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Needafoolproofwayto cut your food/grocery ex- penses by 25 percent this month? An- nounce to your family that there will be a complete ban on the consump- tion of food during the first week of every month. There. That should do it! Twenty-five percent right off the top. What?! Don't think you can pull that off? Me nei- ther, but not to worry. Here are some less painful — and I hope a bit more realistic — ways to get a handle on your food ex- penses. Make out your shopping list at home when you are hungry. You will be more creative and thorough. Never shop when hun- gry. You will be compelled to buy everything in site regardless of what's on your list. Leave the kids home. You will stick to your shopping list with much less frustration and stress if you fly solo. Don't shop at conve- nience or specialty stores. You won't find many bar- gains there. Enlist a kid. When you need to make milk and produce runs between your regular major shop- ping trips, make a precise list and engage the ser- vices of an errand run- ner (such as a responsible child). Adding a pinch of salt to milk will make it last lon- ger because it will remain fresher longer. Salt retards the growth of bacteria that makes milk turn sour. Avoid leftovers. Your good intentions to make enough for lunch tomor- row will more than likely ensure you growing biol- ogy specimens in the back of the fridge. prepare just what you will consume at one meal. (Exception: If you prepare an entire ex- tra casserole to freeze for some later date, I don't consider that leftovers; that's a great idea.) Stretch fruit juice. Mix 50/50 with generic brand club soda or seltzer. Stretch concentrated fruit juice. Always add one can of water more than in- structions state. You will be pleasantly surprised when you detect little dif- ference if any. Drink water. Your doc- tor will love you and so will your food bill. Keep a pitcher of chilled wa- ter in the fridge. Rave about its wonderful qual- ities to your young chil- dren. They'll think it's a treat if you are convincing enough. Eliminate choices at meals. Stick to your plan and let your family know that from now on there will be only two choices: take it or leave it. Come up with creative menu titles for what other- wise might be considered plain and boring: Baked Potato Bar; Chef Salad Night; Bits and Pieces (my kids favorite meal when they were little, thanks to Jean Frazier, the world's most loving and creative babysitter): any combina- tion of things in the fridge cut up to bite-size, cleverly arranged on a plate and ceremoniously sprinkled with seasoned salt. Smor- gasbord Night (a glori- ous array of this and that. You know ... leftovers that you couldn't even think of throwing away); Hors d'oeuvres and Mocktails. You get the idea. Learn to make home- made snacks. Popcorn is easy to make and is usu- ally inexpensive if you buy the kernels and pop it yourself from scratch. Buy in bulk. This will cut down your trips to the grocery and will often save as much as 50 percent of the unit cost. Reorganize your kitchen and pantry. Find places outside of the kitchen to store dry and canned goods. Repackage large amounts into small units. Consider generic and store brands. Some ge- neric items are awful, and others are exactly the same product as the name brand. Do some experi- menting, especially if your store offers "satisfaction guaranteed!" If you don't like it, they may let you ex- change. Shop the perimeter of supermarket. This is where you will typically find the produce, meat and dairy. The center aisles are the prepackaged and preprocessed high-priced items, a.k.a. the danger zone. Keep a price book. Start keeping a notebook that lists the prices of regularly purchased items at various stores. Keep it with you so that as you see specials or ads, you'll be able to deter- mine whether it is really a bargain or not. Avoid shopping on the first day or two of the month. Some stores have been known to raise their prices during the time Welfare and Social Secu- rity checks come out. Shop midweek. Accord- ing to studies, on Wednes- days, most supermarkets reduce prices on food that is about to expire. This is also the day that the ma- jority of stores start their new sales. Shop the sales. Check grocery ads for specials, and then base your week's meals on what is on sale. The closer you can stick to buying only what's on sale, the more you'll cut your costs. Odd hours are good. Shop late in the day, and then ask the butcher, bak- ery and produce person if there is anything they will be marking down. You'll be surprised how helpful they can be, and you'll get the best of the sale items. Don't shop when you are exhausted. You will not be as disciplined or ef- fective. Always use powdered milk in baking. If a rec- ipe calls for cream or con- densed milk, use only half the usual amount of wa- ter you would use with the dry milk. Purchase foods when they are in season, espe- cially produce. But buy off- season meats; typically, roasts are sale items dur- ing summer months as steaks tend to be popular, while roasts are not. Buy the sale meats and freeze. If you buy a large piece of meat, cut it into portions for quick thawing later. Weigh all produce, even if it is priced per item. You won't believe the difference in weight of the pre-bagged car- rots, for instance. Even with a weight printed on the bag, the real weight may be quite different (and it can be provided it is not less than printed). Heads of lettuce priced individually can differ in weight by as much as half a pound. Wouldyouliketosend a tip to Mary? You can email her at mary@ everydaycheapskate.com. EVERYDAYCHEAPSKATE 25waystochopyourgrocerybill Mary Hunt RED BLUFF Earth Day came early for Red Bluff Recreation Area last week thanks to California Con- servation Corps (CCC) members from Redding. The Recreation Area, managed by the Men- docino National Forest, was chosen by the Red- ding CCC for its annual Earth Day service project. "Each year we choose a local nonprofit or govern- ment agency to help for Earth Day," said Conserva- tionist II Lynda Burkhal- ter. "In previous years we have cleaned up a ceme- tery, helped out with proj- ects at an animal sanctu- ary and completed a proj- ect for the City of Redding. This project with the For- est Service has been in the works for over a year." Last Thursday, 40 Corps members worked on a va- riety of projects, including painting kiosks, landscap- ing, trail work and remov- ing hazard trees through- out the 488-acre Recre- ation Area. "This is such an amaz- ing event and we are truly fortunate that the Red- ding CCCs chose to help us at Red Bluff Recre- ation Area for Earth Day this year," said Grind- stone Ranger District Im- plementation Officer Lori Cayo, who oversees man- agement of the Recreation Area. "While facilities like this provide great recre- ation opportunities for Red Bluff locals and visi- tors, there is also a lot of work to maintain the facil- ities and provide for visi- tor safety. The work the Redding CCCs completed — including removal of hazard trees and weed- eating to help reduce the risk of wildfire — was re- ally significant for our em- ployees and greatly appre- ciated," Cayo said. Most of the Corps mem- bers are originally from Shasta County. While they get to work on proj- ects throughout the area, for some this was their first trip to the Red Bluff Recreation Area. Addi- tionally, for some of the Corps members, the proj- ect Thursday was their first with the CCC. "This is a great event, not only providing service to the community and rec- ognizing Earth Day, but also for teambuilding. We brought everyone avail- able to this event, includ- ing our newest members," Burkhalter said. "This is their first orientation — they started Monday." The work being com- pleted is a huge help to the Forest Service employees responsible for managing and maintaining the pop- ular Red Bluff Recreation Area. "This has been great," said Ronnie Gregory, the primary recreation man- ager at the site. "These Corps members have done an amazing job and done a lot in a short period of time." Corps members also en- joyed the event. For CCC member Gar- rett Ellis, after nearly two years with the Corps, this is one of his final proj- ects before starting with the Feather River Hotshot Crew on the Plumas Na- tional Forest in May. "It's nice — we're just weed-eating, trying to get things cleaned out and cutting hazard trees," El- lis said. "It's cool everyone gets to come out here and do something." "I really enjoyed paint- ing the signs," said Heather Lange, a Redding CCC member. "It's really cool doing something for the community." Lange, who has been with the CCC for nearly 21 months, is training to be a crew leader and enjoys the variety of work they get to do and places that they get to go through the program. "I love the CCC — I couldn't imagine a better program for younger peo- ple," Lange said. "It's giv- ing us the tools to make our lives better." The Redding CCC and the Mendocino National Forest have been in part- nership for the past 15 years. The CCC crews are frequently utilized for rec- reation site maintenance and even firefighting, pro- viding quality work for a reasonable fee. "The CCCs are invalu- able in helping us with projects, especially main- taining trails," said Grind- stone Ranger District Rec- reation Manager Randy Jero. "We usually work to- gether on sites out in the forest — especially in the wilderness. This is great to have so many Corps mem- bers helping us out here in Red Bluff." In coming weeks, two Redding CCC crews will be doing trail work on the Mendocino National For- est. For more information on the Red Bluff Recre- ation Area, call the Men- docino National Forest at 530934-3316 or visit www. fs.usda.gov/mendocino. RED BLUFF Recreation area spruced up for Earth Day COURTESY Grindstone Ranger District Recreation Manager Randy Jero hangs up the freshly painted Sacramento River Discovery Center sign with Redding California Conservation Corps member Heather Lange at the entrance to Red Bluff Recreation Area. 40ChestnutAvenue Red Bluff 530-330-1096 BRING BALANCE TO YOUR BODY Bring balance to your LIFE Tabata Bootcamp startinginMay 6:30am, 7:00am, 5:30pm $100 8weeks. StromerRealty 590 Antelope Blvd RedBluff (530) 527-3100 Specializingin Residential to Ranches 1795 Walnut Street • Red Bluff (530) 527-2046 www.brentwoodsnf.com BRENTWOOD Skilled Care Rehabilitation Services employee ofthe month "Brentwood Skilled Nursing is proud to recognize We would like to recognize Sherry Rose as our wonderful employee of the month. She is a great employee who is always the first to lend a hand when help is needed. Sherry is a great asset to our building and dietary department. Thank you for your committed service of 13 years and we look forward to many more. Congratulations! Sherry Rose as an outstanding employee. Servicingyourdisposalneedsin Tehama County, and the City of Red Bluff including Residential, Commercial, and Temporary bin services. GREENWASTEOFTEHAMA A WASTE CONNECTIONS COMPANY 530-528-8500 1805 AIRPORT BLVD. RED BLUFF, CA GreenWasteisaproud supporter of local events. LIFESTYLES » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, April 22, 2015 MORE ATFACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A5