LIfe is just one balancing act.

Yesterday I took advantage of the fact  that the house was very quiet and I organized my download d recipes and cleaned out the coupon binder.   I also watched a fair amount of grocery hauls.    A lot of family of four for two have noted dollars for two weeks.   A lot more for a lot more.  

A little kitchen management goes a long ways to cut your food budget drastically and still eat well and healthy.    I don't mean run five miles a day and eat sprouts for lunch healthy -- which by the way I am hearing that sprouts are not good for you, along with white,chocolate and strawberries that aren't organic.   Organic strawberries were twice as much as regular ones when I checked.   

I intend to plant the deck pots with food this year.   I already have chives.    

I found recipes for cornbread mix.   I am the only one that likes cornbread on the house, so I didn't jump  on that one.   I also find recipes for BBQ sauce.   Honestly, when I can get BBQ sauce for .55, it's not worth my time for the little we use it.   I do want to learn how to make a good enchilada sauce.   I down loaded a couple or recipes and will try them.   The ingredients are cheap and it costs a lot to buy.   Pick your battles.   

I am on a quest to eat well, without spending the entire lay heck and standing on my feet all day.  We already eat well on less than four dollars a day.   Now, I want to lower that amount and eat more scratch food.   It sounds impossible , but I have already mastered the less than four dollar a day part.  I'm just working on the lower the fat, sugar and salt and hydrogenated oils and scratch cook without spending my days on my feet in the kitchen part.   LOL.  

Appliances that save time and money- some can be found at garage or estate sales, or at the thrift shops.   In order of low cost to higher.   

1. Slow cooker.   - there is something really special about coming home to a hot cooked meal.  The smell is divine. 
2. Food processor.  For bulk cooking, it's a lifesaver.  Along with grating cheese and making bread crumbs and pizza dough.  
3. Blender - if you like smoothies . 
4. Bread baker.   - better bread, cheaper .   Even bread outlet bread is pricey .   It's easy and cheaper to make your own.    
5. Pressure cooker.   The new electronic ones are safer and do multiples of things- everything from making yogurt to slow cooking as well as pressure cooking- homemade soup in minutes that tastes like you have been cooking all day- healthier than a box or can.  That  doesn't mean that I'm not going to stock my canned goods .   It just gives me another option.   Some things are cheaper ready made.   Some are too labor ontensive to make it worth my while.  Nobody ever accused me of being a foodie!   LOL. 

Most of those can be purchased used or for little money with coupons etc at the department stores 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 

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.