Staying on target

Staying on your target budget is not hard if you stick to the premise that you are not buying junk foods and have set target prices for items.    If an item is more than my target price and it's not absolutely imperative that I have it, I walk away.    Most things have an alternative.   That's where going to more than one store and buying the best of that store is key to feeding your family well on a small budget.

Even finding one or two things really cheap can snowball.   Barilla pasta is running 1.49.   Four boxes , then should be six  dollars, rounding.    I paid three and I got a coupon for 1.50 off three more.  I saved three dollars.   If I use  that three dollars to buy something  else that is an extreme bargain, it snowballs my savings.    That's how you pay for stocking without spending more than your normal budget on food.    Pretty soon you are spending less, because your stock is built and you are only buying the things at RBP.   

10 percent ground round was 2.77 instead of six dollars a pound,   I bought five pounds.    I saved rounding, 15.00 .   Today I will cook crumbles, and taco meat.    

Last night we had scrambled  eggs with cheese, a fruit compote with cantaloupe, grapes, and strawberries, and an apple, cinnamon  muffin.  ( I was making the basic muffin from Betty Crocker.   Granddaughter was helping.   She was mixing the dry ingredients while I was mixing the wet.  She decided that cinnamon would be a good addition to the dry ingredients, so I gave her some to add.   Then, I figured grating an apple onto the wet ingredients would be a good fit.  -and the rest , as they say, was history.    

Meal plans happen tomorrow.    We go for out last nit picking, and I'm working in my studio,  and batch cook five pounds of hamburger.   Hopefully all will work as planned.    

Back later.

I stopped at grocery outlet on the way home from what my DDG calls the hair Doctor.    I found 33 ounce tomato sauce in a bag for .50.    Romano cheese was 3.99 a wedge.    And onions were 1.50 a bag.  

On to meal plans

1. Hambirgers , French fries, salad 
2. Speghetti and meatballs , salad 
3. Baked potato bar 
4. Pizza 
5. Hot dogs. Suddenly salad 
6. Breakfast for dinner 
7. Perogie chicken casserole.    

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the Put Dinner On The Table meal train from a different

 pro sypective.  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.