Broken record.

It seems to me that I'm a broken record these days.  Almost all the kids were home today-- at least the ones from the PNW.    I made pizzas and we had the watermelon I bought today.   Good job I did, it was very ripe.   It was a dollar and we had enough to make 5 of us have a decent serving.

Costing out two pizzas was an eye opener.     Two ready made crusts were 2. At the dollar store.   A jar of pizza sauce was a dollar, but I got at least six pizzas from it ( I poured it into an ice cube tray, froze it, and  dumped the cubes  into  a gallon bag.   That's 2.33 without any toppings.  I got Freschetta and De jiorno pizzas for 2.44 at Super Bowl time.   I suspect that when I venture into finding a thin pizza crust to make from scratch, the price will go down.  The pizza sauce at the dollar store is cheaper than scratch.  If I use a small can of tomato salad de and incorporate the rest to another dish, or could be cheaper.    I always have two dollar a pound cheese in the freezers and toppings as well.
 Today, I found red and yellow peppers at grocery outlet for 5/3.00.  Sausage I fry and defat and keep on the freezer.  Pepperoni I usually get for free with coupons at the dollar store.   Sliced black olives are .70 at Winco.  

Crust
Sauce - 1/6 jar of pizza sauce -.17
Cheese - 1 cup - .50
Pepperoni (BOGO w coupon ) .50 - .25
Black olives - 1/2 can - .35
Total 1.27 plus a crust.  

This still makes a frozen pizza on sale with a coupon cheaper.    I'm not convinced that anything less than the big guys is a better pizza than scratch.

I am finding a lot of casserole type dishes that give you the essence of pizza without the typical crust pizza.  



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

 Persphective . The  emphasis is on purchasing good food( shelf- stabll/ 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 get 

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.