Sunday notes

Yesterday was a good day to clean out  the freezer and wash the inside.   I took the opportunity to wash the baskets and organize them , putting one vegetable into each basket.    Corn, green beans and edamame , peas and peas and carrots, and mixed veggies.   Potatoes went in the bottom bin.    I'm leaving it to vegetables and cheese until I'm sure it works ok,    That means I have meat and a few things like pizza sauce in my refrigerator freezer.    It has drawers and I marked them with the type of meat with a grease pencil.    ( it washes off) I use a grease pencil for the egg keepers as well, it washes off and I can put the pull date on the top.

Which brings me to refrigerator / freezer/ pantry hacks .

• Pizza sauce is a dollar for a good sized  jar.   It makes about four pizzas. I put the contents of a jar in a ice cube tray and freeze it.    When it is frozen, I dump them in a zip lock bag   
• When I am chopping anything that can go on a pizza during a meal prep, I put veggies in a bag in the freezer door.   Meat can be pulled away in separate bags-- sausage, bacon, ham, chicken pieces - when you are ready to make a pizza you are all ready to make a pizza in a snap.   You can buy thin pizza crusts at big lots or the dollar store, make pizza dough from scratch ( it can be frozen) or buy inexpensive pizzas and add toppings.   Or, use French bread.   
• I freeze cheese, grated.   If  I grate  my own,  I add a little cornstarch . I usually keep ot to motts  and  Mexican blend.   
• Buy bulk -loss leader meats and cook/ portion control when apropriate .   No thawing and cooking - it's really easy right out of the freezer. Thawing cooked ground meat is fast . 
• Foster farms chicken breast is on sale for about a dollar often.   It takes about ten minutes to debone split chicken breast package.    The difference in cost can be as much as five dollars a pound and you know where this chicken comes from.   Not all chickens are alike.   I wrap each half breast separately and then put them all on a gallon bag.   It is easier to get them out of the bag and makes for a more organized freezer.   
• Organizing freezer and pantry space lets you see at a glance what you need to replenish when it's on sale.   Usually, I kept the ads trigger my investigation of stock levels.   
• Dollar store baskets are a good tool to harness small cans - green chillies, tomato sauce, chopped or sliced black olives. 
• Some markers wash off slick services.  You can use them to mark pull dates on lock and lock egg cartons, or on the shelf pulls of the freezer.   Things get lost when they are just stashed willy - Nilly.
• A little time in the freezer and pantry will save you lots of money - not buying things again.   
• Keeping track of things that might go bad and prepping them for the freezer helps eliminate waste.   
• Some people cut cooking time and stress by making crock pot meals ahead and putting them in the freezer.   I would probably forget to take it out of the freezer the night before.   You would probably be more efficient.   
• Having a pressure cooker allows you to cook frozen fast and keep food  moist.    A frozen chicken breast is ready in eight minutes plus the time it takes to come up to pressure.   It gives you time to prepare the rest of dinner while the chicken is cooking.   No watched pot. 
• Slow cookers and pasta cookers are another no watched pot helpers on the kitchen .

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 it 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.