While food remains a bargain in the United States, the average American household spends more on food each year. What’s even more interesting is the average American may soon spend more on dining out than buying groceries.

In 2016, the average American household spent approximately $600 a month on food, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nearly 44 percent of that was spent in bars and restaurants.

If your budget is tight, eating at home can be a great way to save some extra cash. Buying groceries, instead of eating out can present the average consumer with a lot more flexibility than fixed costs like rent, fuel, electricity, etc.

Almost every shopper has compiled a list of cost-cutting ideas of his or her own. The following list is by no means complete but contains effective ways to save at the supermarket.

Begin saving money by planning meals one week at a time.

Shoppers should know what they are buying. With thousands of items in the modern supermarket, product information is essential in selecting the best buy.

Like all education, this requires some reading, listening and studying. For example, the product label is a source of information on nutrition, menu use, quantity and quality of the food item.

Next, cost-conscious shoppers must buy when and where the price is right. There are many times to buy on special, buy store or generic brands or to buy in quantity. They key is keeping abreast of the price practices of our highly competitive supermarkets.

Shopping regularly at two different stores is an informative practice and leads to savings because different stores usually specialize in different items.

Accurate record keeping has become an important part of a smart shopping routine. Money-saving ideas take time but result in time well spent. One-half hour of planning before each weekly shopping trip can result in savings.

If you’re not already using coupons, consider doing so. By collecting coupons for an hour each week, shoppers can save as much as $200 a week.

Cost-conscious shoppers influence the entire food industry. If shoppers do not check prices, retailers may display items that sell by saturation advertising or gimmick packaging. Both add to food costs.
Smart shopping can result in satisfaction instead of frustration. Initially this satisfaction results from actual savings in the family’s food budget. Secondly, the wise shopper realizes intelligent buying keeps our food industry the best in the world.

Securing the most for your food dollar is significant to every consumer in this country. It is also well worth the effort.

John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.

OK, we all remember mom’s advice: You can tell a lot about a person by knowing who his/ her friends are.

That’s the basic, very simple message most of us grew up with, and it is probably still good advice now that we’re old enough that we’re not sizing up potential school friends by the type of bicycle they ride or the group they huddle with in front of the hallway lockers.

Well, as a person who once wandered into a tavern one hot summer day and quickly discovered I was the only guy there without a do-rag on his head, and everyone else was wearing a black leather jacket…it can be the crowd that someone runs with and identifies with that gives us some sense of just how good a friend they are going to be.

Now…it’s just a dab different in the Legislature. The Republicans tend to hang out with Republicans, Democrats tend to hang out with Democrats, and there are those who just hang out with everyone, trading jokes, talking about bills, suggesting amendments.

We can’t go on the floor of the House where all 125 representatives stand for election or re-election this fall, but we can take a look at who those candidates’ friends and supporters are…

That “behind the scenes” look at legislative candidates may just begin with a peek at their campaign finance reports…which this week become public record for state office seekers. The reports are on-line at the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission website under the “Campaign Finance heading” and the subhead “View Submitted Forms & Reports.” (Here’s the link: https://ethics.kansas.gov/campaign-finance/view-submitted-forms-and-reports/ ) Some reports, due July 30, came in early; some will trickle in over a few days.

You just go to that list and can look at statewide election campaign finance reports plus reports for House and Senate and State Board of Education races—and yes, down a couple lines, the finance reports of PACs and other contributors.

So…what do you find?

Well, you find a list of everyone who has made a $25 or more contribution to a campaign. And that’s where you find out who a candidate’s friends are, and just how much money each of those friends chipped in toward the yard signs and bumper stickers and campaign flyers that sprout in the days before the Aug. 7 primary election.

Find your legislative district’s candidates, click on the last item on the line with their names and you’ll see just who their friends are. Just like Mom said to do.

What do you folks with enough time to scour the list of campaign contributors look for? Well, it depends on what you want to learn.

First, of course, is how much money the candidate has for his/her campaign. And then you find out where it came from.

Individual contributions? A lot of them probably mean that the candidate has a lot of friends, which is generally good. Small contributions from neighbors? Probably means that the candidate is the one who will rush to the store for ice during a neighborhood cookout. Or that the candidate keeps his/her yard tidy and buys scout cookies from the neighborhood children.

Or…it could mean none of the above and that the neighbors would be willing to contribute, or even vote, for a candidate just to get him/her out of the neighborhood and into the Statehouse for 90 days a year.

Those business and political action committee contributions? Well, they probably mean that a candidate is on board with the issues that the PACs represent. Is that good or bad? Some of both, but it will tell you something about how the candidate is likely to vote on legislation.

Mom was right. It does come down to whom his/ her friends are…

Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com

By JOHN P. TRETBAR

The total Kansas rig count is up 30% from last year at this time. Independent Oil & Gas Service reports 14 active drilling rigs in eastern Kansas, down five, and 33 west of Wichita, which is up three for the week. Drilling is underway at two leases in Ellis County, and three in Russell County. Operators report drilling ahead at sites in Ellis and Stafford counties. They’re moving in completion tools at three wells in Barton County and six in Ellis County.

Last week’s national rig counts from Baker Hughes showed 1,048 active drilling rigs nationwide, down one gas rig but an increase of three rigs searching for oil. The count in Louisiana was down four and in Oklahoma the total dropped by one. Totals in New Mexico and Texas were each up one. Canada reports 223 active rigs, up 12.

Kansas operators filed 49 new drilling permits last week, 23 east of Wichita and 26 in western Kansas, including three new permits in Barton County, eight in Ellis County, and one in Stafford County. That’s 955 permits for drilling at new locations across the state so far this year, compared to 741 at this time last year.

Independent Oil & Gas Service reports 45 newly-completed wells for the week. That’s 898 so far this year, nearly 100 ahead of last year at this time. Operators completed 31 wells in eastern Kansas and 14 west of Wichita, including one in Barton County.

The government’s weekly inventory reports have gone from the biggest draw-down in years to an unexpected increase to another big draw-down. The government reported inventories of 404.9 million barrels for the week ending July 20, which is down 6.1 million barrels for the week and about 3% below the five-year average. U.S. crude oil imports dropped by more than 16%. Gasoline inventories dropped 2.3 million barrels last week but remain about 4% above the five year average for this time of year

For the second week in a row, U.S. producers pumped record amounts of crude oil last week. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports 11 million barrels per day for the week ending July 20. (The totals are rounded to the nearest 100,000 barrels)

A jury verdict in a Texas court against an oilfield services company may have set the record for the largest civil penalty ever handed down in an accident involving a truck. The jury awarded a Texas man an eye-popping $101 million in damages from a 2013 DWI crash involving the illegal driver of a truck hauling fracking sand. The verdict against FTS international is believed to be the first-ever nine-figure, truck-related, personal injury award. Of the $101 million, about $75 million were punitive damages levied against FTS, which, according to the plaintiff, had plenty of chances to pull the driver off the road but never did.

The sale of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline will be finalized with the Canadian government as the new owner, after a deadline passed that would have allowed them to flip it prior to closing. Bloomberg reports Canada will seek a new buyer without Kinder Morgan’s help, amid fears of legal and political delays. The government’s $3.4 billion purchase gave it until Sunday to co-market the pipeline with an eye to selling it to a third party. About a dozen parties have signed on as potential buyers, and the project could wind up being bought by a Canadian-led consortium, as opposed to a single buyer. The pipeline would move oil from Alberta to Canada’s west coast, an effort by Canada to tap markets in east Asia.

There were no injuries or oil spills, but attacks on two tankers in a key shipping lane in the Red Sea prompted Saudi Arabia to temporarily halt oil shipments along the route. Two vessels belonging to the Saudi National Shipping Company were attacked by militias from Yemen.

The Wall Street Journal reports the five largest Western oil companies are set to generate about $90 billion a year in excess cash in 2018 and 2019, exceeding records set in 2008 when oil sold for nearly $150 a barrel. Exxon Mobil said second-quarter net income rose to $4 billion, up 18% compared to the same period a year ago. Profits at Chevron more than doubled to $3.4 billion and the company announced plans to begin buying back about $3 billion in shares of stock per year. French oil major Total said its net profit nearly doubled in the second quarter on higher prices and production to $3.72 billion, compared with $2.04 billion a year earlier. Royal Dutch Shell said its profits nearly tripled to $5.2 billion, and announced an anticipated $25 billion stock buyback. Norway’s Equinor, formerly known as Statoil, lagged behind expectations because of maintenance costs, but the company has already raised its dividend this year.