永遠別在超市買這些東西

There's a right way to do your grocery shopping. In search of higher profits, supermarkets try to woo you with products that are more convenient, but also more expensive. These products include ready-made items that can be prepared much more cheaply at home, produce you'd be better off buying in its simplest form, and non-food items that are significantly less expensive at other retailers.
怎樣才能做到在超市正確購物？爲了追求更高的利潤，超市會以更方便但同時也更貴的產品吸引你。這些產品包括現成的商品（自己在家做會更便宜）、農產品（最好買未經處理的農產品）和非食物商品（其它零售商賣的更便宜）。

I asked a couple of budget-minded bloggers to help me identify which supermarket offerings can blow your food budget - and then I ran the numbers myself. (To avoid having the results skewed by the high grocery prices in New York City, I used pricing from a Kroger supermarket in Mount Pleasant, Mich.)
我問了一些有預算意識的博主，請他們幫助我識別哪些超市商品會讓你的食物預算超支--之後，我算了一下價格。（爲避免紐約超市價格偏高的情況，這裏使用的價格都來自於密歇根州芒特普萊森特市的Kroger超市。）

Here are the items to avoid.
應避免購買這些商品。

Precut Produce
切好的農產品

Let's face it: Cutting pineapples, cubing sweet potatoes, and peeling and slicing carrot sticks can be a temptation. The temptation to pick up precut fruits and veggies may save you some time and elbow grease, but it will take a chunk out of your wallet.
面對這一事實吧：切好的菠蘿、紅薯，已剝皮並切好的胡蘿蔔可能十分誘人。拿起已切好的水果和蔬菜這種誘惑可能會讓你節省時間和精力，但卻會讓你花一大筆錢。

Yet grocery stores charge you dearly for the convenience. Chop the veggies yourself, according to Amiyrah Martin, a blogger at Four Hats and Frugal: "They will up that price as much as possible," Martin says. "People are coming in because they really need [a product] - they're trying to save time, but they're actually spending way more money," she adds.
而超市也會因爲這種便宜而向您收取高額費用。自己切蔬菜吧，Four Hats and Frugal的博主Amiyrah Martin說道："他們會盡可能的提高價格，"馬汀說道。"人們去超市是因爲他們真的需要某個商品--他們想要節省時間，但實際上卻在花更多的錢，"她補充道。

For instance, a 14-ounce box of celery sticks at a Kroger in Mount Pleasant costs $2.99, but a large celery stalk that could produce well over a pound, once chopped, goes for just $1.59. Wielding your own knife saves you more than a dollar and you wind up with more.
例如，在芒特普萊森特市的Kroger超市裏，一盒14盎司的芹菜售價2.99美元，而一根大的芹菜的重量會超過一磅，一旦切好，價格會飆升至1.59美元。自己用刀切既可以節省1美元，又可以讓你得到更多的菜。

Prepackaged Snacks
包裝好的零食

Another similarly expensive time saver: purchasing packaged snack bags of nuts or pretzels, instead of bagging them yourself, points out Laurie Heiss at Passionate Penny Pincher. At Kroger, a package containing 10 small bags of pretzels, each just under one ounce, costs $4.29 - while the 16-ounce value bag costs only $3.23 and contains more than half again as many snacks.
另一個同樣昂貴的節省時間的神器：Passionate Penny Pincher的勞拉·海斯指出，購買包裝好的堅果或椒鹽捲餅，而不是自己包裝。在Kroger超市，含有10小包椒鹽捲餅（每包不超過1盎司）的一大包零食售價4.29美元--而16盎司的超值裝只售價3.23美元，幾乎比小包裝的多一半。