In response, consumers are looking for clever solutions that are easy on their wallets.
One of the smartest ways to maximize your grocery budget is to understand how to decipher those often misunderstood food labels.
It’s a way to avoid prematurely throwing away perfectly good food. A 2011 study by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) revealed that many Americans prefer to play it safe rather than risk their health when deciding whether their purchased food is still safe to eat. The study showed that 91% of participants said they “at least occasionally” threw away food after its “sell-by date” out of caution; 25% said they did so “all the time.”
These attitudes may explain why approximately 30 to 40 percent of the country’s food supply is wasted each year, according to a study published by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 2014.
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