c. 2008 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Think you can’t pass over those huge Passover food bills? Menachem Lubinsky, editor in chief of the journal Kosher Today and the head of the nation’s leading kosher marketing firm, has these suggestions on how to cut corners this Passover:

1. Shop around. “Don’t buy everything in one store,” Lubinsky said. See if stores are running any specials and make a few strategic trips to cut costs.

2. Don’t overbuy. When the holiday ends, chances are there are extra boxes of cake mix, kosher-for-Passover salad dressing and other items that inevitably get tossed in favor of regular products. Make a list of what you ate and didn’t eat this year and put it aside for reference next year.

3. Some items are replaceable. Kosher vegetable oil might cost an astounding $12 a bottle, but palm oil costs half that. Search around for non-traditional items that might work just as well. (You can check the list of acceptable products at http://www.kashrut.com/Passover.)

KRE/JM END RUBIN