Saving time in the kitchen

The holidays are approaching , sooner than we think or possibly want.   


There are many ways to save time and energy getting food din the table.   The one basic concept that works the best for me is to batch cook whatever protein that is the best special of the week.  The meats vary , but usually bought in bulk saves a lot of time and money.

You are buying the "meat " at rock bottom prices, cooking it once, amd portion controlling it onto batches just big enou for a nights meal.   There is no waste and you have saved labor and energy cooking it.

Stair stepping ingredients for meals helps a lot too.   Making a double batch if rice so that you split it and have Spanish rice with tacos, and rice under a stirfry the next day.   Roce and beans have a short fridge life, so don't hold them too long.

The crockpot is your best friend,   The is something  very therapeutic about coming home to dinner cooked.  I imagine the smell is glorious.   Simplest pot roast ever. Put  pot roast in the crockpot.   Slice a peeled onion and out on top. Salt and pepper.  Pour a beer over top.  Add enough beef stock or water to almost cover.   Set on low for 8-10 hours.,  I. Microwave potatoes and carrots until tender and put in the pot with the cooking liquid the last 1/2 hour.  

There is a method out there called freezer cooking,  we used to call ot marathon cooking.   Basically you shop once a month and cook a months worth of meals in a day.   It's hard work.   It works for some people.   I can see it working for a mom with a weird shift at work.  Meals would be  ready for  another family member to heat up when dinner time came,

Personally, I  don't have the stamina to cook for eight to ten hours straight. I would prefer batch cooking.   You have to pick what works for you on a long term basis.  

I just Re read a cookbook called, " don't panic,dinner  is in the freezer.   " I got it as a e book from amazon I think.   Even of you dint want to marathon cook, it has some really good scratch recipes.  It's also breaks down a recipe for number of batches you wish to cook.   A good go to if you need to cook for a crowd.,

Whatever works for you.  

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Jane

turkey prices in a nutshell,

Turkey prices -  the price in everybody's  mind .  

QFC .69 with thirty dollar purchase not including turkey
SAFEWAYS .69'with thirty five dollar purchase not incl turkey
Fred Meyers.   Free if you spend  150.00
                        .45 if u spend 100.00
                        .69 if u spend fifty.    All not including the turkey
With coupon in ad.

Apples .99
Eggs. 4/5@@
Triscuit 3:5@@
Mayonaise 2/5@@
Tyson bacon 2.99@@
Sausage 2/5@@
Truffles 2/5@@
5!lbs potatoes .99
Pears .99
Frozen entrees .88

That's about it .

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Jane
.
                       

Venting. On food

The USDA has a food pyramid that we all grew up with.  Our great grandmothers used it  by intuition.
Our mothers and their  siblings live to be ninty.   I don't think I want to live to be ninty, I won't have enough money.   LOL.

The point being people believe every propaganda that comes their way. It is popular to take on every fad diet to be special and fit in with the crowd.   It  used to be a symptom of the young.  Now the not so young are on the band wagon.   And, they are passionate about it.

The truth is,  whenever you take a food group out of your diet , you are throwing the good out with the self perceived bad.   Unless you are really  disciplined  and have a degree in nutrition, you are playing with fire.  A lot of diseases are based on vitamins and minerals that our diets are lacking and it's not always the best to get them out of a bottle.


If three percent of the farms in the us are organic certified, who is going to eat the other 97 percent of fruits and veggies .  Are you really princess enough to believe that you should be entitled to the top three percent!    And, if is pesticide free, does that mean you get the pests!  And, most families on a budget can't afford five dollars a gallon for milk!   Most organic I have found is twice the price of regular food.

Just eat a balanced diet in moderation.    The simple truth is that our ancestors have been using the food pyramid for years, intensional or not.  It works.   If it ain't broke, don't fix it.


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Jane

The ads. And notes

Here are the ads for the week.   There is no QFC because they do bi weekly ads.

ALBERTSONS

Turkey BOGO. With a 35.00 purchase not including the turkey

London broil 3.99
Apples .99
Ice cream 2.49@@
Eggs 4/5@@

Coupons !!!!
Cake mix, brownies .99
Frozen entrees .69
Coffee creamery.99
Veggies,canned .50
Pasta .99
Skippy peanut butter $$?
Salsa 3.99



Dollar veggies oranges
Pears
Tomatoes
Salad
Zucchini
Bean sprout

SAFEWAYS

Turkey .69-  buy 35.00. Additional

Five dollar Friday

Cake
Pudding cake 2/5
Berries 2/5
Salmon

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The Fred Meyer ads , and misc notes

Just a note.   I recently heard of a discount grocery store not in the PNW that sells things for cost plus ten percent,   It's in Richmond Virginia and is called shoppers value.   I don't know of there are more shoppers value stores in other parts of the country , but it is worth checking out.  We have grocery outlet here.  Some things are a good buy and others aren't.   It, as I have been saying all along, really pays to know the prices of things that are on your stock list.

Typically we tend to make the same few meals often.   It's easier and we know that our family will eat them.  Your stock list shouldn't vary much.   That means, typically your proce list should be about 10-15 items.

Betty Crocker this time has a whole section  on 20 minute casseroles.  Just in time for the busy fall season.  

Fred Meyers

Oranges .69
Milk 4/5@@ ) 1/2!gal
Bread 3/4 @@
GM cereal 3/5@@ $$
Coffee creamerv2/4@@ attn darling daughter!
Vegetables .79
Cottage cheese sour cream 2/4

That's about all.

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Jane

The ads and notes

Thos os the time of year when baking staples go on sale.   In addition, there is a coupon for c and h sugar in the insert that came with the ads.   Also a coupon for a dollar off two Kellogg's cereals .   That's about all the real food I found!

Fred Meyers had an in ad coupon for .50 cream soups just in time for green bean casserole!   Limit six.  Also fifty cent cucumbers and two dollar berries.

QFC -two weeks through nov 18.
Beef sirloin roast 3.99
Milk 2/3. ( note ot os 1.25 with in ad coupon at FM.


Buy 10, save 5

BREYERS ice cream 2.79
Green giant broth, veggies .49
Butter 2.49
Cream of mushroom soup .79 ( note vs fm until Saturday)
Diced tomatoes .49
Cranberry sauce .99
C and h sugar 2.49 ( note there is an additional coupon in the insert) nets 2.09.
Kleenex or hefty bags .99 ( ch for hefty coupons )

ALBERTSONS
Cod 2.99
Milk 2/5@@

Buy 4, save 2

Kellogg cereal $$

SAFEWAYS
Turkey .69
BREYERS 2.99
15 percent ground beef 4.99
Pork loin 2.79
Grapes 1.99

Five dollar Friday
Grapes 3 lbs
Cake
Strudel 10 ct
Ice cream (2)
Pasta sauce ( glass jar) (5)
Olive oil
Canned salmon (5)
Brownie mix (5)

That's about all.  Note the price differences and why you need to shop at two stores.  Fortunately our chain stores that are left are close to each other and there is a dollar store nearby.  If they were not, I would plan trips around oh her places I routinely go during the week.  The gym?  The doctor or PT?
The kids school?   Soccer practice?   You get he idea!  

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Jane

Shopping trip and notes

One of the ways to save at the grocery store os to be flexible.  I never make meal plans until I have shopped.   Case in point.  I used to get huge pizzas from SAFEWAYS when it was five dollar Fridays.   Thos time, the five dollar pizza was kale and feta cheese and was small.   It would be no bargain for our family,   I don't even think that vegetarian daughter would be so inclined.   I did find grapes for. 3/5, and beef tips for 4.75 on just for u.   A gratin potatoes were .99 and I had a coupon and minute steaks were cheap enough to for into the budget.   Cheese was five dollars.   If you buy it every time ot os five dollars, you never get stuck with eight dollars a brick.   We have been grating our own and freezing it.  I only spent 3800 and got a lot of protein.

At ALBERTSONS, I got Yoplait for .34 I used  the in ad coupon and a paper coupon from the newspaper.

This is the time to print coupons,the new batch is released today.   The big ones go faster.
You can print two per item.   Please don't print any you wouldn't use. They are limited. Leave them for someone that will use them.  I only pick real food usually.

I bought some sprinkles from Joanne's for reindeer food.   I want to use edible things on case some kid decides he's going to try it.   I thought I would do reindeer food instead of snowman soup this year.   All I have to buy now is some food grade small bags.   I'm thinking the dollar store.

The USDA has stats on several budget types for different age groups and gender.   Google USDA cost of food at home.


http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/CostofFoodSep2014.pdf

It's a good benchmark.   We spent more last month because it was a good time to stock up on canned and frozen.  Come fall the new crop is packed and the old crop is put on sale.  


I guess that's all.

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Jane

The ads, oct 29-nov 4th

SAFEWAYS
Peppers .50
Ice cream -SAFEWAYS 2.88
Tomatoes 1.99
Milk  2.99
Cheese 4.99, limit 1
Bread .99
Salsa 48 pz 5.00
Canned veggies .59@

5 dollar Friday
Pizza
3 lb grapes
Pumpkin pie 2/5
Shrimp

QFC
Clementines 3.99
Apples .99
Pears .99
Milk 2/3
Frozen veggies 10/10 10-12 oz

ALBERTSONS
Buy 4, save 4. Wed -fri

Red Baron pizza 2.49
Digiorno 3.99


Yoplait .38 @@

Buy 5,save 5
Skippy peanut butter 1.99
Ice cream 2.49


K cups 4.99
Salsa 3.99 67 pz
Tomatoes 1.99

That's about it. Some things just don't fit in a bare bones budget, but I put them in for those readers that have a bit more to spend.   K cups are 4.99.  Ingest two cups from one k cup.   At the cost of coffee and if you are prone to waste coffee, not needing a full lot, it might be cheaper.  

Roma tomatoes are cheaper and better because they have less seeds and more fruit.  

The five dollar SAFEWAYS  pizza is a better buy for us because we can  add our toppings and get two meals out of it.,,, ditto Costco when they are on sale.  

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Jane


I

Terrific Tuesday --the basics

  I heard  a lady the other day say that she didn't want to read any blogs that talked about saving money.   She was interested in economy in the kitchen, but not about spending money.  I have yet to see a little elf that made food magically appear  in my cupboards.  When a mother has 375.00 to feed her family of herself and two children, it has to start with wise choices when purchasing food.   Most busy moms need to save money and time,   Thus our byline. better, cheaper, faster.  

It's getting harder and harder to put a dinner on the table for five bucks.  ( the dinner, not the plate).  The average per person allotment for SNAP ( food stamps) is 125.00 per person per month.   That is the latest stats for 2013.  Since then, they have cut food stamps I think.   It all has to start at the grocery store.  

Groceries on the cheap takes a different approach to buying groceries.   Instead of going to the store and buying just what you need for the week, you identify the staples you family needs to make your typical meals and buy them in bulk at rock bottom prices.   After you are up and running, you never have an empty pantry and you have spent half as much money.   This takes a little planning, but once you are set up it is actually less hectic.  You are never running out of something and having to run to the store on the middle of cooking dinner.

• Identify the inexpensive sources of protein  your family will eat.   I used to use two dollars for a benchmark, That  is getting pretty hard to do.   I am probably up to 2.50.   
• Write down 7-14 entrees that you can make from these sources.   Fourteen is better for variety.  I use a matrix of 2 beef, 2 chicken or pork, 2 vegetarian, and one fish or shellfish.  Your matrix may be different.   
• Now, establish the staple ingredients that you need to cook these meals.   At our house that is, diced tomatoes, corn, beans, green beans, instant mashed potatoes, pasta, pasta sauce ( hunts) tuna, chilli.   I keep mixed veggies, French fries, and meat in the freezer.   
• Find the cheapest price that these staples cost on a rock bottom sale.  In the fall, the new crops are being canned or frozen and often you get the best buys.   RBP is rock  bottom price.  When you find a sale, buy a) as many as the store will let you, b) as many as you can afford to buy or c) as many as you need to bring yourself up to your self regulated unit, whichever comes first.   I keep six months supply of key things.     Many people keep 8-12 weeks supply.   Many sales go in a 8-12 week cycle.   
• When the store ads come out, I take a piece of printer paper out of the recycle and separate  it into sections for each store.   I wrote down what is in sale of our staple things and perishables  that fill out the food groups.   Cross off anything that is higher than at another store and check your coupons for any that apply.  Cross off anything you don't need or need to replenish.   Some weeks there will be no staples, some weeks a lot.  Don't try to stay to a weekly budget per say, but be mindful of how much you are over or short of your weekly target.   I keep a spread sheet of the week and the stores total.   
• There are coupon matchup sites on the Internet,  they match up sales in your area with coupons in the paper and on line.   ( another topic later) 
• Now pick the two best stores.  Go with your list, get your list and get out of the store.  The more time you spend at the store, the more money you will spend. The more people tat go with you, the more you will spend.  If you are hungry, you will spend more.   Stick to a list and only deviate if there is an unadvertised special on what you normally buy.  One time I walked into QFC and found chickens for .50 a pound.  I took them home and cooked them.   
• Pick the "loss leader" of protein for the week and buy enough  bulk for that protein for a month.   Rotate the meats. When you get home, cook it if appropriate, and/or break it down to meal sized portions.  This is a lot more efficient and saves money/ no waste.  
• Our Fred  Meyer ( Kroger) has a rotation for dairy.   I just get a months supply of anything with a good pull date.   Milk doesn't last that long, but sour cream and eggs do.   Costco is another good place for dairy.   
• Don't overlook non traditional grocery stores.   I find  good buys at the dollar store, big lots ( overstock store) , the grocery outlet, and sometimes the drug store.  I can't emphasize enough to know your prices.  My mother had an expression, " some people wouldn't know a bargain if it got up and bit them in the butt!"  Don't  be that person!!! 
• You have to stay on or under budget, you don't have to waste money!   
• There is no place for ready made food and mixes ( with few exceptions ) and snack foods in a bare bones budget.   Stick to real food.   Popcorn is a good snack if made in a air popper.   Also small apples are food for kids.   They are usually cheap in a bulk bag.   Muffins are easy to make and you can make minis or regular ones.   Children can help.   
• Children can also help rotate stock so that the oldest is in front.  

That's about all

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Jane 

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Fred Meyers

We went to Fred Meyers .  The specials were not all that great.   Chicken is .97, but true to form, they didn't have any.   Apples were, 1.79 .  Nalleys chili was .89'with an in ad coupon. The 24 ounce sour cream and cottage cheese was 2/4.   Frozen potatoes  were 3/5.   Good hamburger wasm15.00 plus, for three pounds.  

Yoplait was .60.  One ofmthemways to save is to be flexible.   I got cottage cheese instead.  I still get my calcium. But am not locked into full price.   I can stock shelf ready or frozen foods, but I can't stock perishables.   Your best bet os to buy what's in season and buy just what you think you will use before they go bad and be flexible and buy what's a reasonable price . It's all about supply and demand.   Dairy goes on sale on a rotating basis.   I try to buy as much when it is on sale as we can ise before the expiration date.   Taking inventory of the fridge  a couple tomes a week helps .  You can incorporate anything close to it's date in the next few days meal plans.   There are web sites that allow you to plug on the item you need to use up and give you ideas of what to cook.  

I made a loaded potato soup for dinner a few nights ago. ( Betty Crocker) . I  adjusted it because it was too loaded with fat and I wanted it to be adaptable for the semi- vegetarians in the family.   I deleted the ham, held the bacon to the side for garnish, and used 1/2 of the sour cream  and cheese. It was still very good.   I served it with brown and serve bread sticks.    I keep them in the fridge and they last well beyond a pull date.   Discressionary advised! LOl

I think a lesson I learned is that unless itmos a baking recipe, you can certainly adjust ingredients and methodology to suit your needs.   Cranberries can substitute blueberries.   Craisens for raisens,   Etc.
my husband won't  eat mushrooms and hates to bite into an onion.   I adjust accordingly using other vegetables for the bulk in a recipe and running the onion on a micro plane instead of shopping it.   Or I add it to a dish almost whole so  I can pull it out before I serve it.  

Being flexible goes a lomg ways to help stretch a budget!


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We went to a restraunt because it was my daughters birthday.

Most common mistakes that tank your budget

Most common mistakes

I have been watching grocery hauls on the Internet. Mostly young gals are doing them. I am beginning to see a picture that is all telling.

The most common mistakes grocery shopping to be on the cheap instead of spending the whole paycheck are

1. Buying  8  gallons of drinks.  Buy tea bags, herbal if you wish, and some crystal light type mix at the dollar store or big lots.  Water is a good hydrater.  .  Buy a lemon to add a slice to it and chill it.  
2. Buying ready made mixes and meats.  Take on one meat at a time, and learn to cook it.  The savings are remarkable.  If you don't have the pans to cook it, go to the goodwill and find one.  if you don't have a roasting rack, pile rough chopped carrots / and or potatoes or onions  on the bottom, and roast your chicken on top.  
3. Buying tons of junk foods.  Buy popcorn it's cheap and relatively healthy.  The savings more than make up for the price of an air popper on sale.  I got mine for 14.00.  
4. If your passion is sweet, find easy and inexpensive recipes for brownies or another cake or cookie.  There is a recipe on the Internet for a mixture of 2 cake mixes that cooks in a few in the microwave.  Or make muffins or quick breads.  They can be healthy and satisfy your sweet tooth.  
5. Not Sticking to your meal plans and not thinking things out. don't come home without the things you need to make them or you have wasted your time and need another costly trip to the store.  
6.  The worst mistake is to go to the store hungry, with screaming kids that need a nap, and buy 
7. anything in the store that looks good to you.  It's stressful and expensive.  you shouldn't come home broke and ready to drop from the grocery store! LOL  

Take a look at your grocery receipt and break it down as to how much is drinks, how much snack food and desert, and how much fruit and veggies.  The most percentages should be fruit and veggies and proteins.  Less than ten percent should be snacks and drinks.  

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Jane 

The ads and notes

The ads for the week of oct 22 to 28th

ALBERTSONS

Apples 1.78
GM cereals 1.88 when you buy 5. You should be able to find coupons
Apple juice .99@@
Bread .98@@
7 percent ground beef 3.99@@

Quarters sale
Muffin mix .25
Frozen entres .50
Tuna .75
Tomato sauce .25

QFC
Grapes 1.68
Craisens 1.00

Dollar sale
12 oz bfrozen veggies
Refried beans
Cream cheese
Kings Hawaiian rolls


SAFEWAYS

Satsumas 4.99
Pears .99
Apples 1.99
Raspberries 2.99
Ice cream 2/5. Safeway brand

Five dollar Friday
Pumpkin cake
BREYERS 2/5
Cod  per pound
Lloyd's ribs


That's about all

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Remember there is just for you electronic coupons at Safeway
@@ means in ad coupon is needed
Remember to check a match up web site of you care to coupon.  You can use a store coupon and a manufacturers coupon .  

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Jane

Terrific Tuesday

I am happy to say that my husband has found a part time job.   That takes a lot of stress off our budget.  It's probably only temporary, but every little bit helps.   I'm still staying close too ur regular biggest, sometimes cheaper even though the cost of groceries has risen.  

The USDA has increased it's  stats, but not appreciably.   When I was buying 5.50 a pound hamburger, I remarked to a lady that I remember when it was .88.  Yes,  she said, and that wasn't all that long ago.   LOL.

I tried to get bulk yeast at Costco yesterday, they were out.   They said that they had five in the morning and they all sold.   That surprises me of Costco.   I might try the business one since we have to go that direction today anyway.  

Last night we had nachos for dinner.   I try to keep a log of our meals, but have been lax the last week.  

My daughter and I rotated stock in the pantry last weekend.  It's important to do that of the item is something that you don't use up quickly.   I wanted to count stock and rotate it before I went to Fred Meyers for .60 cent diced tomatoes.  

I ise diced tomatoes more than any other tomato product because it simplifies things.  If I want a tomato purée, I can always put ot in the blender.  Ot also works, no well, but it works when you are I a pinch for tacos.  It also makes salsa in a pinch when tomatoes are out of season.  I had to pay 2.50 a pound for a tomato.  I bought one.  Roma tomatoes are usually a Better  buy. They cost less and have more tomato and less seeds.  

Large bags of carrots are a better buy than the baby carrots too.  Unless you are making a veggie tray for company, you are better off using regular carrots.  You can scrub them with a vegetable brush of you aren't into peeling,  

I bought a bag of small apples this time because they were no dollar a pound apples.   I try for a buck a pound for veggies.  I don't always succeed and I feel like we need veggies and fruit for a well balanced diet.   I am not found of a lot of canned fruit and vegetables.  I buy green beans and corn.  
Frozen veggies are a buck all the time at the dollar store.   Sometimes  they are cheaper at the chain grocery stores.  You have to watch the size of the package.   I got mixed veggies with cauliflower, carrots and snap beans from the dollar store..  The carrots were  jullianed.  . The snap beans were little pieces and the cauliflower was irregular on size.  Some were small. Some were big. They tasted just fine, but not something I. Would feed  company.
I got the instant mashed potatoes for .88 from Fred Meyer.   They have some really interesting flavors.  We like four cheese and some with peppers and bacon, but there are all kinds of baby reds, some that are like twice baked, and the list goes on.  

In our house, we don't go through regular potatoes fast enough so many tomes they bombard before they are used up.   So it's easier and less wasteful to have instant on hand.   I got frozen French fries for a buck on sale at Fred Meyers.   I filled the freezer bin.   They are cooked on the oven and when cooked on convection, they have a crispy outside.  

The darker the lettuce and the more red the grape, the more food value they have.  

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Jane

No ad, I lost it. , the facts about ground meat

 I did go to Fred Meyers yesterday.  Unfortunately, my husband had the ad and misplaced it.

So,from memory, here goes

Pumpkin pie was 3.99

There is a big .88 sale

Tuna
Ice drinks
Mac and cheese and other entres I'm the frozen section.
The tangerines looked discussing for five dollars.
Acorn squash was a buck.  Last time they charged me for two, I got one.  You have to stand in line to get your money back.

There are more sales, but off hand I can't remember them.  I spent forty dollars, so I know there was more than that.  


On another note,  I had noticed that when I did the dishes after my daughter had cooked ground turkey, it had more saturated fat than I have when I cook good hambirger.   That lead me to some research.   There is no negilagible difference between the fat content between ground turkey and good hamburger.   Turkey has 18/100 less fat in a standard serving.


The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “Food Sources of Selected Nutrients” table for iron lists 30 of the foods highest in the mineral. Of that list, five of the foods are cuts of beef. Turkey does not make the USDA’s list of top iron-rich foods. The top beef selections are 3-ounce portions of chuck roast, bottom round, rib roast, ground beef and top sirloin. These beef selections provide between 2 and 3 milligrams of iron per serving.

A serving of prime rib has no sodium.   The price of turkey and good beef is just about the same.  I have found good beef cheaper than the five bucks for 20 ounces that I usually see it for.  

Dragnet quote , just the facts!  


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Jane

The ads

Time for the ads again.

Our selection of grocery stores is shrinking.   There are two companies that own the majority of grocery stores , chain wise now.   I will be glad when Winco comes I to our neck of the woods.
SAFEWAYS was bought by ALBERTSONS I hear and QFC is Kroger which also owns Fred Meyers.

SAFEWAYS

Kraft  Mac and cheese .49@@ ( not something I buy, but popular with the kids)

Turkey breast 1.29
Hamburger 15 percent 4.99
Tomatoes 1.99

Baking supplies B1G2
Chocolate chips
Cake mixes
Crisco oil
Pumpkin
Flour
Sugar


Pears .99

Five dollar Friday

Pizza
Boston cream cake


ALBERTSONS

Apples, pears, 100
Avocados 1.00
Ice cream 2/5@@


1.00 veggies

English cucumbers
Baby carrots
Pie pumpkins
Kale
Bean sprouts

QFC

Mandarins 4.99 box
Milk 2/3 ( 1/2 gal)
Yogurt 10/5$$
Pumpkin pie 3.99
8 percent hamburger 5.99

Kraft singles 2.19
Sour cream 2/3
Pumpkin 1.00
Flour 2.79



That's about it.

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Jane

Fred Meyer - ad

I might note that the paper is a buck at the dollar store.  

Milk is 4/5@@
Foster farms chicken breast is 1.28, along with grill packs and thighs.  The breasts will probably be hard come by.  
Canned tomatoes .60
Pumpkin pie 3.99
Lettuce .99
Yoplait 10/5 $$


Not much there.  The canned tomatoes are worth mentioning.  As well as the chicken breasts if they have them.  Fred Meyers tends to only bring out a few items a day.   They are frequently out of the sale items.   The last time they had no grill packs and I had to get someone to hint for one package of thighs.   Drumsticks are not meaty enough for me.  You are paying  for a lot of bone and you can't eat bone!   I would prefer the breasts or  the grill pack so I can debone the breasts myself.  

The last time they would not let me use two coupons for two batches of Yoplait. There are coupons for Yoplait.   ($$)   Some things have an in ad coupon (@@)

That's about all.

Please comment if you have any topics you would like discussed.  

Thanks for stopping by

Jane

SAFEWAYS

Yesterday,we went to SAFEWAYS and the dollar store.   I had a four dollars off forty electronic coupon.   Taking advantage of five  dollar Friday deals and the fact that pork loin roast was 2.29' a pound. I spent just a little more than the forty dollars.,

Apples were a buck, I splurged and got jalapeño bread and cheese was five bucks, olive oil was BOGO.  

Pork loin was my stock meat for the week.   But, I also got 4 dozen  eggs, cheese, American cheese, and sox steaks.

I filled the empty spaces in the pantry with canned goods.  
My husband went to Costco and got pop corn .  A small jar was over five dollars at SAFEWAYS, a giant jar was six at Costco.   Some things are just a lot better buy at Costco.  

I am over budget this week by a few dollars.   I was under last month.  I did get a lot of staple things. Next week will even it out.  

Know your prices

Take advantage of sales

Buy in proportion to what your family will eat in a timely manner.  

Plan meals.   -- even a rough idea of the main dish for a week will help a lot.  
Have a few emergency menus on the shelf to pick up when things go wrong and your attention is directed in another endeavor.   Last week, my identity was stolen and we tracked down a package that was delivered to us by mistake.   Stuff happens!   Be prepared.   It saves going for take out.  

Use coupons judiciously.    If they are for something you normally buy, it's a bargain.   I can save about sox dollars a week if I get a good coupon sale.   It doesn't always happen.   I'm not willing to spend forty hours a week couponing to buy a closet full of soda pop.   I am, however, willing to spend a few minutes to get ten percent or more off my food budget.  

We all like the work free.  

Last week, we out a lot of stuff out for free.  We got a umbrella stand for the deck table and a sox pack of expensive juice for free.  

Thanks for stopping by

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Jane

ALBERTSONS Trip

We went to ALBERTSONS today.  I  spent forty dollars and  saved 59 percent. There  were a lot of good buys on staples.  It's fall and the new pack is going on to production,so canned goods are on sale.  

Steak was buy one,get two  free.
Libby vegetables are .50 with a coupon.  
Healthy soups, pasta sauce and diced tomatoes were .80 ( buy 10 mix or match )
Eggs were 4/5 with a coupon.  

Buying what you can when it is on sale is a good way to stretch your budget.  

Thank you for stopping by

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Jane

This weeks ads , oct 8th

QFC s ad is the same as last week.  Not much there.   I wound up going to Fred Meyers.    I stocked on canned veggies .  

SAFEWAYS
Apples .99
Grapes 2.99
Pork loin 2.29
Bottom round 3.99 or pot roast
Brownie mix .99

Five dollar Friday
Cream pie
Bratwurst
Ice cream 2/5
Tillamook cheese *****
Pasta sauce . Glass jar 5/5
K kips 5.00

Just for you has four dollars off of forty dollars.  


ALBERTSONS
K cups 5.00
Sausage 2.49$$@@


.80 sale
Pasta sauce
Tomatoes

Canned veggies 2/1@@
Jif 1.49@@
Cereal 1.99$$
Yoplait .50$$
Grapes 1.48
Eggs 4/5@@
Halloween candy 4/8@@
Double layer cake 5.00@@ ( birthdays? )


That's all.  It's a better stock day this week.   The prices are more than I like,but prices have gone up and I suspect I have to face the reality that my RBP is going up too.  


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Jane


Note:   Last week, pasta was .80 at SAFEWAYS.  There are coupoms out there that made it as low as .38.   Add an .80 can of pasta sauce ( ALBERTSONS this week) and you have a main dish for 1.60.  That's plenty of room for a salad, homemade Italian bread ( or brown and serve from the bread store) and a pudding for desert.   And still be under 5.00.   Add parm that has been grated with a micro plane.

Breaking from the norm, safety tips

My identity was stolen Friday,.    I really felt violated and wondered and sill wonder where they got my e mail address and credit card number.   I did  report ot to the police.   My sister was surprised that a policeman came to the house to get a report and that I had to file a report.   I guess there are people that make a false report just to get the bank to pay for their charges!     The bank called me.   They have a program that red flags unusual charges , that is, charges that are not your usual spending pattern.   That's why if you take a vacation, you should call the bank and tell them you are going.   Otherwise they are likely to freeze your card and leave you in a pickle.  

The police officer told me all sorts of things.   For one, the neighbourhood gas station had some skimming incidents.   Luckily for us my husband doesn't go to that station.    Costco is so much cheaper.   

Never put your keys in your purse when you are going out in public.   Put your keys in your pocket.  Some people wear a cross body bag under their coat and just have necessities in their purse.   

If someone steals your purse, often they go on a spending spree and steal your car or while you are trying to find a phone to report your purse stolen and find a ride home, they are at your house cleaning it out.

Never put things in your mail box and put the flag up.    The only thing I ever put in the mail box is a birthday card.   

Don't leave anything in your car that you don't want stolen.   That is hard when I go to more than one grocery store at a shopping trip.   At least lock it in the trunk if you can before you go to your next stop.    Again , that is hard because I don't have a trunk.   We do bring a soft sided cooler for our groceries so you can't tell if it is empty or full.   

When you use your debit card, punch in your PIN number and touch a couple of other numbers while doing so.   There are people that have infrared scanners on the back of their phones that read what numbers that you have punched.  

I had a discussion with someone that said that they would never use a debit card, just use checks.   Perps wash your check and make it out for a bigger amount,   I had someone tell me that they had a devil of a time proving that they didn't write the check.   Banks do not moniter  your checks. I have seen checks not signed go through.   At least if someone steals your debit card, or you loose, it, they have to know your PIN number too.  don't leave your PIN number in your wallet.  Memorize it.  And, the bank moniters your debit card the same as your credit card.   

If retailers asked for another identifying number when a large purchase was made, it would cut down on the theft.   Bed bath and beyond asked for a zip code.  The perps couldn't produce one.   We all pay for the losses when these creeps help themselves.  

Check your bank balance often.   Report any charges that you don't recognize.   Sometimes that is hard because the retailers posted name is quite cryptic.   The next question is, honey, what did you buy for 9.98 yesterday!  LOL. Did you go to the gas station twice!    

If you are walking out to your car alone and there aren't a lot of people around, carry your keys with a key between each finger.  Look in the back seat before you enter the car.   If you are uncomfortable, ask a security guard to show you to your car.   Scan the parking lot before you leave the building.   Lock your doors and roll up your windows.  

Guess that's all I can remember .   

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Thanks for stopping by

Be safe! 

Jane 

Suddenly Sunday

I hav had a busy week with ear infection and identity thieves.   Didn't need either,thank you LOL.
It bothers me that no one does much to catch the identity thieves ( some issue with jurisdictions) and in reality we are ally paying for the theives abundance.   I do have to say that our bank is right in top of charges to your account that are not usual for your spending habits.   That limits the amount of loss.  

I digress

The ads.  I smdidnt grocery shop at all this week.   I didn't feel well and there are really no bargains.   Qfc sad is for two weeks so there will no bargains next week there either.  

Fred Meyers

Assorted loin chops 2.99
Grapes 1.49
Milk 4/5@@
Bread or buns 3/4@@
Canned veggies 2/1@@
Hillshire farms sausage 2.99@@$$
Cottage cheese,sour cream 4/5
Acorn squash 1.00
Pears 1.00
Raspberries 2/4

Crock pot 16.99

My mothers recipe with my husbands adaption.  
Acorn squash.  She always cooked meat loaf and baked potatoes on the oven at the same time.  
(400 degrees)

Halve squash and seed.  ( zapping in the microwave for two or three minutes makes thos easier.poke it with a for a couple of times first)

Fill cavity with butter and brown sugar. Sprinkle with cinnamon.  

Place in baking pan and bake until done)

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Jane

The ads

Finally I got to do the ads.   I had an er visit this week, and  this is the first time I have been able to get to it.

There is not much this week. Yet again.   QFC has it's ad for two weeks.  

QFC
Tomatoes 1.28
Dreyers 2.99 - ck for coupons
Raspberries 2/5
Pumpkin pie 3.99

SAFEWAYS
Avocados 1.00
Pears .99
Pasta .79
Chicken noodle soup .79

Five dollar Friday
Grapes
Boston cream cake
Salad 4/5
Shrimp
Barbie princess

ALBERTSONS

Mix or match b6, save 3. Buy 12, save 6. Buy 18, save 9. Prices are net

I've cream, dreyers  2.49
Bread 1.99
Tuna 1.00
Duncan Heinz cake. .99


Milk 2/5@@
5 lb potatoes .99@@
English muffins 1.88
Peppers .69
Grapes 1.99

I have not downloaded the coupons for this month yet.   The only,stock item I see os pasta and i think that there are coupons out there.

Note when things are 10/10 you don't have to buy ten unless it is specified.
ALBERTSONS mix and match you do have to buy the total items,but can choose which you want.

I did hear again that put top foods was going to be a Winco.  I certainly  hope so.

The first Thursday of the month is free admission at the museum of history and industry.   We went today and it was really fun.  We allotted ourselves two hours, but that wasn't enough time . We only got to see the first  two floors.  A lot of interactive    for the children.  

That's about all.  Thanks for stopping by

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Jane

Sunday ads , Freddie's

I just realized I didn't do a blog today!  

Anyway, we went to SAFEWAYS Friday and I didn't intend to go to Fred Meyers today.   I got specials at SAFEWAYS.  

We went to pick up some supplies for business and stopped by the grocery outlet.   Ingot sausage for 1.50 , some smoked salmon, a lot of sliced cheese and some tacaquitos.  I checked the coffee prices, but we got coffee a dollar cheaper at Winco.   Yoplait was 3/1.00 with a mid oct pull date.  


Fred Meyers

Apples .99
Radishes and onions 2/1
Pears .99
Eggs 4/5@@

That's about it.  I got better buys at Winco and SAFEWAYS.

Tonight we are having chicken thighs, baked acorn squash and green salad .  
Yesterday we had sausage, fruit salad, hash browns and eggs.   The hash browns were baked.  

Thanksmformstoppimgmby

Please,share

Jane

Winco and notes

I just read that the poverty level has increased on Washington state.   That is to say, more of is are at the poverty level.

We went to Winco yesterday.   We called it our road trip.  Since the bakery outlet os on the way, we went there too.   We lucked out and it was senior and military day so we got ten percent off.   My husband tried for twenty percent off because  were both military and senior, but as predicted, it didn't work, gave is a good laugh though!   We did get two packages of whole wheat hot dog buns.  I'm making bread crumbs.

Winco had a lot of things I stock cheaper.  I found peppers for a buck!  Beats 1.59.   And the instant potatoes I buy for .87 they can be as much as 1.59 too.   My husband found his beef jerkey meat.
Beer was two dollars cheaper than his cheapest price.  Coffee was 5.99 and some of the veggies  were cheaper.  Some things weren't, you have to know your prices.   This is hard because RBP are changing and I'm not finding the lowest price as often as I would like.   Sometimes I have to resort to house brands.   Not a bad thing.  House brands are often the same as the good product with a different label.

The bread store had a lot of dollar and near a dollar bread.   I also got jalapeño mustard.   I guess I have to resolve to the fact that I can't find meat at my target price of two dollars anymore.   Other than chicken, that isn't  happening. If I can get it for three dollars a pound, I can average two dollars.   I got chicken sausage for 2.50.  Four sausage are enough for the four  of us.

My average for September was 62.00 a week.  The Feds have upped our basic food at home stats to about 85.00 a week for my husband and I.  I am also supplementing my daughter and granddaughter a lot.   There are people that do it for less. A lot of them have a lot more time and energy than I have.


I am trying to stay within the guidelines for food stamps, ( we are not on food stamps) to show people that it can be done and you can eat decent food for less money and maintain a pantry.

There is a certain sense of security having a pantry of staples.   I was in the rehab ( nursing home) for a month and in the hospital a few days too.   My family ate out of the pantry and  supplemented a little fresh.   My daughter cooked every night.   She got smart and cooked a crockpot of chili to last a couple of days.   Leftovers worked.

That's about all.

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Jane

The ads

I'll have to warn you, thos os,not a good week for the main stores I get at home.   We might just go to Winco.  

QFC
Peaches 1.49
Apples 1.29
Grapes 1.99
Nathan's franks 3.49


2 lb chicken 6.99*****
Tillamook y
Greek yogurt 1.00$$
Refried beans, tortillas 1.00

Note the chicken, I'll explain later.  

SAFEWAYS
Grapes 1.99
Salad 4/5
Chicken .99***
Bell peppers, cukes .79
Pears .99

Five dollar Friday
Raspberries 2/5
Grapes 3 lbs
Shrimp

ALBERTSONS

Coffee 5.99
BBQ sauce .75

Bc cake mix .99
Ice cream 2.49

That's about it.  

Now, remember to cross off anything that is cheaper elsewhere . Other than a cake mix, I don't have anything on my stock list here at RBP.   I would pick a .99 chicken even though I bought one Sunday.  We had company and could use another.  

Now, to the promised explanation.   NO CHICKEN UNDER THREE POUNDS IS A BARGAIN AT ANY PRICE,  chicken bones weigh just so much.   What's left is the meat.   Under three pounds you are paying for bones and the meat is gravy.  

But let's do the math. Two pounds for 7.00 is 3.50 per pound.   SAFEWAYS has Washington grown chicken for .99 a pound.   A five dollar savings right off the bat not including the loss of meat vs bone.  

It takes me ten minutes to put a chicken on the oven.   At five  dollars savings, I am making
Thirty dollars an hour for my time.  

I cook chicken one of two ways depending on my time and energy constraints of the day.   If I intend to make soup and casseroles with it I place a cut up onion in the bottom of the slow cooker, add the cleaned chicken, rub slices on top and cook it for an hour a pound on high.   Five minutes, walk away.  

If I want roasted chicken, I wash the chicken. Put salt in the insides.  Stuff it with anything short of the kids dirty sox ( onion, apple, orange, lemon, ) massage the skin with olive oil and sprinkle ot with salt, pepper or thyme or lemon pepper and shove it on a roaster rack in oven  at 375 until my thermometer reads done.   Walk away and do some laundry or work on my studio etc.  

Either way it is short work with a good reward.  Chicken is still the best buy in the market for protein from meat.  

Thanks for stopping by

Please share

Jane

Betty Crocker dinner feed

Betty Crocker has been sending me via e mail ideas for dinner all month. Today's is especially good with a emphasis on chicken and skillet / oven dinners.   I will try to provide a link.   Some of these are really yummy and are adaptable to the on the cheap meal mantra.    Remember cream of anything soup is basically a white sauce,  I have a white sauce mix that is really easy.   I think I just googled white sauce mix and found it.  I wrote the recipe on the top of the container with marker.   I do that often.  It makes life easier.

Chicken and green beans
Chicken with cheese and vegetables
Chicken Mac and cheese
Lots more.

I would really consider signing up for the feed.   There are coupons amd a lot of inspiration.   Cooking on the cheap doesn't have to be boring and jump starting your creativity for free is a winner,

http://recp.mkt32.net
I can't check to see if that works  on my reader.  
Betty Crocker dinner is back.  

Thanksmformstoppimgmby

Please share

Jane

Sunday ads

Last night I went to a convention dinner.m we had a delicious dinner of pork tenderloin, mixed veggies, rolls, green salad amd garlic, French bread pudding.   I don't think I had ever heard of it, it didn't taste bad, but I didn't want to burn my carbs on mystery pudding when there was a glorious chocolate moose In Front of me!   LOL. Good food,good friends and good music!

I digress.

Fred Meyers as usual has some food buys and the Sunday paper has coupons to go with them.  These prices are for Seattle area.

Tomatoes .99
Whole chicken .99
Milk 4/5@@
Ice cream 2/5
Cottage cheese or sour cream 2/4
Grapes 1.68
Pears .99
Zucchini, yellow squash .99

Dollar days
Rice a roni
Tortilla chips
Refried beans
Flour tortillas
Diced tomatoes$$
Baby carrots
Garden salad
French bread@@
Cake mix
Annie's Mac and cheese

Some of this I got for less at SAFEWAYS and last week.
There might be a coupon for cake mix out there and I know there is a coupon for Yoplait in the paper.
( smart source.)

I hit SAFEWAYS and the dollar store on Friday.   There are a few things at the dollar store that are cheaper.  We needed catsup and unless there is a good sale during picnic time,am buck for the large bottle is cheap.   I pick up cotton rounds and Kleenex .  Watch the size if the packages.   They have darling Halloween and fall glass goblets.   Chicken noodle soup in a 33 percent more can is good.  I really prefer Campbell's to store brands on that.

That's about all

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Jane

Coupons.

I haven't talked abou coupoms lately.   My daughter and I attended a seminar on extreme couponimg. I am not a fan of real extreme couponing as in the tv show because I think it boarders on hoarding and hoRding things we don't need or need to hoard.   I think the operative word is extreme.   No one  needs 93 bottles of hot sauce or a closet full of soda pop.  LOL.  In reality most stores will not let you buy that much.  I do use coupons for the things I normally,buy anyway.   And, yes you can find coupons for things that are not gadgets or junk , ready made food.   I get ice cream, yogurt, pasta, toothpaste, and other real food coupons all the time.

I get one Sunday  paper at the dollar store.   You can get ot on Saturday or all week lomg as long as they have stock.   My friend brings me the inserts from her paper.    Once a month I get on coupons.com and download the coupons that I seriously might use.  You are allowed to download two coupons per item.   The manufacturers limit the amount of coupons printed.   Doing it close to the forst of the month is to your advantage, the large ones go fast.   I have a coupon binder and file the printed coupons.

There are coupon matching sites on the Internet that match local store sales with coupoms.   I file my inserts in file folders by month.   Wrote the date of the insert on the front.   It's  an easy match up to pull the coupon when they are in chronological order.  

I save an average of six dollars a week.   That calculates to over three hundred a month.  

Our lights were out and I lost most of the rest of this post.  

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Jane

To each his own

I ran on to another blog today.  The lady is remarkable.   Apparently, sh has very little to live on and makes due with delicious meals for next to nothing,    She also has the time to bake everything from scratch and grow her own fruits and vegetables.   I applaud her in her efforts, but I don't have her time or talents.  To each his own.   You have to do what works for you and what you need to do to make your budget work.   I suspect if  we continue to be unemployed and I don't find an outlet for my product, I will be working harder to cut our groceries more.   I am only one person, and others in the family don't see the need to economize.   Budgets have to balance.    I basically quit buying anything but supplies for the business, cutting clothing budget to must haves, doing my own nails, and staying out of stores.   I have had to buy some clothes lately because I have dropped five dress sizes!   I just took a truck load of clothes to the goodwill.    I, not buying a lot of my current size until I see if I gain weight,  the doctor seems to think I will and so I'm making do.  I got some clothes from a family member that cleaned her closet out and I bought a few pair of leggings because they are very forgiving and span a couple of sizes.   I switched and have my hair cut for less than 1/2 what I was paying.

I digress, this is supposed to be about food.   I think I'm saying don't beat yourself up because you spend more than the next guy on food.  You have to do what you can.  Of you are forced to make it on a specific amount of money, you pretty much have to do what you can to make things work.

This is about making it on half the average budget.   I spend twenty five percent less than what the USDA stats are for my husband and I and I supplement my daughter and  granddaughter a lot as well.

Fred Meyers continues to have good buys for their anniversary.

The ads
QFC
Oranges .99
Broccoli .99

1.00 sale
Tortillas
Frozen potatoes
Bumble bee tuna ( cheaper ay fm)
Barilla pasta ( cheaper at fm )$$


SAFEWAYS
Oranges .99
Grapes 1.99
Pork loin chops 2.29
Corn 6/2
Pudding cups .99( backpacks?)
Starkist .79

Five dollar Friday
Cheese pizza
3pounds grapes
Ice cream 2/5
Salad 3/5
Cheese 5.00****

ALBERTSONS


Tillamook yogurt ,38@@( 3/1 at fm)

Quarter sale
Pizza crust, corn muffins .50
A gratin potatoes .75
Albacore tuna 1.00
Fruit juices 16 ox frozen veggies 1.00
Crackers 1.00
Nalleys chili 1.00
Tomato sauce .25
Tomato paste .50

 That's about it.   If I had to pick, I would pick  Fred Meyers and SAFEWAYS in Friday.  Be sure to take advantage  of the cheese .   The savings is remarkable.  Don't get stuck paying none dollars for two pounds of cheese.   Ugh!   Of I am going to eat cheap sources of protein, I am going to eat the  best quality I can find.

I would stock on frozen potatoes, albacore tuna. Cheese, crackers, and tomato sauce and paste.   Sometimes when making pizza from scratch, or adding some depth to a sauce, a small can of tomato sauce is all you need.  Fred Meyers has chicken for a buck a pound.   I found a recipe that puts a spice rub on it and bakes it for an hour at 350.  We did it, but it took more than an hour to get the chicken well done.   Thighs and grill packs are the best buys here.  They had no grill packs when I was there.   If I get a grill pack, I debone the chicken breasts and cook the rest for shreds for burritos, tacos or BBQ sandwiches.  You can also use the broth and some chicken for soup.

If we are having something like soup that has less,protein, I make cheese biscuits to supplement or
make a pudding for desert or have ice cream.   If we have waffles, I add bacon or a yogurt parfait with fruit and granola.

Looking at the whole meal picture helps to balance the protein and the budget!


Ps big lots has krustez pumpkin loaf big box for 2.25.  It's really good and far less than scratch.  Of it os the four box , that makes it a little more than .60 a loaf!  
Thanks for stopping by

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Jane

The ads

Fred Meyers has an anniversary sale.   Even though I have already shopped, I am under budget,so I will go for a few things.  

Chicken legs or grill packs .99
Apples .88
Ice cream 2/4@@
Tillamook cheese 4.99@@
Cheerios 3/5
Butter 2/4
Pasta .79
Bumble bee .79
Tillamook yogurt 3/1
Pumpkin pie 2.89
Raspberries 4/5
Broccolli. .99


That's about all.  

Please share

Jane

Shopping trip

Today we went to ALBERTSONS.   Pork loin chops were buy 1, get two for free.   Now, I'm sure they marked it up to mark it down.   The bottom line os that we got three packages for 3.33 each.   I  did them,at and calculated the cost per meal to find out if it was a bargains or not.  

All on all, other than the doughnut holes I BOGO'd , all I bought was real food and it saved as much as I spent.   We still only came home woth four small sacks amd a cooler full and I spent a little more,than fifty dollars.   Groceries hav still taken a hike. ALBERTSONS veggies were not. Good buys, amd them dairy didn't seem too good either.   But, that's why you shop at two chains a week.  Taking the best of two stores will give you the best advantage.  

Terrific Thursday / tools

I was flipping through the channels waiting for pain meds to work amd saw a pressure,cooker on qvc.  I didn't  buy it, but it reminded me I hadn't used ours in a while.   I go on spurts and we eat certain foods for a whole and then I switch out for other things.   We get tired of eating the same things.

Brings me to my point.   There are tools that make life easier in the kitchen.  If  things are easier, we will be more inclined to cook at home instead of eating out.   Most of them are not terribly expensive and can be bought over years, or found at estate sales or on your Christmas list?   On ez pay at qvc takes the sting out of something that costs a little more.

• A pressure cooker cooks ribs and split pea soup in minutes as well as many other things. Mthey showed corn on the cob, but it took three minutes.  By the time the oressuremcookermcomes up to speed and cooks and has it's down time. You can cook them in the microwave.   It takes six minutes on the microwave .   Cut the silk part off the top, put the, in the microwave,  use hit pads or a kitchen towel to pull the husks off after you have cut the bottom off the cob.   

• A crock pot can vey our best friend in the kitchen.  You can prep your ingredients the night before, put them in the insert and turn the pot on in the am.   Dinner is ready when you get home.  There is something about the smell of cooked dinner when you walk into the house after a long hard day that is miraculous.  Chocolate decadence is marvelous.   
• A food processor makes cakes amd chops food, and grates cheese.   It is sometimes cheaper to grate your own cheese than buying grated cheese.   Add a little cornstarch to it and freeze it.   Frozen cheese works fine in Mac and cheese and any place it is melted.  You can also chop meat in a pinch.  
• A meat grinder ( either as an attachment to a kitchen aid,mor the old fashioned kind grandma had) is a good investment,  you can make your own sausage or hambirger when roast is cheaper than good hambirger and you control the fat!   
• I love my waffle iron, and my husband loves the George foreman, but they are not as necessary or a money saver like the other appliances are.  

There are appliances that cook a special item all over the place.  Most of them are just dust catchers and a gimmic.  

There is a theory of the snowball effect.    In essence, it says that of you save momey on something and spend the momey you save to buy something that will save more momey, you will be better off because your savings will grow.  

Thanks for stopping by

Please share 

Jane  

The ads

I got the ads.  My daughter found an app that gives you the ads,but so far all I find os SAFEWAYS and some other retailers I don't need.   It's free and called  Retale.

SAFEWAYS

Apples,.99
Grapes 1.99
Ribs 2.29
Corn 6/2
Cantelope 2/5
Ice cream 2/5
Barilla pasta 5/5. You don't have to buy 5 and there are coupons


Five dollar Friday
Grapes
Fudge cake
Salad 4/5

ALBERTSONS
Grapes 1.48
Cheese 5.99
Eggs, med .99@@

Ok, this might be confusing.  Spend 10.00 on Tillamook and get 2.00'off.  There are coupons for cheese out there.
Cheese 6.99
Ice cream 2.67
Sliced cheese 4.00$$
Sour cream 1.60

Final prices.
Buy 3 ice creams for 8.00
Buy 2 sliced cheeses for 8.00 and use a coupon.
Sour cream 5/10 now 5/8.
You can mix and match at retail and  spend 8 instead of 10.

Scenario:
Buy 3 ice creams, 2 sliced cheese,pay 20.00, get four dollars off, nets 16.00, use 2.00 coupons for the cheese, nets 14.00.    Retail on  three ice  creams is 15.00.   Cheese coupons are on coupons.com.



1.00 sale

Cake mix
Brownie mix
Pasta sauce
Frozen juice

QFC

Apples .99
Raspberries 2/3
Eggs 3/5
Peaches 1.49
Yoplait 20/10$$
Barilla pasta 1.99$$
Grapes 1.99
Buns 4/5
Canned chicken 1.00 ( a good emergency stash)
Red Baron pizza 2.99

There is absolutely nothing in the red plum insert!

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Jane

Sunday at Fred Meyers

We did go to Fred Meyers today.  I don't have the ad because my husband thought we were through with it so he recycled it.   The best I can do os tell you what I remember

Frozen veggies were .99 with a coupon in the ad. There were supposed to be peas, corn, and mixed veggies.  There were only mixed veggies.

Frozen French fries and tater tots are a buck, Kroger brand

The cheap Mac and cheese was .88

Canned beans were .50 with an in ad coupon limit six.  

Barilla pasta was a buck and there was a coupon in the paper.  

Radishes and cucumbers, and green onions were 2/1

Frozen fruit was 2/5 with store coupon.

I pretty much restocked our freezer from when the old one thawed.  
Total 42.39.

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Jane

Saturday - all is quiet

It's strange around here when  things are quiet.  Husband went for his walk on the beach and daughter and grandbaby went to check on some things at her work.   I have the house to myself!    Walking with my cane, even if it hurts.  Eventually I'll be back to normal, I keep telling myself.    LOL

I haven't shopped except for sending my husband for five peanut butters for .99  each and two Nathan's hot dogs for 3.49 less two .55 coupons.

Last night I made vegetable bean soup, or , rather, I made the soup in the crock pot in the morning.
We love that soup and it's easy.  Our weather  is more like summer this week, so I suspect we will be eating more picnic type foods.

The first of the month basics didn't happen.   I'll bullet them for lack of time.   I am gearing up for a card party( making cards, not playing them! ) and have a card class in making cards for the troops at the rehab center.   I still have to make our  Christmas cards.  

I digress.   The bullets

• The basic idea of  groceries on the cheap is to never pay full price for your groceries.   I want to average 1/2 price.   It's a different way of buying your food.  You aren't buying a weeks worth at a time.  You are buying what's on sale and keeping a pantry.   You never are without some food in the house.   This is possible because you are spending less than the person that buys a week at a time, and you have more volume because you are spending less. 

• The best thing you can do is know the price of the foods you eat on a regular basis.  Track these prices so you know what is a RBP.  ( rock bottom price.  You can use a spread sheet or a notebook, by now, I have them in my head.   But, I can remember numbers better than I can remember names! LOL 

• Buy foods when they are at rock bottom prices.  Buy as many as you can, as many as the store will let you ( limits) or as many as you need to replenish your self imposed ceiling.  I have spaces on my shelf. For our target foods.   I can tell at a glance what we have used.   

• Obviously, you have to identify the foods you eat on a regular basis that are stock items.   In our house that would be diced tomatoes, beans, refried beans, green beans and corn ( not much corn) chili, chicken noodle soup, pasta, pasta sauce.   

• Meat usually goes on sale in a rotation.  Inexpensive ( laugh) cuts of meat are usually on sale in a rotation.  Pick the one your family will eat when it happens and buy enough for a month of that meal.  Assuming you fond a meat a week.    Cook it and divide it onto meal sized portions,  usually for us that would be eight meals. 
•  
• Plan you meals,  I use a matrix to make sure we have variety and  everybody is happy.  It is 2 beef, 2 pork or chicken, 2 vegetarian and 1 fish or shellfish.   Your families matrix may be different. Adapt it to your families preferences and the cost of protein.   Plan your meals.  I plan a weeks worth, but not necessarily day by day.   

• Most coupons are for premade, expensive foods.   There are, however, so,e that are for things you can purchase on a budget.   Computer coupons come out once a month on the first of the month.   You can print two of each coupon. They are limited in quantity, you snooze, you loose.  Print  them as soon as they come out.   The newspaper has some.  I get the Sunday paper at the dollar store.   My friend brings me her inserts.   I save the inserts to match up with a coupon match up site.  The one I was using isn't there, I'll have to find a new one.  They match the ads to coupons.  Some direct  you to the coupons or tell you which insert it is in.   I put the date of the insert  on the cover and file them by month.   I only cut the ones I am going to use.  I can manage to get toothpaste, deodorant, and soap for free.  The last time I bought toothpaste they paid me a quarter to take it out of the store.   I always buy toothpaste when it's free or nearly free and save it up for the women's shelter.   

• When the grocery stores ads come out, gather them and analyze them.   I take a sheet of computer paper out of the recycle and divide it into sections.  Label the sections.  Our variety of grocery stores is shrinking.  Top closed and ALBERTSONS and Safeway are merging or ALBERTSONS bought Safeway.  We are hoping to get a Winco in the top foods building.  I digress.  Divide the paper and list the perishable in season that are a good price, the "loss leader of protein" and the stock items that meet your RBP criteria.  Now pick the two stores that have the things you want to buy. Plan your trip to save gas, go, bring your list, the ads, and your coupons.   Get in and GET out!   The more time you spend in the store,the more impulse buys you are bombarded with.  Impulse buys account for 70 percent of the grocers sales.  

• That's not to say that you don't keep your eyes open for unadvertised specials.   I got chickens for .50 a pound at QFC once!   Most of the good veggie and fruit buys last week at Fred Meyers were not advertised.   Just don't buy junk.  Keep it to the proportions your family will eat before it goes bad.   Divide your grocery money onto sections,   Less than ten percent should be drinks and chips, cookies etc.  the majority should be dairy, protein, and fruits and veggies.  

This takes some planning and some discipline. But the rewards are good food on a budget.  

Thanks for stopping by and for sharing,  

Jane 

Finally friday

Not grocery shopping.   I can't still get into our cars.  We shopped some on Sunday at Fred Meyers.   I have a really good back pack alert, peanut butter  is a buck at QFC!   You have to buy five, but there are other things on the list that are a decent bargain, or you can get five peanut butters.  

For those that are wondering what a backpack alert is, some of the readers are gathering food for children that otherwise wouldn't get food on the weekends.

There are enough things on the buy five, save five list at QFC that it can be worth your while, besides the peanut butter .  

Taking advantage of sales when they are true sales of regular food is a good way to stretch your grocery dollars.   The trick is knowing your prices and stocking what you will use until the next sale.   Ot doesn't mean you only buy peanut butter this week and eat peanut butter for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.   I buy perishables just enough to last is until the following week or so, or however long they are going to last.   Shelf ready or freezer items can be bought in moderation, so that you have enough at a low price to last you until they go on sale again.  

Having a stock really helped when I broke my hip and was in rehab for a month.  The family could just fill on with fresh and eat from the pantry and freezer.   I have my stock built, amd just add when there is a sale the amount we have eaten lately.   Winter is coming and we eat a lot of soup and chili in the winter.   Prices have gone up, but I am still finding tomatoes and beans for .60.  I would rather pay .50, but I haven't seen that lately.   Beans and rice have a very short fridge life.   Unless you have the time to cook beans and eat them the same day, canned is safer.  Just rinse them thorrorally to reduce the sodium.

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Jane

The ads

ALBERTSONS

Buy 5, save 5

Cream cheese .8kraft singles 2.99
Ice cream 2.49
Baron pizza 2.99
Kleenex .99


Milk 2/5@@
Vegetables .49@@
Ground beef 3.99, for 7 percent


QFC
Broccoli .99
Sour cream 1:00
Chili 1.00

Milk 2/3

Buy 5, saves 5
I've cream 2.79
Pea nut buyer .99
Cheerios 1.49

Ritz 1.77

SAFEWAYS
Red Baron 3/10. Look 4'coupoms
Tomatoes 1.00
Grapes 1.99
Corm 6/2
Cake mix .99

5 dollar Friday
Berries 2/5


That's about it.  ,


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Jane

Dinners, to be continued

Last night we went out to dinner with friends.  Happy hour menus.   I got shrimp fettuccine.   It was a half cup of under cooked noodles and five shrimp for eight dollars.   My husband had two beers and two sliders.  The bill was thirty three dollars with tip.

Tonight we had Mac and cheese and mixed veggies.   Total cost for four is three dollars.  

Thursday: the last of the summer!   My 4th if July was spent in an ambulance going to rehab!
Hot dogs, potato salad, amd corn on the cob.

Friday. Vegetable bea soup.


Saturday. Fish and Chips, cla, chowder, coleslaw

Sunday. Shrimp stirfry, noodles

Monday  chicken sausage,corn on the cob,mpotatomsalad,fruit salad.

Tuesday, happy hour , flat bread pizza
Wednesday. Hot dogs and baked,bans


To be continued.  

Short and sweet! , updated

Just a few notes.  My daughter downloaded some of this months coupons.   Nathan's hot dogs are 3.99 thos week at ALBERTSONS there os a .55 coupon.   Also so we here there is a sale on redi rice. I don't usually,buy it., but there is a coupon for that too.  Also a lot of fake stuff if you are into turkey this or that and almond milk.  

There are a lot of coupons, but coupons for something that is still a lot more than making something from scratch os not a bargain,    A lot of times , they put a few spices and sauce into ordinary things and charge an arm and a leg for the pro ledge of not having to add a few spices.   It's usually about two minutes of your time.   Do the math, how much time are you saving, and how much are you paying an hour for their  time?

I got my daughters car for an hour.   ( can't get onto our car, it's too low to the ground. ) we went to Fred Meyers.  
A lot of produce is in then100 to 1.28 price range.   I did find apples for 7.00 plus a pound and a box of peppers for almost forty dollars.   Milk was two dollars a gallon with in ad coupon and beans and tomatoes were sixty cents.  M

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Jane

Sunday ads

It's a holiday weekend.   There are no cohpon inserts usually on a holiday weekend.   Thos time there is the p and G. Insert, but I'm not finding anything too useful.

Fred Meyers

Grapes 1.28
Milk 1.99@@
Bread 3/4@@
Peanut butter 2/5@@
Zucchini .88
Brats 4.99
Sour  cream 2/5., also cottage cheese
Red Barton pizza 3.99$$
Chili .89@@
Ice cream  2/6@@


Back lack alert for the peanut butter. I will post on Facebook also.

Coupon grocery cart has red Barron pizza coupon .

Last night we had ribs, corn in the cob and green salad.
I didn't buy a lot of meat  that wasn't picnic meat.  Chicken sausage was in sale at SAFEWAYS as well as ribs and hot dogs.  I stocked on chicken and good hamburger a few weeks ago so I didn't have to find a bargain this week.   That is where it pays to buy the bargains when you happen to find them and coast through the weeks  there isn't much.mm meat is getting harder and harder to find good meat deals.  Typically there are no really good buys on holiday weekend.  Picnic supplies are an exception, usually that happens on Memorial Day.

Buying what is in sale, provided it is in your usual buy list is a good way to cut your grocery costs.  We all have to eat, but we don't have to eat what is top dollar in the grocery store.   A little effort goes a long ways to stretch your grocery budget.  Remembering a few basic principles can save a bundle

• The basic food is around the perimeter of the store.   
• Don't buy ready made unless it is cheaper than scratch.  Do the math.  
• Before you buy a box of something, read the ingredients.  Again, do the math.  
• Spend more on meat , dairy and produce than anything else.  
• Steer clear of bottled drinks. And junk food.   Junk food is defined as anything that has no real food value.   It's stupid to pay big money for sugar and water.   Ditto a few ounces of potatoes.  
• The biggest weapon in your fight against the break the budget groceries is your calculator and a price book of the things you buy most. Know when a bargain is a bargain.  If you haven't spent your money on junk, you can afford to buy bulk of bargains and feed your family better, cheaper, faster.   .   

Thanks for stopping by. As soon as I get to the point I am back to normal, I'll start a better post routine again.

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Jane

Saturday, suddenly

It's Saturday.  I have been loosing track of days all week.   Have to get back to our schedule.   Sitting with a mud bath on my feet my daughter put on.

We went to SAFEWAYS yesterday.   I just bought the specials and spent fifty dollars.  Lou's of fresh fruit and produce. Picnic supplies.   Also, green chilies were 1.00 and chicken noodle soup was .50 on  Friday, after that it is .69.   Still a good buy.    Remember that coupons will come out in the next couple of days.   Download soon to get the good ones.   Like bargains, the coupons are harder to find.  

I managed to get enough food and go withs for a week.  Other than chicken noodle soup. I didn't stock and because I stocked meat double last week, I didn't this  week.     It is typical of a holiday week to not have stocking specials .  It's all about back to school amd Labor Day.   It's a good time to stock picnic food.  

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Jane

Wicked Wednesday / the ads

QFC has a two week ad, they a,so have a four day sale.

Berries 2/5
Tillamook ice cream 2/6
Tillamook cheese  5.99
Pie 2.99

Sour cream 1.00
Kroger Ice  cream 2/5

Brats 4.99
Baked beans 3/5
Ready rice 3/5
Frozen veggies 10-12 oz 1.00

4 day sale  - Fri to Monday - ends sept 1.
Apples .99
Sun sandwich 5.99

SAFEWAYS
Ribs 1.79
Corn 6/2
Sausage 2.99
Salad 1.00
Buns 1.00
Tomago soup  69 also chicken noodle
Brats 5.00
Grapes 1.99
Nathan's 3.99
Berries 2.99
Chili .89@@

5'dollar Friday
Berries :2/5
Ice cream 2/5
Soup  10/5

ALBERTSONS

Sirloin steak b1 g 2 , buy one, get two, don't say the reg price so it s buyer beware.

Betty Crocker cake or brownie mix 1.00

Corn 3/1@@
Ice cream 2.49@@
Hillshire farm sausage 2.49
Coupons - all below have @@
Skippy peanut butter1.99
Salsa 3.99
Sour cream 1.69


Nathan's 3.99
Lemon merange  pie 5.99

That's about it .   Sounds like SAFEWAYS and QFC are my picks.   Soup is  a big alert for Fridays.
At SAFEWAYS,  picnic food is the most of the sales,but that is par for the course with the holiday weekend.  

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Jane

Monday madness: Fred Meyers ad

Fred Meyers ad for Sunday to Sunday..  

Sirloin steak
Gala apples .98
Blues 3.99
Johnsonville brats 4.99
Peaches 1.49
Kroger frozen potatoes 1.88
Tillamook ice cream 2/6@@
Hillshire smoke sausage 3/10@@
Mayo 2/5@@
Cucumbers , green peppers 2/1
Broccoli .99


That's about it.   SAFEWAYS has the best buys in protein and some fruit.  I like Fred Meyers ice cream and veggies.  

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Jane

Finally Friday , most common mistakes to eat up your food budget.

Most common mistakes

I have been watching grocery hauls on the Internet. Mostly young gals are doing them. I am beginning to see a picture that is all telling.

The most common mistakes grocery shopping to be on the cheap instead of spending the whole paycheck are

1. Buying  8  gallons of drinks.  Buy tea bags, herbal if you wish, and some crystal light type mix at the dollar store or big lots.  Water is a good hydrater.  .  Buy a lemon to add a slice to it and chill it.  
2. Buying ready made mixes and meats.  Take on one meat at a time, and learn to cook it.  The savings are remarkable.  If you don't have the pans to cook it, go to the goodwill and find one.  if you don't have a roasting rack, pile rough chopped carrots / and or potatoes or onions  on the bottom, and roast your chicken on top.  
3. Buying tons of junk foods.  Buy popcorn it's cheap and relatively healthy.  The savings more than make up for the price of an air popper on sale.  I got mine for 14.00.  
4. If your passion is sweet, find easy and inexpensive recipes for brownies or another cake or cookie.  There is a recipe on the Internet for a mixture of 2 cake mixes that cooks in a few in the microwave.  Or make muffins or quick breads.  They can be healthy and satisfy your sweet tooth.  
5. Not Sticking to your meal plans and not thinking things out. don't come home without the things you need to make them or you have wasted your time and need another costly trip to the store.  
6.  The worst mistake is to go to the store hungry, with screaming kids that need a nap, and buy 
7. anything in the store that looks good to you.  It's stressful and expensive.  you shouldn't come home broke and ready to drop from the grocery store! LOL  

Take a look at your grocery receipt and break it down as to how much is drinks, how much snack food and desert, and how much fruit and veggies.  The most percentages should be fruit and veggies and proteins.  Less than ten percent should be snacks and drinks.  

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Jane 

The ads ,

First, QFC went to a two week sale ad, so you,need to refer to last weeks post.  


ALBERTSONS

Quarter sale
Tomato sauce  .25
Zap ems .50
Muffin mix .25
Tuna .75 ( we don't like the quality)
Noodle bowls .75
Tissue 1.00

Note: some of these things I wouldn't buy.  Some are the things I bought when I was feeding children with hollow legs and they needed snacks that were filling.  None of my children had a weight problem.   They still don't.  

Berries 2/6
Roma's 1.49
Salads .88


SAFEWAYS
Grapes 199
Corn 6/2
Cantelope 2/3
Chicken .99
Cod 4.99
7 percent fat hamburger 2.99
Yoplait 10/5. $$

Pudding ring 3.49
Cottage cheese 3.49

5 dollar Friday
Tuna or salmon 5/5
Shrimp
Turkey sausage or burgers
Johnsonville dinner sausage
Berries

Check your just for you
Print coupons.

Note hamburger is a good stock item.   I did some from Costco last week, but will also do some this week because of the freezer going out.   We cooked three chickens last week or I would also buy chickens.  Mainly because there has been weeks lately when there were no protein buys.

Fresh fruit amd veggies are  at their peak here.   I don't tend to put veggies or fruit up, bit we just adapt to frozen or what is in season.    Next year, maybe, but this summer is a summer to forget!   LOL

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Jane

Monday madness

Good morning.   I have  can PT today and it's change the sheets and cook the ground meats I bout yesterday day.    I needed to replenish the freezer after it broke down and we got the new one,   My husband already bought two ice creams and actually arranged the freezer so that one type of thing was on one shelf.   I haven't been able to get down there to see it so. Have to depend on him .  

Yesterday we talked about protein.   It's really a given that veggies and fruit we buy when they are on season.  Each es are really cheap about now. Our nice neighbourhood gave us cukes out of her garden.  

Pasta I buy when it's on sale, preferably with a coupon.   I have got it as cheap as .38.  Pasta has a very long shelf life so ot pays to buy it only when its on sale with a coupon.   We don't load up on pasta, and none  of us  are overweight.  

Groceries in the cheap works on the premise that you never pay full price for anything,   Of you can get your core ingredients for 1/1/2 price  or less, you can eat better for less.   This takes a little organizational work in the beginning, but the work is well rewarded in savings.  

• First , identify the inexpensive sources of protein that your family will eat.   It's a given that of your family won't eat something, it's not a bargain at any price.  
• Now, list 7-14 dinners that use these sources of protein.   
• Identify the staples ( shelf ready or frozen ) you use to make your dinners,   For us, that is refried beans, pasta, pasta sauce. Beans. Green beans, diced tomatoes, some chili and chicken noodle soup, instant mashed potatoes, Tuna, clams, frozen veggies, cheese.   This  is usually a list of about 10-15. 
• Track these prices.   Some use a spread sheet, some a notebook they can carry with them.  The object is to buy low and eat high.  This is not an original concept. Stock traders use that principle .   You want to get a feel for when things go on sale and buy enough to last you until it goes on sale again.   Stores work on a 8-12 week cycle,   Fred Meyers works on a monthly cycle for dairy it's getting harder because prices are rising,  
• The biggest advantage you can have is to know your prices.   My mother used to say, some people could have a bargain get up and bite them in the butt and they wouldn't see it.  Don't be that person.  LOL

When the ads come out, analyze the ads and write  down the prices at each store.  I take a piece of scratch from the computer stand and divide the paper into four ( now three) stores.   Now, record the price of 

• The "loss leader" protein 
• Any perishable that is a good price ( produce and dairy 
• Any stock item on your list that is a good price.   

Now, pick the best two stores and get what you need.   Bring the ad, your list, and any coupons you have.   You can check a coupon matchup site and pull coupons .  -- that's another blog! LOL 

Get in the store , get your list and anything you really  need and get out the more time you spend in a store, the more you will spend.   There os another blog on the tricks retailers don't want you to know.  

Guess that's all for today.   

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Thanks for stopping by

Jane 

Sunday ads and......

I got the ads yesterday, but after I screwed up and thought it was Sunday Saturday, I thought I would wait until Sunday to post the,.

Fred Meyer continues to have a periodic dairy sale.  

Peaches 1.28
Eggs 4/5@@
20 percent hamburger 2.98
Milk 4/5@@
Ice cream 2/5@@
Ravioli 1.00....backpack aler
Strawberries 2/5


Note that @@ means there is an in ad coupon.   Back pack alert is for those contributing to a charity that feeds low income children breakfast and lunch on the weekends by sending them home bags of certain food items on Fridays.

Buying hamburger In bulk and precooking it saves time and money.   I was getting the low fT hamburger for that price. But meat on general has taken  a big hike.  It was predicted that the drought prices would prevail well into 2014.   I think we are beyond that.   I digress.

By picking an inexpensive protein a week and buying bulk enough to last you for a four week rotation, you can cook all of ot at one time and portion control dinners.  That saves time and clean up time in the kitchen and reduces waste.   You are going to buy enough to last you a month.   In other words, of you are using hamburger for your beef component and you are eating beef twice a week, you are going to buy enough to make 8 meals.  

When I buy hamburger, I make crumbles for pasta sauce or pizza, taco meat, meatballs for meat ball subs or to have with a sauce on rice or noodles, or meat loaf or Salisbury steaks.

I try for out meal plams to have

2 beef
2 chicken or pork
2 vegetarian
1 fish or shellfish

I try to average five  dollars a dinner.    That is getting harder with the price of meat these days.  I see my average per week is creeping up.   I lost track of July because I wasn't home and things are harder when I have to rely on my husband to shop.  

Because of the freezer malfunction, we have been eating a lot of chicken this week.   Last night we had oven roasted potatoes. Scrambled eggs, and a fruit cup of fresh berries.   We also like a meal of blueberry waffles or pancakes. Bacon, and fruit.   Chocolate waffles and a yoghurt parfait is a really good sometime alternative.  The kids love it, even though it doesn't happen often.   Mac and cheese is a mainstay.  I cook it with mixed veggies and three or four kimds of cheese.   It's a good way to clean out the cheese bin.   Grocery outlet has a really good selection of designer cheeses.  

I have a stash of salmon in the freezer, and tuna and clams are still a good price.  

The Internet is full of artful ways of cooking chicken.  We like chicken pot pie and chicken stirfry.  Chicken noodle soup and chicken tacos or enchiladas.   Make your own sauce. That is a case where the sauce can cost more than the meat!    I only buy something  like that of I can get it for less than scratch, or near scratch.   I try for less processed foods, but cave in if they are cheaper than scratch ( not often ).

Eggs are 1.25 a dozen again.   It is a good way to add protein into your dote for low cost.   Chef salad, puddings. Breakfast for dinner.   Eggs got a bad wrap, but the attitude has changed.   It's hard for some people to get past the bad stigma.   Ground beef can have less fat than boneless skinless chicken breasts.  It just needs to be defatted.   Ditto sausage.  
French fries can be more healthy than some other potatoes if they are cooked in a really hot fat, like commercially.  Studies have proved that the hot fat sears the outside and no fat gets on the potato.  A regular serving is supposed to have less than a teaspoon of fat.  

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Jane