Eat To Live: Save costs, cut packaging

LE BUGUE, France, July 20 (UPI) -- Is your household budget not stretching as far as it used to, even as recently as this past spring?

Two surveys confirm that prices have gone up in the supermarkets in the second quarter of 2007 by, according to the latest American Farm Bureau Federation, about 4 percent from the first quarter this year.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says they're already up 3.5 percent on last year, double the food-at-home inflation rate of 2006.

Regular whole milk spurges ahead of the basic 16 grocery items examined by the AFBF, up 34 cents to $3.46 per gallon. BLS data found the greatest price increases in pork and poultry.

Already, consumers are trying to counter these increases by turning more to generic products and even cutting out extras from their shopping lists.

But to cut costs further, perhaps they might follow the lead from Europe over supermarket and product packaging.

Nestle, Coca-Cola and Cadbury in Europe signed an agreement last month to reduce their plastic, foil, card and other packaging by 5 percent by 2010.

One British supermarket chain has pledged to cut its own packaging by 15 percent by 2011.

Sainsbury, another leading chain, is selling a large fabric carrier bag imprinted "This is not a plastic bag" costing $10 that has become a sought-after fashion accessory even among the glitterati.

Independent surveys in Britain have found that 92 percent of supermarket shoppers want to see packaging reduced, while 93 percent would like to see recyclable packaging increased.

Fifty-eight percent of consumers say they would change supermarkets over the issue of packaging, for environmental and social responsibility reasons.

Packaging costs have been rising by 3 percent a year -- a cost that is passed on to the consumer. Yet 77 percent of shoppers assert they would be prepared to pay more if it costs more to reduce packaging.

Sustainability, not low prices, was now a key issue, consumers said, for the future of the planet.

Environmental concerns have pushed increasing numbers of high-end restaurants in the United States and the United Kingdom to offer diners water from the tap, not in bottles that need trucking in and then disposing of.

In San Francisco in June, Mayor Gavin Newsom banned city departments from buying bottled water.

Over a billion plastic water bottles end up in California landfills each year. Manufacturing and delivering bottled water to consumers adds further environmental pressure.

By Dec. 1 the ban will include water coolers, and workers will have to return to the municipal tap water supply most of us were brought up on without complaint in the days before we took to jogging. The city hopes the private sector will follow its example.

Even those who don't buy into the global-warming issue should be pleased by the amount of taxpayer money the move should save.

Take an insulated bottle to work, filled with iced ginger-flavored tea, if you don't want a trek to the restroom to fill up on a glass of water. It's good for cleansing your internal system.

Boil a pint of water and pour it into a jug over 3 coin-thick slices of fresh ginger. Squeeze in the juice from half a lemon and stir in a spoonful of honey if you need the sweetness. Allow to steep for an hour, then chill overnight before filling your container.