Thinking on your feet!

Yesterday we went to th grocery outlet.    For those not living in the PNW, grocery outlet is an overstock store.   You certainly have to know your prices, some things are best suited to a very large family.  They carry a whole wall of organic.    They sometimes carry test market things this don't  fly well.      They can be really a good thing if you can quickly think on your feet.   Obviously, if you don't eat what you buy, you haven't saved any anything.

Example : a few months ago, they had Kraft jalapeño white cheese.   We all like spicy, it was a buck a pound. I was all over it.   After analyzing it, I see why it didn't sell.   Some people would not touch a jalapeño for anything. They just don't  like hot.   The people that like hot, probably weren't all over it because it wasn't that hot.    Like goldilocks, it was just right for us,   The price was right.

Often times, like yesterday, we hit the jackpot.   Dole fruit snacks were .50 and they had no sugar added, very low in carbs considering the volume.  
I had already planned to put  bacon on part of them and cheese. I had a recipe for Mac and cheese with chicken and bacon,    Bacon was .50.     There were two left and I took both of them.   They have to be eaten today..or shortly thereafter.  We already have breakfast for dinner planned.    It worked out fine.  If it hadn't, I would be rearranging the meal plan to fit.

Sara Lee pound cake was frozen and it was gingerbread.    It was fifty cents.   I thawed it and we ate it for desert after dinner with some whip cream.   I put the rest in the fridge and it no doubt will be eaten today.  

I also picked up another taco kit.    It was a buck and had a May pull date.    I make my own taco seasoning to save money.  But, of they are going to give me taco seasoning and taco sauce for more than free, I'm not stupid, I'll take it.  Thank you very much.  The kit is cheaper than buying the taco shells plain from another store.  

I purchased chicken, artichoke and cheese sausage for three dollars.    I figure when the sausage is cit with veggies and cheese, it will have less of the sausage on it along with its excess baggage.  

I saved 75 percent,   Total spent was less than eight dollars.

Buying some things that cheap and incorporating them onto your meals goes a long ways to stretching your food dollar.  

Yesterday we had a Mac and Cheese  with chicken and bacon casserole that was made from sauce that had non fat fry milk in it instead of a high salt and fat alternative.    And broccoli.     Gingerbread pound cake with whip cream for desert.

I have breakfast for dinner and sausage and peppers left on the meal plan.    It just happened that all the processed meat landed at the end of the week.    I might switch one of next weeks meals to spread it out.  

I am trying at is point in time to eat down the pantry and freezer so we start fresh again.    It gives me a better perspective of what we really are so doing on food.    I spend seventy five dollars a week, consistently for several years now.   Ot bumped a little before Winco graced us with their presence.    Haggens did  a number on Albertsons and Safeways price structure.

But, that seventy five dollars a week built and maintained and grew a decent pantry and freezer stockpile.   We could probably eat for four to six  weeks on it.   It's that time to fmthemuear tomdoma pantry and freezer reduction and refill.   The can goods get rotated consistently.  The freezer does not.  
I want to get it back to a fair to eight week rotation on protein.  
Only then will I tell just how low , low is.   Right now, we are at 2/3 of snap and we have grown the stock and maintained it.   Thats not a bad thing, it will get us through the donut hole and if I invested that money, I sire would not have got fifty percent interest on my money.  
Fred Meyers ads are in.   Next post.






Groceries on the cheap is looking at the Put Dinner On The Table meal train from a different
 pro spective.  The emphasis is on purchasing good food( shelf- stable/ freezer staples )at the lowest possible cost and purchasing enough to last you until it goes on sale again -- Keeping a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you use on a regular basis. It means that when you shop, rather than purchasing just what you need for a day or a week, you  buy a loss leader protein, produce you will need on sale, a stock item if it's a RBP, and dairy instead.    This allows you to put well balanced meals on the table consistently  for a four dollar a day budget per person.   You spend more time on the planning and shopping end of the meal train and less on the cooking end by cooking efficiently.  

Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on four dollars a day, spending more isn't hard.   You still get more bang for your buck.  

as all over it.