Colleen Rayburn is one of many shoppers who tells KSBY rising food prices have put a strain on their wallets.
"I always buy the same stuff. And every week I notice that what I paid last week is lower than what I'm going to pay this week," said Rayburn.
Grocery prices have been on the rise for the past five years at a rate of 3% year-over-year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So if you’re buying less, you want that food to last, which brings us to sell-by dates.
"None of these dates with their ‘sell by', ‘use by’ ‘best by’ are an indicator at all of food safety," said Apeel Sciences co-founder Jenny Du.
Du is in the business of keeping food fresh, and says confusion about label dates is a big factor in food waste.
Data from ReFED shows three billion pounds of food, worth $7 billion dollars is being thrown out every year in the U.S. due to confusion about those label dates.
"Take a sniff, take a little taste, you know, if it doesn't taste quite right to you, that's one thing. But don't sort of just arbitrarily go on on the date that's stamped," says Du.
ReFED data also shows that label confusion has gone up since 2016. Correctly reading labels is just one part of what Erik Talkin, with the FoodBank of Santa Barbara County calls food literacy.
"So that's the skills to be able to plan, to budget, to shop cheaply, to cook quickly, and then to eat and store leftovers," said Talkin.
To save money on food, Talkin suggests making and sticking to a grocery list, cooking at home more often, and teaming up with your neighbors.
"We really encourage people to buy food together, you know, buy in bulk and then split it up," said Talkin.
For Rayburn, she'll keep cutting back.
"Yeah, I shop less and I'm more conscious of what I buy," said Rayburn.
If you struggle with food insecurity, the FoodBank of Santa Barbara County and the SLO FoodBankhave resources for groceries and food assistance programs.
