Random thoughts

just a disclaimer, this is being written after I consumer a whole bottle of magnesium citrate.    LOL.

I have been looking at a lot of freezer  meals and economy meal u tubes and Pinterest.    Hey, I've got to do something while confined to the bathroom!   LOL.  

Some of them make sense, some don't make sense to me,   I took a class on freezer meals twenty years ago.   Some of the recipes were very good.    I don't have the stamina to stand for eight hours to make freezer meals for the ,I think and I think we could get tired of crockpot meals every day,  

I can see it making sense for someone that has a weird shift and a partner that is clueless in the kitchen.  I know there are professions that have 12 hour shifts and with commute time, who would have time to cook for the family,    

I can see the meals that take a lot of chopping of veggies and how it would mean taking a bag out ofmthemfreezerof the night before and putting in the crockpot In the morning would help a busy mom.   But, putting three cans of something with a package of meat doesn't make sense to me,  it only takes a few minutes to dump a jar of pasta sauce and a can of mushrooms in a crockpot and turn it on.   It's just taking more freezer space to freeze it and the pasta sauc might separate being frozen.  

I would prefer to do my freezer cooking by ore cooking meat.    I can buy in bulk when it's a good price and portion control it into meal sized bags.   It makes meal time cooking a snap and saves a lot of money.  

On another note, there is a piece on Pinterest...sixty dollars a week.    Although, she spent 67.00.  Ok, we all go over every once in a while......    But, are you :););(. Me.........fried PBand J sandwiches for dinner.  I don't know very many men that would be too accepting of that.    

The last menu plans I did .....after reading them again,  I realized I had three processed meats in sox plans.    I would rework the, to make a vegetarian or,chicken pizza amd maybe skip the bacon for breakfast for dinner, and make a fruit and yogurt parfait instead.    That wouldn't effect the cost much, but it would bring it down to my once a week limit to processed foods.  

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspective. 
The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until ot goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck.