5 June 2018 - My Dear Watson...

What You Can Learn about Vegetables from Labels

"Don't take the label for granted on a can or package of vegetables. The information there should enable you to learn exactly what you are getting - and sometimes to compare prices and values."

It is by government regulation that requires certain information is placed on a food label.

All food items have to have a Statement of Identity.

This is basically "What is in the package?"

Am I buying green beans, corn, peas, or what...what is in the can??

There must be a Quantity Statement.

How much is this can?

We talked package sizes a couple posts ago here.

There must also be an Information Panel.

The information panel is where the ingredients, nutrition facts, and food allergy labels can be found.

These simple regulations are expanded into a 132 page document that can be found here if you ever want to do any light reading.

How can knowing the product label help you save money?

A savy shopper knows how to read a price tag.

Take a look above.

A simple general grocery store price tag letting you know how much them Cherrios are.

What you want to look at more than the large price is the smaller Unit Price.

The unit price is going to tell you how much per piece, ounce, pound, gallon, etc.

This is where you save the money.

If you don't have these types of price tags at your store, you can always try the old fashion way of doing some math.

Unit pricing isn't regulated or required in all states in the U.S.

On your next trip to the grocery store, take a little extra time to compare the unit price of your items. You might find that even if the purchase price is more, you could get a better deal based on how much they are charging per unit.

You don't have to be a great detective to figure this all out.

In fact, it's all just....elementary.