Spend Less, Eat Healthy

Buy the best when it makes a difference, and fill the rest of your grocery cart with values.

Splurge on: Pasta

Here's why: Generic and bargain-basement pastas often end up as a mushy mess. You don’t have to spend much more to get chefs’ picks like Barilla or DeCecco, which are used in top restaurants.

Save on: Wine

Here's why: Consumers and wine experts liked inexpensive bottles—think Barefoot, Trader Joe’s Charles Shaw, Black Box—just as much as their pricey counterparts in a large-scale blind tasting.

Save by skipping: Hamburgers

Here's why: Preformed frozen burgers cost more than plain ground beef—and you can make patties yourself in less than ten seconds each! Plus, E. coli might be more prevalent in the frozen patties.

Splurge on: Honey

Here's why: You don’t need to go for a wildflower artisanal blend, but carefully check the label. Often the cheap “honey” in a bear squeeze jar is mixed with corn syrup.