Step 2, shopping wisely.

Ok, I have some weird thing going on with my muscles. I am attempting to post this anyway. It is not as logical in sequence as I would like. My brain just isn't working well with the pain.

One of the worst things that you can do on the shopping vane is To blindly go shopping at the most fancy store in town and buy one or two days worth of food. You are going to pay top dollar and subject yourself to impulse buys.
Going to the store to buy what looks good is a real mistake. The only thing worse is to do it with a couple of tired and hungry kids?!

Shop once a week. Shop two stores. Analyze the sale ads and pick the two stores that have the best buys on the things you need. I do it on the blog, but it only works for the Seattle area and only you know what you need.

Step one :

Take a piece of computer paper and quarter it. Head each quarter with the name of a close by grocery chain.
Now, write down any sale prices on perishables that are in season you may need to fill out your meals. Fill in any stock items that are a rock bottom price. Pick one meat that is a loss leader. Remember, you don't ever want to get stuck with that dreaded F word! ...full price. LOl

Now, cross off anything that is a higher price elsewhere. Cross off anything you don't need to stock.
Pick the best two stores. Write a list. Mark coupons @ for those things that have an in ad coupon. Check coupon connections or your matching service for your area. Download the printable coupons, and pull the coupons from the circulars. Mark the manufacturers coupons with a @@.

I'll back up....there are coupon matchup services ( free) for different parts of the country. If you collect the newspaper circulars, keep them in a stack with a binder clip by month. The coupon matchups will either tell you where to get the coupon from the paper, or will steer you to a printable coupon.

Pick two stores, plan your trip to maximize gas, get in, and get out. He longer you spend in a store, the more money you will spend.

Only use coupons for something you would buy anyway. Unless, It is free or near free. You can always give it to the food bank if it is free.

I wouldn't bother with coupons until I had the rest of the shopping down pat.

Remember, your goal is 1/2 price food. You want to try to get the savings at the bottom of your slip to be as much or more than you pay.

After you bring home the food, sit down and write your meal plans. You can do a tentative meal plan before you shop, but you never know when the meat is not worth carrying home, they don't have any,or you need to buy much more than you need to buy.

Eventually, you want to buy enough of one loss leader meat to feed your family four times.
If you batch cook your meat, and portion control it. You are spending less time and work than of you cook it once a day.

I rotate ground beef, pork loin or chops, chicken, and sausage. I used to do a beef roast before the drought did a number on beef prices.

My meal plans are based on a matrix.

2 beef
2 pork or chicken
2 vegetarian
1 fish

This allows us variety and helps to make everyone happy. Your matrix will probably be different.

There are tricks the retailers use to get you to spend more money. They are on an earlier post.



There are stores all over that sell food. Some are better than others. We go to the chain stores once a week. ( pick 2)

We hit the warehouse stores about once a month for bulk purchases. Thats Winco and Costco for us., there are alternative stores that are further away for us. For us that would be the dollar store, big lots and grocery outlet. Often times , they carry overstocks. You need to watch stale dates. But, we have had stale dates at the chain stores as well. You can save a ton of money if you are selective in your purchases. We usually go when big lots has a 20 percent day, or when we are in the area. They each have specialty items that they have better prices on.

There is no room in the thrifty budget for junk food and ready mades. There are, however,a few ready mades that are either too much trouble to make from scratch, or that cost more to make from scratch than to buy. Refried beans, Sometimes instant mashed potatoes, and there are now some beef main dishes that are cheaper than scratch with a coupon. Tortillas are easier too.

Track your prices of your staples. With rising food costs because of the drought, they will fluctuate.
You want to pay rock bottom prices on your staple items. If you don't have a lot of storage, make storage. You can always find room with some ingenuity.

If you rotate the loss leader and buy/cook enough for a months worth of meals, you should be able to get a months worth on a regular freezer. You will fond that life is simpler at dinner time, and you will work less. One clean up alone saves time.


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Jane

Shopping

We had some errands to run up north. We stopped at ALBERTSONS and big lots. ALBERTSONS had Tillamook yogurt for 10/4.00. Just because it's listed at 10/ 4 doesn't mean you have to buy 10. I had a coupon for 1.00 off 4. I bought 8 for 1.20. Or .15 each instead of .85 each. Beans were 1.50. I paid .50. There was a coupon, but I didn't get to it before they were all gone. I got potatoes for .60 instead of 1.49 at bog lots. I also got applesauce cups for a quarter and Curious George fruit snacks for a buck. Baby picked up the entire box of dominos she dumped on the floor, one at a time, that deserves a treat! Ha ha. We got TP at ALBERTSONS with a double stacked coupon.It made the mega pack 4.44. All on all, I saved more than I spent. That means I got more than fifty percent off.

Picking up sale items that match with a coupon is a good way to stretch your food dollar.

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Follow me ..... Step one: planning

I just found a new thing on my blog....follow me.... So I invite you to follow me.


For anyone new, I started the blog a year ago when it came to my attention that some people on SNAP were running out of money before they ran out of month. It is my opinion that no child should be subjected to the insecurity of waking up to no food in the house. And, no child should have a diet of top ramen and potato chips. My mother had the idea that no child should have to wear hand me down shoes. She did something about it: she started a fund to buy school shoes for needy children at the school. This is my attempt to do something about people not having enough food at the end of the month. I can't help everybody, but I can help people make better decisions at the store, so they can still have food in the pantry at the end of the month. I can give people the tools,what they do with them is their call.

What has come if it is that a lot of people like the time saving tips, some like the recipes , and some like the saving idea. I have no clue if I am reaching anyone on SNAP.

The basic idea of groceries on the cheap is to never pay full price for anything. I learned that from my mother, she even negotiated the interest rate on car loans with the bank. She used to say that if you went in looking like Lady asters pet horse, like you didn't need it, you would do better. One time, she went in and they quoted her a high interest rate, she said, if you are going to charge me that much,I'm better off to just take the money out of savings and buy the car. The banker said he didn't know she could do that and gave her a lower interest rate.

groceries n the cheap is based on a three disciplined approach.

1) planning and organizing
2) Careful shopping
3) cooking from scratch.

PLANNING AND ORGANIZING

Like any project you endeavor, having a plan makes it better. You wouldn't dream of building a house without a plan, or going on a vacation. Most people plan their days.
Some of the planning you could have already done. A lot of it is a one time chore. When you are up and running, it will probably take you less time to shop and cook dinner than it does now. The added advantage is that you will not run out of food before you run out of month and you will pay less for it. 1/2 price food for the average family means about four thousand dollars in the bank.

The USDA has stats on line to give you a benchmark of what it it should cost for your family for food. It is based on the ages of your family members, and it has several income levels. I am dealing with the lowest level of income. It is harder to spend less on food, than it is to spend more! LOL. this is a whole new approach to how you buy food. Don't let this overwhelm you, take one step at a time.


Step one :

Identify the inexpensive sources of protein that your family will eat. Meat should be less than 2.75 a pound.
In our house that would be:

Eggs, cheese, beans and rice, good ground beef, pork, chicken, and some beef cuts. It is harder with the drought prices this year.

Step two:
Identify 7-14 main dishes that use that source of protein. Pick things that your family will eat! Fourteen is better so that you don't burn out on eating the same thing. I do know that most kids would eat pizza and burritos seven days a week. LOL. Bear in mind dinner for four should cost five bucks. Total, not per person.

Step three:

Make a list of shelf ready items you need to cook these dishes. These are your staple items. In our house that would be pasta, pasta sauce sauce, beans, refried beans, diced tomatoes, black olives, some tuna, some salmon, some chicken noodle soup and some chili and some green beans and corn.

Step four|
Make a list of your most frequently used staple items, there should be about 10-15 max.
Now, set up a notebook or spread sheet that tracks the prices of these items.

Pasta

Date, where purchased, coupon? Final price

You are looking for the rock bottom price on that item.
you are going to stockpile that item. Stockpiling an item is NOT HOARDING. Stockpiling is buying your staple items at their cheapest price and buying enough to last you until they go on sale again. This is not a new concept. Our grandmothers put up fruits and vegetables from the farm to last them through the winter. People that play the stock market buy low and sell high. You are just buying low and eating high. Buy when the food is at a low price and keep enough to last you until the next sale. Sales run on a 8-12 week cycle. I keep 24 of something that I use once a week; I keep 6 of something I use once a month. I keep one ahead of things like mayo, mustard and ketchup. When I open the back up jar, I start looking for a sale. I don't want to be in the middle of something and have to run to the store, that wastes time and gas and I am prolly going to pay top dollar for my product.

Don't try to stock everything all at once. When you find a good sale, buy six or so. It is bad manners to clear the shelf unless there is only six or so left. Leave some for the next bargain hunter.

Use coupons when they match up with a good sale. Only use coupons they are something you would buy anyway or need. I always watch for toothpaste coupons. . Most of the time I get toothpaste free. You can't be brand sensitive, but you can get sensitive toothpaste. I never stray from that idea unless it is something new and is free or almost free. Ready made items have to cost less than scratch ; that doesn't happen to frequently. Scratch is better for you.


Stay timed for the next segment !

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Jane

Savings ???? And shoreline top alert. Now 40 percent!

I just downloaded the women's day magazine. I thnk they are somewhat misrepresenting themselves on the covers . This is the second time I have been postured to learn a big savings idea and had to look really hard to find the article they were tempting you to buy the magazine for.LOL. I always get my 2.00 worth out of the magazine. Then, I pass the reader to my daughter to read.


The September issue has a really good recipe for oat snack bars, it calls for honey,something that my granddaughter and I can't have, but I have a food substitute book, so I can adjust it accordingly.

The save money on food tease on the front cover was recipes at 1.50 a plate for dinner. Looking at the recipes, they are probably right on the pricing some of the time. The shrimp dish sounds really good, and it is probably right. The chicken legs and thighs with zucchini is probably too high. Mi for chicken parts for 1.49 , I have got them for as low as a buck, and zucchini here is often free or as much as .69 cents a pound. I would bet I could make that recipe for under five bucks for four people. Vegetables a d eggs should come in for less than five too.,

I can only judge by the food prices in our area. I find the cheapest I can.


I read a magazine article while I was in the doctors office today. Basically ten ways to save at the grocery store,they said things in different ways. But basically they said the same things that I have said for years. The only thing that I don't actually agree with is that you will pay more with a card. I use my debit card. We don't carry cash, it is too hard to track and too easily spent for junk. I do know that paying with a credit card can get you in trouble unless you are really disciplined and pay it off every month.
Maybe that was what they were talking about. They did stress the importance of going to several stores, and not buying your non food items at the grocery store. You, can by contrast, save of you buy food at the drug store. They don't carry lots of food, but they are selective on what they do carry. So it's usually cheaper! Again, you have to know your prices.

Today we went to the dollar store. All they had in the recipe starter end cap was tomato. My husband likes sunflower seeds and salami and pepperoni. I did not have a pepperoni coupon. I did have a hefty slider bag coupon and got an special box so I got 15 instead of 13 bags; basically getting one free. I got free bic stick pens. We go through a lot of pens, and a lot of pens for work. I got 30 pens for free. You can't use more than two coupons per item at the dollar store. I got one package at SAFEWAYS and two at the dollar store. Pudding cups were buy two, get 1 free at SAFEWAYS and I had a coupon. A,real easy way to get calcium into someone that won't drink milk. Berry Crocker cake mixes were on a coupon for .99 and I could stack another coupon to make them closer to .50 instead of 1.50. All those dollars add up. Again I average about six bucks a week on coupon sales alone. Some weeks are more.

I save about 50 percentage the store, and I save by selective meal planning as well. We are still well under USDA stats for the actual food consumed. We have a large stockpiled And I usually pay half price for anything I can. Some things just never go on sale. Fortunately they are things we don't have to have often.


I write this blog to try to help people get the tools they need to cut their food bill, either because they have to, or because they want to. I started it because I heard that some people on SNAP were running out of money before they ran out of month. I really am not getting enough feedback to see if those are the people I am helping, but Imcan tell that I am helping some people by my stats! I just found a join button on my blog. You have to know technology is not my strong suit, Typing on a I pad isn't either LOL.

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Jane

Finally Friday

It's finally Friday. SAFEWAYS has specials for Friday only. We don't buy much bakery goods, but my husband loves the pudding cake, it is like a coffee cake. I haven't found a recipe for it yet. It is 2.50 this week.

We don't eat many baked goods, but I like to make quick breads when fruits need to be used up. They are fast and everyone likes them in our family. Many recipes call for two breads and you can eat one and share one, or eat one and freeze one. great for when you get unexpected company. My MIL always had goodies when you stopped by for tea. I miss that.

Quick breads are an inexpensive way to have a quick breakfast, or a snack. The bisquick cookbook is full of recipes. I get bisquick at Costco . I have a recipe for it on an earlier post, but with the cost of dry milk these days ( more than regular milk, and the fact that it calls for shortening, I am not sure it is still a desirable alternative. There is vegetable shortening these days, but dry milk at Costco is 40.00. My daughter got some cheaper at wallmart. I found the same milk at Winco. It was 10.00 for 2.5 gallons at wallmart. Thats more than whole milk.

My family likes impossible pie. My MIL used to make a apple strudel pie with sour cream. It was really good too. I use bisquick for the topping on chicken pot pie.

Tex Mex Beer Bread

2-1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tsp chili powder
1 -12oz beer
3 T butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
1) measure out dry ingredients in a bowl. Combine.
2) stir butter into a beer in a separate bowl.
3) combine the wet and dry ingredients. Do not over mix.
4) grease and flour a 9X5 loaf pan. Pour batter into pan.
5) bake for 55 minutes or until bread is form and golden brown.m batter will be away from the side of the pan.
Serve warm.

Good with chili or a hearty soup.

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Jane

Shopping trip

I went and did 1/2 of the shopping today before I went to work because I have a doctors appt Tommorrow. I will do the rest Tommorrow.

I got smoked sausage for 1.99 and used a 1.00 coupon. I took advantage of the mega deals at QFC. I got a very large basil plant for 3.34. Total savings was .47 percent. It see,s every time I go to QFC, it says I saved 47 percent. One time I got 67 percent.

I went to IGA and got veggies and a couple of packages of chicken thighs. By finding a few extremely good priced sources of protein, you can average and also get a few more expensive cuts of meat.

For people in the Seattle area, top foods in shoreline is closing. Everything is 30 percent off. I'm waiting for 50 percent.

Tonight we had sausage and potatoes,peas, salad,and cucumber salad from the garden. It was late when my daughter got home, so I didn't have a chance to take a picture. We had pie and ice cream for desert. Tillamook ice cream was 2.79. Peaches were a buck. I also got cantelope for a buck.


By purchasing foods at their lowest price, we can eat well for 1/2 the national average.

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Jane

Terrific Thursday

I just got an e mail from QFC about their save 5 on 5 . That's a buck an article and there are coupons that match up to some of them. There are actually some real food in them--cheeses yogurt , etc.

http://kroger.softcoin.com/programs/kroger/winlist/content/shopping_list.pdf

A buck an article plus a buck coupon would make for a sweet deal. You can stack mega deals, you can't stack electronic coupons.

I made chocolate zucchini bread from a taste of home recipe. It called for 1/4 tsp baking powder, I think it was a typo, or my bakingnpowdernismold because I got chocolate zucchini brownies! Taste good, but not quite what I expected. There's a recipe for peach bread. Peaches are a buck a pound.

I have been trying to use up some of the stockpile and the vegetable garden. Last night we had sirloin tips , mashed potatoes and peas and carrots out of the garden. Yum!


linguine with clam sauce

3T butter
1T olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
4 tsp chopped garlic

1 pkg linguine, cooked and drained
1 can minced clams
1 can of sliced mushrooms
1/2 Tao dried basil
3 T lemon juice
1/4 cup sour cream
1 T cornstarch
Parsley to garnish


Start the linguine cooking

Combine butter and oil in a large saucepan. Add onion and garlic and cook until tender.
Add undrained clams, mushrooms and basil. Toss with drained pasta. Combine in a bowl, lemon juice, sour cream, cornstarch and blend . Add to saucepan and stir until it bubbles and thickens. Pour over pasta and
Toss.

Notes: I combine butter and olive oil often. While making white sauce especially. The butter doesn't burn as fast, it adds flavor and the olive oil makes the dish more healthy than just using butter.

A can of clams for four people is probably not enough protein. That's when I make cheese bread to go with and add a pudding or another desert that adds more protein. I would add a hard cheese for garnish .


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Jane

Coupon matchups, UPDATED,

Coupon connections has matchups and if you click the things you want, they will print you out a list.
Recap

QFC has Tillamook YOUGERT 10/4. Coupons make it .15 each when you buy 4.
Tillamook cheese is 4.99 without a coupon
Annie's Mac and cheese is .79 or .44 with a coupon

Strawberries are 2/4
Peaches are .99

ALBERTSONS

Hillshire farms smoked sausage is 2.33 if you buy 3. Coupons make it 1.33
S &w beans are .49. With coupons they ate not free. Be sure to bring your add coupon . the manufacturers coupon
Is not available at this time. Angel soft TP is free with a coupon. I tried to use it at dollar tree, but our dollar tree doesn't carry it.

I really like that word free! It really stretches your dollar!g

SAFEWAYS
Snack pack puddings B2G1. Coupon .45 off
Bc cake mix .99 before coupon
Bic pens w coupon free

5 dollar Fridays alert
Coffee 5.00
Pudding rings 2/5

Tomatoes .99
Pears .99
Grapes 1.77


Another note

Watch the scanners carefully. Some are hard to check because the discounts come into play after its all done. At least check the receipt before you leave the parking lot. Lately, I have had to go back twice, and should have gone back a third time, but the amount of the overcharge wouldn't have been worth the gas. Fred Meyer charged me 1.29 tomatoes instead of the .69 zucchini that they should have. Do yourself a favor and check the receipt before you get out of the parking lot.


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Jane

The ads 8/7/13

Here are the ads for the Seattle area. Better said, here are the buys for the seattle area.

QFC

StrAwberries 2/4
Peaches .99


Mega deal/ buy 5
Freshetta pizza. 3.99
Tillamook ice cream 2.79
Cheerios 2.49
Bounty towels 5.99
Hillshire smoked sausage 1.99


Pasta 10/10

WEEK END OMLY SALE
Pork loin 1.99
Cheese 4.99***
Annie's cheese . 79


TOP

Organic grapes 1.79
Annies 5/5 @@
Huggins 15.99@@
Lettuce/spinach 1.00
Plums 1.69
Chilinoeppersv1.00
20 ground beef 2.49
7 percent ground beef 3.99
15 percent ground beef 3.00
10 percent ground beef 4.00

SAFEWAYS

Chicken breasts 1.49 bone in
Chicken breast boneless/skinless 1.99
Cheerios 2.50
Tomatoes .99
Strawberries2/5
Pears .99
Grapes 1.77

5 dollar Friday
Pudding rings 2/5
Blues 5.00. 2lb

Betty crocker cake, brownie mix .99
I,ago e soup. Free w coupon...see cc

ALBERTSONS

Medium eggs .49@@
Tuna 2/1 @@
Crest 1.00 @@
Hillshire farms sausage 3/7 @@
Barilla pasta .88
S and w beans, with coupon free ***'see cc

Cereal, breakfast bars buy 10. 1.89

Meat, buy 1, get 2 free
That's 66 percent off

Chicken breast
Pork chops
Pork loin strip



NOTES. To figure the best buy on hamburger. Multiply the cost of the hamburger by 1.XX. With XX being the percentage of fat.

Note there are coupons for cereal always. There are coupons for Annie's and pasta. I am not sure that blue box pasta will work for yellow box coupons. Check coupon connections for match ups., I saw several potential match ups.


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Jane


Cc coupon connections

@ means im ad coupon

500 blogs!

This is 500 blogs. We finally had our pork chops yesterday. My husband cooked the, on the BBQ. I picked peas and tomatoes from the garden and cooked peas and made a salad. My daughter baked potatoes. The baby supervised along with taking her stuffed dog for a walk between the kitchen and the back deck! LOL.

Someday, I will get my act together and photo journal a weeks worth of foods. We really do at normal food for 75.00 a week, and stock. I would estimate that we eat about 60.00. We are stockpiling more than usual. I'm hedging against still higher drought prices and the lack of business revenue if loose my venue.

I have a cookbook from the 70's that I have added to through the years,m I am starting a new one from the Betty Crocker e mails that I get and from the numerous magazines I have been getting at the goodwill. I can have a lot of inspiration from a .50 magazine. Many of the new recipes call for boxed or premise ingredients. Most of them can be altered to use scratch ingredients. I buy a few ready mades, but usually steer clear of anything that can be made scratch cheaper. Beans and rice have a short fridge life. I usually don't have time to cook beans from scratch and cook a batch of soup in the same day. If I get canned beans cheap enough, they are the same price as cooking them from scratch. I would rather not take the chance of food poisoning. I usually have leftover soup, so we are stretching the holding time.

One way to stretch your food dollar is to use plentiful produce in the summer in unusual ways. We had chocolate zucchini cake at a family picnic earlier in the month. The lady had put chocolate chips in it. It was really good.
I posted zucchini recipes in an earlier post last week. I am getting a lot of tomatoes on our plants, so far not
all of them are ripe in spite of the fact that we are having a really hot summer for a change.

Corn Potato pancakes

2 cups leftover mashed potatoes made with butter and milk.
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup corn, mashed up
1 egg, slightly beaten
3 T onion, chopped fine, or grated, pinch of dried parsley
Salt, garlic and pepper.

Combine ingredients. Fry 1/4 cup portions on vegetable oil 1-2 minutes in each side until browned.


Corn Dip

6 medium ears corn on cob, grilled 10-12 minutes, remove from cob.
1/2 onion, chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, chopped
2 T butter
1 tsp minced garlic
1 cup mayo
1/2 cup plus 2 T sour cream
1/2 tsp chili powder
8 ounces jack cheese, grated
1-1/4 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 can sliced ripe olives

1) sauté the onion and pepper until tender. Add corn and garlic and cook another minute. Take off heat.

2) in large bowl combine mayo, sour cream and chili powder. Stir in corn mixture, cheese and cooked chicken.

3) Pour into a greased 2 quart baking dish.

Bake, uncovered @ 400 degrees 25-30 minutes.
Garnish with black olives.

Serve with tortilla chips.

Chips can be made from tortillas. There is a way to do it with cooking spray in the oven and reduce the fat, but I can't remember the particulars. Corn or flour tortillas, and for how long? Anyone remember???


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Jane

Monday shopping

I had some rite aid dollars. The dishwasher soap was on sale BOGO . I have a coupon. I paid 1.05 including the almost ten percent tax for 64 tablets. That is a two months supply for us. We went on to the bread store . We hadn't been for a while. I got

A Costco sized bag of brown and serve French loaves
A bag of brown and serve bread sticks
A bag of frosted animal cookies
A package of peanut butter cookies
3 packages of whole wheat English muffins
A package of hoagie rolls

All for 11.00.


When you go to the bread store, they give you stuff for free. Even if I'm not going to use it, I make bread crumbs out of it.


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Jane

Monday madness

Last night we were going to have pork chops for dinner. My husband went crabbing, and needless to day, we had crab instead. Any plan can be modified, but you need to have a plan. Meal plans keep the drive through gremlins away!
It really helps to have emergency plans for a day when your world seems to fall apart.
Tacos and breakfast for dinner come to mind as the fastest and simplest to make. I always have taco meat in the freezer and eggs.

Taco seasoning and other seasoning packets are expensive. The Dollar Store and Big Lots are good sources for cheap spices. If a spice isn't at those stores, you can get just the amount you need from the bulk isle.
I have a recipe for taco seasoning on an earlier blog. When they cost as much as a dollar, they can really bust your five dollar budget.

If you are not usually an organized person, you will find that little steps will help and being organized takes away a lot of stress in your life.something as little as organizing the fridge so that all of one kind of thing is on a particular shelf or drawer is a good first step. You can tell at a glance what you are short of and what needs to be eaten and incorporate it into your meal plans so it doesn't go to waste. Remember,if you don't live alone, you can always delegate some of the planning to an older child or a spouse.

I can remember when I had an emergency operation, It had been two weeks since we had grocery shopped. I sent my husband to the store for the weeks groceries. He came back with two pomegranates and a case of beer! I sent my college age daughter with a hundred dollar budget, she came back with more than a weeks worth of food we generally eat and spent 98.00. I guess the lesson there is to be careful who you delegate a chore to.

An older child can process bread chunks for bread crumbs if you deal with the blades. Ditto cheese. They can certainly mash bananas and crush crackers or chips for a recipe. My kids used to love to take their aggression s on the crackers or tortilla chips ! I started baking when I was 9 years old. When I was 13 years old I got my First iron. Can you tell what chores my mother didnt like to do? Her thought was that she was teaching is how to be self sufficient. That was back In the days when everything was cotton. You had a laundry bag and wet your clothes. You didn't dare put your ironing off or you had mildew on your clothes.

I digress, back to the topic....

Using up bits of things and all of your food is good for the environment and good for your pocketbook. You can use the peelings from carrots and potatoes to make a stock. I use the tops of celery as a garnish instead of parsley.
If sour cream or cottage cheese is getting to the expiration date, use it in recipes. If you ate stumped, get on Betty Crocker web site and google the item, it will pop up recipes that use that item. I use cottage cheese in lasagna, It can replace cream cheese in a dish. There are a lot of recipes that use sour cream , pound cake is the first one that comes to mind. Vegetable soup and/ or vegetable stock is a good use of buts of veggies. Cream of ...brocolli, cauliflower, or ??? Comes to mind.

This time of the year, zucchini is prolific in gardens. Often times neighbors will share the abundance. Our summer squash has not grown to maturity yet. luckilly, our neighbor has shared hers. There are lots of zucchini based recipes out there, chocolate zucchini cake is my favorite along with stuffed zucchini.

Banana, oatmeal, blueberry bread is another favorite to use up food on the edge. Sometimes bananas on the edge are really cheap at the grocery store. If you have time to take them home and cook them immediately, you can save a lot. Otherwise, the cheapest place to buy bananas is Costco.

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Jane

Suddenly Sunday

Yesterday I spent the morning doing laundry and putting up corn and making banana- blueberry- oatmeal breads.
I clipped the new coupons on coupon.com. There are coupons for Betty Crocker MAC and cheese, and hefty sandwich bags. I used them at the dollar store ;that made Mac and cheese .25 as apposed to Kraft that is a buck. And the hefty bags .50. I like the hefty bags to use in granddaughters lunch. Boxed Mac and cheese is a good children's snack or a good emergency ration. For that price, it is a good food bank donation. Kids love it.

My daughter and I went to Big Lots and grocery outlet. Big lots doesn't take SNAP or coupons. lasagna noodles were 1.40 and pizza crust was 2.00. Double cans of tomatoes are a buck. They had a really interesting hot sauce for a buck, and I got anti- itch cream for a buck.

Grocery outlet is a good source for cheese. They had spicy jack cheese for 2.00 a package ( that makes it 4.00 a pound). Top dollar for regular cheddar. So,eti,es a splurge makes things better-- my husband likes Mac and cheese with it. Everyone in the family likes peppers. My husband likes smoked Gouda cheese and that is the best way to find it. I got a name brand lunch meat for a buck. The exact same brand as the one I paid 2.00 for with a coupon.
Chicken sausage is 3.00 instead of 5.00. Individuàl Angelfood bundt cakes were a buck. Strawberry shortcake !!! I don't remember ever using a coupon at grocery outlet.

Yesterday I dissected a meal box that I got for free at QFC. I wouldn't have purchased it. I can make the same thing for little effort. I precook my meat, so I spend less time in the kitchen at dinner time. By dinner time,I am wiped out, especially of I have worked that day. I want fast, thrift conscious food. I would cook the pasta in the microwave, chop up some cooked chicken breast, and either use a can of basil recipe starter from the dollar store or make a quick white sauce with a hard cheese in it. Two cups of white sauce costs .70. It would cost less if you used vegetable stock instead of milk, or part milk and part vegetable stock. There is a recipe for cream soup base, but I haven't cost it out. The recipe starter is .50 for 2-1/4 cups. It's actually cheaper,than scratch.

I haven't talked about stair-stepping. Stair stepping is where you make a double batch of something and reserve part for another night in the same week. Rice can become stir fry and fried rice. Chicken pieces can become chicken and rice and chicken on biscuits. Sloppy joe meat can become sloppy joes and shepherds pie another night. Chicken and summer squash can become chicken fettuccine.

Get out of the kitchen strategies :

Stair stepping
Crock pot meals
Batch cooking saves time and money
Leftovers
Quick hot dogs, hamburgers, Dagwood sandwiches, or hot meat sandwiches, sliders, sloppy joes, etc.

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Jane

Ultimate box dinner, updated

As promised, ultimate dinner box, dissected.

The red box is 2.50 at QFC. It was free to me.

It has a total of 9 ounces. It breaks down as such ( Tare weight included)

5.33 ounces of penne pasta. At 1.00 a pound ( I get it for as low as .38). It is always somewhere for a buck
Cost. .34

1.13 ounces of seasoning mix

3.14 ounces of cheese sauce. There is less than 5 mg of cholesterol.

For a total of 4.27 ounces.

The difference between the cost of the pasta and the cost of the box is 2.16 or 8.00 a pound.

The mixes ( I can't differentiate between packs) include the following. Please note that 4 punches is a quarter of a pound.

Water
Canola or soybean oil
Cornstarch
Milk cheese cultures, salt, enzymes
Whey
Modified whey
Sodium phosphate
Non fat milk
Flour
Corn syrup
Parmesan cheese ( part skim milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes)
Sea salt,
Modified tapioca starch
Natural and artificial flavors
Partially hydrogenated soybean oil
Mono and diglycerides
Lactic acid
Sodium agin ate
Parsley.....a word I can pronounce lol
Citric acid
Enzyme modified cheddar cheese ( milk cheese cultures, salt, enzymes)
Dried buttermilk
Can than gum
Yeast extract
Cream
Spice
Sodium DIACETATE
ONION, DRIED
sodium casein ate
Silicon dioxide
Sorbitol acid nisin preparation.

A lot of that has the word salt and sodium in it. There are words that sound really chemical in nature. I am not a chemist, or a nutritionist, this is just my observations for what they may or may not be worth. The fact that there is less than 5 mg of cholesterol in it sounds at least a little better than the last box I dissected. It sounds like it would take the same 23-26 minutes; maybe with less intensive cooking so you could cook the sides too. It actually has some dried milk in it, an improvement from the last box. I will look into what cheese cultures means.

I haven't made this yet. I suspect , judging from the milk, flour, thickener ingredients, that it is pasta, chicken you provide, milk you provide that it is a white sauce with onion and undisclosed seasonings, and some Parmesan cheese. Subtract the .34 from the price of the box and your cheesy white sauce is 2.18.

My daughter made a fast version of the same thing sans the chicken with a .50 can of recipe starter basil, .50 worth of sour cream and a handful of asigo cheese. She added milk, but you have to add milk and butter to the box too.
Probably less money. Probably not less time because pasta takes time to cook. Cooking pasta in the microwave means it is passive cooking and you can make the rest of dinner while it cooks. I might add peas or,chopped brocolli to either version.

You could also, just make a white sauce and add some Parmesan and onion and or garlic powder to it. And stir in some Parmesan or another hard cheese. . I usually buy whatever is the lowest in price. I buy fresh cheese, the box stuff is awful! For a white sauce, 2T veg oil cost .05 and 2T flour cost .008 Milk totals .63 for a total of .70
Add penne at .34equals 1.04 plus some cheese. The mix costs 2.50 and you have to add some milk. Simce all of the ingredients including cornstarch and other thickeners, preservatives, milk solids etc total 4 ounces, there can't be much cheese in the box.

It costs .35 for a cup of white sauce. It cost .50 for 2.25 cups of recipe starter.


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I'll be back after I look up cheese cultures. Cheese cultures are bacteria specimens that are added to make cheese.


Jane

Saturday notes 8/3/13

First of all, I feel it necessary to share a cyber warning. I have all kinds of firewalls on my big computer, not so much on my lap top. We rarely use it. My husband started to up to look up CNN and found a disturbing, official looking web site. according to them, we have been looking at kiddy porn and need to pay them ( impersonating the police) a three hundred dollar fine.the computer is locked. It was complete even to the instructions how to pay with logos of national chain stores and with pictures of the evidence. Sickening! I made telephone calls and e mails. If you get one of these, DON'T send any of your hard earned money. Your local police and attorney generals office are not in a position to help. Email the FBI cyber crime unit. They are having a hard time cracking down on these people ( I use the term most generously--scum of the earth is a more appropriate description) are out of the country and there are several versions of it. They have sold the "rights" to it on Craig's list and e bay and they are popping up all over. They open a bank account, get several hundred thousand dollars and close the account and move on. It would seem to me that ifna sign was put up in the stores that sell green dots that would solve half of the problem. The other half would be to have someone offer a free download to get rid of it.

On to the subject of this blog.

Corn is .25 an ear at QFC. I am not a serious canner/freezer. I am sure that there is a cheaper price somewhere, but it is better for me to take the .20-.25 cent price and run with it. I would look for better if I was doing a lot and had the freezer space.
Basically,the mantra is buy low, and eat high. Buy your food when it is at a rock bottom price, and preserve or store it so you can eat it when it is at a high price. After you are up and running, you only need to buy fresh produce, dairy and bread if you don't make it yourself, and a loss leader meat a week. Buy the cheapest cut of meat on sale for the week. Buy enough to batch cook 4-8 meals. I rotate chicken, sausage ( jimmynDean at Costco) , ground beef, and pork loin. I used to do a sirloin roast, but doubled up on the pork when beef took a huge price hike. It is beneficial to be flexible. LOL.

My meal planning matrix is
2 beef
2 pork or chicken
2 vegetarian
1 fish or shellfish

My matrix is probably different than yours would be. I am dealing with a man that only likes fish and beef, a daughter that only eats vegetarian and a granddaughter that is semi vegetarian. Thankfully, I was raised to eat just about everything. This keeps everybody happy most of the time.
By using a matrix, 1/2 of your meal planning is done for you. I have a cookbook that I compiled in the 70"s and added to through the years. In the interest of modernizing a bit, I have been building a new one with recipes from Betty Crocker.Her website is full of really good recipes and most are either inexpensive, or can be adapted.

One of the other ways to keep your food costs down is to keep a good handle on your perishables. We throw out too much food in this country. Today I have very ripe bananas. I will make oatmeal, banana bread. I use a bisquick recipe. If you prefer not to use bisquick ( there is a healthy version) I have a recipe on an earlier blog for baking mix. Bananas that have black spots are very beneficial to your health.

Yesterday, I got a free shampoo conditioner and a free box of an ultimate meal box. The regular price was 2.50. My daughter and I plan to dissect it today....stay tuned. It is supposed to be for chicken. I would have liked to compare it to a regular hamburger meal box, but they didn't have an ultimate version.
With coupons, I got some fresh produce and spent 8.00.
That's 63.00 this week. I need to cut this month to make up for last month. My daughter offered to give me money one time, it's not the money, it's a game! I want to see if we can do it with the rising food costs.

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Jane

Foods from China

I had an issue with my granddaughter . Her teacher refused to give her ramen noodles from china. She said that all food from china has chemicals in it. My response was to email the deputy director of the USDA. She stated that America has the most strict safety standards for food in the world. She referred me to a friend at the FDA. his answer is that all food from foreign countries is subject to the same standards as domestic food in the United States. They have inspectors that inspect the food factories and inspect the food before it is allowed in the country.

I have a problem with our relations with china, and I am not fond of Walmart. I would rather keep my money at home. That's hard these days when almost everything you need is made in overseas. until our companies get some conscience and learn that being greedy is not as desirable than being patriotic that isn't going to change. I rarely shop at Walmart and rarely buy Chinese anything. but, I wanted to get the fact straight.


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finally Friday, recipe addition.

I love to try new recipes. It makes meal planning less boring.

Pasta Primavera

1/2 package fettuccine , cooked

3/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth

1 ea, chopped of

Small zucchini
Yellow squash chopped
Cup of broccoli florets
Small red pepper
Carrot
Onion

Salt, basil

Rounded tablespoon of cornstarch.

Bring broth to a boil. Start adding vegetables , the densest first ( carrots) and cook , reducing heat to simmer and until the vegetables are crisp tender, about 6 minutes. Season with salt and basil to taste.

Combine 1/2 cup of broth with the cornstarch. Pour into vegetable pan and stir and cook for 2 minutes until sauce is thickened.

Pour vegetable mixture over drained noodles.

Black Bean salad

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed.
1 can corn, drained,
1 T each of chopped red and green pepper
1cup chopped seeded tomatoes
1 cup cucumber, seeded and chopped
3 green onions, sliced
1 small jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped
1 tsp lime juice

Dressing
2T vinegar
1 T olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix ingredients.

Pour dressing over vegetables and beans and stir carefully.

Spaghetti Primavera
Start the pasta, and make the sauce while the veggies are cooking.

1/2 package spaghetti, cooked and drained

1/4 cup EACH of
Carrot, sliced
Onion, chopped
Red pepper, chopped
Green pepper, chopped

1 tsp minced garlic
2tsp vegetable oil

1 cup EACH of
Zucchini, yellow summer squash

1 can diced tomatoes
1 small can corn

Pinch of salt, Italian seasoning
Parm and parsley for garnish

In pan, sauté all the vegetables except the squash for 3 minutes. Add the squash and sauté an additional 2-3 minutes or until the veggies are tender.

Reduce heat.

Add tomatoes, corn and spices. Cook just until heated through,about 5 minutes.
Spoon vegetable mixture over pasta. Garnish with parm and chopped parsley.

Beef Casserole

8 ounces cooked ground beef
1 tsp garlic powder

1-1/2 cups diced zucchini
1 can diced tomatoes, drained **
1/2 cup instant rice **
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup soy sauce
3/4 tsp dried Italian seasoning

1) mix garlic powder with cooked meat.
2) mix remaining ingredients with meat in a microwave safe dish, cover .
3) microwave on high for 20 -25 minutes , stirring twice, until vegetables and rice are tender.

*** save the liquid from the tomatoes to use in a soup or replace the 1/2 cup of water with the liquid.
*** if you have a cup of leftover rice, you could stir in the veggies and cook just until the vegetables are just about tender, and mix in the rice and heat through.


That's all.

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Jane

Dinners from the ads

I did go to ALBERTSONS yesterday. Most of the coupons on coupon connections were no longer available. When the manufacturers give out coupons to the web sites, they specify how many can be printed. After they have maxed out, they go away.

I did use a BOGO for Tillamook yogurt. There was one flavor that was .50, the rest were .85. I got them for a quarter each. I used a coupon on two cereals. I got pasta sauce for .79 cents. Pork chops were BOGO which made them 2.00 a pound. I have enough for us to have three meals. That's my stock meat for this week. I had chicken last week, but it is of sale this week as well somewhere.


Meal Plans


1) pork chops with apple bread stuffing, salad

2) chicken Mac and cheese, peas, French bread

3) tacos, refried beans,

4) spaghetti and meatballs, salad, bread

5) salmon, pesto potatoes, salad

6) cheese pizza

7) tomato omelette with mozzarella.

Notes: meatballs and taco meat are from the freezer, salmon is from the stock from out last Winco trip.
The pizza crust and bread are from refrigerator dough. Refried beans were .88 at ALBERTSONS, I paid .80 by the case at grocery outlet. Chicken is from last weeks stock meat, and the stuffing is from my dry bread stash.
I save the heels of the bread in the oven for bread crumbs.


I thought I would talk some ways to save money on food.

1) make your list and stick to it, the grocery store makes the most of their money on impulse buys. M
2) buy house brands unless you can find good buy.
3) portion control your meat, batch cook one loss leader meat a week. Buy enough to have the meat once a week for a month.
4) buy perishables wisely, to use them up before they spoil. There are storage solutions to keep produce fresh that are well worth the cost.
5) grow your own vegetables and herbs in the summer
6) use coupons on things that you will normally use and in a quantity that matches your 6 month projections.
7) use warehouse clubs wisely to stock up on bulk items that won't spoil. Check your prices. If something is in too large a portion, like beans, consider splitting the bag with a neighbor or family member.

Not in the food department, but I have been getting toothpaste for free. My daughter tells me that brawny is free with coupons at ALBERTSONS. Toilet paper is .45 at the dollar tree with a coupon. If you can score on the paper and personal necessities, you can have more money for food, or if you are on snap where it doesn't cover the paper goods, or personal items, free is a very good word. I can do without paper towels, I make a package last six months or so, I only use them for really messy chores. I have microfiber cloths from the automotive section at Costco.
But TP is another subject! LOL.

By shopping wisely and looking for new ways to cook inexpensive sources of protein, your family can eat well balanced meals on the cheap. Better, cheaper, faster and Four plus one equals five. Four People, one meal, five bucks.


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Jane

The ads. With coupon update!

As I said in the last blog, I did make a form for analyzing the grocery ads. I may tweak it later.

Note : To my dismay, most of the coupons that match ALBERTSONS mega sale on coupon connections are at their li it and no longer available. I'm not sure about suckers, it says spread and the ad says jam. All the coffees are gone!
QFC

Peaches .99
Corn 4/1.00
Pasta 1.00
Pork Tenderloin 2.99
Hebrew national hotmdogs 2/6
Tillamook ice cream 2.79

Buy 5' save
Pepperoni 1.99 cc
Crest 1.99 cc
HORMEL sausage 1.99


TOP

Yoplait 10/5 cc
Beans, veg, tomatoes, hagan brand 15/10 *****

Grapes 1.29
Cheese 4.99@
Nalley chilli 1.00
Chicken thighs 1.29

SAFEWAYS
Nectarines 1.79

Five dollar friday
Blues 2/5

Yoplait 10/5
Milk 2.59

Just 4 you
Mayo 1.99

Chicken .99
HORMEL meats buy2/ get 1
20 percent beef 2.99

ALBERTSONS Read carefully, this is confusing. Cc means that there is a coupon on couponconnections.com
*****means that this is a serious rock bottom price stock item. as usual @ means there is an in ad coupon.

Chicken .99**
27 percent ground beef 1.69 week end only
15 percent beef 3.49

Blues 2/6

MEGA DEAL
.50 off in ten item batches. Prices are net before coupons
Cheerios 1.99
Jiff 1.99
Foldgers coffee 6.99 cc
Crisco veg oil 1.99
Jam 1.49 cc
Cake .99
Brownie mix .99
Hunts pasta sauce .79 *****
Refried beans .88
K cups 4.99 cc

Bud light 5.99/ 12'pack


That's all

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Jane


Notes.

Pasta is not the best buy for a buck. Better than normal, but not rock bottom. Pasta sauce is at rock bottom within a penny. Jam nets a buck, pretty much rock bottom for'a name brand. Cake and brownie mix is cheap, but not my rock bottom. My rock bottom is free and .14 cents to average .07. I wouldn't wait for <>~>|€ to freeze over!
Coffee is at my rock bottom with coupon. Look for Cheerios and Jiff coupons, they must be out there. Back to school sales are in full force!

I have not done the math for HORMEL b2G 1. That's a third off.

Coupon matchups

Coupon matchups are when you find a good sale price and match it up with a coupon. There are web sites that do it for you. Couponconnections is a lady from Lynnwood, Washington. Krazycouponlady is another one. I'm not sure where she is located. Stacymakescents is from Virginia. I think she covers that on her u tube seminar. she is really funny and it is a fun video to watch. If you are not in a double coupon state, you'll have to take what she says about that with a grain of salt. Do a search on u tube and investigate the lady or ladies that work in your area.

They are very informative and you can watch them at your leisure.

The sites make it easy to coupon, they do the work for you. It takes time to do it yourself. Be sure to check the package sizes when you match a coupon. I keep my inserts in a binder clip. When I find a good match up for us, I go to my stash and clip the coupons I need. it saves a lot of time. I don't want to spend more time on couponing than I have to, I only buy a few things they print coupons for.

The ONLY place I have found in the PNW where you can make money on a coupon is Rite Aid. yesterday the mouthwash and toothpaste was FREE to begin with. A wellness card was all that you had to have. If you had a coupon to go with it, you were money ahead. Essentially,they paid me to take the toothpaste out of the store. I had the wrong coupon for the mouthwash. I would have been better off buying two toothpastes, but I didn't have another coupon.
I should have been better prepared.

All I paid for the toothpaste, mouthwash, glue, ruler, and notebook was part of the sales tax.

Wallgreens has the same kind of deals as well as CVS. We don't have CVS stores, and Wallgreens is not convenient for us. I usually only go there when I am leaving the Er at two in the morning LOL
we are supposed to get one in our neighborhood, they are building it. I am basing that info on the u tube videos I have watched.

I buy the Sunday paper at the dollar store. They keep them all week. You need to look at them, they don't always have the inserts. The first week of the month is best. The coupon class we went to suggested that you get one paper for every member of the family. That could get expensive. Since most of the things that there are coupons for are not on my shopping list, it's probably not worth the expense. you don't want to spend more money on the paper than you get money back on coupons. My husband does enjoy the funny papers and sports section !

I think if I found a really good coupon, I would see if someone wasn't going to use their coupons, or buy another papered it made sense to do so.
I have been averaging about six dollars a week on coupons. I usually have a savings printed on my receipt of 46-48 percent before I started couponing. Shopping wisely and eliminating the ready mades and snack foods is how you get to 1/2 price food. Couponing is the icing on the cake!

Most of my coupons are printables and I made a coupon binder for them. I used a binder I got at the flea market for a buck, and two page protectors I got at the dollar store. Page protectors were on the three for a buck list at rite aid, but ere were none with that price. Total cost 3.00 plus a set of picture sleeves. The picture sleeves work better for printable coupons since I don't clip newspaper ones till I need them. I
It is important to plan your trip and get your coupons together before you hit the checkouts.

Off the coupon subject of couponing...

The Betty Crocker website has a recipe for pizza bread. It sounds really good and a good after school snack!
I was going to share it, but am afraid of copywriting issues.

Our favorite still is banana blueberry bread.

I am working on a meal plan, specials list form or forms.

I guess that's all. Back to the ads and recipes Tommorrow.

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Jane

Monday madness

Today we went to rite aid and I got toothpaste, mouthwash, and paper supplies totaling a out nine dollars. The end out of pocket cost was 1.38 including tax.

We then went to Fred Meyers. I got sandals for the granddaughter for 2.00 along with some veggies and pasta sauce for .89.

I am not a Fred Meyer shopper usually. I had never got their ads before I started looking into couponing. I don't buy a lot of mixes etc, so I never saw a need to coupon. What one lady said on one of the numerous u tube videos I looked at while I was sick made sense to me. If you can coupon the things that you need that are necessities, that leaves more money for food. I still won't buy anything with a coupon that I wouldn't ordinarily buy unless it is free or near free and I can still use it. Today's mouthwash was free, and the toothpaste was more than free. The school supplies were free. Ice cream was 2 dollars, but I don't have a lot of room in my freezer right now. I froze corn on the cob when I got it for .20 and blueberries.

I just finished working on a coupon binder and some binders of recipes I downloaded from betty crocker website. I get them in the e mail periodically. I really like a lot of them. They use inexpensive sources of protein often and have a lot of vegetarian.

I guess that's all

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Jane

Coupon alert, updated

Rite aid has a up rewards on dental health stuff. Various crest products pay 2.99' get 2.99. I just love that word free. Dreyers ice cream is 2/6. When you buy 12.00 there is a 4.00 up reward. Maybe good if you can share the buy with your neighbor . There are coupons that give you money back to buy these. Also there are school supplies for free with a rewards card. The tea ismcheapermwith a coupon and rewards too.m the mayo is not a good buy I got some for 2.22 not long ago and my sister got hers for free.



The last update....I got it all for 1.38 OOP!




Fred Meyers ads run Sunday thru Saturday.

Tomatoes .88
Cherries 1.99
Peaches 1.49
Wallace Wallace onions.77
Squash .79
Cucumbers 2/1.00


Guess that's all

Thanks for stopping by

Jane

Seriously sunday

My daughter and I went to the couponing class. She showed how she got some things for free. She was from Oregon; we don't get double coupons in Washington, except the rare time you can get a coupon for double at ALBERTSONS.


The cost of the class was free, and she served brunch and had door prizes . A remarkable display of generosity. Thank you Kristin and The people at the Open Bible Church. She mostly dealt with Target. I did t know that target has a second coupon thing that gives percentages off plus using target and manufacturers coupons.

Stacking coupons is when you use a manufacturers coupon with a store coupon. You cannot stack an electronic coupon. Electronic coupons are the coupons you load on your store card. Coupon policies are on the stores websites.

Kristin had a concept that tailors the amount you buy to the degree of rock bottom price as opposed to my wait till it's the lowest and keep six months. She generously gave is a chart of rock bottom prices. I didn't find her prices realistic for this part of the country. Still, the concept was there. It was a neat chart.

You can get the Sunday paper at the dollar store. Not every time does the Sunday paper have coupons in it. It's best to check before you buy it. She recommends that you buy one paper for every member of your family. I would buy one and look at it. If it has coupons for something. Want, to back and buy more.

A coupon binder is a good thing If you are going to be a serious couponer. She did stress to plan tour trip and have your coupons ready before you get to the checkouts. I like to use the couponconnections web site and pull from the inserts that I have clipped together and dated if I need a coupon. I keep my printable ones in a box with dividers. It is less paper to deal with.

Most coupons are not for basic food which is what I usually buy. We buy few cosmetic and household products. She makes her own laundry detergent and the savings are remarkable.

I look for ice cream coupons, especially blue bunny because it is lower in carbs. I find plastic snack lunch bags for my granddaughter for her school lunches. We use plastic reuseable bowls a lot too. Toothpaste is free often.
I find pasta coupons often. Some of the ready made meats have coupons and paired with a sale, are cheaper than scratch. You still have to deal with the fact that they have preservatives in them. I guess that the moderation word is appropriate! I pass most generally on the box mixes. I keep a cake mix for emergency purposes and some brownie mixes when I can get them for a buck. The last cake mixes I purchased were .07. Considering that it costs .075 for a cup of flour, that was cheaper than scratch!


I had done a lot of research before I went to the class. Since I was sick and had a lot of time to surf the Internet, I watched a lot of videos. My daughter had not. What I took away from the class was that Kristin ( I'm terrible at names) spent a lot of time putting together a wonderful class. The basics were covered and it was presented well with a lot of handouts. It was a fun morning with my daughter.

I didn't know about Target's three coupon policy, and that target has deals that give gift cards and you can do multiple transactions to make best use of coupons scenarios. I don't usually shop at Target the one time I checked food prices, they were high. I didn't think our Target had much food.

I guess that's all.

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Jane

Suddenly saturday

Today is the extreme couponing class. If I can sneak in a blog,I will, if not, I'll post after we get home. Last nights dinner was home made pizza. We had chicken and black olive on one and pepperoni on the other.

I got a box of blueberries at SAFEWAYS and froze them. We like blueberry banana bread and blueberries are rich in anti-oxidents.

I am over budget, but I have stocked a lot because of stores closing and getting well below target prices. I suspect that next month will compensate for it. I still averaged 70.00 last quarter and under 75.00 the quarter before.

The object is not to pay full price, and not have so much that anything goes to waste, that takes some food management to see something that needs to be used up and incorporate it into your meals, even I'd you have to change your plans. Meal plans can be altered, but you can get into real trouble if you don't have one. It's to easy to fall into the drive through or take out trap if you are tired and hungry and you have no plan and everything is frozen. Having things that cook quickly and defrost quickly save the day.

Chicken cubes, taco meat and hamburger crumbles work fast in a pinch as well as eggs.

My daughter and I dissected a hamburger meal box. We did a whole group of blogs on the subject. What came out of it was a scratch recipe for cheeseburger macaroni and a reprint of my no brainer( my nephews description) pasta.

No Brainer Pasta. Named because my nephew when he was single got this recipe and called it a no Brainer because it is so simple.

1) grease ( spray with cooking spray) a 9X13 pan.
2) pour a 1 pound package of UNCOOKED, DRY pasta in the pan. You do have to open the box! LOL
3) open a can of pasta sauce. Add pasta sauce and ONE can full of water to the pan. Stir.
4) cover with foil and cook for 45minutes at 425 degrees or until pasta is tender.
5) uncover, sprinkle with grated cheese and any leftover meat you have and bake at 400 degrees for an additional 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Allow a few minutes to rest for the cheese to cool a bit.

Meantime, you can set the table and make a salad. I love passive cooking!

I have been getting pasta as low as .38 and as much as .51. Hunts pasta sauce for .77 and .78.
Cheese is still at 2.18 on a big sale. I have stocked. Use any meat you have left over.
Cost 1.80 plus a left-over meat. ...about the cost of the box alone. I paid over 2.00 for the box.

I have been getting a lot of good recipes from Betty Crocker. I signed up for them on her website and they come in my e mail. The Betty Crocker web site also has coupons and a ap where you can google an ingredient
you need to use up and it tells you recipes that call for it. A real useful tool.

I guess that's all,

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Jane

Finally Friday 7/26/13

First of all, I need to address couponing. My daughter and I are scheduled to go to an extre couponers couponing class Tommorrow. There is a video on u tube ( Stacymakescents). She is from the south, so some of her ideas don't make sense for the entire country, but she is funny and I learned a lot. There seems to be one website that has a relationship with manufacturers to make coupons available. it is necessary to download aoftware to print the coupons.
I have had no problem with the software, and I have listened to lots of videos on u tube, no one has reported any problem. Stacy addresses the issue in her seminar. I am throwing ideas that have worked for me out there, what and how much you take from it, is your call.

We had shrimp vegetable pasta last night. The pic is on Janes Groceries On The Cheap Facebook page. I am yet again trying to eat down the stock. It shouldn't be hard this week, there are no good specials. I got some vegetables and a chicken from IGA Wednesday. I still need to fill in some vegetables and SAFEWAYS has Kleenex on a coupon that is not part of the food budget. When you stock ahead and there is a slow week, you are not stuck paying full price. If I had to go shopping this week, I would go to Winco and the bread store. The bread store only because we are due and it is on the way so I make best use of our gas. We get 50 miles per gallon on the highway. But still I like to be as efficient as possible.


Ok Meals. I need to roast off the chicken I bought Wednesday. It is really fast to put a chicken on the oven to roast and go about getting other chores around the house.

How to roast a chicken

1) wash everything well after using it with raw meat. I have a glass cutting board that I can put through the dishwasher. Not so good on knives, but sanitary.

2) wash the chicken, clean out the inside if needed. Salt it inside. Stuff the inside with anything you have hanging around. Today it will be a piece of onion that I have from last night. It might be a lemon, orange or an apple. Drizzle it with olive oil and rub in in--both sides, top and bottom.

3) season it with salt and pepper, Sometimes I add thyme, rosemary, or lemon pepper.

4) I have a thermometer that plugs into the meat and has a timer that sits on the counter. You program the timer to the degree of done that you want and the meat you are cooking. It buzzes at you when the meat is at temp.

5) place chicken on roasting rack in oven at 375 degrees. I set the oven for 1 hour, 20 minutes, but let the thermometer do it's thing.

If you don't have a roasting rack, rough chop potatoes and carrots and put the chicken on the potatoes and carrots.


buying a chicken.

Never buy a chicken that is less than 3 pounds. Three pounds is the break even point for the ratio between meat and bone. In other words, you are paying for too much bone, and not enough meat. Most deli chickens are three pounds or less. You, most generally, are paying twice the price for deli chicken and getting less meat. You are better off getting a 4-5 pound chicken at a dollar a pound. I am still finding chickens for a buck a pound.

I use a breast for a meal. The other side of the breast is cut up for chicken Cassarole or pot pie, or buffalo chicken pizza. The dark meat is portioned for BBQ or another meal. The bones are saved for soup. If I had a larger family and chicken was a buck, I would roast off enough chickens to cover one meal a week for the month.
It takes very little more time, the same oven, and less work.


Meals

1) roast chicken, mashed sweet potatoes, salad
2) buffalo chicken pizza, salad
3) hot dogs, potato salad ( the last of the hot dogs)
4) sirloin tips on rice, salad, fruit
5) vegetable sauced spaghetti, salad
6) Mac and cheese, green beans
7) salmon, pesto potatoes, carrots, glazed

These meals total less than 30.00 for four people. The power of 1/2'price shopping.


I guess that's all

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Jane

Coupon alert!

Be sure to check coupon connections. I missed a coupon in the Safeway ad for Kleenex. .79
Hot dog or hamburger buns .99


That's all


Thanks

Jane

Four plus One equals FIVE!

The basis for dinner when on a thrifty budget is five dollars for dinner for 4 people. Based on the hypothetical
Family of two adults and two school aged children. USDA stats are on the Internet based on levels of budgets and size and age of family members.

the secret to five dollar dinners is to keep the protein cost to about 2-3 dollars. If you average this, you can afford a more expensive cut of meat ever so often.

Ideas

Chicken

Buffalo chicken Pizza
roast chicken
BBQ Legs and thighs
Chicken soup
Chicken pot pie
Chicken and dumplings
Chicken noodles
Chicken burritos
Chicken salad

And many more


Ground beef is another very versatile protein. ground meat can be ground turkey, pork, or beef, or a combination of them.

Tacos
Meat balls
Meatloaf
Pasta dishes
Soups
Stuffed peppers


Pork

Chops
Sausage (dinner)
Sausage, Cassarole
Quiche
Pizza
Loin roast
BBQ pork sandwiches



Then there is rice and beans , cheese, eggs in any number of dishes
Breakfast for dinner is a real fun way to mix things up.


Bean and rice burritos
Mac and cheese
Quiche



Just a few ideas, the Internet is full of them I just saw a recipe for chicken chimichangas on Facebook. I need to figure out a substitute for cream cheese or see if the cost of it makes the dish prohibitive. I just love chimichangas! I don't get them since the restraint that I got them at charged us twice for the same meal and I had to fight three months and write the attorney general to get my money back. Apparently not all the chain restraints are owned by the chain!

I think the point is that you can eat really good on a budget if you get your basic food 1/2 price.
Buy your stock items and protein at rock bottom prices and buy your veggies in season. The vegetables taste better and cost less...a winning combo. The trick is being flexible and knowing your prices.


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Jane

Things your grocer doesn't want you to know!

I used to be the accountant for a wholesale grocer years ago. It probably will come to no surprise to you that the stores have spent great time, money and effort to ensure that you spend more money at their store.

They know that most people go right when they enter a store.
They know that the longer you spend in a store, the more money you will spend. That's why some stores are constantly changing their layout.

The more people you bring with you, the more you will spend.

People are lazy. They look in the middle of the shelf. Grocery stores get "rent" called slotting fees from manufacturers to show their product on the eye level shelves.
So look down and up on the shelves for the better buys.

It is no accident that the toys are next to the kids sugary cereal. Or that they have impulse buys by the checkout lines to tempt you while you are waiting.

There are stores that shall remain a secret that have a 42 percent markup. Probably because the more exoctic foods and the fancier the store, the more markup they have to have to make a profit.

Never go shopping when you are too hungry. You will be tempted by too many impulse buys.

That is one reason going to the store every two days to buy two days worth of dinners is a budget mistake. Another is it wastes time and gas. Going to a store only because they have the friendliest checkout personnel is another dumb thing. If going to the grocery store is your social time, you need to get a life! Lol

After you get yourself set up, you will find that you spend less time on the whole FOOD thing than you did before.

My whole life isn't getting food cheap. I run two businesses, write a blog, belong to a service organization for women, work, and run a house and Im a grandmother.
I just budget my time, like I budget my food budget.

I found a book on ground meat recipes for 3.00. It has a lot of good recipes. Anytime you can find an inexpensive bool from "Taste of Home" it is a good investment. I have written for them, and many other home cooks have as well. Their recipes for the most part are down to earth recipes that are very doable. If they call for a mix,just adjust the recipe to scratch.

Thanks for stopping by.

Jane

The ads

I got the ads today so I thought I would give You a heads up early. I went to Fred Meyer, they hd no hamburger, they did have black beans for .50.

QFC

BREYERS ice cream 2.99
Raspberries 3/5
Grapes 1.28
Cucumbers .69


TOP
London broil 2.99
Blackberries 2.00
Tillmock ice cream 2.99
Butter 1.99@@
Hagn tuna.88
Lettuce .69@@
Coffee 5.99@@
Plums 1.49
Zucchini 1.00

SAFEWAYS
Cantaloupe 10/10
4 lbs blues 9.99
Strawberries 2/5
Plums .99
Club sandwich 5.00

ALBERTSONS
Cantaloupe .39@@
Tombstone pizza BOGO
Butter BOGO
Cherries 3.99

IGA

Strawberries 2/5
Corn 2/1.98
Chicken .99
Eggs 1.49
Butter 1.98@@


That's about all. I am seeing plenty of fruit and vegetable buys, the only stock item I am finding is tuna .
I would say that it would be a good week to investigate winCo or rely on your stock. I think that there is a coupon out there for pizza.

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Jane

Fred Meyer and sloppy joes

I was not sleeping last night and got up for a little snack of some berries and watched Diners, Drive-ins and dives.
There was a guy making sloppy joes. He used a mixture of carrots and celery first, then added the meat. He used tomato paste and a little vinegar. I didn't see enough of it, it was fast, so I'll have to experiment. It just dawned on me that adding some veggies would stretch the hamburger and get some veggies in unsuspecting husbands or kids!

On to Fred Meyer. Their ads run from Sunday to Saturday and come. The newspaper. Imbought the newspaper from the dollar store, that is the second time that I didn't get the coupons, I was supposed to get coupons free from the times and that didnt happen either, I think that I will stick with getting my coupons on line for free. It's hard to find coupons for real food anyway.

Grapes .98
Strawberries 2.59
20 percent hamburger 1.99, limit 2 ****
Butter 2.00@@@
Vegetables, beans, or tomatoes 2/1.00 Limit 6 @@@
Fred Meyer coffe 5.99
2 lbs blues 4.98
Plums 1.49


@@@ means coupon needed from the newspaper ad. I don't know of there are any in the store.

The formula for ground beef price check is :

Price times 1. XXX. XXX is the percentage of fat. 2.00 a pound , twenty percent fat is 2.40.
Remember to fry your meat, drain it, and pour boiling water over it to reduce the fat. I return it to the pan with some water and the taco seasoning if I am making taco meat.

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Jane

The basics, part 3: cooking from scratch

Cooking from scratch strikes fear in many at heart. But, it's not as hard as its meant to be. I like to tell the story my daughter tells. She has been teaching low income and homeless kids for several years now. One day, she was eating with the kids and had brought some leftover Mac and cheese. A child at the table asked her of that was xxxxdelux Mac and cheese. She told her, no, it was some her mother made. The girl was in shock....your mother made Mac and cheese?

There are a lot of recipes that are as easy as making to same thing from scratch. Really, scratch cooking is a matter of mastering a few techniques. There are videos on the television and u tube all the time. There is a Martha Stewart series running on PBS. Whether you like her or not, she covers the basics quite well.

There is not much room for ready made food in a thrifty budget. That being said, there are a few things that are as cheap or cheaper ready made, and a few that the time involved to make them isn't worth the difference I price. Refried beans and tortillas come to mind. Instant mashed potatoes, some times of the year are cheaper in the pouch.
Beans have a very short fridge life. It is not safe to keep rice and beans very long. It is easier for me to use canned, especiallY if I can get them cheap enough.

The crock pot can be your best friend in the kitchen. There is something to be said for coming home after a long day to dinner waiting for you.

Pre cooking a batch of something takes almost no more time than cooking once, and you have several dinners done.
There are books out there that cook a whole months worth of meals in one day, and then the majority of dinner is done all month. I haven't the stamina to do that. I find that if I take one loss leader or really cheap meat a week and cook enough to cover us for the month, I am better off. I've paid the least I could for the meat, I have been able to control the portions so I have no waste, and I have cooked once and cleaned the kitchen once!

The major grocery chains rotate what they put on sale cheap. Typically, I

cook sausage crumbles from a log of sausage I get from Costco.

Cook 9 percent ground beef from Costco wholesale or SAFEWAYS

Cook several chickens when they are 1.00 a pound. ( see previous blog on the difference between deli chicken and scratch chicken) a real eye opener.

Cook a pork loin or beef roast

Cut up beef or pork cubes from a steak cut and braise them.

When the meat is already cooked, it makes cooking dinner really fast and less stressful at the most hectic time of the day for many families.


I did a whole series of blogs on a hamburger meal box. It, too, is a real eye opener.
There is my answer to hamburger pasta bake, my nephew named it no brainier pasta.

Basically, the more scratch you can make something, the cheaper it will be and the more nutritious it will be. The more control you have over what it has in it. There are many recipes that are what my grown children call no Brainer. When a recipe is really easy, and takes almost no non- passive time, it is easy to enlist an older child or spouse to start diner of you are going to be late.



When I make meal plans, I use a matrix so that we are well balanced and everyone is happy some of the time since I have a family with varied wants. My matrix is different than yours probably is and mine might change beforemthemdrought effects are over!


2 Beef
2 pork or chicken
2 vegetarian
1 fish

That's all I can remember to say. Please feel free to read other basic posts. I do it at least once a month.

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Jane

The basics part 2, shopping

To recap from yesterday. We have analyzed the grocery ads and picked the best TWO stores this week. We do this to make best use of specials and give us a couple of choices for the best produce. Plan your route and incorporate any other errands to maximize your gas.

Prepare for your trip.
1) check coupon connections,com or the coupon matchup in your area for any matchups that will work for you. Many coupons these days you can print right off your computer. Many are for garbage you don't need anyway, but I can usually gleam a few bucks. I have been getting toothpaste for free. Gathering enough to take a bunch to the women's shelter. my husband jokes that ill be the toothpaste "fairy". LOL. I have been getting Yoplait coupons a lot.
if you haven't already signed up for store cards, do it. Many have web sites you can download coupons from.

2) bring your grocery flyers, your list, your coupons, any list of coupons you down loaded on your store card. Get in the store, , get your list , and get out. The more time you spend in a store, the more money you will spend. There is a whole blog on the Phycology of retail.


3) Keep your eyes open. There are a lot of stores that carry food. Each one has their specialty items and their individual attributes.

WinCo and Costco are warehouse stores. At WinCo , you have to bag your own, so bring a helper and your walking shoes, it's huge. Costco has good prices on household necessities like TP and laundry soap.
The bananas are cheaper and lots of veggies and dairy are pretty stable prices. Winco has a very large bulk bin isle and is a price stable store, they have low prices all the time, no specials. Some things are just about rock bottom prices. You won't get the best buys on soap etc at the grocery store. The grocery stores margin of profit is too much.
This is probably a no Brainer, but the fancy alternative, we sell no xxxxx food stores are not your best friend for low income shopping.

The Dollar Tree has a fair amount of food. Sunflower seeds, pepperoni, and frozen vegetables are always low priced.

The bakery outlet covers your bread And a occasional cookie buy .

We have over-stock stores. Many times what they do have is a lot cheaper. Big Lots has a twenty percent off the entire store ever so often. I can usually score hunts diced tomatoes for the lowest price. hunts peels their tomatoes with steam, some other companies peel theirs with chemicals. grocery Outlet is good for regular coffee and cheeses. They have a wide selection of specialty cheeses and most at a good price. Their produce is not as good as I would like. Some prices are not cheaper than sale prices elsewhere, you have to know your prices.

Occasionally our drug store has good food buys. Not so much since the food isles have been replaced with booze.

Don't overlook the alternative stores, always check pull dates.

No ONE store is going to have the best prices.

We go to 2 chain stores a week. We hit the warehouse stores about every 4-6 weeks, and we hit the alternative stores when we are in the area for other errands. We hit the bakery outlet about every 6-8 weeks. I fill in with sale bread and refrigerator bread.

Set your grocery allowance per week. If you are on SNAP, divide the monthly allotment by 4.2. if you spend more one week because you have stocked or got a good meat sale, then back off the next week to compensate.

When you shop, you should get to the point where you can buy

A bulk meat purchase at a loss leader price.
Fruits and vegetables in season to round out your meals, and bread and dairy.
A stock item, or two that is at a rock bottom price.

Basically you are filling in your stock and adding your perishable you need to fill out your meals.

By purchasing a loss leader meat once a week and batch cooking it, you have a variety of meats, but you are getting your meat at the lowest price and making the most efficient use of your cooking time.
I rotate chicken, pork sausage at Costco, hamburger, pork loin or beef roast or London broil. It depends on what meat I can find cheap. I rotate the meat in the freezer and add a couple of vegetarian meals.

The object of your shopping is to feed your family real food, but not pay full price for anything.

The dreaded topic: junk food.
If you are on SNAP, it is based on the figures from the USDA chart for thrifty meals. It is on the web and updated every month or so, a couple of months delayed. It does not afford what my mother used to call peanuts, popcorn, and cracker jacks. In other words, the unhealthy food is not part of their plan. The good news is that of your children just HAVE to have a sugar coated cereal or other snack food, most of them have coupons you can find and they can be almost if not free if you live in a state that has double coupons. The mean person that I am, would let the kids find their coupons and sales to match them. If they want the junk food really bad , they will invest the time, if not, they will eat good nutritious food.

Admittedly, this shopping plan takes a little more time. You are trading some time for money. I always could find the time.

If you spend more time on the front end of the "get the dinner on the table train" and less time on the back end, you will be money ahead. You get PAID for shopping, not for cooking.

There are ways to efficiently put dinner on the table that take less time, making up for the time spent shopping more than one store. Scratch cooking is tomorrow's topic.

I do these basic posts monthly Each one is off the top of my head. I suspect some are better written than others, please feel free to look at other posts on the subject.

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Jane

The basics, part one, planning

I started this blog when it was brought to my attention that there were people that were running out of money before they ran out of month on SNAP.  In my opinion, no child should have to wake up to the insecurity of having no food in the house.  And, no child should have top ramen and potato chips for a diet.  I can't feed the world, but I can teach people how to feed their families on SNAP -and still have some food in the pantry at the end of the month.  

I was a single parent for seven years.  It was during the time of gas shortages and double digit inflation,  I didn't get a raise for three years.  I already knew some concepts from my mother.  I set out to learn everything I could about economizing on food.  I read everything I could get my hands on.  When I was in a position to not have to economize on food, it was a habit.  A habit that afforded us a better quality of life and the security of always having food in the house.

Groceries on the cheap takes a three-pronged approach to purchasing and cooking meals-- putting food on the table.

1. Planning and organizing
2. Shopping wisely
3. Cooking from scratch

I plan to cover the basics over the next three days.  I have done this about every month now, please feel free to re read older posts.  I type off the top of my head, every basic post is different.   A lot of it is just common sense.  

PLANNING AND ORGANIZING

Like anything worth doing,  a plan is a good step to insure success.  

• Start with a simple list.  List 7-14 meals that use inexpensive sources of protein that your family will eat.  The object is to get good food into your family's belly-- just at a cheaper price. No cheating, no boxed meals allowed.  in our house, inexpensive protein would be cheese, rice, beans, pork, chicken, ground beef and sometimes roast, and eggs.  

• Now write a pretend grocery list that you will need to cook these meals.  You will probably see a pattern of ingredients.  You  are basically going to cook from scratch.  If you have never done that, by the time you finish this, you'll be a pro at getting basic food on the table!   
• Make a list of shelf ready food that you will need  to make your recipes. There should, be a list of 10-15.  In our house it would be pasta, pasta sauce, refried beans, beans, diced tomatoes, black olives, instant mashed potatoes, some tuna and salmon, and some chicken noodle soup and green beans and corn.  
• Now, we are going to track the prices on these items. Using a notebook or a computer spreadsheet, list each item and the size of the package.  Now head a line:  date, store, coupon?  Final cost.  
• Use the ads you get in the mail to enter this data whenever  those items ( your stock items) are on sale.  Sales run in a 8-12 week cycle. You are  looking for what I call your target price.  Some people call it the rock bottom price.   This is not a  new concept.   Businessmen buy stocks low, and sell high.  You  are buying your food when it is a rock bottom price, and eating it when it is at a high price.  Why would you buy a can of pasta sauce for 1.59, when you can buy two cans for 1.57?  The difference is a second meal for the same price.  
• When a item ON YOUR LIST is at or below your target price, buy 1) as many as you can 
• 
  
• afford, b) as many as the store allows, or c) as many as you need to fill in your self projected allotment-- whichever comes first.  If I use something once a week I try for 24 cans.  If I use it once a month I keep 6.  Things like catsup, mustard, and mayo, I keep one ahead.  When I open my shelf can, I start looking for a good sale.  
• This is stockpiling to make sure you never have to deal with that dreaded F word....FULL PRICE.  This is not hoarding. We aren't buying hundreds of something we will never use or can't be used before it expires.  Most canned goods have a long  shelf life.  Pasta has a 8 year shelf life.  Canned meats and fish have a shorter shelf life-- like three years or so.  Not much different than our grandmothers did when they brought in the vegetables from the farm and canned them for the winter.  

When the grocery ads come in the mail, get a piece of paper and section it off in quarters,  place the name of a chain store on the top of each section.  Go through the ads and write down

       Anything that is on your staple list at a rock bottom price.  

       Anything in the produce line that is cheap that you can fill out a meal with.  

       Anything in the protein line that is on sale cheap.  

Now, cross off anything that is cheaper somewhere else.  , and anything you don't need.  

Pick the TWO best stores for the week.  Add any items that you need to replenish.

Write down a quick list of meals ( penciled in) from your inventory on the fridge and freezer and the pantry and grocery list.   Finish your meal plans when you get home from the store.  Many times , I have found that a meat on sale that  either doesn't look good, they don't have it, or it's just too big a package to be doable.  Ten pounds of pork loin that had already been frozen wasn't doable for me for example.  

That's all for today.  

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Jane 

The rest of the shopping

I finished the rest of the shopping  today.  ALBERTSONS has a good .25,.50.75.1.00 sale.  We had a good laugh when I asked where the enchilada sauce was ( it was .50) and the  guy  pointed it out right under the oriental foods sign.

Black sliced olives were .50.  8 ounce tomato sauce was a quarter.  Those are really old prices.  I am not familiar with the brand,  So  I bought a minimal of items. The red peppers were HUGE for a buck.  Ditto english cucumbers and baby carrots were a buck.  Most of the time I just buy bulk carrots, but sometimes a baby carrot is desirable.  Pork steaks were very cheap.  I didn't purchase them because I am we'll stocked and am using ground beef for my stock meat this week.
Sour cream was cheap, and I used coupons for the .50 Yoplait.

We went to business Costco.  I got ten pounds of 7 percent hamburger for less than 3.00 a pound.  Upon studying the marathon cooking recipes,I have found that many have few ingredients added to cooked hamburger crumbles.  It is just as fast and a lot more flexible to just cook and portion control freeze the crumbles.  Ir. one recipe calls for a layered casserole of a hamburger layer with cr mushroom soup and milk, hash browns, and cheese.   I would leave the  hash browns in their bag, the cheese in the fridge, and just bag the portion of hamburger.  It's so fast and easy to pull the there bags, open the soup and mix the meat and layer the casserole.  There are only two of us that eat meat, so I will be making more packages than the book calls for.  I purchased ten pounds rather than twenty.

We eat a lot of tacos through the winter.  It is easy to pull together if dinner needs to happen in a hurry.  Meatballs are a good mainstay because there is so much you can do with them and it is easy to pull as many as you need out of the freezer and be about cooking dinner.

• Meatballs and spaghetti
• Meatball subs
• Meatballs with gravy on noodles
• Meatballs with cream sauce on rice 
• Meatballs with gravy on mashed potatoes
• Meatballs in a vegetable based soup

I usually make up the meatball batch and portion control the balls with a portion scoop.  Bake them on a 1/4 sheet pan with a rack on top to drain the grease.  

Hamburger crumbles can go into any hamburger dish or sauce or on a pizza.  

I have started filling out a meal plan calendar that was on the book I just downloaded.  It doesn't have dates on the calendar , just boxes.  I am trying to use the meal plans based on what needs to be eaten in the fridge and pantry this paring down the pantry.  

I am still sitting close to budget, and we have stock.  The USDA stats are based on actual food eaten. In order to grocery shop on the cheap, you need to keep a stock.  Besides, of you are scratch cooking there are things that you don't use for one meal, catsup, mayo, baking staples, vinegar, oil etc.  

ten pounds of good hamburger cost me almost 30.00.  I would estimate that I can get 12 meals (for 4) out of it.  7 percent hamburger has little shrinkage and meatballs and meatloaf have extra ingredients and protein.  Off the top of my head 2.50 a meal.  That makes a five dollar meal very doable to add a starch and some veggies and or fruit.  

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Jane