Put your grocery bill on a diet.

• Position: Food Costs

This year, we are paying--and will continue to pay--more than ever for dinner. Food prices jumped five percent in 2011 and likely will continue to rise, suggests the Department of Agriculture. However, you can have your chocolate cake and eat it, too, without breaking the bank, insists Toni House, author of Savvy Shopping: How to Reduce Your Weekly Grocery Bill to $85 Per Week--or Less!

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. You can have great everyday meals and special-occasion feasts and trim the household budget with planning, patience, and grocery shopping 'guard rails' 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 are 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 is for, how much more it will be worth on special coupon days, and whether it is worth the price in the first place.

Plan ahead. Figure out 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 food involved. This puts you in control of your shopping list and not the other way around. Instead of always playing catch-up, replacing what you have run out of, you buy only when it is on the menu. Same goes for cereal...