Next weeks meal plans,

Meal  plans are done.    The RDA for protein is 6 ounces, part if which should be eggs.   Meal plans are listed ,but not always eaten in the order listed.    Most generally I use a protein based matrix so that we  eat a varied diet.

1. Breakfast 4 dinner 
2. Pizza    - homemade crust. 
3. Mac and cheese ( homemade) peas and carrots - Barilla pasta is .75with coupons 
4. Stir fry chicken with noodles 
5. Shepard's pie.    
6. Tuna casserole, peas -
7. Sausage and sauerkraut.   Rolls 

Notes 

1) eggs continue to be inexpensive so far.   Keeping a small amount ahead will at least soften the blow when the effects of the buyout may hit.   I found a waffle recipe that uses a cake mix.   We have cake mixes I got on sale.    Orange juice is a dollar at Freddies this week.    

2) Homemade pizza crust is .30 and really easy.   My recipe calls for loading flour, yeast and salt into the food processor, blending for a few seconds, pouring warm water and olive oil into the flour mixture while the processor is working until the mixture forms a ball.  That's it,   Take it out and knead it a couple of times in a floured board or counter, and place in a oiled bowl for ten minutes.    You're ready to roll.    Motts is two dollars a pound at Costco.  Pepperoni is .50 (instead of 3.00) for the same brand at the tree with coupons.   

  It is a misconception that it saves money to grate your own cheese.  Check the prices.    The bigger the sack the lower the price not necessarily true either,   Cheese is .99 for 8 ounces this week at Freddies.   Some packages are six ounces, watch the packages.  Base your purchases on price per pound.   A pound of cheese is a pound of cheese, whatever shape it's in.   We toured the Tillamook factory.   They make big blocks of cheese.   Then they put it in a machine and use what looks like a giant cheese slicer- with metal strings and cut it into the two pound bricks.   Whatever is left over they put into a big bus- boy tray and send to be grated.    

3) Mac and cheese is homemade.  Cheese is another thing to stock while the prices are low.    Grated cheese freezes well and I'm doing a WAG that the buyout will result in higher prices.   I got Barilla pasta for .75 each at the tree with a coupon.    I make a white sauce myself from a homemade mix that has low sodium chicken stock and non fat dry milk.    You can also make it scratch with a mixture of butter and olive oil, flour, and chicken stock and milk to make it more healthy.    Pasta is 1.59 at QFC. Seventy-five cents is less than 1/2 price.    

4) chicken stir fry.   I de-boned my chicken breasts and freeze them individually pin quart bags and then multiples in a gallon bag. a chicken breast cooked in a pressure cooker in 8 minutes.    Stir fry veggies were 66 at QFC a few weeks ago.    Ramen noodles are cheapest at Winco - (.17)  I don't use the flavor packet that is full of salt.    

5) Shepherds Pie - I've never made it, but I see a recipe and I have already cooked hamburger and instant mashed potatoes.    Flavored instant mashed potatoes are a good go to and are cheapest at

Winco.   

6) Tuna  casserole.   I always buy my tuna at Costco.   It's not cheap, but well worth the splurge.    Again homemade white sauce and I add some kind of a green vegetable.   I was in the hospital one time when the children were young,  my husband called me to ask how to make tuna casserole.   I told him to boil the noodles, use cream of mushroom soup, and add drained tuna and something green ( like peas or peas  and carrots ).  Hating green veggies, he took green to be chopped pickles! Lol 

7) Sausage  and sauerkraut.  Sauerkraut in glass jars are cheap at Winco.   I drain and rinse and add apple to cut the acidity.    The sausage was a dollar at QFC with a coupon and the buy 5, save 5.   Not everything in the ad was a good buy, a lot of it was junk food.    But, I used coupons and bought cereal    For a charity .    You could stock cereal of your family ate cold cereal.   We tend to eat oatmeal-- even grandchild.    

Knowing your prices and buying accordingly is the best way to cut your food bill.  You can eat well on four dollars or less.   This week, I must have been in a comfort food mood.    Looking at the plan in retrospect.    I tend to use the tried and true and make it with less fat, sugar, and salt and avoid hydrogenated oils.   

Anything you want  to eat, someone will tell you it's bad for you.  Of you eat too much kale , you can get lead poisoning.

No food will do your family good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.

You eat first with your eyes.  Some of the "healthy " foods honestly, look like someone has already eaten them or like dog poop.    My take is to eat the tried and true.   Just eat moderation and make it as healthy as possible , reducing fat, salt, sugar and hydrogenated oils. It he,so to make as much as possible from scratch.   Grandmas cooking with bacon drippings. Shortening and mass sugar was not healthy.   You can still find that cooking in u tube.   It is possible to cook tasty regular food more healthy and not spend the entire day in the kitchen.   Our grandmothers didn't have a lot of outside activities. They had small houses so there wasn't a lot to clean.  They didn't work outside the home.   They cooked.  all day.  Our lifestyle is not conducive of that.  We do have tools these days to make the job of scratch cooking easier.    And, we can rethink retro recipes to make them tasty and more healthy.    



Better, cheaper, faster 
Four plus one is five : Four people. One meal, Five  bucks.