The basics.

We have talked about shopping.   Yesterday we went to QFC. And SAFEWAYS.   I bought the toilet paper for .50 at QFC.  It is really a joke, but I did pay fifty cents and it will do what I intend it to do.   The package says, 60 percent more.    I can't imagine what the rolls were like before!  These are about a third of the rolls from Costco.   My intention was to stash them just n case we run out,well have a back up until we can get to Costco.   I would be a terrible thing to runout.  LOL.  

I   also got frozen veggies, peas, corn, and stir fry veggies.   Stir fry veggies in a two pound bag in the produce department at SAFEWAYS were five dollars.   Frozen ones, 12 ounces, were a buck.   It's not exactly the same, but they both will provide a chicken stirfry meal, and both are nutritious,m frozen veggies are picked at their freshest and flash frozen.  Our fresh veggies unless you get them from the farm are several days old when you get them.  

I did pick up a cheese pizza for five bucks. Four adults ate pizza and I added a salad and some toppings for individual tastes.   Still, it was an economical meal.   I also bought sis sandwich loaves, fresh berries, sandwich meat, yogurt  to mention a few things.   I am still well under budget.   Last week I bought a batch of ground beef to cook for rotating stock.  

My husband will pick me up a Sunday paper.  I got a Rite aid ad in the coupon  section that came in the mail yesterday.   There is not much there.  I have five dollars, they have my sugar free candy on sale.  I am not finding anything to roll over my reward dollars this week.   Bumble bee tuna is 2/4 with a dollar up reward,but I did that last week, and I don't think I can do it again.  It was very good tuna. But, there is actual chunks of tuna in there. It was really good.   Again, two cans fed four adults , well within guidelines for two adults and two school aged children.   I could have used 1-1/2 cans in that case and made tuna salad sandwiches for someone's lunch.  

My goal is four plus one is five.  Four people, one meal, five bucks.  That's for dinner.  Most budgets on snap that I have found is ten dollars a day.m if you spend five on dinner, you have 2.50 for each of breakfast and lunch.  That works, but the person I talked to was spending ten dollars a day on dinner,that  unfortunately, does not work.  The way to stay on track and not run out of money is to budget individual meals, remembering that you can average costs and getting twice the amount of food by watching prices and paying half price for your staple items.   You need to average 2-3 dollars a meal for protein in order to hit the five dollar mark.   Breaking down costs helps stay on budget. Less math.  

What to do with what you got.   How do you out this stuff together.  
I'm going to think out loud , so you see the mindset.

I got stirfry veggies.  I'll add chicken cubes and rice to make stirfry.

I got peas and carrots, so I can make chicken pot pie.

There is my two chicken dishes for the week.

I bought three packages for pasta at a buck.  One of them was some that included veggies in them.  I did not have a coupon this time, but I like barilla.   White fiber is good and often the same price as regular.   Mac and cheese with tomato pasta.   I got a medley of cheeses at grocery outlet last week for a good price.  

I got eggs last week for 1.67 a dozen, I see a quiche on our future.

That's our two vegetarian.  

Tacos are from the taco meat that I put up when I batch cooked hamburger at 2.99 for nine percent hamburger, or burritos .  

There was a piece of steak on managers special for 4.00.  We can have steak broiled and sliced thin and baked potatoes.  

That's our two beef.  

Cod was on a five dollar special at SAFEWAYS.   We can have pesto encrusted cod and glazed carrots, and rice cooked with some chicken stock and some red peppers.  I got red peppers on a bag last week .  

That's a weeks worth of meals using a matrix.

2 beef
2 chicken or pork
2 vegetarian
1 fish

Make meal plans.  You don't have to stick to the plans religiously, but have a plan.  It is too easy to fall into the take out trap if your tired and don't have a plan.


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Jane