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In order to maximize your purchasing power at the grocery store it is important to be aware of "unit pricing." This is the only way to determine the true value of what you are buying. Most stores will proudly display their packaged prices in bright eye-catching print yet you rarely see too much concerning unit prices. The fact that this is where the true value lies might be the reason little attention is focused on advertising it.

An ongoing trend for manufacturers in recent years is to keep the same sized packaging, same product price but downsizing the quantity of product inside the package. This trend has been most commonly seen in products such as paper products, baby food, coffee and cleaning products. We are used to grabbing our most commonly used products and dashing for the checkout line. Taking a few extra moments to check out how much product is actually inside the box will help insure you are getting what you think you have purchased in the past. Keeping a small notebook of this information on your favorite products is handy for comparision purposes. The downsizing can be unnoticeable to most consumers.