H-E-B and Food Lion are looking to help themselves by providing consumers with ideas on how to make their food budget dollars go farther. The two chains recently began offering recommendations for meals that consumers could make for $10 or less.
Both H-E-B, with its "Feed a Family of Four for Less Than $10" program and Food Lion's "Dinner for Under $10" put heavy emphasis on the stores' own private labels in helping consumers stay within budget.
According to a report on The Hollywood Reporter website, H-E-B offered recipes for seven meals that center around its "Fully Cooked" entrees. Among the recipes on H-E-B's website and newsletter are Fajita Santa Fe Chicken, Popcorn Chicken Salad, Spaghetti and Meatballs and Texas Ranch Burgers.
Food Lion's program makes use of in-store displays to assemble all the ingredients needed for one of its "Under $10" dinners in one place.
"For example, our customers recently could find in one place all the ingredients for a spaghetti dinner for four for under $10," said Gene Faller, Food Lion's vice president, dry category. "The next featured meal was a chicken biscuit dinner for under $10."
Discussion Questions: How much help do modern consumers need in planning their meals around a food budget? Can you think of other budgeting ideas that would be helpful for shoppers? How important is it to cater to local and ethnic tastes?