If the troubled economy makes saving money more socially acceptable, author Cheryl Carson's tips on buying groceries are destined to make her very popular. Carson spoke at the Sunstone Symposium on Wed., Aug. 12 at the Sheraton Salt Lake City Hotel.

Realizing that cooking from scratch costs a tenth of what it costs to eat out is pretty straightforward. She recommends making homemade soup because it is much better tasting and less expensive than canned soup.

Need to feed a large family? Find out what they don't like and buy lots of it.

That last tip was a joke.

Some of Carson's tips should be obvious. Look for a store where things are less expensive, for example. Avoid "luxury shopping" like buying ready-made foods, pre-cooked items, snack foods, junk foods, pre-packed vegetables, grocery store cakes, deli-platters and the like. "If you want to get out of debt quickly, you won't even consider that stuff," she said.



How does Carson feel about coupons? "I don't even bother with coupons. I found in my experience that it's usually for stuff that is so expensive that I wouldn't buy it anyway and even with a coupon it's still way more expensive," Carson said. "Who do they think they are kidding?"

Bargain shopping is a key to Carson's method. "The first strategy is you have to educate yourself so you can recognize what a bargain IS," she said.

Carson buys large amounts of inexpensive items. When that item starts to get low, she starts to focus on the stores to see if she can find the best deal. When she was getting low on raisins she saw them for $2.50 per pound at one store, $1.40 at another and finally bought 20 pounds of raisins for 99 cents. She put them in bags in the freezer.

Another advantage of buying a lot of an item at a low price is that it makes it possible to wait for sales.

Conventional advice to save money on groceries is to carefully plan meals and then quickly buy only the things needed at the store. "That is so funny because that is the very opposite of what you should do to save money," Carson said. She said you buy the food at its lowest price and then plan the meals around the food.

When Carson bought a case of broccoli on sale for $2, for example, she planned her meals around that item: Steamed broccoli, fresh broccoli with dip, stir-fried brocoli, cream of brocoli soup, chicken broccoli casserole and broccoli salad.

"Do we buy on impulse?" Carson said. "Absolutely, if we come across a bargain. If it is unbelievable I do buy on impulse and I do buy in bulk."

To know if it is a true bargain you have to look at its price, how long it will keep and how fast you can use it. "Isn't this fun?" she said. "It's really quite a game. It's more intricate and detailed than Monopoly or anything like that."

Expiration dates drive Carson crazy.

Milk won't go bad, according to Carson, for ten days after the expiration date. Other items are good for much longer past the expiration date. "How long something will keep is not determined by its expiration date. I don't know why we seem to think that an expiration date is so sacred," she said. "It may be a federal regulation, but I think they are used by the food manufacturers so you'll throw out perfectly good stuff and buy more."

Carson brought a case of pineapple yogurt to a family gathering in Oregon. She had bought the whole case for only 99 cents because it was expired. "We know it lasts for weeks and months after that," she said. "Every morning we mixed it up with fresh fruit. . . . It was so delicious."

She made the mistake of mentioning that it was expired. "There was this teenaged girl. She stopped chewing in mid bite. And she just had this look of horror on her face."

Stale bread? Make croutons.

Cottage cheese gone sour? "Put it in a strainer and rinse it so only the curds are left. It's only the other stuff that goes bad. And those curds, we use in lasagna," Carson said. "Remember the rule. We don't let anything go to waste."

Carson believes in this so much, she even made up her own Article of Faith: "We believe in being prudent, industrious, frugal and wise in delaying gratification, paying as we go and avoiding unnecessary debt."

Looking for ways to save money is popular in economically challenging times. Carson believes that this is part of Mormonism in any time. Whether using old cottage cheese curds in lasagna is in line with the Word of Wisdom, however, is a personal decision.

E-mail: mdegroote@desnews.com