Costing meals

Costing out a batch of pizza dough.  Crust is flour .16, yeast .015 cents.   Water, salt, too small to cost, and 2 teaspoons  of olive oil I'm guessing to be .05.    Total cost.  .22.   Add 1/5 of a pizza sauce can at a dollar ( dollar store) .20, and a cup of cheese 🧀.50.   .92.  

When doing your kitchen management, set aside things in a freezer bag that go on your pizza.    Put veggies on one bag and cooked meat in another.    (Or separate bags.  ).  For very little money you can feed your family their most favorite meal for next to nothing

Pepperoni is a dollar at the dollar store for the same brand that is 1.69 at Winco,   Probably more at other stores.  You can a,si add veggies that you have or ham cubes, or canned, drained diced tomatoes, sausage, olives ( sliced olives are cheapest at winco .58.

You can use bits of things saved and cover a pizza for little money.  

Granddaughter loves to help, of course, the pepperoni just might be placed in the shape of a happy face?    LOL.

Actual time making bread dough is about ten minutes tops.   It takes a standing time in between the actual time of making dough and patting or rolling it into the pan or into a circle of you have a pizza stone.  

Kitchen hacks

It's  kitchen management day, so I thought I would share some kitchen hacks that make getting food on the table a little easier.   You are more inclined to cook scratch if it's efficient and easy.

1. Meal plan.    So much time is saved not worrying about whars for  dinner.  You can look at it first thing in the morning, or the night before and act accordingly.  Do you need to take anything or take something out of the freezer or prep anything ? 
2. Of you make something daily or almost daily, leave a measuring cup in the canister.   It takes a half a cup to make oatmeal in the microwave.  You just save a step.  
3. Having a container or crock on the counter with utensils saves looking for something in a drawer,   It's at your fingertips.   
4. A tray with  the things you use everyday is also  a help.  If you have a small kitchen, make it a  small tray.   Olive oil in a bottle with a bar stopper, or I've seen a condiment bottle , a small set of mesinplaus bowls, salt and pepper.   
5. When baking, gather all the ingredients and place them on a tray.  Take them off the tray when you use the item, and place it on the counter.   You never have to wonder did I use that already or not if you get interrupted.   Like that's ever going to happen ??   It also saves steps.   
6.  Putting all of one kind of thing in the fridge saves time looking for something.   An organized door shelf is a great help.   Dairy on one shelf.  
7. Develop a personal cook book of recipes your family likes and that are easy and quick.   You can use a binder, dividers, and plastic sheet protectors.    All easy to get at the dollar  store or goodwill.  
8. Recipes that you use real often can be placed with a clip ok the fridge.  If you don't like looking messy, out them in the side.   You can copy pages out of a book or the instruction manual for an appliance.   
9. Batch cook bulk meat when it's on sale at a RBP.   Ground meat makes, meatballs, taco meat, crumbles, Salisbury steak.   Portion control and freeze.   Make enough to serve that meat a certain amount of times for a month,    Already cooked meat saves a lot  of time at dinner time. You can. For instance, put speghetti sauce on to cook, add meatballs and let simmer after you pit the pasta on to cook.   I cook the pasta on the microwave, no stirring, or watched pot.   Salad ingredients can be cut and washed on prep day, and bread can go on the oven while everything else is cooking.   In our house, my granddaughter is responsible for the bread.  She's out of trouble while I cook the rest and dinner is parcially made and she's learned something.    
10. Using your meal plan affords you the luxury of prepping anything hat can be prepped during one session.   If you are going to have veggie sticks at a meal and want to put some in a child's lunch, Oreo all of them at the same time and place me in a container,  it's faster when you do. I'll cooking and prepping,  everything is out and you can do one cleanup.    When it's dinner time and hectic, dinner is made in a matter of mo items and you have time to relax or supervise home worl or just listen to how work or school went for your family members.    

 

Meal plan

meal plans for week of November 28

• Beef barley soup ,   Parmesan peppercorn French bread
•  Pizza , green salad 
• Mac and cheese , peas and carrots 
• Chicken pot pie 
• Steak . Oven roasted russet potatoes. Gingered carrots.  
• Baked salmon w lemon sauce. Rice medley, minted peas 
• Breakfast 4 dinner

Notes : 

1) beef cubes were on sale for 3.28 a pound at Winco.   Cutting them in smaller cubes and portion controlling the larger package saves money and waste.   Making smaller batches if you have a smaller family helps too.   Bread can be made in bread baker. Often you can get them cheap at thrift stores.   Or use a standard French bread recipe and add grated oarm and cracked oepper ( 3/4 teaspoon for a large loaf) . Beef barley soup has stock, carrots ,celery onion, chopped garlic and meat cubes.  Cook in pressure cooker or slow cooker.  An hour before serving, add the barley and a grated russet potato .  If using the pressure cooker , switch to skow cooker  mode.  

2) homemade pizza crust, pizza sauce can be made by using part of a small (8 ounce) can of tomato sauce and adding Italian veggies, using a couple of  spoons  or so of pasta sauce if you are having pasta soon.   Or, pizza sauce is a dollar at  the dollar  tree and you can freeze it on ice cube tray and dump the cubes in a freezer bag.   Take out what you are going to use.   To thaws quickly on the counter, or you can defrost it in the microwave a few seconds.  The brand at the dollar tree kids at many grocery stores for 30-150 percent more.    Add veggies or olives of choice.   Pepperoni is also at the dollar store, major brand.   Sometimes you can find coupons,   

3) peas and carrots frozen have been on sale lately and there are coupons for them.   So much for the argument that the only thing that has a coupon is junk food.    Lol.  Mac and cheese is scratch.   Macaroni in the blue box is at the dollar store. The most you should pay is a dollar.   Often with sales and coupons it can be as low as thirty eight cents.   

4) chicken pot pie.   Frozen chicken breast, cut in cubes, peas, carrots. Potato, cream sauce (scratch) -top with a pie crust or bisquits.   

5) grilled steak ( Winco had it for three dollars a pound ) , oven roast wedges of russets with olive oil , sea salt and pepper.    Sea salt is the pink stiff and is at the dollar tree for a fraction of Costco's offering,    Cook sliced carrots, add butter and a little ginger.   

6) bake salmon, season rice is a homemade mix of rice , chicken s tock, and herbs.   

7) breakfast 4 dinner,   Eggs continue to be cheap.   Some lady back east found them at Aldis for .28 a dozen,  a dollar for 18 os the best I've seen in the PNW.   Berries are really cheap at Fred Meyers his week.   Add pancakes, waffles, or English muffins (.cheapest  at Fred Meyers) and you have balance.  

When making meal plans, a guideline is a protein, a starch, and a vegetable.    Your plate should be 1/4 protein, 1/4 starch  and half vegetables.  Aim to maintain balance.   

Fred Meyer ad for tomorrow

Fred Meyers ad for tomorrow.    Just in case you are getting sick of Leftovers yet.....

Berries 4/5
Angie ground beef 10 percent 349

Peppers, eggplant ,99
Cucumbers 2/1


Milk ,99

Evaporated milk 1.00
Gold medal flour 2/4 ( 5 lbs)
Cream cheese 4/5
Brown , powdered sugar .99@@
Choc chips 2/4@@

Notes : now is the time to buy baking supplies for the year.    They are usually at their lowest price, and the closer to Christmas you are, the higher the price.   If you wait until you really need it, the price will be higher.   As long as what you are buying is not perishable, stocking is to your benefit.   You may see low prices around Easter again.  

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.   I pretty much stayed out of stores, went to the dollar store and the Winco.    The  grocery store was like a ghost town.   The only thing that I missed was that they had no sour cream.   Fortunately, my husband went next door tomsafeways while I got what I needed from the dollar store.    Granddaughter needed mittens,  hers were too small and she donated them to the women's shelter.   I never knot or buy expensive mittens for small children that go to school and daycare.   One teacher cannot keep track of ten little people's mittens,  they are easily lost. I cry less when I laid a dollar for them,  children need to take responsibility for their possessions, but I'm not going to spend big bucks while they learn.  Lol.

Please note, heritage farm chicken is Tyson and southern grown.  

Black Friday

Nothing black here. We are having a second thanksgiving.  Yesterday, we had a quick and easy one with our immediate family.  Granddaughter set the table.  I refuse to battle crowds to shop-- too much stress.   I made Christmas cards for people on nursing homes, and will address our Christmas cards.

Leftovers?   5 things to do with leftovers.  

1. Take a meal to a single person that can't cook a big meal or would just live a leftover meal and went out.   
2. Turkey soup
3. Turkey with cream sauce and spaghetti.  
4. Turkey sandwiches 
5. Turkey over dressing with gravey .  

Oops. Need a desert! Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving 

Pumpkin dump cake .......easy, Peasy, a child can do it!    Just remember child cooking rules : nomsharp, no hot.   LOL.  

Pumpkin dump cake 

1 angel food cake mix 

1 - 15 ounce can of pumpkin 

1 T pumpkin pie spice. 

Mix. 

Dump in a greased 9X13 pan 

Bake at 350 for 45-50 monutes or until dome when toothpick on center comes out clean.    

Easy Peasy . I would swevemwith whipping cream.   Maybe a touch of cinnamon?    

Wednesday - thanksgiving eve

Thanksgiving is the one time that we go all out and I just buy at the lowest cost all the things that mean thanksgiving.    I will make pie today or tomorrow,  we are having a small turkey roast because only four of us  eat turkey.  

This isn't  it prolly the most popular thing I've said on this blog, but, I tell it like it is.     One of the reasons some people have a huge food bill  is, frankly, they eat too much.  This just causes two problems-- their food bill is high and their weight  makes a health issue.  Now, I realize there are teen children that burn what they eat.


 But, if you are eating two loaded pizzas for three people, you are probably eating too much. Stick to the recommended daily allowances unless your doctor has told you different.   There are certain things, I just can't eat, according to my doctors.    I still keep to a therapeutic diet and keep on a small budget.    Serve a salad with your pizza.    You will fill us, and have less carbs.  

Of your recipe is for bigger portions than you can eat, or should  eat, make less.  
I recently started measuring out the pasta  and making a half batch of Mac and cheese, or casserole.  My daughter doesn't eat it, and that leaves granddaughter, my husband and I.    Waste not, want not,  

There are ways you can get more fiber in your diet,   I try to get pasta with vegetables in it or with double fiber.    Fruits and veggies have fiber  in them.   I buy good whole wheat bread.     If you serve a quarter of your plate protein, a quarter starch, and the rest salad and veggies. You will be better off.  

I lost sixty pounds, just watching my carbs.  I read labels,    Look for the serving size, the amount of carbs and subtract the dietary fiber.    I'm rarely hungry and maintain my weight.  

Terrific Tuesday

Yesterday, I made dinner with my camera along for the ride.   Not much response,   Please comment so I know of that is something you want to see.

Eating good, healthy meals on three dollars a day is doable,    It is not a piece of cake.   I spend more time on the front end, shopping and planning, and less time cooking,    Yesterday took two hours, but that was because I took pictures and had problems  with the reader.  Normally, that could have been done in less than a half hour.  Once you have a routine, it gets faster,   I started the dough first so that it could be doing its rise while I cooked the carrots and celery and put the ingredients in the slow cooker pot.      Multi tasking is a way to get out of the kitchen fast.   I found things to do while the bread was baking,     Like the dishes-- a novel idea.....you mean some little elf does the dishes while you text!    LOL.   Wishful thinking!

My husband and I decided we would like the breadsticks better if we made them a little smaller so that they would be thicker.  Either way, the cost,  not including spices, is about forty cents.  

The soup can have cooked sausage added.  It's cost is about 2.25.    This makes a full six quart  pot.  
So, for less than three dollars, you have dinner and enough for lunch the next day, provided you have the proverbial  family of four.  

Picking a balanced meal plan so that you can average costs makes it possible to stay on budget and have a more expensive meal at times.   We had steak the other night, this week, we will have wild caught salmon, we can still stay within budget.    Adding breakfast 4 dinner is another inexpensive meal to afford a more expensive one,

Quick basics.

1. Use up bits and pieces.   Find a way to use up those small leftovers.    Frozen veggies are sometimes fresher than fresh ones because they are packed soon after they are picked   You can take out as much as you need and return the rest to the freezer,  canned veggies are a bit harder to use up.   
2. Never pay full price.   The reason why the soup is as cheap as it is is because The RBP on them is fifty cents for tomatoes and beans.   The retail on them is more like 1.59.    It makes a big difference. This is a go to fast meal.    Otherwise, you could have cooked the beans first.    
3. Stock when things are at a RBP if they are something you use on a regular basis,   
4. Plan to have a few pick up the pieces meals up your sleeve for the days when everything falls apart and you need to pick up the pieces and move on,   It saves you from the take out, pizza man demons,   
5. Use everything available to you to cut your cost for food.   You can use coupons, rebate sites such as Ibotta, and take advantage of sale prices.   
6. Slow cookers, food processors, and pressure cookers are tools that make life in the kitchen easier.   Please read all the safety tips and remind yourself of them periodically with a pressure cooker.    Some people have been burned bad, I suspect because they didn't buy a good pressure cooker and didn't use it properly.  Make sure you allow it to depressurize fully before you try to open the lid,   It should be impossible to open the lid without it being ready,    Do NOT allow a child, even teenager, to use a pressure cooker.    If you manually depressurize the cooker, use a wooden spoon handle and put a dish towel over it.   It is HOT steam.   Open the lid away from you.   
7. Check pull dates before you leave the store and before you use anything,    Somethings  are ok after the pull date, some not.  Don't necessarily use the pull date as a benchmark to throw everything away.  Try to buy things that you are not going  to use immediately with a far out pull  date and control your stock to what you will use in less than a year.   Some things, like pasta. Has an eight year shelf life.    I wouldn't eat it eight years old, but I wouldn't throw it out if it looked ok and was a week or two past  it's date.   We throw away far too much food and sometimes it is just because our adult children think the pull dates are etched in gold.   I would be wary of anything acidic and meat or fish.   I would not be upset over cornmeal or a pasta salad kit.   Cake  mixes could have their leavening agents go bad -- but not on two days.   

Use your common sense.

DInner : step by step

Dinner : step by step

Bread sticks

1. Place 2 cups of flour in food processor bowl 
2. Add 1.5 tsp of dry quick acting yeast 
3. Add 3/4 tsp of table salt 
4. Process a minute or so to combine ingredients     
5. Measure 6 ounces of hot water ( 105-110 degrees f, ) 
6. Add 2 tsp olive oil. 
7. With processor running, add hot water mixture through the tube.   
8. Process until the dough forms a mass.   
9. Turn out onto a flour covered board or counter and knead just enough for the dough  not to be sticky and make a smooth ball.    This could take more flour if you are in a wet climate (Seattle? ) 
10. Pour  a little olive oil on a small bowl and cost up the sides.   
11. Place dough ball in bowl and turn to cost it with the oil.   
12. Cover and place bowl in a warm place for at least 10 minutes until the dough doubles in size.   
13. Turn onto the counter or board and press down and po or roll into a baking sheet with sides.   
14. Brush with olive oil or butter. And sprinkle with desired toppings, we use sea salt, parmesean cheese and herbs.   
15. Bake on 425 degree oven for 15 minutes or until the crust is golden and the bottom is cooked.   
16. Remove from oven, let cool five minutes and cut into fingers.   I cut about one and a 
17. quarterinch slices the short  ways and in half the longways.
18. 
    

Place flour in bowl 

Measure yeast 

6 ounces water with 2 tsp oil 

Pour oil through tube while machine is running until ball is formed

Place ball into oiled bowl and let rise.   

Ball in pizza pan.  And flatten , sprinkle with ingredients 

Baked bread sticks 

SOUP

Soup in slow cooker pot 

Ingredients plus stock. 

Soup 

1. Chop 2 small carrots and a celery rib
2. Cook in skillet with a little olive oil until soft.   
3. Meanwhile, in slow cooker insert, place: 2 cans of diced  tomatoes, 2 cans of beans, 4 cups of stock (chicken or vegetable) 1 T of Italian seasoning and the carrots and celery.    
4. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.    
5. Serve with croutons or parm cheese.    

Meal plans And more

meal plans for week of November 21

1. Vegetable soup. Breadsticks 
2. Salmon, rice medley, peas and carrots 
3. Chicken nuggets, French fries, vegetable sticks, 
4. Thanksgiving : turkey, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans, dressing, cranberry sauce , pickles, olives, celery plate 
5. Leftover turkey
6. Speghetti and meatballs, salad, breadsticks, 
7. Breakfast 4 dinner 

1) vegetable soup is done in the crockpot or pressure cooker.    Breadsticks is pizza dough that is soread into a flat pan with sides.    Soread with melted butter or olive oil and sea salt and herbs.    

2) salmon ( frozen) rice medley ( homemade seasoned   rice mix , peas and carrots.   

3) chicken nuggets, fries, veggie sticks 

4) family thanksgiving : 

5) leftovers - 

6) speghetti was fifty cents, meatballs are foir pounds  for 7.50 at Winco, sauce is always .88 or use coupons to get it on a glass jar for close to a dollar.    Pasta sauce premade  is cheaper than scratch, as is the  Meatballs,   Bread sticks are scratch,   One batch does two mealsmfor us,    Easy, and quick, children can help.  our granddaughter (4yo)  owns it!    At this age, I let her do anything that isn't sharp or hot.    

7) breakfast 4 dinner,    We do this once a week,   Eggs at this point in time are cheap.    Enter toast, pancakes or waffles , and fruit and you are set.   Or a quiche and a fruit plate or mixed greens salad with fruit.    

Feeding a family for 4.00 a day requires meals that average five dollars for the probverbial family of two adults and two school aged children.    

Groceries on the cheap takes a different perspective on grocery shopping.   Instead of going to the grocery store and buying just what you need to get you through to the next "payday" leaving you on a lurch if payday is late or you're not abke  to the store. You buy to to replenish  your reserves.   You , after you get up and running, buy 1) a protein that is at a RBP, enough for you to have that protein ( meat) a specific number of times on a month ( portion controlled ) .2) produce you will need to fill our your  menu plan, 3) a months ( check pull dates ) worth of dairy, or the amount you can use before the lull date)!thst you may need to add. 4) a RBP stock item, enough to replentish  your set stock  amount.    

See how to begin posts.   You never pay full price, use coupons and rebate web sites to get the lowest possible price on almost everything you buy on a weekly basis.   You go to two stores.    This affords you about twice as much food as when you just shop.   It affords you the luxury of always having 

food in the pantry.    You are covered if an emergency happens, anything from being sick, having a sick child, or that ugly s work in the PNW.   Lol 😂

I am  not going to tell you that this is a walk in the park.  It takes some effort to get started.   Once you are up and running, it should not take you any more time.    You spend more time planning and shopping, and less time cooking by learning how to cook scratch efficiently.   Some people read this blog just for this.    I scour everywhere I can for the easiest scratch cooking recipes I can find,   The tricks that make you get out of the kitchen faster.    I'm retired, I do it because I have health issues and don't want to be on my feet all day.  When I was younger, it was because I was holding down two jobs and had a family and home to care for.    

My food expenses for the last 15 months averaged 70.06 a week.   The USDA stats for thrifty cooking for my husband and I is almost a hundred dollars.    And, I have amassed a stock with that budget.   That's about 3.00 a day.   The basis of snap is four dollars a day.   This affords you a back up plan for emergencies.   It's my opinion that no child should suffer the feeling of having nothing in the house to eat.  I hav no sympathy for teenagers that think there's nothing in the house to eat because they may have to cook something! 😂 

Teach your children to cook.   They don't have mandatory home Ec in schools anymore I hear.    It's a necessity if life,   Many young adults in college don't know how to boil an egg.     It's a life skill everyone needs,     Raided the fact that if you are otherwise tied up with something, a preteen should be able to fix a simple dinner.    We were baking by the time we were nine.   By the time a child is 13 they would be able to make a basic meal.    It's good for their self image.  And, when they are younger, it keeps the, busy to cook with you.   You can supervise their time and get dinner cooked too.    My granddaughter can butter French bread and sprinkle herbs and parm cheese on it.   She can roll pizza dough and with supervision, paint the pizza  sauce. And sprinkle cheese  and set pepperoni.  

She knows she needs to wash her hands.   She can stir and operate a closed food processor.   Anything that doesn't involve hot or sharp.   She can graduate to that when she has a bit more coordination and is taller.   It's the old Native American adage about fish.    Something like give a person a fish and they eat for a day,   Teach them to fish and they eat a lifetime.   

 

Fred Meyer ad

Kroger turkey .49 with 50.00 purchase
Foster farms turkey  1.49
Ham 1.69
Park loin roast 1.99





Butter 2.50
Crackers 3/5$$
Fryers 2/5@@


Cranberries 2/4
Yams .99
Celery .69
Berries 2/4

Cooking a chicken

I have recently read an article about cooking chicken, especially whole chicken.   The article said not to rinse the chicken.   The insides especially can have germs.  

My two ways to cook a whole chicken.  I usually , if possible tag team with my husband or daughter, I touch the chicken, and the other person touches everything else.  You need to disinfect everything that has come on contact with raw meat or your hands when you have just touched raw meat,  

This is another reason why batch cooking a months worth of chicken meals is more efficient.   A months worth of chicken  meals does not mean 30 meals.   It means ifmyoumestmchicken twice a week, you will be cooking enough chicken , portion controlled, for 8 meals.  

Slow cooker chicken
Open package of chicken .  I do this in the sink into a colander,   Imcut the end off the big and place it upside down into the colander and pull the bag off into the garbage.

Prep the slow cooker  insert by peeling a rough chopping an onion , or two if they are small and placing them in the bottom of the insert.  

Place chicken breast side down in the cooking insert,   Rub chicken with a dry rub.   You can find recipes for dry rubs  on the Internet.   Or, use seasoned salt.  

Place the insert into the slow cooker, cover and turn on high .  Cook the chicken on high for an  hour PER POUND.  You will be left with a cooked chicken and broth,   Chicken should read 180 degrees with a meat thermometer.  

Every precaution has been taken to assure the safety of cooking,   Use your own judgement,   Wash everything the raw meat and you touch after touching the raw meat  thoroughly with a disinfectant.    Wash your hands often.   Disinfect your sink.

Second way of cooking a whole chicken.  

Open package of chicken into a colander in the sink. Stuff whatever you have laying around in the cavity short of a kids dirty sock. A peeled onion, an orange, an apple, a lemon.  

Place chicken on roasting pan on a rack and oil it with  olive oil , then sprinkle it with salt and pepper.

Roast in a three hundred and fifty degree oven until the juices run clear and itmhas an internal temperature of one hundred eighty.    I use a thermometer with a probe.   You set it to well done chicken and it beeps at you when it's done.  

Be sure to remove your stuffing,  

Again, wash everything that has come in contact with the raw chicken except thembaking own that will be on the oven,    Wash your hands often,  

We tag team so one person touches the chicken and someone else touches the salt and pepper shakers and olive oil bottle.   Wash your hands before placing the pan in the oven.  

I use a glass cutting  board,  it tough on knives, but you can disinfect it and it's non porous.  



 

5 things you can do with enchalada sauce.

Lately, I have got enchalada sauce for 3/1- 10 ounce cans at dollar tree and grocery outlet .  The dolkar tree  ones are old El Paso.  

That encouraged me to look for ways to use enchalada  sauce instead of other tomato products.   I also found tomato broth granules  at grocery outlet cheap.   I saw them at Winco at four times  the price.  

1.  Chicken enchalada  soup ( pinterest) 
2. Mex sloppy joes 
3. Chicken enchaladas 
4. Beef enchaladas 
5. Taco soup 

Warning: political essay.

So, the election is over......not quite yet..

The kkk, KGB, and the FBI rigged the  election.  Every time Mr, Trump accused someone of doing something, he was really telling all what he was doing,  

He who dumps load in pants , accuses someone else of smelling of it.

This is not our America.   Our America isn't governed by the kkk, the white supremestists, or the KGB.   That is not what the majority of people, democrat or republican want.

I don't think that Mr, Trump had envisioned that either,    I think he just didn't think things out.   Remember back when you were a child, you would do things and not look beyond the obvious.  

The kid that got onto the pudding you made for desert, had chocolate all over his face, and lied that he didn't do it.    The kid that changed his report card, not realizing that he was going to have his mom sign it and return it to the teacher.    Lol.  

I don't think we should march in the streets and burn the flag or hurt people or property,
But, let's not roll over and play dead either.  

What's happening is not what America needs to do,   We don't need to be divided by hate.   We don't need to be governed by radicals and by people that don't have the same belief system as we do,   I'm not talking about christians or atheists -- religion.   I'm  talking about what this county was founded on.

We need to know what and how deep the connection that Mr, Trump has with Russia and Putin.   Is that not a conflict of interest at best?.    Call or write  your favorite station or newspaper.   Asking the FBI to investigate the connection, if any between the hacks and Trump is like the proverbial asking the fox  to guard the henhouse.  The major stations have very good investigative reporters.

Write your elected officials and let them know that you don't like the way this all played out.
Our democracy has checks and balances.   Our founding fathers planned it out well.    Use it.

This is America, it's not Hitler's Germany. It's not Russia, and we are not bunch of hate mongers.

Stand up and be counted or don't whine when we have lost all our rights.  

Wicked Wednesday,

I'm done shopping for the most part.   If you wait until thanksgiving to get your ingredients, you are going to lay a higher price.    Case in point.   A few weeks ago, I bought stove top stuffing for a dollar.    It's more than that everyplace I looked this week.    Planning ahead almost  always gives you a better option.  There are times odnthe year when  things that are rarely on sale are on sale.   That's the time to stock up.    Picnic supplies and BBQ condiments are best around the summer holidays and baking supplies are cheapest at thanksgiving time.  


I did know a family that gave money for Christmas and celebrated the day after by shopping the sales.  


Winco haul

One of the meals we are going to have on a crazy day is chicken sandwiches, French fries or oven roasted fries and veggie sticks,    I bought hamburger bins for .88.   There not as big, but anplus for your carb levels.  

Canned green beans are still .33 I just replaced what we used.  

I got four pounds of meatballs for 7.48.    Considering even the cheapest ground meat is 3.00 a pound , that's a lot cheaper than scratch.    Pick your non scratch things carefully.    It's always best to scratch cook, but sometimes having a dinner on the freezer is preferable to going out or getting take out.  
We all have crazy days from time to time.  

There have been no yoplait coupons lately.   I got 8 in a case lot for 3.58

That's about it.   We filled in from the Fred Meyer ad.  

Alberways

the only ad  that I have received

Alberways

Free turkey with your 150.00 purchase
Clementines 3.88
Spiral ham 188
Butterball turkey 1.69
Cheese block 2 pounds 4.99@@
Crackers 3/5@@$$
Yams, broccoli. Cauli. .99


Grocery outlet
Hills bros coffee 4.99@@
Pork loin roast 1.79




About it.  
As far as I have found so far the best turkey price  is .49 with a 50.00 purchase at Winco,  

Stretch your budget between paydays ?

The way to stretch your food budget between paydays is to not be in a position of being in dire need of finding the grocery store.   If you have to have something, you are at a disadvantage.   You are going to have to pay full price.   That is why poor people stay poor.    The system is rigged for the rich.   But, you can beat the system.  

I basically, feed three of us on less than the USDA stars for my husband and I.   Basically, for 70 percent of it and I have a back up stock of food.   A large back up stock of food.   I might not have that much, but I know that I'm goimg to have major expenses the last quarter of the year.   Mostly Christmas, taxes, and medical.    I cannot get fifty percent on my money any other place.  

It takes looking at your grocery shopping from a different perspective.   It won't happen  overnight if you don't have an influx of money.   But, it can happen.  You can do it one can at a time.  

Steps.   One step at a time.  

• Start by reducing drastically your consumption of snack and junk food.   That can be 25 percent of your food budget.   Buy popcorn and a air popper.   Make inexpensive   muffins.   
• Find the TWO stores in your area within a five mile radius that have the cheapest prices.  In our area, it would be Winco and Fred Meyers most of the time. 
• Go through the ad and find the basics for meals that are at a low cost.   This is usually produce on season and usually you can find a so called loss leader protein.  
• Pick a protein that is a remarkable price.   Here, I can use under two dollars a pound for my benchmark.   The one exception is good ground beef, and that is closer to 3.00. Buy enough to have that meal for a month.   Example : if you want beef once a week, imwoukd buy enough for four or five meals.   When I got home, I would cook it and de-fat it, and portion control it for the freezer.   
• Buy whatever you can that's inexpensive, maybe eat vegetarian a couple of meals, to get you through.   Your object is to , in rotation, buy one RBP protein a week and buy enough for a months worth of that meal.  
• Decide what proteins your family will eat, make a list.   Ours is pork ( 1/2 binkessmpork loin 1.69, whole chicken or split chicken breast that I debone and make broth from the bones, hamburger (7 percent ) , fish, cheese, beans.  
• Develop a matrix that fits your family for meal plans.  Ours is 1 beef, 1 fish or seafood, 3 pork or chicken, and 2 vegetarian.   That makes meal planning easy and quick.  You do need to have a plan.  It saves a ton of money and stress.   
• Now that we have tackled the two most expensive catagoriesmofmyourmfoodbill. We need to tackle the rest.  Research the RBP of the stable items you use to make your meals.   Everyone has ten or so go to dinner options their family likes.  List your ingredients and do a price list so you can find the RBP for those things.  Everyone has a it's of 10-15 items that they buy on  a regular basis. We eat a lot of Tex-mex and Italian.    Our list would be pasta, pasta sauce. Green beans, diced tomatoes, beans, rice, mild chilies.  Know the RBP of these items, whaeveryour family's list  is.   We are more worried about the things we use in a regular basis than that can of cranberry sauce we use once a year.  
• Getting started, when one of the things on your list is a RBP, buy as many as you can afford, as many as you have decided you need to stock, or as many as they will let you ( limits) . I respect their limits and ask for them to allow me to buy more if I am trying to fulfill a list for the food outreach.   
• Pretty soon, you will have a stock built, you won't be on a position to desperately have to go to the store.   You will be able in a pinch to get by , at least for a few days.   
• With a stock built, you go to the store to 1) buy your rotation protein. Some weeks you will buy two, some weeks you wont buy any.  It's driven by the market.    2) dairy.  Buy a months supply of anything with a far out pull date that is a RBP.   3) produce you will need to fil out your meals preferably in season,   And 4) any stock item that you are short  of and is a RBP. 

Use coupons, Ibotta. And RBP to enable you to get the lowest possible price on the things you need.   

Fred Meyer haul

yesterday's Fred Meyer haul

I did buy safety pins.   My understanding is that people are wearing safety pins to show solidarity against the hate that has been stirred up in recent months. Nothing good can come out of hate and negativity.  

1. Milk was a dollar a 1/2 gallon.   
2. Frozen entrees were .88 - I always keep a few things to supplement a dinner that granddaughter won't like or is inappropriate. What's nit to like about chicken nuggets and mashed potato happy faces.   Lol.  
3. Frozen veggies were .69 a pound 
4. Frozen fruit was 2.50 a pound   Fresh berries were 2.00 for six ounces and did not look good.   
5. Pork bourbon meat balls were 2.50 - a fail, they were rough and didn't taste good either   
6. Good mandarin oranges were 6.99
7. Broccoli was .99 a pound.  I've seen better, but it wasnt bad.   
8. Cranberry sauce 1.25 
9.  Bacon  bits 2.00  considering the fat is gone, it's probably cheaper than messing with the fat.   
10. Pronto elbow macaroni was 1.25 and I had a dollar coupon - nets .75 each 

That's about if for food.   

The mandarin oranges were a splurge.   There were cheaper ones,  it considering the amount of waste when you deduct the peel for small oranges, I'm not sure they are worth it.   Besides the fact that that is a lot of peeling for a couple of bites of orange.  

Meal plans

meal plans for the week of November 14. Not necessarily im chronological  .  order.  

1. Chicken sandwiches 🍔
2. French fries or oven roasted vegetables 🍟
3. Vegetable sticks 

1. Pizza 🍕
2. Green salad 

1. Chicken enchaladas 
2. Rice 

1. Vegetable bean soup with parmesean cheese garnish 🍲
2. Bread sticks 

1. chili 
2. Beer bread 🍺

1. Tuna casserole 
2. Broccoli , steamed w lemon 🍋 
3. 
   

1. Breakfast 4 dinner 🍇🍑🍞🍳

Fred Meyers ad

Thanksgiving ad for Freddies.  

Turkey .49 when you buy 50.00 Fred Meyers
Turkey free when you buy 150.00 Alberways
Turkey at Winco will match prices. I don't know if there is a minimum purchase.  There wasn't last year.  


Spiral ham 1.69
Breast of turkey 1.69
Broccoli .99
Milk 1.00

Tillamook cheese 3/5@@$$
Idahoan potatoes .87
Berries 2/4
Mandarines 4.99
Pears .99
Cranberries 2/4
Cream cheese, jello, pudding 10/10
Pumpkin 2/3 Libby's
Evaporated milk .99
Cranberry sauce 2/3

Pie 3.99
Ice cream - tillamook 2/7
Frozen fruit 2/5@@kroger sausage or meatballs 2/5@@

Ten things not to buy at the grocers

Ten things NOT to buy at the grocery store : ..some ever......

1. Pop, soda. It's just bad for you.  So,e studies say that the fizz leeches calcium from   your bones.    It's empty calories.   Even if it's zero calories. You are not getting nutrition for your buck.  .     I have recently changed  my sloppy Joe recipe not to include ketchup  .   Most ketchup   has high fructose order to serve as one of the ingredients. This is not good nutrition.
2.  Personally hygiene items. Those things are the moneymakers for the grocery store. You're better off by name brands from the dollar store or big lots. 
3.  Everything else that's not food. Impulse buys  prostitute 70% of a Market Basket. Many are high profit items which means you're paying too much. 
4.  The things that my mother used to call peanuts popcorn and cracker jacks. And other words junk food. That's a good source of protein. Air popped popcorn from scratch is a good snack.    But already popped  popcorn,  crackers and Potato chips are expensive and not much good nutrition.    
5. Out of season  produce. You're going to pay more money  and less quality. Four instance, right now in the Northwest we are getting  raspberries and cranberries. Strawberries are past their prime and more expensive.     Used trade-offs. Buy something with the same nutritional contents instead 
6.  Most single packaged items. Would you buy single packaged items you're creating more garbage for the landfill  and your pain sometimes almost double. 
7. Anything  with high fructose corn syrup , high concentration of sugar, high trans fats,  or hydrogenated oil. Fake butter  sometimes has hydrogenated oil's. If it's not olive oil, or canola oil in its  ingredients don't buy it.  You're better off with a moderate amount of butter. Recently I was able to get a mixture of butter and canola oil for the same price as butter.    Coconut  oil has more trans fats that a beef steak.    
8. Most processed foods.   Be a label reader.   The ingredients on the nutrition label are on order of volume.  If you  are buying potatoes, potatoes should be the first item on the list.    Elite have to read the label once.  If it doesn't cut the mustard, delete from your list.     Look at the  fat and carb level per serving. Glance at the serving size. Is it realistic. 20 g of sugar  Per serving is too much for a child. Some juices and sub fruit cups have 20 or over grams of sugar.  
9.  Most meal boxes. They may be quick but honestly you can't make it from scratch just about as fast. The bill box my daughter and I dissected  had a little over 4 ounces of pasta  and 1.57 ounces  including the tare weight of cheese sauce mix  that had no cholesterol in it.    I have never known a cheese I didn't like, and I have never known a cheese without cholesterol.   LOL . The ingredients read like a Who's Who of additives and preservatives.    It's better, cheaper and faster to make scratch.   You still have to add milk and meat.  And, when I  did the math, that "cheese"  sauce cost $13 a pound.

scratch pizza crust

• The last week has been a waste.  It's time to move on.   

QFC has their buy 10 sale this week as well.   Spaghetti is .50 - a good time to stock.   .50 and a .88 can of pasta sauce makes a cheap and fast meal.   You can make bread sticks from pizza dough.  

Pizza dough can be made easily on a food processor, but it also can be made by hand,   You barely have to knead dough from the food processor.    In the time it takes to go to the store and buy the door, you can have dough.  

Pizza dough, quick and easy.   In food processor bowl with the plastic blade. put

• 2 cups flour. ( spoon into cups and level off   
• 1.5 tspoons actove dry yeast ( Costco or bulk at Winco) 
• 3/4 tsp salt - regular table salt 

Turn on the processor and blend for a few seconds.   

Pour into a glass measuring cup

•  six ounces of 105-110 degree water ( hot  but not burning 
• 2 teaspoons olive or canola oil 

Pour the water and oil mixture through the tube while the processor is running.   Mix until the dough forms a ball.   

Turn the dough onto a flour covered board and knead until smooth.   Add enough flour to make a dough consistency.  In our climate I have to add flour in the fall and winter.   

Firm into a ball and place in a small bowl that has been lightly coated with oil.  Cover and let rise on the counter until it doubles in size.   This should take 10 monitesmin a warm,itchen, or longer in a cooler kitchen.  

Pat or roll flat to for, a pizza crust.   We bake the crust  at 400 degrees on a sheet pan, or on the pizza stone that has been primed with corn meal for about 8 minutes, then take it out of the oven and fill with sauce, cheese, and toppings. 

Return to oven and bake until the crust is done and the cheese is melted.    

This makes one crust.   

Bread stick option.    

Pat dough into a sheet pan about nine by thirteen.   

Brush with olive oil or melted butter

Add sea salt. herbs, and or garlic 

Bake until done , about   Fifteen minutes.   

Cut into fingers about an inch and a half wide crosswise. And in half lengthwise.   

This is a recipe that cost about  forty cents.   

Cost of speghetti with meat sauce and bread sticks ?  One dollar and seventy  eight cents if you buy on sale in bulk.   

Add green beans (.33) at Winco or a salad .    

Shopping?

I haven't shopped since Monday when I went to the dollar store, grocery outlet, and Costco.   Costco was for meds.   I did buy a Christmas gift and some cranberries and raspberries.       Grocery outlet netted coffee, and tomato broth and no sugar added  pears for  granddaughters lunch.  

The dollar store netted some Christmas decor, pounder glasses, enchalada sauce, glass jar of peaches,

Not much there.    We don't need much.    I have been purchasing a supply of old El Paso enchilada sauce because it is 3/1.00 at dollar tree.   It has come out that catsup has high fructose corn syrup on it and I am trying to stay away from that.   My sloppy joe recipe called for catsup.   My new one calls for enchalada sauce and taco seasoning.    Also, I bought no sugar  added pear cups  the granddaughter for her lunches.   They were six for a dollar  and a half.   That is better than the jar of peaches because with onky one child in school, we would waste fruit if I opened a jar for one school lunch.    Regular fruit cups have over twenty grams of sugar EACH.   That's way too much sugar for a child.   In contrast, I am allowed forty five carbs for an adult full meal.  

If you oit a box of apples juice  and a tub of fruit in a child's lunch, they are getting far to many carbs, most of which is coming from sugar.  

It's a fine line to buy your food for half price and still make sure you don't have too much salt, sugar, and saturated or hydrogenated oils or fats.  

Once you have a reasonable set of dinner recipes , your mealolans and dinner cooking should be a snap.   Most people have ten to twenty dishes that they make in a regular basis.  

Our recipes tend to have the same group of ingredients.   Listing them and their RBP is the first step in groceries on the  cheap.    I, not so worried about what I spend on that can of cranberries that inbuy once a year.    It's the can of diced tomatoes that I use at least once a week that creates a large impact on my bottom line.  

The ads

QFC was a two week ad last week.   The buy 10  sale is still on.

Alberways has its thanksgiving ad out.  Like usual, holiday ads don't usually reap a lot of good buys. They figure you are going to buy this stuff anyway, it's tradition, and they dont have to give a lot of bargains.  

Free turkey if you soend 150.00.  That a mighty big floor.   It yet to be seen if the prices are low enough for that to be worth your while.   Use just 4 you coupons electronic

Ham 1.88
Naval oranges .88
Canned veggies 2/1@@
Butter 199@@
Stove top .99
Cranberry sauce .99

Digital only .49 for tuna

Frozen pumpkin pie 2/7

Five dollar Friday

Shrimp
FF breaded chicken - $$ for 3.75 off of three

Progresso soup ,99@@$$
Dreyers 2,99@@
Ritz 3/5@@
Cake mix .99@@
Cranberries 2/5

That's about it.  I would suspect that Fred Meyers will have a better turkey price, we won't know until Saturday.   Winco usually matches.  

What you can do with 20.00

Let's pretend, I'm broke, I have twenty dollars and martians have wiped out my grocery supply.    What do I buy to get by until payday.   Based on dollar tree  and grocery outlet and two people.  

1. One and a half pounds of pinto beans 
2. A pound of rice 
3. 2 pronto pasta with a coupon.    (1.00) 
4. 2 .cans of pasta sauce.    
5. Pizza crust 
6. Package of tortillas 
7. Eggs
8. Package of brown and serve rolls 
9. Box of oatmeal 

That's ten dollars 

Grocery outlet 

1. Grated cheese - white and yellow or Mexican blend 
2. 2 cans of tomato paste ( .80) 
3. Lettuce 
4. Peppers 
5. Apples 
6. Milk 
7. Bananas 
8. Tomatoes 

Makes 

Speghetti 

Pizza 

Quesedas 

Rice and beans 

Burritos 

Oatmeal 

Eggs

Salad with eggs 

What you can do with 20.00

Let's pretend, I'm broke, I have twenty dollars and martians have wiped out my grocery supply.    What do I buy to get by until payday.   Based on dollar tree  and grocery outlet and two people.  

1. One and a half pounds of pinto beans 
2. A pound of rice 
3. 2 pronto pasta with a coupon.    (1.00) 
4. 2 .cans of pasta sauce.    
5. Pizza crust 
6. Package of tortillas 
7. Eggs
8. Package of brown and serve rolls 
9. Box of oatmeal 

That's ten dollars 

Grocery outlet 

1. Grated cheese - white and yellow or Mexican blend 
2. 2 cans of tomato paste ( .80) 
3. Lettuce 
4. Peppers 
5. Apples 
6. Milk 
7. Bananas 
8. Tomatoes 

Makes 

Speghetti 

Pizza 

Quesedas 

Rice and beans 

Burritos 

Oatmeal 

Eggs

Salad with eggs 

Fred Meyers haul

Fred Meyers had a lot of veggies on sale.    They also had two rotation meats on sale.   I just happened to have plenty of rotation meat.    I have four drawers  in my side by side freezer.   I marked them with a marker: beef, chicken, pork and fish .    Some bins are short but they have overfkow  others.  

Total of Fred Meyers haul was 31.34.    I bought a lot of produce , probably enough for a couple of weeks.

3 boxes of crackers ( holidays ) were 3/5 and I had a .75 coupon,  
Stove top stuffing was .99.
A box of ham slices 3.00

The rest was produce / veggies

2 frozen , 2 pound bags of French fries.   2/3

Grapes
Naval oranges
Raspberries
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Celery
Apples

A good rule of thumb is that a quarter of your plate should be protein, a quarter starch, and a half vegetables or fruit.  

The first thing I am ever asked when someone hears that infeed is on three or four dollars a day is. Do you eat fresh veggies.    The answer is yes.    We have had fresh fruit all summer.   We always have carrots and celery.  I add other veggies as we need them.   I also have canned and frozen veggies.   I operate on the food pyramid.  I have tried to avoid lots of salt, sugar, and fat, especially hydrogenated oil and trans fats.  I have always opted for the middle of the road-- a safe place unless you are, quite literally  driving a car.   LOL.

Meal plans for week of Nov 7th

Meal plans 

1. Breakfast 4 Dinner ( we have an abundance of eggs @ .05 each) 
2. Pizza 
3. cajin chicken pasta , bread sticks 
4. Salmon patties , rice mix , green beans 
5. Chilli, beer bread 
6. Chicken tenders, French fries. Carrot and celery sticks 
7. Sausage, bean, and vegetable soup , leftover beer bread 

Notes : 

1. Eggs are about five cents  each when you get them for 18/1.00. Averaging a really inexpensive dinner with a more expensive one, keeps you in budget, but affords you  some luxury too) 
2. Homemade pizza crust cost about .40.   Pizza sauce costs a dollar at the tree and is he same brand and size as other stores.    Freeze on ice cube trays and take out just what you need.   (.20) cheese is still two dollars a pound,    A cup of grated cheese is 4 ounces or .50.   Total 1.10 
3. Cajin chicken pasta , bread sticks ( make double batch of pizza dough.   Spread dough on a baking sheet and top with melted butter, salt, garlic , and herbs. After baking, cut into sticks.  ) speghetti was .50 at QFC this week, chicken breast is 1.28 at times at Freddies and I De-bone  it and cook the bones for the meat ( casserole or pizza ) and stock. Diced tomatoes are .49 at QFC.    
4. Salmon patties are at Winco - a bit pricy or you can make them from amcan of salmon and egg and breadcrumbs.    Rice mix is homemeade with  chicken stock and herbs.  Green beans were .33 at Winco.   
5. Chilli in the crockpot. Beans cooked in the pressure cooker. Beer bread is a 4 ingredient quick bread.    
6. Seasoned chicken tenders. Homemade oven fries. Celery and carrot sticks.    Potatoes were .20 a pound, chicken tenders were 1.25 with coupon in bulk.  
7. Sausage was 1.50 a pound on sale with coupons. Beans cooked on the pressure cooker, tomatoes were .49 at QFC and .50 at Freddies.     Celery and carrots.   Leftover beer bread . 

Corn bread can be substituted for beer bread .    

The ads

Fred Meyers

Gala apples .88
Russet potatoes .88 ( 10 lbs. )
FF chicken .88


Cottage cheese/sour cream 4/5@@
Stove top .99@@
Ragu  2/3


Pork chops 1.47
Half loin 1.99

Raspberries 2/4
Mandarines 4.99
Romas .89

Meal plan help

One  of the things you can do in order to make meal planning quick is to make yourself a master list.  

Divide a paper in sections and head a column with the main protein ingredient or the type of dish .  
And list diner ideas.   Then, when it is time  to meal plan with a matrix  and the list it should be a snap.  

Eggs 

Quiche
Scrambled
Omlettes
Muffin sandwiches
Hard cooked eggs for chef salad



Cheese 
Mac and cheese
Burritos with beans
Toasted cheese and soup
Stuffed potatoes
Pizza


Chicken 

Chicken noodle soup
Chicken BBQ thighs
Chicken, rice and broccoli casserole
Chicken pot pie
Buffalo chicken pizza




Pork 
Ham quiche
Ham and split pea soup
Poor chops with apple bread dressing
BBQ pork sandwich
Pork roast
Sausage bean soupsausage and oven roasted root veggies


Ground beef 
Speghetti and meatballs
Tacos
Enchaladas
Burrito
Meatballs
Stuffed peppers
Meatloaf
Hamburgers
Sloppy joes
Mexican sloppy joes
Cowboy speghetti

Soups 
Vegetable bean
Chilli
Split pea
Potato
Chicken noodle
Beef barley
Clam chowder
Seafood

Fish
Tuna casserole
Salmon burgers
Salmon
Tilipa
Clam chowder
Crab cakes
Fish packets

QFC haul

The weeks groceries - this isn't about me talking about what I buy.    This is to a) let you know if you are in the Seattle area, what's on sale, and give an example of how groceries on the cheap buy groceries with a different mindset than other people.     Most people buy what they need to get them through until the next paycheck,    Groceries on the cheap has a different approach,   You buy what osmat a RBP, and buy enough to last you intel you can find another sale.    What you buy in any given week is different than the week before with the exception of the basic produce and dairy.  The object is to never pay full price.   So you can spend four dollars a day and eat like you spent eight dollars a day.  

Fred Meyers and QFC are both Kroger stores.    QFC typically has higher prices.     Except of they are running a huge sale.

At QFC. I spent 36.59 some of which was not food.   12.00 was Kleenex, freezer  bags and pasta I took to the food bank.    Nets 24.59
At Fred Meyers.  I spent 35.11, but was overcharged 4.29 to be returned.  30.82

Total real food 55.41

Foster farms chicken frozen cooked : retail 7.00, sale 4.99 less 3.75 coupon nets 3.75 for three bags full, about 5 meals.    Certainly less than two dollars a meal.

Butter : 2.50 less .50 coupon.   Is 2.00 for a hybrid that reduces the sat fat.

Diced ham 2.00 - another bargain that makes two meals




Cream cheese 1.25 - holidays are coming

Chocolate milk .99

Powdered sugar, brown sugar .99 each - holiday baking

Grapes, broccoli.


QFC
Cake mix   .69
Butter 2.00
Raspberries 2.00
Pumpkin pie 2.99
☃️Ice cream comes 349
Progresso soup .75 w coupons

Del minute diced tomatoes .49 ( nite if you buy seasoned tomatoes, it saves. Ones because you aren't using your slices and it saves time too.

Basis     I bought ham cubes for quiche and split pea soup.    I bought 21.00 worth of ez chicken for 11.21 -- a good save for when mom just is too sick to cook or sick of cooking LOL.

I stocked for holiday baking,  

I bought raspberries, broccoli and grapes to fill on the produce.  

I bought 18 eggs for a buck.  - another couple of protein meals.

I  ought  chocolate milk for a treat for DDG.


If you don't deny yourself everything, you will stay on budget a lot longer and not be tempted to stray.   A list and meal plans and planning your trip helps to keep you on track.  

We eat well, we eat normal food, we just eat what's on sale,    Buying your food at 1/2 price affords us a  70.06 a week budget that feeds three of us and stocks a pantry and freezer.  

We are heading into a no spend month or six weeks to cover the donut hole.   I am going to try to just buy dairy and produce.    We'll see how that works.  

The ads

QFC

Honey crisp apples 1.99
Berries 2/4


Buy 10, save 5
Butter 1.99 $$
Progresso soup .99$$
Milk .99
Stove top 99
Hummus 2.99
Pillsbury cake mix .69
Pasta .49
Ragu 1.49
Hefty slider bags .99$$
Kleenex .99




18 eggs .99
Pumpkin pie 3.99


Alberways

Halos 4.99
Salad ,89
Prego 1.49@@$$


Notes :
0bciousky, QFC is the better store this week,     Buy 10 has a lot of stacking possibilities.    If you can't come up with ten items, consider buying pasta for .50 and taking it to the food bank.    Pasta and a jar ormcan ofnoasta sauce makes a good, cheap dinner,  

New, simple recipe

Last night being Halloween, I decided to break from the meal plan and make Mexican sloppy joes.    I already had day old hambirgermbinsnthat needed to be used up.  I had hamburger akreadyncooked in the freezer and I had bought enchilada sauce for 3/1 at the dollar  tree.   I always have diced mild peppers in a can that I get from Winco for .58.    

It was a five minute or less project to our a pound of cooked hamburger, a can of enchilada sauce and the oeooers in the slow cooker and turn it on for 4 hours.   Please refer to enchalada slopoynjoes on Betty Crocker ( Google ) theynadd onionsm but my family doesn't like them.  

It made dinner easy and everyone could eat when it was convenient before or after trick or treating.     

Meat 2.97 

Buns .40 

Enchalada sauce .33

Diced oeooers .58 

Total for 4 people 

4.28 or 107 each,    

Happy Halloween

Its Halloween.   Great time for children.    Granddaughter went o school with treat bags I made for her classmates.

Monday is clean the pantry and do kitchen  management day.   Pewpping next weeks dinners makes life really easy come  hectic  dinner time,     My mother always made chilli for Halloween dinner.

Yesterday I went to Fred Meyers and stocked for the holiday baking season,   I usually bake something a couple of times a week,    I don't buy a lot of junk food,   I did buy a pumpkin  pie a couple of weeks ago.  It was 2.99 - almost the same price as making it from scratch.   Buying a lot of snack foods can really Play havoc with your food budget.    I also after watching many many food hauls, have noticed that there is a direct correlation between the amount of junk food and soda pop being bought and the plumpness of the buyers.  That, probably comes as no surprise.  

A good rule of thumb is to only buy things that have nutrition in them.   Don't waste your money on empty calories with the exception of coffee.    Coffee is actually good for you in moderation.  

Kitchen management

• Take things out of the fridge and clean the shelves.    Wash off any bottle that needs it,    Specify certain shelves, bins, or door buckets for certain items     It's much easier and faster when you need to find something in a hurry.   Don't waste time hunting for something.   
• Door bins have 1) milk or juice 2) salad dressing 3) anything sweet 4) anything condiment like hot oeooer sauce, w sauce, mustard etc.   
• top shelf: anything too tall for other shelves and mayo ,pickles etc.  
• eggs, tortillas. Bread to be baked 
• Dairy: yogurt, sour cream.  Cottage cheese 
• Two kinds of grated  cheese on lock n locks, celery crisper. Leftovers 
• Meat and cheese drawer for lunch meat, sliced cheese, etc. 
• vegetable bin.   Line  with a towel or paper towel.    
• Cheese drawer.     

Go through each shelf and dump  anything dead or set aside anything that you need to use soon.    A plastic box in the fridge for these things helps to isolate them so you can incorporate into meals .  

Make it a game.    Betty Crocker and some other sites allow you to plug on an ingredient and have recipes that use it up.   

1. The first week of the month, put your fan filters through the dishwasher.    Clean all the countertops.    
2. Go through your meal plans and prep  anything you can prep early.   Remember rice and beans have a short fridge life.   They are some of the cheapest ingredients, and also some of the fastest to spoil.   
3. Wash up any dishes and sweep the floor.   
4. Straighten the pantry and make note of anything you are short of to watch for a sale.   

All this takes about an hour to an hour and a half.   When granddaughter was a baby, I gave her the plastics cupboard to play with.   She had a ball, and I could get things done while she was playing .   

Now, she's older and she can help do anything that doesn't relate to hot or sharp.    

That's usually the day when I file any recipes I've printed during the week.    I have been getting old el also enchalada sauce for 3/1.   Betty Crocker just posted enchilada sauce sloppy joes recipe.    I have buns and meat we ground a week or so ago.    

You can deviate from a plan. You just need a plan.    

Meal plans week of oct 31

Weekly meal plans.    I was still inset the weather and ktheremwas no school s couple of days , so we had the 4yo.   I just punted dinner,  we did manage to stay away from the drive through andnscratch cook the meals.    Tonight we are having crab cakes and tomato soup.  

Meal plans for next week in no particular order.  

• Breakfast 4 dinner 
• Pizza 
• Steak 
• Sausage w root veggies 
• Chicken enchaladas 
• Salmon,mr ice, green beans 
• Chicken pot pot 

Notes : 

Eggs are 1.00 for 1.5 dozen :

Pizza  from scratch

Night out : steak with friends

Sausage, oven roasted potatoes, carrots, radishes. 

Chicken enchaladas. - enchalada sauce 3/1.  

Salmon, squash, salad 

Chicken pot pie.   

Fred Meyers ad

tomorrows Fred Meyers ad

2 day sale - Sunday and Monday

Grapes 1.28
Digiorno pizza 3.99


Butter 2/5
Eggs .99 fir 1.5 dozen
Milk .99 @@
Broccoli ,99
Brown, dark brown, or powdered sugar .99@@ 2 lbs
Cream cheese 4:5@@

Stats

The USDA has stats on the cost of food at home with the food dollars broken down by classes of budgets and age groups of family members,  

Our amount for the lowest group is 114.30.   Our actual including maintaining a large stock is 70.06.  
That's 61 percent of the lowest budget or a 39 percent savings, not taking into consideration that the pantry is full as well as the freezer.  

I would assume that of the 294.00 we spend , at least 50.00 is for stock.   That leaves 244.00 divided by three is  81.33 or 2.71 a day actual food eaten.    Without assuming a stock, that would be 3.27 a day.   Less than the 4.00 that food stamps is based on.  

If we can do it in a state with one of the highest COl, you can do it too.    It takes less time than the oersin that goes every one or two days to buy just what they need for one or two days.   Spending more time planning and shopping, and less time cooking just makes money and sense.   I'm still talking maybe two hours a week.  A few minutes a day to prep and cook dinner and you eat well for less.  

A child can do some of the things and it's a good learning tool.    Kids these days are computer savvy, They know what you buy.   They can print coupons.  They can separate coupons into  categories and file.  Older children can do the Ibotta thing.   Kids can help take inventory .   I usually just glance at bins or shelf space and can see if we are short.   When something is running low, I make  a mental note and start watching for a sale.   On things that I keel a limited supply of, I remember what we have eaten the week before and if it is still at it's normal orixe for me, I replentish what we used.  

Instead of buying what you need and hoping you have remembered to buy it or having to go back after you make meal plans, you have in stock what you need, and reolentish it when it's at a RBP.  
This saves a ton of money.    You never , or almost never get stuck paying full price.   That nasty f word-- full price!  




 full price.  

Soup. ,

I asked my granddaughter what we should write about,    How about soup!    That's yummy!  

Soup is one of those dinners that is easy, quick as far as non- passive time and cheap.   A comfort food -- what's not to like,  

1. Chicken is on sale this week for .79 a pound,    You can cook a chicken on less than ten minutes non passive time in the crockpot.   Just rough chop a peeled onion, place the chicken on the pot and rib it with a dry slice rib and cook for an hour a pound on high,    It makes really good stock and you can add veggies and noodles for chicken noodle soup.   One of our favorite go along is cheezy biscuits.  Roll biscuit dough into a rectangle  . Sorinklemwoth grated cheese and rolluo like a jelly roll.   Cut into one inch slices and bake according to the biscuit instructions   .
2. Tomato soup.    Costco has roasted red pepper and tomato soup in a box ( organic ) for around two dollars .  ( not all the time, itos hit and miss) we add blue cheese , basil, and a little milk or cream.    Yum!   If you don't like blie cheese, add Romano or parm instead.   
3. Taco soup with tortilla chips 
4. Potato soup or clam chowder 
5. Vegetable bean soup with or without sausage 
6. Chilli
7. Bean and bacon 
8. Depression stew 
9. Split pea with or without ham
10. Beef and barley 
11. 
    

winning the retailer game.

There are 60,000 bar codes in the average grocery store.    The retailers have studied shopper habits and have implemented tricks to get us to spend more.   Knowing the tricks is your defense against overspending,

It starts when you walk in the door.   You are bombarded with smells .  It's not by accident, we buy with our senses unless we are mindful of what they are doing.   Doesn't work for me because o don't have a sense of smell.    LOL.

Expensive products  are at eye level.  Snack food is often right up front.   It's no accident that the candy bars and magazines are at the check stands where you have to be tempted while you wait in line.   Or that the expensive  cheaply made  toys are on the same isle as the cereal.

The so called loss leaders are to bring you into the store where they hope you will do all your shopping and they will make more money on the not so cheap stuff.

Manufacturers pay a slotting fee for having their products at eye level.   You can just guess who's paying   that slotting fee.  

It's not by accident that the small dollar store has a entire isle filled with junk food.

Beat them at their own game.

• Plan your trip.  Study the ads and have a good idea what you are going to buy.   Pretty much stick to your plan.   The only deviation is an unadvertised special that is going to keep you on track.  Last week I walked in to Winco and found steak for 2.97 a pound.   I made two meals with it adding frozen stir fry veggies for 1.37.    
• 
  
• Shop TWO stores and buy the true sale items that are appropriate for your family. 
• Two stores give you the best of two worlds.  Buy the best veggies on season and don't over buy.     Of you buy organic, plan on buying just enough for a few days.  They tend to go bad faster than regular produce.   NO FOOD WILL DO YOUR FAMILY ANY GOOD OF YOU FEED IT TO THE GARBAGE DISPOSAL.  
• 
  
• Buy dairy when it's in sale and watch pull dates.   Try for as much as you will need until the next sale.   We have two Kroger stores and a Costco.   Set limits on the price  you will pay.   I can about bet that Fred Meyer will have dollar milk one week of the month, and QFC will have 1.25 milk a few weeks hence.   If all else fails, Costco will have larger portions cheap as well.   
• Produce is a weekly thing.  I always have carrots and celery.   
• Buy meat on sale at the RBP in bulk, rotate meats , buying enough of that meat to cover a pre-selected number of meals.   Cook it when you get home and portion control it of appropriate.  Other wise, portion control it and freeze.   You can get a months worth of meals for a family of four in a standard fridge freezer.    I debone chicken breast and freeze raw.   I slice and cube a 1/4 of a half port loin and leave half or so for a roast.    I make meatballs , taco meat and  crumbles from ground  beef or turkey that has been defatted.   Sausage , cook and defatted.  
• Portion controlled meat avoids over eating and waste.   This saves money because you buy the meat at the lowest possible price and it saves time because you are cleaning the kitchen and defattimg once.
• Keep a back up supply of things like catsup, mustard, Mayo etc. buy picnic supplies around summer holidays .   They will be the cheapest price of the year.    Ditto baking supplies about October and early November.   
• Buy any staple in bulk that makes sense for your family.   I keep ten pounds or so of  dry beans.   Beans can go bad and never get soft.   Rice I can buy on bulk bags at Costco because it doesn't go bad.   
• Retailers don't like what they call cherry pickers. 🍒.   Don't just buy sale  items.   If you take care to buy the main things you use on a regular basis, the pennies you pay more for don't make a horrible difference.   I, not worried about how much I lay for that two jars of sauerkraut I buy a year, but I am worried about the ten pounds of hamburger I am  buying.    
• Bottom line, retailers are there to separate you from your money.   You are there to feed your family for what you can afford to spend.   You HAVE to won the game and still feed your family good nutritious food 

The ads 10/25/16

Alberways

Digital
Kellogg's cereal .99
Apple juice .49
Bacon 2.49
Bread .49

Foster farms whole chicken .78
Sirloin top rosast 3.88
Milk 1.99


QFC
Pears .99
broccoli .99
Tomatoes .99
7 percent ground beef 3.99




Buy 3 bundle
Chunky soup 3/4 $$. Free crackers
4.00 less 1.00 for crackers would be 3/3.  Coupons out there.  

Dollar tree and grocery outlet

Our dollar tree and grocery outlet are next door to each  other.  

I was looking for mandarin oranges in a glass jar and pounders (glasses) and Mac cormick stir fry sauce.

I found the pounders.   Ours had chips that are dangerous to use.   I didn't find the glass jared mandarines but, I did find the sauce.   I also found pumpkin, old El Paso enchalada sauce for 3/1, and pretzels.  I got black fingernail polish for a penny and bulk soap.  

Grocery outlet netted cereal for .50! Crab, Romano cheese, and chocolate chip cookie dough, no preservatives for .99,  

I went on looking for things at a good price I knew we could use.  

Grocery hauls

and my grocery bill is What?    

Since I spent days in bed this month, I had a lot of time to watch gricery hauls on U-Tube,   I observed some hat were really low like one that was a hundred dollars a month for five people , one of which was gluten free. And there was a lady with a family of five with a 640.00 bill.  

I observed that eggs were as low as .55 some places.    A lot of places had a lot lower prices than what our lowest are in the PNW.  

A lot of people are buying alternative foods and swaying away from thentried and true food.   They, also besides sacrificing nutrition, are doubling their food bill.  

There was a post that said that instead of milk, to give your children kale and sardines.  I'm nit sure that I could get our 4 yo to eat enough kale and sardines to give her the RDA for calcium,  besides the fact that if you eat too much make, you can get lead poisoning.  

It was no surprise that the people showing a quarter of their food bill was made up of snack food and store bought cookies  were pleasantly plump.  

You can't stay under four  dollars  a day when 1/4 of your food bill is for chips and cookies, and another  quarter is for sugar loaded drinks with no food value.  Neither is good for you or your budget. Stick to as close to the real thing as possible.  

Have desert and snacks. Opt for homemade , preferably that has fruit or grains like oatmeal  in it , or nuts.   One kind at a time and limit it to after dinner,  not all day long.   Eating sugar with a meal is better for you than eating it all day long or by itself.  

The carts that were a reasonable amount of money and nutrition , had meat and protein , dairy, and veggies as the basis with a few spices added in.

Most of them were buying one or two weeks worth at a time.  I saw no people that were buying the on the cheap way.  That saves anithernfofty percent.

When you opt out of the major snack foods, and the drinks that are devoid of nutrition, and start buying your food at 1/2 price, you will  hace  good nutrition and a lot lower food bill.  




Your shopping cart will look strange because it might concentrate on a particular food group basically because you have purchased things elsewhere.  

The Things that were the lowest orocesmthis month were :

1. Campbells chicken noodle soup for net .45 (1.59) 
2. Progresso Chunky  soup net .75 ( 159) 
3. Betty Crocker cake  mix .88
4. Pumpkin 1.00
5. 1 pound Jimmy Dean sausage 1.50 
6. 1 pound jenne o ground turkey 100
7. Large enchalada sauce .58 
8. Small enchakada sauces 3/100
9. Chicken breast 1.28
10. Cheese 2.00 a pound 
11. Eggs .40 
12. Apples 1.00 
13. Milk 100
14. Sour cream 100

Buying what's on a real sale  and buying enough for a couple of weeks or until it goes in sale again cuts your food bill.   

Buy a so called loss leader protein and buy enough for a months worth of that meal.  I.e.: of you eat ground beef once a week, you will buy four portions.    

Dairy goes on sale here (Kroger) at Fred Meyers for a dollar once a month,  get things with far out pull dates.

Buy veggies and fruit in  season.   they will taste better and be cheaper.  

Buy grains in bulk when it makes sense.   Ditto dry beans.   

Ten ways to save on groceries

Ten ways to save on groceries

1. Buy just what you are going to use when it comes to produce.   Buy 1/2 what you are going to use pfnorganic  if you can afford to buy organic. 
2. Portion control meat bought in bulk when it comes from the store.   If  you make a dull small package  of meet,  the leftovers  will make their way to the backnof the fridge  and become foodnwith hair prettier  than yours.   
3. Incorporate leftovers as planned overs.   Group meals, for instance,  that use a batch of rice together.   
4. Use coupons when appropriate.   Not all coupons are worth using.   They either aren't enough money  enough money, or they are  for ready made crap you don't need.    
5. Use Ibotta or an other rebate site . You can use both, I find  it too too time consuming.   Human nature says if nature says if it's too hard or time consuming, you oribavky won't stick to a habit.  It takes three weeks to create a habit. 
6. Study the ads and mark what items are at a RBP and are things you can use to make a meal.   Take into consideration the bottom line on the price.    You can't make a five dollar meal of your protein costs 8.00 a pound! 
7. Stock non perishables that you use in a regular basis when they are at a RBP. Set stock  limits.  If you ise something once a week, and you want to keep a three month supply, you need 12 cans.   Things  like catsup and mustard, I keep one ahead.   Best prices come during picnic season.   Things like pumpkin and baking supplies are cheapest about October/ November,  if you wait until the week before the holiday, you are going to pay more.   
8. Look up and down on the shelves at the supermarket.   Manufacturers pay slotting fees for the good shelves , you know they are passing those fees on to you in their prices.   
9. Buy store brands.  The store doesn't have factories, they contract with manufacturers to fill in down production times.   Same stuff, Cheaper  price . 
10. Scratch cook.   With few exceptions, scratch is cheaper.    If it takes too long, imeither don't buy it or buy it on the cheap.   I won't make bagels ( I don't buy bagels because they are too carb loaded.   I made pita  bread once, never again.    Pizza dough is a snap, and sooo much better.   Soup and cream soup base is better, cheaper, and not much more time to cook.   

Meal plans

I deviated from our meal plan tonight because the steak was on sale at Winco for 2.97 a pound,   I bought stir fry veggies and made a beef stir fry.  

The rest of the meat I will make a vegetable beef soup with.  

Starting Monday

1. Sausage and roasted root veggies 
2. Pizza 
3. Pasta and sauce 
4. Chicken , acorn squash, bread dressing, 
5. Chicken enchaladas 
6. Chicken pot pie 
7. Baked salmon , rice medley, green beans 

Notes 

1. Sausage was a dollar at QFC.    
2. Pizza crust, homemade. Cheese was 200 a pound,   
3. Pasta sauce was 107 and pasta was .88
4. Chicken breast was 128 a pound ; enchakada sauce was 3/1 
5. Chicken was 128 a pound, veggies, crust was a Dillard for one crust.   
6. Acorn squash was .68, stuffing was .50
7. Salmon was 350, rice is five cents a serving, green beans were .33 a can 

Winco haul

total hauls about 59.00. Budget 75.00.    I will add three dollars at Fred Meyers for tomatoes to reolentish,  

Winco
Blue bunny ice cream 7.76

Sliced steak 3.22

Acorn squash .68

2 pasta sauce -prego. 2.14 or 1.07 each

Green beans .33

Winco olives .58

Winco green chillis .58

Bread, multi grain 1.45

Stir fry veggies 1.37



Stir fry beef meal.   1.61 meat, 1.37 veggies, rice .20.  Total  2.18 .  
Pasta meal.  Pasta .88, 1/2 meatballs .98, sauce 1.07.  Total 2.93 serves four,  

Fred Meyer ads for tomorrow

Satsumas 4.99 / 5 lb box

Chick roast 2.99

Gala or Fuji apples .99

Digiorno pizza 399

Ice cream 2/5

Kroger to,atoms, beans, veggies 2/1.  Limit 6

The bundles are nit a bargain.    The only one that may be a bargain is the Oregon one and that would be if you have a coupon.  

Fred Meyers haul

Fred Meyers haul
No shopping for 1.5 weeks.  

Milk .99

Hamburger buns .79
FF cold cuts 2.99
Peanut butter cookies 2.00
Pie crustv2.00
Pumpkin pie 3.99
Raspberries 2.50


TV dinners.88
Cream cheese .88
Barilla pasta .88
Bacon bits 2.19

Cake mix .88
English muffins 1.67
Pumpkin pie spice 2.00

Progresso beef soup .75 w coupons
Total 38.29