This year, we'll be paying more than ever for dinner. Food prices jumped a whopping 4 to 5 percent in 2011 and are expected to continue rising in 2012, says the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

But you can have your chocolate cake and eat it, too, without breaking the bank, says Toni House, author of Savvy Shopping: How to Reduce Your Weekly Grocery Bill to $85 Per Week - or Less! (www.SaveYourMoneySaveYourFamily.com). A mom with executive-level experience in accounting and the restaurant industry, House pared the monthly grocery bill for her family of four to $250. And nobody complained.

"It takes savvy shopping," she says. "You can have great everyday meals and special-occasion feasts and trim the household budget with planning, patience and grocery shopping 'guardrails' to keep your cart in line."

House offers these tips:

• Be patient - wait for good deals. Save pricier purchases for double coupon days. If you're planning for a special occasion or celebration, save now so you can splurge a bit later, The more you rush, the less you save.

• Be detail-oriented. There is a lot of fine print involved in being a savvy shopper, from expiration dates to special offers to asterisks. Know exactly when a coupon expires, how much it's for, how much more it will be worth on double coupon days and whether or not it's worth the price in the first place.

• Plan ahead. Plan a menu for at least three meals in advance; combined with leftovers; that should give you five days or more of meals, depending on the meal. This puts you in control of your shopping list; and not the other way around. Instead of always playing catch-up, replacing what you've run out of, you buy only when it's on the menu. Same goes for cereal, yogurt, bananas, fresh herbs and spices, etc.

• Instead of making expensive foods (meat) the centerpiece of each meal, design menus that use the most expensive foods less often. For instance, from now on at least twice a week, try using meat as more of a filler than a main dish. Instead of making spaghetti with meat balls, or sausage, or chicken breasts, make spaghetti with a meat sauce of ground turkey, ground sausage or ground chicken breakfast sausage.

• At the grocery store, buy ONLY what you can eat. That means no paper plates, toilet paper, plastic cups, Army men, toothbrushes, jar candles, greeting cards. Grocery store prices for non-food items are higher than you'll pay almost anywhere else, so make a hard-and-fast rule and stick to it.

• Do use coupons, but only for products you actually need. Let's say you just bought twice as many hot dog buns as you needed last week and now you've run across a two-for-one coupon for...more hot dog buns? Do you really have room in your freezer for all those buns?

House's $85-a-week budget does require tossing out some pricey products your family may have grown accustomed to (brand-name cereals, pre-packaged snack cakes) and changing the way you plan meals. But there are plenty of delicious, often healthier, and less expensive substitutes

"You are the leader of your family unit, not just at home but at the grocery store," House says. "Your new quest to become a savvy shopper might meet with some...resistance... at first. Take the bull by the horns and lead the family in the right direction."

About Toni House

Toni House has a bachelor's in accounting and a master's in business administration and was most recently the senior consultant and owner of an accounting firm. How to Reduce Your Grocery Bill is her second "Savvy Shopping" book. Her first was Save Your Money, Save Your Family. Find her money-saving blog tips at www.saveyourmoneysaveyourfamily.com.

Davenport, IA February 7, 2012 - Local fundraising group DubStar will recreate the television magic of the hit NBC game show, 'Minute To Win It' to support the Quad Cities Autism Center, with their second annual event titled DubStar Presents: Minute 2 Win It. The event will take place Feb 17 at 8:00pm, live from The Pub (4320 Brady Street - Davenport) and will again be hosted by local comedian, Brandon Gale.

DubStar is hoping to capitalize on the success of 2011 event, that gained the attention on NBC producers, who asked the pair to apply to be contestants and submit a highlight video to possibly be used on the show. For the Feb 17 event, DubStar has added more games, more prizes, and a few new elements, including team challenges to the show.

 

"Last year was so much fun, and such a tremendous success." siad returning host, Brandon Gale. "The only complaint was that not everyone could play, so we added five more games and two team challenges," Gale added. "At times like these, when funds are tight, this is a great way to get involved and help an amazing cause. In exchange for your support, our service is to offer you a night of fun and fabulous prizes."

 

The Quad Cities Autism Center (QCAC) was founded in October of 2005 as a 501 (C)3 non-profit organization that delivers direct instruction and natural environment teaching to children affected by Autism. The Quad Cities Autism Center exists to provide education, guidance and resources to parents and children affected by Autism and to offer one to one instruction to develop and enhance the lives of our children by giving them New Hope and a brighter future.

 

DubStar is an amateur fundraising group founded in 2008 by Tony Boyer and Chris Starman. DubStar's mission is to make a positive impact, either financially or through awareness, on deserving charities or groups, through fun and unique ways; "Party With A Purpose". Additional information can be found at the DubStar website, www.facebook.com/DubStarQC.

 

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SPARTA, IL (02/07/2012)(readMedia)-- What may look like normal semi-truck trailers are actually a portal into modern warfare giving Illinois Army National Guard Soldiers a chance to experience overseas before leaving the Midwest.

"Come to Sparta in the morning and we can take you to Iraq for lunch, Afghanistan for dinner, and have you home by bedtime," said Sgt. Edward Singletary of Sparta, range scheduling non commissioned officer at Sparta Training Area.

Singletary guided Soldiers from Company F, 634th Brigade Support Battalion (BSB) in Mt. Vernon, through a new state-of-the-art training system Feb. 4. The Virtual Vehicle Trainer (VVT) is a combat simulator capable of putting over 25 Soldiers into the same massive virtual environment. Soldiers break into teams of three and man their "vehicles," - nearly identical mock-ups of a humvee interior, complete with gunner's turret - and don headsets or look into high-resolution screens to see past the trailer and into the digital world beyond.

Spc. Leo Stofferahn of Pekin with Company F, 634th BSB, a veteran of three deployments, said the simulator's terrain and movement were accurate and effective.

"The training was a good refresher for veterans and good for setting up accurate deployment expectations for new Soldiers," said Stofferahn.

Singletary controls the $3.2 million VVT, which is the most-advanced system of its kind available, from a multi-screen command station. With the push of a button, he can change the weather, the terrain (which is based on actual satellite mapping), or zoom into any part of the 3D environment. No longer are Soldiers represented by blinking dots; every image interacts in real time. The digital representation of the gunner even swivels along with the Soldier in the turret.

The software is also very flexible. While it can run preset scenarios, Singletary has the somewhat God-like ability to drop in many kinds of enemies, obstacles, helicopters or other interactive set pieces at any time.

The VVT also has a huge catalog of vehicles that it can run; almost every model of humvee, most models of the

Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, unmanned drones, and even a remote-controlled reconnaissance robot, the Talon, are available.

Singletary said he believes this ability to customize is one of the biggest strengths of the VVT.

"This is the latest, greatest, most up-to-date system that we can train in," said Singletary. "We can put you into a theater-specific environment.

The control trailer also has benches and a projector, allowing units to conduct an immediate after-action review. Soldiers can watch the playback of the scenario on-screen and even hear their recorded radio traffic, allowing them to see what they did well and what needs improvement.

Sgt. 1st Class Greg Anselment of Wayne City, a platoon sergeant with Company F, 634th BSB said the real-time cooperation required by the VVT scenarios was great for exposing shortfalls in teamwork for future training. He also said it would be difficult to get this training without the VVT.

"(Individual units) don't have to have the resources," said Anselment. "We don't have up-armored vehicles, but we can still come down (to Sparta) and train."

In addition to the Virtual Vehicle Trainer, Sparta has virtual marksmanship training for rifles, machine guns and mortars, paintball gear for live maneuvers, and roughly 2,300 acres of open land available for field training exercises.

Photo 1: Photo by Spc. Dan LoGrasso, 139th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment/ Spc. Marty Melton of Sandoval (front), Spc. Justin Russell of Cypress (middle) and Sgt. Jeffrey Blevins of Fairfield (rear) - all truck drivers from Company F, 634th Brigade Support Battalion in Mt. Vernon "ride" in a convoy inside Sparta Training Area's new combat simulator, the Virtual Vehicle Trainer (VVT). Inside the VVT, over 25 Soldiers don headsets or look into high-resolution screens to see through the building into the digital battleground beyond.

Photo 2: Photo by Spc. Dan LoGrasso, 139th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment/ Staff Sgt. James Stanfield with Company F, 634th Brigade Support Battalion in Mt. Vernon, mans the turret in Sparta Training Area's new Virtual Vehicle Simulator (VVT), a state-of-the-art combat simulator capable of putting over 25 Soldiers into the same massive virtual environment. The VVT allows Stanfield to see into a custom-made scenario (his view is shown on the screen behind him) while still operating realistic equipment like vehicle controls and mock machine guns.

Photo 3: Photo by Spc. Dan LoGrasso, 139th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment/ Sgt. Edward Singletary of Sparta, range scheduling non commissioned officer (top-right) and Sgt. John Morgan of Pinckneyville, range control support (bottom-left) watch a virtual convoy on-screen at their command station inside the Virtual Vehicle Trainer (VVT) in Sparta Training Area. The VVT is a new state-of-the-art combat simulator capable of putting over 25 Soldiers into the same massive virtual environment.

Photo 4: Photo by Spc. Dan LoGrasso, 139th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment/ Inside these customized semi-trailers in Sparta Training Area sits the Virtual Vehicle Trainer- a new state-of-the-art combat simulator capable of putting over 25 Soldiers into the same massive virtual environment. "Come to Sparta in the morning and we can take you to Iraq for lunch, Afghanistan for dinner, and have you home by bedtime." said Sgt. Edward Singletary of Sparta, range scheduling non commissioned officer at Sparta Training Area.

For high resolution photos, please contact the Illinois National Guard Public Affairs Office at ngilstaffpao@ng.army.mil

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