A new Met Foodmarket grocery store opened in my neighborhood a few weeks ago, and on my first visit, I bought about a dozen things that none of my other neighborhood stores carry. It wasn't until I got home that I noticed that my cash register receipt was only about four inches long. Usually, even purchases of a few items come with a receipt that's easily six inches or longer.

But this receipt was different. Only a few items were listed on it. Right after my baby carrots, where the onions should have been next, I saw this phrase: "Continued on other side." Sure enough, the back of the receipt contained the rest of my items as well as the grand total.

Ingenious! Now my store will literally cut its paper use in half. I don't know what took stores so long to figure this out.

Somehow, though, very quietly, 2008 became the year of the double-sided register receipt. In Europe, which is often the first place to cotton on to simple solutions like these, the giant British supermarket Sainsbury's started using double-sided thermal paper for its receipts in about half of its 823 stores. In America, Lowe's and Whole Foods are among the big names slowly converting their machines to double-sided capability, and NCR has estimated that paper usage will be cut by about 45 percent at ATMs where they're printed.

If you're looking for a way to save money at the grocery store, shopping for a Thanksgiving meal is a good way to find deals that you normally won't find the rest of the year.

Turkeys are historically less expensive in November and December than in other months, so now is the time to clean out your freezer to make room for as many turkeys as you can. And as a high-protein, low-fat food, it's a healthy meal.

And some Thanksgiving side dishes, such as cranberries, are cheaper now than they are the rest of the year.

We've all noticed rising prices at the grocery store, and most of us can reconcile these prices with higher fuel costs. If it costs more for producers to get their goods to the store shelves, it's going to cost consumers more. It's nothing to be happy about, but at least we can point to the reason our grocery bills are so much higher.

But several lawsuits against the egg industry argue that it's not just expensive gas driving prices up. In 2006, the average retail price for a dozen eggs was $1.30. That price jumped all the way to $2.20 earlier this year, before receding slightly to $1.85. While this may add a few bucks to a shopper's grocery bill, the price jump is really squeezing restaurant owners, who buy eggs by the truckload. There are currently six major lawsuits against the egg industry, alleging schemes to drive up the price of eggs.

The egg producers argue that costs are higher for them, from feed to fuel, and that's the reason prices are higher. But the plaintiffs say producers are intentionally limiting egg supply, which is down to 7.5 billion dozen this year from 7.6 billion dozen in 2006, to drive up the price. They point to the Animal Care Certified Program, enacted in 2000 by the United Egg Producers cooperative, to which the defendants all belong. The UEP says the program was put in place at great expense to the farmers for the benefit of the hens -- requiring more space in their cages for the birds and regular inspections. The plaintiffs say that the UEP enacted this plan under the guise of hen welfare and better food safety, when really the only reason it exists is to limit hen numbers and thus limit egg production. According to a Humane Society spokesperson, if they really gave a cluck about the hens, they'd do a lot more than just give them bigger cages. Hens are still being raised in deplorable conditions at most of the big farms.

The success of the lawsuit hinges on whether or not the UEP is a cooperative or a trade organization. As a trade organization, the UEP would be subject to antitrust laws, which they seem to have already admitted violating. But the UEP and its lawyers say they are a cooperative and therefore are exempt from antitrust legislation. If the lawsuit is successful, we might just see a drop in egg prices -- but then again, if the producers are ordered to pay millions in damages, wouldn't that make them charge more for their eggs to protect the bottom line anyway? Here's hoping the law is clear that they can't do that...

How much does ground beef cost in your supermarket? In my local Safeway, it's $3.49 a pound, but at the specialty market where I shop to get beef that was raised by local farmers and grass-fed, it's $3.99 a pound; a fair price, I think, though my grocery budget is seriously straining my family's finances. In Little Rock, Arkansas, where a few of my blogging mama friends shop, ground beef is only $3.10 per pound, and the sample grocery basket of 20 items we created at WalletPop costs only $39.72; it's $63.85 in Portland, Oregon, where I live.

But what about my friends in Adelaide, Australia? London, England? Brussels, Belgium? In Adelaide, Jessica shopped at Coles and found that "4 Star Choice" (lean but not extra lean) was AUD6.54 per 500g -- or $5.75 per pound. In London, Catherine shopped at Waitrose and found ground beef priced at £4.99 per 500g -- a whopping $9.03 per pound, the second most expensive of all the cities where we shopped (the priciest was Paris, where ground beef is $11.03 per pound). In Brussels, Gaby reported ground beef to be €2.25 per pound ("carbonnade" cut at cheap butcher's shop) or €4.45 per pound ("steak tatare cut" at normal or quality butcher's shop) -- $3.54 per pound, nearly the same as here in Portland.

I love to try new foods and brands at the grocery store, but I really hate it when I end up with something disgusting. Since I'm cheap I usually keep it around while I try and think of a new way to use the item but eventually it just gets pitched. Zeer.com is helping fill this void with a grocery review site which also includes a social networking component which connects you with other reviewers who have similar tastes. This way you know whether or not those Fiber One granola bars are worth tossing in your cart.

Zeer.com really shines for people with food allergies who may often have a limited product selection available to them at higher prices. For example the Tree Nut Allergy group of Zeer.com has several food reviews posted about items which are made in tree nut free facilities including one for frosting which ranks just one star letting others know to save their money. Since the initial review was posted several other users have chimed in to offer their opinions as well as suggestions for other frosting.

On top of everything it offers, Zeer.com also provides the nutrition information for all of the food in its database which is another handy tool for shoppers who would rather do their legwork from the couch rather than the aisle. The site is still growing which means not all of the products they list will have a review attached to it but over the few days I have played with it, the number of reviewed products appears to be growing. Zeer definitely has potential to be a great resource for shoppers looking to save money and waste less food. As the community and the database grows it will become an even better resource for savvy shoppers.

Often times getting the best deal on groceries involves making several trips to different stores in order to get the lowest prices on everything you need. However there is an easy way to avoid the hassle of going to multiple stores; price match your groceries! While many stores seem to have so many catches that the poster advertising price matches looks like someone's last will and testament, my local grocery stores will price match just about any item they have in stock. The deal gets even better when you factor in the gas and time savings that you gain from going to one store instead of four!

The simplest way to begin your price matching plan is to grab a copy of your local paper with the week's shopping circulars, be sure to grab the coupons while you're in there since you can tack those on after the Before you go through the trouble of arranging your price matching make sure the store you intend to go to does price match; in my area Wal-mart and Meijer both match local prices. Once you find out which store have the cheapest prices be sure to note the store and the amount on your shopping list. If you plan to price match numerous of items and don't want the clerk or your fellow shoppers to put a piece of celery in your back you should also mark the pages in the ads in order to speed up the whole process.

It's really that simple to save money on grocery shopping by price matching. The only real catch that you will run into is that you can't price match store brands. Depending on the store this may also include meat and produce departments since the price match is intended to offer the same price for the exact same item. Since we do most of our shopping based on what is on sale we don't do a whole lot of price matching but in my college days I didn't dare venture into a Wal-mart without an ad for Meijer!

With food prices soaring into the stratosphere ($5.69 for a box of shredded wheat?!), the coupon section of the Sunday paper that was so easily cast aside when property values were showing double-digit appreciation every year is making a comeback.

But, according to the clip from The Today Show shown below, online coupon sites like Coupons.com, are taking market share. Be sure to check out that site -- lots of coupons, totally free, nothing to register for, no strings attached.

I normally live on Cape Cod but I've been staying in Manhattan for the past week. I'm having a great time and loving the city but I have a question for any Manhattanites reading this post: why is everything at the grocery store at least 30% more expensive than it is on Cape Cod, or pretty much everywhere else I've been with the exception of Nantucket?

I just saw a box of shredded wheat -- $5.69, which is especially bad when you consider the fact that cereal boxes have been shrinking over the past year because of rising commodity costs.

Now I don't really consider myself a miser. But let me be clear: I refuse to pay $5.69 for a box of cereal. I would rather head over to Central Park on my hands and knees armed with a bottle of blue cheese dressing and forage. Part of the problem may be that Wal-Mart has not yet been able to colonize New York in the face of opposition from union leaders and socially-conscious types. I'm all for principles and whatnot -- but not if it means paying $5.69 for a box of cereal!

If you live in New York, it may actually be cheaper to buy some groceries on Amazon.com: you can get Post shredded wheat, 12.2 ounces, for $3 per box in packs of 6. Shipping is free if you spend more than $25.

A video from MSNBC has some great tips on saving money at the grocery store. They're mostly common sense, but they're gaining new relevance with gas prices and food costs on the rise: shop at the least expensive grocery store even if it's not the closest, use coupons, buy in bulk when the prices are good.

But there are a couple problems: first, never underestimate the value of your time and energy. If you don't like driving or shopping, don't drive all over the state looking to save on paper towels. Save your energy! You'll be more productive and you can find other ways to save money or add to your income.

And then there's the advice to "shop where the prices are good." The problem is that prices vary from item to item. It's well-known that it's often cheaper to buy milk at the convenience store, for example.

Yes, we all know that food prices are rising. It's worth remembering that this isn't just happening in the United States but that food prices have risen worldwide. If you look at the global picture, you won't complain about paying $4.00 for a gallon of milk. Bottom line? We are still food rich and we have lots of alternatives if we don't want to pay more for groceries.

Thinking about food purchasing and preparation is another opportunity that the recession brings for recalibrating how we live and spend. We eat and spend too much and move around too little.

Here's a challenge.Take a small spiral notebook and use to it keep track of what you eat and what you pay for the next week. Include the bottle of diet coke that you buy at the gas station, the $28 you spend on take-out, the totals at the grocery store, the five cups of coffee or vitamin water. At the end of the week, sit down with the local store circulars and see whether you can't easily feed your family for less than 2/3 of that amount.

As expected, inflation rose last month due to higher energy prices. Diesel costs, in particular, are sending food prices soaring, and everyone is feeling the pinch. Which is the really bitter part of this quasi-recession: We've already resigned ourselves to stay away from new watches, cars and other luxury items, but now the essentials (food and gas) are turning on us.

According to the Labor Department, food prices rose 0.2 percent in March and 4.4 percent over the past year. Some food staples have really surged: Over the last year, bread has risen 14.7 percent and milk 13.3 percent. French toast, anyone?

Right now the best approach, aside from watching the mail for those stimulus checks, is to shop smart at the grocery store. If you buy cheap, you'll get cheap. However, the expensive brands don't always deliver great value. Consumer Reports, which is subscription-only, has teamed up with AOL Money & Finance to present a free, whopping-long list of supermarket products that combine high quality with great value. Testing a wide range of products, including BBQ sauce, hot dogs and olive oil--not to mention storage containers, insect repellent and sunscreen--the gallery will not only help you make the best purchase decision, it may also introduce you to wonderful new products. Like, Black Magic "Wet Shine" Liquid Car Wax.

Just because you can't afford to fill it up doesn't mean you can't make it look good.

B. Brandon Barker also writes for Political Machine.

E-tickets, e-cards, e-gift certificates, and plastic currency. We're used to spending paperless; now how about paperless savings?

Last month I wrote about the Grocery Game, an online subscription service that can enhance coupon savings by matching grocery store specials with coupons. Grocery Game, and a similar (free) coupon tracker, Coupon Mom, both feature printable coupons on their sites. But our own AOL takes couponing to the next stage of digital evolution with Shortcuts, paperless coupons that you store to your grocery store membership/discount card.

Now we're talking.

Just the other day, I came home from a grocery run (where I realized nearly 50% savings, thanks to coupon/sales matching), and realized I'd left about $5 worth of additional savings on the table. Literally. My kitchen table. Grocery Game or not, it's hard to keep track of all those flimsy bits of paper, let alone clipping and sorting them. I love the idea of having them stored on my Kroger card. No coupon left behind!

Unfortunately, the Shortcuts selection at this time is woefully limited. A measly eight coupons. And while my regional chain, Kroger, is a partner store, the full list is quite limited. But I have high hopes that my cutting and sorting days will soon go the way of the 8-track, so I'll be checking back.

Shortcuts is free to anyone with an AOL or AIM account.

Kyran Pittman blogs about life at Notes To Self, where her musings on culture, soul and laundry have been picked up and published three times by Good Housekeeping magazine.

The rising food prices have hit everyone in the pocketbook. Almost no food item is immune to an increased price when the cost to make or grow food has gone up so dramatically. Probably the single biggest contributor to this problem is ethanol. Ethanol is a jackpot for corn growers, but a nightmare for consumers. While farmers sell their corn for this inefficient, expensive fuel, those who used to use corn for animal feed or ingredients in their food products are feeling the pain.

Media reports show food prices up 5% in 2007. With that kind of increase, families are forced to be more frugal with their grocery dollars, looking for bargains and buying more economical items. U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics show that a family of four now spends $904 a month for food, compared to $824 a month two years ago. I don't think it has caused a huge hardship for many quite yet, as we could all be a little more conscious of how we're spending on groceries.

Over the Easter weekend, after taking my four-year-old to see Horton Hears a Who, we dropped by our neighborhood grocery store to buy soda pop and dog food. By the time we were finished with our trip, I had spent $76.

Naturally, I bought a few other items, but what struck me as the number on the cash register kept getting larger and larger was how little food there actually was for having spent $76. Not that I want to blame all of this on my daughter, but I did listen to most of her grocery suggestions. Aside from the soda and pet food, our cart was full of doughnuts, Lucky Charms cereal, cookies, Goldfish crackers, a bright bouncy ball that retailed for $1.49, and then a few smarter items like some yogurt, toilet paper, paper towels and, yes, some actual food, enough for -- two dinners.

Granted, I broke a lot of rules. I didn't go in with a prepared grocery list, or coupons, and I brought in a precocious four-year-old who I have a tough time saying "no" to, unless it involves her playing with sharp knives or matches. But I'm beginning to think, with food prices rising the way they have been, that it's time to consider the idea of dropping by a discount grocery store.

Whether you prefer organic milk or orange juice for breakfast; whether coffee or cola gets you caffeinated; whether it's beef or chicken that's for dinner, you're paying more for it this month than ever before. Our friends at AOL Money & Finance took a look at a group of groceries on many people's shopping list and compared the average U.S. prices in December 2006 to the prices in December 2007. What we weren't surprised about: all these prices are higher this year than last. What we were surprised about: some of the increases are truly monumental.

You can browse through our gallery to see the ones we thought would impact us the most, and what were the highest increases -- over 30% in two cases! But I was amazed at how universal the increases were. While lemons don't make up a big portion of my grocery budget, it's shocking to see that the prices are up 23.2%. And sweet peppers, a staple in many Tex-Mex and Cajun dishes, are up 15.7%. The aforementioned orange juice, part of that complete breakfast the cereal makers are always advertising? Up 13.3%.