↑ That’s not a typo.
This article contains zero ways to spend less money at the grocery store.
With the price of food soaring, everyone wants to give you tips to save. From mainstream media to individual bloggers, there are hundreds of new articles and videos that discuss ways people can save money on food.
CNBC’s Alexandria White writes:
The Boston Globe‘s Sean Murphy tells you:
The blog Urban Tastebud even gives you:
And, come on, with 84 “insanely easy” ways to save, you should be able to save hundreds of dollars, right?
Well, don’t get too excited. Because the majority of the tips to spend less on food are second-rate — generally ranging from completely uninspired to downright wacky.
One of the most common ways people are told they can save money at the grocery store is to simply do without.
In other words, you can save money at the grocery store by buying less.
It’s the equivalent of giving the weight loss advice: Consume less calories. Or giving the financial advice: Get a better-paying job.
Other “tips” involve more very obvious ways to spend less. They include things like planning, clipping coupons, using rewards programs, and changing your diet to consume lower-cost foods.
CNBC’s No. 6 tip for saving money at the grocery store is “buy items on sale.”
Meanwhile, “Good Morning America” reports you can save money on your grocery bill by buying in bulk.
You probably would have never thought of those, huh?
But there are also more unusual tips.
In the blog post of “35 Easy Ways to Lower Your Grocery Bill by 50% or More,” The Homesteading Hippy’s No. 15 tip is “raise a couple of chickens.”
Urban Tastebud’s No. 39 tip is “Bring Your Own Soundtrack.” It writes:
Ever noticed how grocery stores play slow, calming music? It’s actually a way that the stores manipulate your senses so you spend more money. This type of music subconsciously makes you move slower and take your time strolling through all the aisles.
Maybe these strategies will somehow save you a few pennies… maybe. But they all involve spending less money to lower your food costs.
Well, there’s kind of a flip side to all that…
Spending less money will lower your food costs, sure.
But making more money will also proportionally lower your food costs relative to your income.
In other words, bringing more money home will lower the percentage of your income that goes towards food, i.e., lowering your food costs.
But making more money is just another oversimplified solution. I mean, my guess is that if you could make more money right now, you’d be out there doing it.
There is, however, sort of a third path you can take to at least hedge your income against rising food prices.
And that’s to invest in agriculture.
According to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, food inflation is at its highest point in a decade.
BLS data shows the price of beef has increased 20% to 30% over the past 12 months. Meanwhile the price of fruit is up over 10%. Eggs are up more than 30%.
Meanwhile, agro ETFs have performed just as well.
Invesco’s DB Agriculture ETF (NYSEArca: DBA) is up 27% year to date.
VanEck’s Agribusiness ETF (NYSEArca: MOO) is up 22% year to date.
Teucrium’s Corn Fund (NYSEArca: CORN) has increased almost 40% year to date.
Elements’ RICI-Agriculture ETN (NYSEArca: RJA) is up 33% over the past 12 months.
Readers of my Junior Mining Trader service have been ahead of the curve. Sometime in July, I began searching the agro markets for stocks that are best leveraged to gain in an environment of rising food and fertilizer prices. And after months of research, I’ve found the ONE company investors absolutely need to own as a hedge against rising food prices.
So far, my JMT readers are up about 40% in this small stock. But this tiny company has absolutely massive upside potential. And the best part is the company is still very much unknown at this point.
I’ve just finished putting the final touches on a huge 7,000-word report that tells investors all about it. This week we will be releasing that report to the public. So please be on the lookout for that from us.
