If you want to reduce your grocery expenses, avoid purchasing foods with pre-packaged seasonings or pre-marinated sauces. There is a growing trend among food retailers to add large amounts of pre-packaged seasoning and sauces to increase their appeal, and, in many cases, to hide the increased cost per pound. When you purchase "value-added" products, you will typically pay an additional 40% over the actual cost of the item (or the ingredient) simply to get a generic salt rub or a low-cost sauce that you can easily create at home. When you buy pre-marinated meat such as lemon-pepper chicken or fajita strips, you're not only paying for the weight of the marinade (which is mostly water and cheap oil), but you are also being charged a "convenience fee" for the time and expense it takes for the manufacturer to open a jar of spices. The same reasoning applies to pre-seasoned rice and pasta kits; you're essentially paying for a small amount of salt and dried herbs packaged in a tin foil packet that is three times as expensive as purchasing the base grain in a larger bag. Making your own specialty salad dressing requires nothing more than whisking together some basic pantry items such as oil, vinegar, and mustard, which can be accomplished in no time.