What to do with what you got

I purchased eleven pouches of sweet potatoes at grocery outlet.    They were 25 percent more product for .33 instead of over a dollar.  That's enough for us to have one a week all summer before the expiration date.    I think they would be good longer than that, but it's a good benchmark.   So, this weeks pork chops will have sweet potatoes subbed for the starch.  When something is dirt cheap at a overstock store, always check the expiration date. Many ones it is on a special package, or a test market product and many times the reason why it didn't fly was because of price.    When the price is discounted, you are the winner.    

Chocolate pudding is a no brainier with a 5yo in the house.    

Suddenly salad is a bargain with coupons and summer means salads.     Some of them have bacon and take mayo, and some take olive oil or veggie oil.  

Getting diced tomatoes for .39 was wonderful.  I can use them for a lot of things and you can make salsa, tomato sauce or even put them  on nachos in  a pinch.   

So, how does a few cents  here and a few cents there add up to savings!    When you consistently get a good price on ingredients you can use to make balanced meals, your food bill goes down dramatically.    When you can scratch cook efficiently, your time is not much more, sometimes less, than cooking from packages, and you can control the preservatives, salt, sugar, and fat.  

• Pork chops, mashed sweet potatoes, peas, salad   Cost ;   Pork chops were 1.49  per pound , sweet potatoes .33, peas 1/2 package .50.   Salad .50 .   Total. 2.46.   That's about 1/2 of what the breakdown of a meal for four dollars a day per person.    
• Pizza : total cost of a scratch cheese and pepperoni pizza 🍕 when purchased at RBP is 1.30 total cost of a take out pizza is at least 5.99 and can be 20.00 from a delivery.   
• 4 cans of vegetable soup can be upwards of four dollars.   The same amount of scratch soup with .39 diced tomatoes cost 1.50
• Summer : hot dogs, buns, suddenly salad . Veggie sticks- raw.    Hot dogs are 2/5 ,   suddenly salad s .75 , add carrot and celery sticks at .50.  Total 2.94 
• Veggie egg omelets, cantaloupe.    Eggs are .78.   Tomatoes, zucchini chopped .94. Cantaloupe 1/2 .50 total for three people 1.83 

Total for five meals / three people 10.03 .  Granted, I would add fresh bread with the soup and maybe toast with the omelettes.   A loaf of homemade bread is another .30.   10.33 divided by 15 meals is .69 a meal.   

All this is predicated on buying your groceries in bulk, on sale, and rotating bulk protein monthly or on a six week interval. 

 

Buying your food at one store and one week at a time, just what you need for one week is rigged against you.  Just like gambling at a casino, the payout is rigged for the house.    Their house, not yours.   

You can buy 1 packet of potatoes for 1.29 , or you can buy  4 packages for 1.33.  One  time , you eat one meal. The other way, you eat four meals.