Farm bureaus across the nation are celebrating Food Check-Out Week — the amount of time it takes Americans to earn enough disposable income to buy all the food they eat for the year.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics, Americans spend, on average, just under 10 percent of their disposable personal income for food. The average household earns enough disposable income to pay for its annual food supply in about 36 days.

By comparison, Americans work 52 days each year to pay for health and medical care, 62 days to pay for housing/household operation and 77 days to pay their federal taxes, according to a press release from the Utah Farm Bureau.

To mark the occasion, women's committees from the county Farm Bureaus will go to various grocery stores and buy food items for a few lucky shoppers. The Salt Lake County Farm Bureau will be at the Macey's store in West Jordan today; on Friday, the Davis County Farm Bureau will be at Dick's Market in Bountiful; and on Saturday, Utah County Farm Bureau will be at the Macey's stores in Pleasant Grove and Spanish Fork.

The state Farm Bureau women's committee will also donate $400 to buy food for the Ronald McDonald House in Salt Lake City.

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Erin Mylroie of St. George will represent Utah in this year's National Chicken Cooking Contest, held in Birmingham, Ala., May 3-5. She will cook her recipe, Almond and Chipotle Crusted Crispy Chicken Sandwich, with hopes to win the grand prize of $100,000. Mylroie was also the Utah NCCC contestant in 2005, taking fifth place and $1,000.

If that's not enough, Mylroie was also notified that she's the grand-prize winner of Rachael Ray magazine's Burger Bash contest. The grand prize is a trip for two to the Food Network South Beach Food and Wine Festival in Miami, Fla., later this month, and a trip for two to New York City to appear on Rachael Ray's show. We've called and e-mailed contest officials, but so far haven't gotten word on when Erin's appearance will air. Mylroie's winning recipe — Green Machine Turkey Burgers — will be run in a future issue of Every Day With Rachael Ray.

Mylroie is Utah's most successful cooking contest winner to date, in terms of national finals and prize money. Since she started competing in 2004, she's been to the Pillsbury Bake-Off finals twice and was a $5,000 category winner at the National Beef Cook-Off in 2005. She also was a $5,000 category winner in Cooking Light magazine's Ultimate Reader Recipe Contest, and she took grand prizes in Taste of Home America's Greatest Recipe contest (a $4,000 vacation), and the 2005 Mama Mary's Pizza Creations Recipe Contest (a Disney World vacation). Most recently, she won the $500 grand prize for Country magazine's Meatless Main Dish contest.

A tip for contestants: Mylroie says the way the recipe is written is very important. Her titles describe the recipe (for instance, New World Cranberry Molasses Barbecue Chicken over Double Corn Grits). Ingredients are listed in exact amounts, and in the order they are used in the recipe. Directions are clear and concise.

Readers inspired by her success can try their luck with the upcoming Pillsbury Bake-Off, where the grand prize is $1 million. You can enter online at bakeoff.yahoo.com. The deadline is April 22.

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E-mail: vphillips@desnews.com