Tuesday

It's Tuesday. it seems like a Monday because of the holiday. I actually cleaned my studio and organized some things. I guessed I could start my busy season neat!

Last night we had a taco tater tot bake in place of the tacos on our plan. My husband wasn't impressed. It was ok, but I don't thinks will make it again. It had lots of ingredients and sounds more tasty than it was. Trying new dishes keeps meals interesting.
Mealtime can get in a rut. Children, however like repetition.

I am making muffins today. They are quick and easy and a good breakfast or snack. I usually make muffins with veggies or fruit. I got a couple of oranges at Fred Meyers because they were a buck a pound. I also got a few peaches of sale. Milk was a buck a half gallon and that included chocolate milk. Orange quick bread is one of cheapest ones. Grating and drying the orange peel saves it for other dishes. My MIL used to candy it.

Trying to waste the least amount of food is another way to stretch your food dollar. Mid week, do a fridge clean out and use up anything on the edge and dump anything dead. Hopefully, there won't be much dead. That is a good time to make vegetable stock. I make it on the stove, but when I worked,I made it in the slow cooker. I use it in a base for split pea soup when my daughter was a complete vegetarian.

It is the first of the month. Printable coupons have an expiration date. Many aremforma short time and all of them
Have limits, You can print two and the manufacturer sets a limit on the quantity that are printed. The large dollar coupons go first. I go through and print the ones I am likely to use if I find a sale. I file only printable coupons in my coupon binder. When I file this months, I throw out any lingering with stale dates. Most coupon sites have the same download file, they all come from coupons.com. Coupons.com doesn't make you go through hoops to get the coupons. You have to download coupon drivers once. It has been my experience that coupons.com is safe.

I purchased two skippy natural peanut butter with a coupon at Fred Meyer. They were dated 9/2. ( a group I belong to is providing food for needy kids.) I then downloaded another two dated October. Fred Meyers net cost with the coupon was .95. SAFEWAYS cost with the coupon was 2.44 for the same jar of peanut butter. To me, not buying the same peoduct with the cheapest price is wasting about 3.00. All those dollars add up. Instead of one kid getting a jar, I can get for almost three.

I started this blog when it was brought to my attention that people were running out of money before they ran out of month on SNAP ( food stamps) . It is possible to eat well on full food stamps. USDA hasnstatsnthat are updated frequently on what food costs. It is on the Internet. They base SNAP on these figures and the place where you live. No childmshoudmhave to live with the insecurity of waking up to no food in the house. And, no child should have top ramen and potato chips for a steady diet.

I am writing this blog from a suburb of Seattle. I know that different parts of the country have different stores and quantity of stores and different prices. The basics of groceries on the cheap work with all places. Saving is realitive. I think I had a wake up call when we went to a resort town off season for our anniversary trip. Lodging was cheap. BUT, there was no place to eat! The town had one eatery that had fish and chips. Fish and chips cost 40.00 for two of us. I had ice tea and my husband had 1 beer. The only store was an independent that had almost no food and what they had did have didn't look fit to eat! It was twenty miles to the nearest big store. We googled subway and found one four miles away and we ate the food I had brought from home in a cooler and subway the rest of the weekend.

If I was in that position, I would get the stores to mail me their ads or see if they were on line. Then, I would see I'd I could find another person to car pool with me and go twice a month when they had the best buys, my SIL and I used to go to the next town to shop together. They only had one car at the time, and we both had toddlers. The husbands could watch the children and we could go to the cheapest store to buy food. Shopping without toddlers makes it easier to concentrate on what you are doing. It seems every town has a dollar store. Our little town even has one. there are some foods that are cheaper; some are not. Make it a point to know your prices on the things on your
Stockpile list anyway. My mother had an expression, " some people wouldn't know a bargain if it bit them in the butt." Don't be that person! Ha ha

If you are on SNAP or a limited budget, knowing what a bargain is and taking advantage of them when they come along can make the difference between skimping along, or eating well and having something in the pantry at the end of the month.


It will be worth your while to download coupons early in the month before the high dollar ones are gone. Knowing your prices of the things that you buy often can save a bundle. Making adjustments to your shopping if you don't have chain stores available in your neighborhood might be necessary to effectively cut your food costs. Shopping without children makes for a more effective shopping trip. Why is it that even if younremondmchildren to go to the bathroom before you leave, it is right on the middle of you're calculating a unit cost when they announce to the world that they have to go potty! Ha ha.

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Jane