Online retailer Alice.com crunched the numbers to figure out which cities in America spent the most on snack foods throughout 2011. While the national average was $3.79 per order on its site, residents of some cities are more likely to chow down than others. One city spent more than five times the national average on goodies like chips and cheese puffs.
Personal finance blogger Len Penzo brought together a panel of very opinionated people—11 members of his family—to compare national brands of cookies, kielbasa, tortilla chips, and other foods with the equivalent products sold under the store brand of his local Albertsons supermarket. The blind taste-testers included Aunt Doris (how can you not trust Aunt Doris?) [...]
In light of the economic downturn, consumers have been scaling back—on food that’s actually good for them. Sales of potato chips and other quick-payoff snacks are way up, and even though people are cooking at home rather than dining out to save money, what they’re preparing in the kitchen is more likely than ever to [...]
