Monday Madness

We did go to Fred Meyers yesterday,  I loaded up on. Veggies and fruit.  Coffee and some sausage.  That gives me sausage, chicken, and cheese for a start on Aprils meat.   I already have hamburger in the freezer.   Eggs are on a cohpon for 3/5 at ALBERTSONS.  

We also went to Rite aid.  We had a dollar up reward loaded.   I purchased four baby foods for sox dollars and got a sox dollar up reward loaded to our card.  My husband bought beer.  I'll take the baby food to the food bank tomorrow.   

Even with a slow week sale wise, you can still eat well for less.  It helps that you have stocked when other things were on a good sale.  

What to do with what you got.   

I roasted two chickens yesterday. I used both ovens because I haven't had good luck with two chickens in the small oven.  They took forever to get done and I wound up finishing them off  in the Microwave.   I separate them into breast portions.mdark meat and soup bones. 

I got two individual packages of pizza crusts, like bomb oil and we can have make your own pizzas. We like buffalo chicken  pizza.  

Chicken pot pie continues to be a favorite here.  

Sausage is good with potatoes and peppers.  

Friday night  we had fish and chips and Saturday night we had Mac and cheese with mixed veggies.  

I will probably round thos out with tacos and spaghetti with meat balls.   

My usual matrix for meals is 

2 beef

2 pork or chicken 

2 vegetarian

1 fish

I digress.  Let's take this from the top.   By using stair step and precooking techniques, meals can be varied, inexpensive, and not a lot of work for the cook.  

• Friday/ we had fish and chips and coleslaw.  
• Saturday/ Mac and cheese with veggies / strawberries.  Shell macaroni ( .50) basil recipe starter ( free w coupon at dollar tree) pesto grated cheese ( grocery outlet) broccolli ( 1.00 a pound) melt the cheese in the recipe starter on top of the stove on medium heat in a saucepan.  Add to cooked and drained Mac and place on baking dish with par boiled broccoli.   Top with more cheese and bake until heated through.  
• Sunday/ roast chicken ( roast two and separate into breast portions for dinners, legs and thighs, and soup bones.  ) make three cups rice) strawberries  and mixed veggies.   ( chicken .79 lb, ) 
• Monday/ buffalo chicken pizzas.  Pizza crusts ( dollar store) ranch dressing, chicken pieces with Tabasco or heat to your choice ) blue cheese and motts, sliced olives ( .50 ALBERTSONS)  lettuce salad with tomato ( Fred Meyers ) 
• Tuesday/ bean and rice burritos.  Lettuce salad (last night.  ) rice from Sunday.  Beans .50 Fred Meyers) 
• Wednesday/ tacos , refried beans. Rice with salsa, lettuce and tomato.   
• Thursday/ meatballs and spaghetti.  Fruit cup with mixed berries and grapes.  

There is a week.  Most of it  was precooked, meatballs, taco meat, chicken, rice.  Cheese was 4.99 for two pounds at Fred Meyer.  Peppers were on sale as well.  Chop remaining peppers and freeze.  Peppers can be added to pizza.   Last week, Fred Meyers had tomatoes or beans for .50 on an ad coupon. Pasta  can almost always be had for less than a buck a pound with coupons.  Barilla is on coupon in Sundays paper.  Match it up with a sale.   I have found that you will eat less pasta and pizza dough of you fill the top of it  with a lot of meat and veggies.   I have a recipe for pizza dough on an earlier post.  It is made in the food processor and quick, but not as quick as premade.  Of course, if you have time, it tastes a whole lot better. 

Stair stepping and precooking meat makes meal time easier and takes no more time than eating out of a box.  I tend to cook things  that I can make that will satisfy our very diversified family of tastes.  I dont want to , nor will I cook three separate meals.   

My Fred Meyer trip is on Facebook under janes groceries on the cheap.  You will probably notice that  I bought a lot of fruits and veggies and things that are not on the meal plan for this week.  Buying what is on sale and rotating meats affords you a variety of food without laying top dollar for so,e things on your plate.   

The main object of groceries on the cheap is to NEVER PAY FULL PRICE for your food.  Sometimes that is impossible, but like the old saying save the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves, if you concentrate on the core items on your target list, you should be ok.  Don't forget you aren't going to buy ready mades and junk food and trying to buy from extreme grocery stores will he shooting yourself in the  foot.   

Divide your monthly budget by 4.2.  That is your weekly allotment.  If you spend more one week because there are good sales, then you have to spend less the following week or visa versa.   Have a good idea of how much you are spending on the food groups. Map it out on paper of you need to.   

That way, you won't spend too much at the beginning of the month, and run out before the month is up.   You want to wind up with five dollar dinners.  It is truly believable, but not of you buy ten dollar a pound ground  beef  that comes from mars.   Do the math   You don't have to do it all the time.  Just get a feel for what prices you are paying and how they relate to a five dollar  budget.  

I am operating on the lowest budget I can .  If you get more money, or your family os a different size, you will need to adjust accodingly.  I am working in the Pacific Northwest.  Prices vary from state to state, and so do the snap allotments and wages.  I suspect that some prices are lower, and some are higher.   The basics are the same.  The prices will be different.   

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Jane