg."

Anding suggests doing what she calls "Freeze it Friday."

"In my refrigerator, I had a little bit of ground turkey in beans, not enough for a meal, clearly not enough for a meal, but when I take it out of the freezer, I can extend it with a can of beans," she showed us.
Not only can you buy frozen or canned fruits and vegetables, you can freeze them as well.

"You label it and certainly you can take that out and with some yogurt, you can blend that up and have a breakfast smoothie." she said, holding a ziplock bag full of mango.

And she says bring caseroles back.  She says making caseroles can feed a whole family for just a few dollars.

"You can literally take all those bits of vegetables, little bit of maybe turkey meat or a half a chicken breast that was left over, dice it up, combine it with rice, season it well, and then feed a family of six, for maybe somewhere in the range of a caserole costing $4 to $5," said Anding.

To save money on meat and eggs, she points out beans are a very inexpensive form of protein.

She also suggests cracking eggs, mixing them up, and freezing them in ice cube trays for later use.  She says don't freeze them in the shell.