Free soup

Now that should  get some people’s attention....lol l

I recently watched some videos  on making broth or stock.  The buzz word these days is bone broth.  Whatever you call it, our great grandmothers did it for years.  Rumor has it that our great grandmothers had a pot of broth working on the back of the old wood stoves all day.  The wood stove kept the house warm, the broth was the start of soup and the steam hydrated the house.

Now, we have slow cookers.   April Holly Smith (u-tube) turned me on to the fact that you can start broth before you go to bed and have it done in the morning.   The older I get, the more I like passive cooking,   You can still have scratch food, but not slave over a hot stove all day.

I watched another lady make broth from bones, vegetabke clippings including the peels from garlic and onions and carrot tops, etc  and water.   She also added the powder that was a byproduct of the vegetables she grew in her garden.   She took the tops of her vegetables and dried them and made them into powder.   Please note not all vegetabke greens are edible,  tomatoes, for one, are poisonous.
She also took the skins  amd pulp from when she made tomato sauce to can and dried them for tomato powder.   Now, that’s being resourceful.

Beef, chicken and vegetable stock is costly.   It bumps up the cost of homemade soup  to the cost of canned soup or more. It also adds sodium and preservatives to your diet.  Throwing your ‘garbage’ into a slow cooker before  you go to bed seems like a quick, cheap alternative.

Another way to save is to throw bits of things on the freezer that could go on a pizza.   If you dedicate a part of a freezer shelf to pizza toppings, they won’t get lost on the black hole every freezer has.

It is surprisingly simple and the concept can save money.  You can eat well on less than four dollars a day, it just takes effort to take advantage of every trick you can use.

I was surprised when I bought special buys at QFC this week.  I had gone threw and clicked all the digital coupons that I thought I might use.  They are sitting in cyberspace waiting to be used.  I rarely buy anything that isn’t a good price.  That’s the secret of low cost food budgets.  I bought cottage cheese and sour cream because  it was a buck.  The surprise was that there was a .40 coupon hiding in cyberspace.   The same thing happened when I did a epic lean cuisine haul. It made my lunches .49 a day for a week and the bonus is that they are all really low carb.

Sometimes a little time can produce a lot of savings.  You can hit a computer screen in a few minutes while watching TV. You can make bone broth while sleeping, or make free money clicking a few UPC codes while you put  away the groceries.  I almost have a free amazon card and I haven’t even tried very hard.  One lady has hit a thousand dollars.  I suspect she tried a bit harder than I have!

It’s what you do when you have more time than money.

Alternative shopping haul

We took a trip to the neighboring town. We needed pillows for the family room.

Costco 

Blue cheese 7.49

World market 

Pizza cristm(3) 5.99

Big Lots 

Protein meal bars .97

Nabisco saltine crackers .50

Top ramen 5 pack 1.00

Chives, dill weed, 2.00

Tortillas 1.00

Total 6.44

Total 19.92 

QFC

Lean cuisine (7) total cost 3.44

Note also, everything Christmas is 70 percent off. 

QFC
Sour cream .99
Cottage cheese .59
Blueberries 3.88
Total 5.46

Total 28.82

Best of chain store ads

First, lean cuisine is normally retail for 3.99.  On sale for 1.67 last week at both Safeways amd QFC,   QFC has a digital for 1.25.  There is an Ibotta for 7.00.  Nets .49 each.  You can still get this deal I believe , but the lean cuisine is now 1.77.  Still a good deal.  

If you are worried about Ibotta being a attack on your privacy, really, that ship has sailed.   Everywhere you go, every time you swipe a store card or your debit card, you are being watched.  
A few minutes of your time can read great rewards,   I have almost twenty dikkarsmamd I am not do,ogent at looking every week.   I don’t let the app dictate what I buy, but, rather, look after my shopping trip when I think about it for any matchups.  I have already cashed in 25.00 of free money,

Safeway,
Honestly, I could find no real bargains on basic food.  Their eggs were on a coupon for 1,25, they are .99 at both QFC and Fred Meyers,

QFC

18 ounce blues 3.88
Eggs .99
Sour cream, cottage cheese .99
Progresso soup .99 must buy 8

NOT TO BUY 
Cheese 6.00 a pound 

Fred Meyers 
Pork loin BOGO. Savings ????

Eggs .99
Gala apples .88
Coffee 5.99
Cheerios BOGO -coupons at coupons,com 
BREYERS BOGO

Beef patties 2 lbs 6.99 these are in the freezer section and Kroger brand. Flavored and delicious, 
Based on the cost of beef these days, that’s not bad . 

Not to buy 
Muffins 4 ea for 5.00
Muffins cost about .30 plus the add ins for a dozen.  It pays to get floirmat Costco or when it’s on sale . 

Cheap meals that taste good

five dollar or less meals
Four  people. One meal, Five bucks.

1. Spaghetti with meat sauce, French bread , green beans 
2. Pizza
3. Tacos, refried beans or Spanish rice 
4. Impossible ham  pie 
5. Vegetable bean soup 
6. Chili 
7. Rice and beans 
8. Pork roast, mashed potatoes, glazed carrots 
9. Pork chops, bread dressing with apple, Craisens, green beans 
10. Mac and cheese, peas and carrots 
11. Chicken stir fry, rice, 
12. Chicken enchiladas with  green enchilada sauce 
13. Bbq chicken, oven fries, coleslaw or homemade chicken  nuggets, oven fries, coleslaw, 
14. Pork stew with potatoes, carrots, peasant bread 

Notes 

As of this  writing, we recently got 

1. Russet potatoes for 1.98 for ten pounds at Winco 
2. Pork loin for 1.00 a pound 
3. Chicken breast was 1.28 a pound at Winco, we paid .99 in bulk earlier last year. 
4. We can always get Barilla pasta for a dollar, then last was with coupon for closer to .75. 
5. Cheese is always purchased for between two and two fifty a pound.  I usually keep pizza and Tex mex blend cheese. . 
6. Pinto beans are 1.00 for 1.5 pounds at the Dollar Tree.  Non gmo and grown in America. 
7. Rice is purchased in bulk at Costco as is flour 
8. Peasant bread costs .25 and takes about ten minutes hands on time and that is split between 2 days, 
9. Enchilada sauce is homemade and easy, 
10. Ham is inexpensive in a package at Winco.   Little more than two dollars 
11. Spaghetti is made in the insta pot n 8 minutes. 
12. A cheese   pizza costs 1.00 to make.   Add saved meat and vegetables. 
13. Carrots are 2.28 for five pounds at Winco, 
14. Hamburger is cooked, de fatted, and frozen on portion controlled quart bags from the dollar tree, then package in a zip lock gallon bag and labeled . Makes life quick and easy for spaghetti or tacos, or enchiladas, 

Kitchen Management aka meal prep

Kitchen management along with meal planning just makes life easier and less hectic during the dinner hour,  it saves time and money.  Doing things in batches instead of one portion at a time saves time and clean up.

Reminder of meals

• Baked salmon, potatoes, veggie 
• Pizza
• Chicken pot pie 
• Pork sausage, acorn squash, green beans 
• Quiche 
• Spaghetti 
• Breakfast for dinner 

1. Wash kitchen floor 
2. Clean and disinfect countertops and sinks and drains.
3. Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀. 
4. Make special note of things  that need  to be used up soon .
5. Wash potatoes and carrots with vinegar water, dry, 
6. Make muffins 
7. Make pudding 
8. Find pancake mix recipe .personal cookbook? 
9. Straighten pantry.  Clean out the dry goods cupboard. 

We are trying to be on no spend, eat down the pantry challenge.  I thawed  a bag of sausage, thus  a lot of sausage meals this week.  

Our food purchases last year were an average of almost five dollars a week less than our 4.00 a day budget of 56.00 a week.   This grew a pantry.

It’s not what you buy as much as it is when and where you buy it,   

Nabisco saltine crackers are 2.74 at Walmart for a box,  the same box was purchased yesterday for .50.  Over five times more money.   

Meal Plans

Meal plans are a necessary tool to save your time and money resources.   We are on a pantry challenge and in the second month.   We cleaned out the refrigerator freezer and found more things.  As careful as you can try, things will still get buried.

• Salmon, oven potatoes, mixed vegetables 
• Pizza
• Chicken pot pie 
• Pork sausage, acorn squash tomato and cucumber salad 
• Quiche  
• Pork chops w mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans. 
• Breakfast for dinner 

Notes: 

Salmon is some purchased at safeways 

Pizza is a mainstay that comes in at a dollar  a pizza plus toppings.  Pepperoni is  a dollar at the DT. 

Chicken pot pie used chicken breast bought for  a dollar a pound.   Mixed vegetables, again, a dollar a pound, 

Pork sausage thawed from freezer storage, it has been cooked and de fatted.  Replaced with two dollar a pound jommymdean sausage.  This one was free, 

Pork chops are from a pork loin that we purchased for a dollar a pound.  Cream of mushroom soup was .41, and mashed potatoes are 20 cents a pound, 

Breakfast for dinner is a family affair and everyone cooks. 

Last years calculations are in,  we spent almost five dollars under our 4 dollar a day budget of 56.00 a week.   We live in one of the highest COL states in the continental US. 

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Watching too many videos lately,   Lol

Most economy shoppers will tell you to look at the ads, prepare a menu plan and go to the store with a list.  There are  reasons why that isn’t a good idea.

• Buying just what  you need does not give you the luxury of creating a stock and taking advantage of sales.  Btw, it is rude to take all of what is on sale and not leave some for another shopper that may be in more dire straights than you are.
• You may get to to the store and find that there is either no stock of the sale item, or it is not good quality.   It doesn’t save you any money of the vegetables are growing mold or the meat is full of fat and you cant eat a rain check.  I guess you could, but it wouldn’t be very tasty!  
• It takes a lot more time to do the meal planning and shopping that way.

Instead 

1. Have a simplified master list of things you carry,  like a grocery store does. 
2. Buy in quantity  when things are at their RBP and replenish when they are on sale again.  Usually ,  it only  requires a four to six weeks supply.  
3. It takes a lot less time to glance on the organized cupboards and freezers and tell what you need to watch for a sale than to wrote a detailed list of everything you need for your meals.  
4. Buying less variety of items and more quantity is faster at the checkout line and a lot better for your pocketbook. 
5. Make meal plans, but pretty much, you can make any of your list of seven to ten dinners anytime you want.  Rarely will you be out of your basic supplies.   
6. The last big thing is that of an emergency happens— anything from a government shutdown to a snow storm, you are ok.  You can still eat.   One Christmas  time, the main part of I-5 was flooded here, the trucks that supply food to the grocery stores couldn’t deliver. Grocery stores typically carry a three day supply of food.   That could be disastrous .  If you have a small stock of basics, you have yourself covered.   

Cost of food

Caviat here.....Washington has a cost of living of almost 30 percent higher than other parts of America.
I read this on the Internet and it is evidenced but my watching a lot of food hauls on u tube all over America from South Carolina to Ohio and upstate NY.    I especially like “April Holly Smith” that covers two stores ads and then shows what she purchases.

The cost  of our foods in Seattle area is greatly predicated on what store you buy it from.  Not looking at the alternative  stores of Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, PCC etc, even the chain stores vary greatly in prices of the exact same things.  You can’t , however blame it on labor costs because the workers belong to the same labor union.   It pays to know prices and take advantage of the lower prices when you can .

The whole premise of groceries on the cheap  is to carry a stock and not pay top dollar for your food.   It has,  I think to do with quality, we still want good quality— just not  at the highest price.  The exact same thing, in the exact same box and brand can be as much as two dollars cheaper  at another store.
It just seems silly to waste your money paying full price.  I don’t believe in driving across town for a quarter savings, but planning trips and buying in an educated bulk when something is a good price saves a lot of time and money.

About  five  years ago, I bought a bag of salt for five dollars.  Years ago, we had been buying dill pickles in a gallon jar.  It was glass.  I put the salt in a gallon jar .  We are still using the salt.  My children will probably still be using themsalt after I am gone and maybe even our grandchildren. lol Salt doesn’t go bad and the difference in the cost was remarkable.  Another thing that doesn’t go bad is soda.  A bag of soda is far cheaper than the equivalent buying in the small boxes. Soda and salt are both good cleaning agents.  We also buy vinegar at Costco for a little more than two dollars a gallon.  I wash veggies and clean with it.  Vinegar is a good disinfectant that is safe.  We wash veggies with it . A chemistry professor says that most pesticides are water solvable, wash your produce.   Buying non perishables in bulk saves money and time becaise you never have to remember to buy them again for a long time.  Less things in your cart means less money and less time shopping.

Take a list of the things that you buy on a regular basis.  We all have a list of 7-10 meals  we make for dinner.  Most of our dinners are Tex mex or Italian.    They use the same basics.  Find the RBP on those ingredients.

For us..
Diced tomatoes.  We have paid as low as .39 and as high as .58.  I don’t want to pay more than the .58, so that is my “buy” or “target” price.  If they are not at or below that price, I do not buy them .
Winco has no BPA in their canned goods.

Pasta sauce .  A dollar  is good in glass, .88 in cans.

Canned veggies .50
Frozen veggies 1.00 a POUND.

Chili canned , less than a dollar.

Cream soup.  Less than a dollar.  We recently got them for .41.  The time to buy is at thanksgiving and Christmas.

Pinto beans are .67 a pound at the dollar tree,   They are non gmo and grown in USA.   Cheaper at  Costco , but we can’t justify 25 pounds.

Oatmeal at Costco is cheapest in a ten pound box.

Flour at Costco.
Yeast in a jar, at Costco or Winco.

I have seen Jimmy Dean sausage as low as two dollars with a coupon and as high has 6.00.
Cheese can be 6.00 a pound or two dollars a pound. Cheese is cheese  no matter what shape it is in. pay attention to the per pound price.  I carry a small calculator in my coupon book,  phones these days have a great calculator on them. Do the math.  Some signs tell per ounce price .

Bacon and frozen vegetables can come in 12 ounce and 16  ounce packaging.   To level the price playing field, take  the 12 ounce price and times it by 1.25.  You can then compare price per pound.

On bacon, the closer to three dollars I can get it the better.

Hauls to 1/10/19

Winco
Ice cream 2.98
Blue cheese 2.40
Mixed frozen veggies 1.08
Barilla pasta (2) 1.96 minus .55.coupon nets 1.45/2 or .725 ea
Jimmy Dean sausage lb chubs (2) 4.96 less 1.00 coupon is 3.96 /2 is 1.98
Low  carb balance tortillas 4.47
Acorn squash .39 lb was 1.45 - overcharge
Apples 1.48
Cucumbers .48
Oranges .99
Apples 1.97
Roma’s 1.13
Pears .59
Blueberries (2) 3.96

Total including overcharge
33.49


Dollar tree and grocery outlet

Marinated artichokes 2@ 1.00. Cara Mia

Coffee 5.99
Crackers 2/1,00
Tortillas 1.99
Corn frozen .99
Cheese, sliced (2) 2.29

Total 14.55

Grand total 48.04   Regular budget



Last year, the figures were less than four dollars a day.  We averaged about 5.00 a week less than the 56.00 a week and we have stock.

Chain store ads / the best of

QFC

Oranges .88

Digital coupon / uncured ham 2.49

B5S5

Cheese 2# 4.99

Classico pasta sauce .99

Skippy peanut butter 1.79

Dbl cream cheese 2.99

Black berries 2/4

Lean cuisine 3/5 -coupon @coupons,com?

Fred Meyers 

FF Chicken breast or thighs BOGO

Clementines 5#-4.88

Blues 2/3

Milk .99

Oranges .99

Barilla 1.00

B5S5

Cheese 2#-4.99

Goldfish .99

Cream cheese dbl 2.99

Skippy 1.79

Classico pasta sauce .99

Foldgers coffee 6.99

Alberways 

Meat sale BOGO

80/20 ground beef , chicken breast, sirloin lean cuisine 

Grapes 1.99

Lean cuisine 3/5 coupons? 

Spaghetti .59

Milk 1.99@@

Bread .89@@

Salad .99

Ice cream 2.49 

Note @@ / in ad coupon needed 

$$ there is a coupon out there. 

Classico pasta sauce is always a bargain at .99 because the jar is worth the dollar.   I probably wouldn’t can on it, but for storage or refrigerator storage, it works great amd fits a canning jar lid so you can suck the air out of dehydrated foods with the food saver.  

What not to buy — just my ideas

Caviat :  this is my opinion and based on research if many years. The optimum end result is lower food bills without sacrificing good food.

• Bread crumbs.  We just took the last three slices of bread from the french Toast  on Christmas and made bread crumbs.  It took barely a few minutes and our almost 7 yo granddaughter knows how.  According to an ad from grocery outlet, their pound of breadcrumbs would retail for 6.80.  Even dollar tree bread crumbs are 2.00 a pound,   Why pay two dollars a pound  for someone else’s dry bread.   Break it up into a food processer bowl, process until it becomes crumbs.  Put it on a sheet pan and place it on an oven that you have just baked something in,  or just put  it in the oven for a day or two.  When I didn’t have a food processer, I just out the slices in the oven until they were dry and grated them with a box grater that I set on a sheet pan.  Costco business has 1/2 and 1/4 sheet pans really inexpensive.  If you don’t like using aluminum, consider covering them with dollar store parchment paper.   It makes clean up easier and you aren’t cooking in aluminum.   
• Parmesan cheese in a green canister.  It is laced with wood pulp and is old.  Fresh parm is well worth the additional money.  We buy parm, a blend of cheeses, or any hard cheese that I can find that is reasonable.  Costco has one for 12.00 for a huge wedge. I can’t remember what it is called, but it lasts a long time.  They all impart a good flavor to enhance some dishes. 
• Mac and cheese in a box.  Even the organic kind is not the best.  They have tsp in them. And the organic one has more fat than the blue box kind.  It’s nit hard to make scratch Mac and cheese and the quality is much better. 
• Fake butter.   Some of them have palm oil on them and other oils that are not healthy,   Hydrogenated oils, so I read, thicken your blood.   You are better off using a smaller amount of real butter. My nutritionist told me that a skim of butter was better than margarine or fake butter.  I was amused that an article click bated that Nutella was so bad for your children. So, I looked up the ingredients .  Skim milk, ok.  Chocolate, ok. Peanut butter, ok.  Palm oil....not so ok.   So, Nutella will kill your children, so they say, but fake butter is not ok?   My accountant logic doesn’t see that.   Lol.   
• Anything fake.  I read the ingredients in my daughters fake cheese. A few tablespoons of coconut oil has more saturated fat than a big beef steak.  All fake cheese was just oils and a stabilizer.  I don’t know how that can be better or you.   If you have to be dairy free, just avoid dairy. Nut butters can be a better alternative, so I hear. 
• Enchilada sauces are really expensive and take minutes to make.  They are basically the roux technique.   Cheap ingredients and a can of enchilada sauce  can cost more than the enchiladas.   
• Instant oatmeal.  The cost of instant oatmeal is ten cents a pack at best.   It takes 4 packages to get the same nutrition as a serving of regular oatmeal.  The cooking time difference is minimal. One cup water, 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1-1/2 minutes in the microwave.  Use a bowl or mug bigger than you think you need.  We got sprinkles for oatmeal with a coupon at winco for a dollar,  they are 1-2 carbs a serving.  You can also add cinnamon sugar, a bit if apple, or raisins.  The cost of a serving of oatmeal when purchased in the 10 pound box at Costco is .085 a serving.  No, there is no mistake in the decimal point. 
• Bakery goods are cheaper made from scratch than store bought.  It takes a matter of minutes, real hands on time to make a loaf of peasant bread.  The cost is upwards of 2.50.  The cost of making it scratch is about a quarter.  90 percent savings.  When we go to the bread outlet, the bread is 1.25 .  Then you have to factor on that we get 10 percent for seniors or military, and freebies.  One loaf for 10.00. Two loaves for 15.00, and last time we got a 2.50 box of donuts.  I figured we averaged .93 or so each including bagels, English muffins, French bread, Texas toast, and hoagie rolls.   It pays us to buy in  bulk because  it is five miles to the store. We combine it with other errands if we can . 
• We buy pizza sauce from the dollar tree (DT) .  It is a name brand  and is at least 1/2 the price of any other jar at Winco.  Winco is about the cheapest store in our area, except for the grocery outlet that isn’t a full service store.  The  (GO) is one of those stores that items are here today, gone tomorrow.  They are overstocks for the most part and it’s a treasure hunt. Freeze it on ice cube trays, then snap it out into a quart bag and freeze.  We use 2 ice cubes per 12-14 inch pizza.  One jar makes 5 pizzas.   The alternative would be to find a sale prices 8 ounce can of tomato sauce and Italian seasoning and freeze it yourself.  
• A jus mix, ranch dressing mix, and taco seasoning.  Those envelopes can cost 16.00 a pound.  And, of you don’t need the whole envelope, some is likely to get wasted.   Meal h cheaper to make your own,  slices are cheap on the bulk isle at Winco. Any Mexican spice  is usually cheaper in packages found on the Mexican Foods isle.
• Individual juice or fruit cups.  Juice is nit the best for you.   The nutritionist for my daughter told me 40 years ago that she would be better off eating the apple than drinking our natural juice.  Fruit cups are loaded with sugar and expensive.  Fresh fruit is best,  it the alternative would be unsweetened applesauce in a individual container .

New year, new you

We have all heard that one.   If your goal for the year is to reduce your food bills , this one is for you.  With the stock market going up and down, mostly down, more of us on  retirement income are feeling the pinch.  They are talking recession again.  Not what we want to hear, but preparing by lowering our basic costs can head off a disaster or at least help.  If it doesn’t happen, you still are richer than you were last year.

We have lived on a four dollar a day budget for food for 2 years.  In fact, our budget this year comes to five dollars a week less .  And, we are eating down the pantry , so we are basically buying perishables and replenishing what we are out of.   Our pantry was purchased with the regular budget.  Our COL is 28 percent higher than the average in America.

It is little steps that most of us will find easy to implement.  I’m not going to insult anyone’s intelligence by saying it doesn’t take any effort.  I will say the rewards are great and you can implement ideas a little at a time.

There are many articles and  books out there and some are good, some not.  You can’t spend ten dollars a day to eat four dollars a day.  I was an accountant for 50 years, it doesn’t pass the logic test . You need to eat more on the healthy side than some dire straights food blogs.   We don’t eat fake food .  The occasional times that we eat hot dogs, we eat the best quality ones with wholesome ingredients.   We buy real food.  Real Parmesan cheese, real maple syrup, real butter, real milk and real cheese.

The secret is in not paying full price for your food and sourcing your food from different places.  Not different than most retail establishments work.  You buy in bulk when it makes sense, you always buy a limited stock when something is half price or less.

Take advantage of sales and if you can pair a coupon, or two coupons with a sale, it just makes sense.  You can pair a manufacturers coupon (coupons,com) and a store coupon in the same transaction.  You can also take advantage of basket coupons and buy just what the coupon dictates.  F you have a ten dollars off of a basket of fifty dollars. You are getting 20 percent off.  But, only I’d you keep your basket to fifty dollars.   Buy anything you need to stock that is a good price.  If you go to a store that is twenty percent over regular price and buy full price items , You haven’t saved.

One of the first things you can do is invest 20-25 dollars in a bulk bag of flour, oatmeal, and yeast from Costco.  I assume sams club will be a about the same, we do not have sams club here.
The savings between buying muffins, bread, frozen pancakes or waffles and making your own is remarkable.  Many times 90 percent savings .  There are recipes  for mixes and quick recipes all over the internet to make life easy.  Oatmeal is healthy and costs .085 a serving when bought in a 10 pound box.  Takes no longer than making a microwave bag.  You can add a bit of apple. Bananas, or brown sugar, honey, whatever you like.

Buy baking supplies at holiday time.  Buy picnic supplies like BBQ sauce with coupons at picnic time.  Buy enough to last you all  year.  The savings will make it worth your while.   The cost can be a third of the cost.

Get into a routine of buying bulk protein on a rotation basis.  You will spend less and have a supply of protein ahead.  We have pork loin that we “slice” ourselves. Chicken breast that are  sometimes   De boned ourselves, and good hamburger.  Add cheese on sale, dry beans, and some ham or sausage if you want.  The cost between a can of beans and cooking your own beans is about 90 percent cheaper.

Simplify your food pantry. It is easier to control and takes less time to shop.  Group items together are on the shelf.  You can tell at a glance what you need to watch for a sale to buy.

 Set a specified amount of any one thing that you are putting in your pantry to stock. Start with a four to six weeks  supply.  If you use two cans of diced tomatoes a week, you need to keep 8-12 cans.  If you know your target price is .50 and no more than .58, you can also know where to find that item and stick when you see white space on your shelf.

Some things like sugar, catsup, BBQ sauce, cream soup, chocolate for baking, or marshmallows, if you buy them are best bought in sale during holiday months.  Like picnic time or the fall holidays like thanksgiving, Halloween, or Christmas.   Buy a years supply of anything that will not go bad.   The difference, between 1.58 for a can of cream soup and the .41 we paid with coupons is remarkable enough to make it worth your while and getting 75 percent off means that your bulk  purchase costs not much more than buying a few at full price.

Meal plan.   List the meals your family likes that take inexpensive sources of protein. Now, list the items you need to buy to make the dish.  We use a matrix for meal planning that is protein based.  It affords you a variety of meals and helps to judge how much of things you need to stock.

One last thought.  Studies have shown that not having food in your cupboards lowers your life expectancy.  No child should live not knowing where the next meal is coming from.  It makes for stress.  S t r e t c h i n g  a dollar 💵 is not  hard, it just takes a concentrated effort.

Note - typing on a reader can be a blessing or a curse.  This thing puts words where it thinks you want them.  It  is convenient when my back is out or my hip is giving me hell, but it is a challenge to avoid mis-spelling words.    Every effort has been made to correct errors.   There will still be judgmental  people that are perfect and not understand .  I get that.

Kitchen Management aka meal prep

Kitchen  management is a tool to save time and money 💰 in the kitchen.  Prepping for dinners saves stress at the sometimes hectic dinner hour.

• Wash kitchen floor 
• Clean and disinfect counter tops and sinks and drains.
• Clean out the refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀. 
• Note anything that needs to be used up soon 
• Wash any veggies  with vinegar water and set to dry that you will use this week. 
• Make beans for vegetable soup. 
• Clean out pantry for pantry challenge. 
• Take inventory 

Keeping a four to six weeks supply of basic foods that are non perishable and meat/ protein in your freezer is a good way to hedge yourself against life.   Life happens.  Right now, there are government workers that have to show up to work, but they are not going to get a paycheck.   They still have daycare bills and food to buy.   Having a food pantry is a way to get by in an emergency.  

Meal Plans

Meal plans are a tool that saves time and money.  It totally saves answeringnthe what’s for dinner question.   If you are organized, you are less stressed.   We re still on a no soend, which means we are on a 30.00 or less week budget.  It’s to,e to reduce the pantry to make room for the new bulk sales that should be appearing at your local chain store soon.

• Movie night- nachos or taco soup 
• Pizza
• Pork chops, mashed potatoes, honey ginger glazed carrots 
• Ranch Mac and cheese 
• SASON chicken pasta 
• Vegetable bean soup 
• Breakfast for dinner 

Notes 

1. New Year’s Eve is a good time to have a family movie.   Simple dinner fare , especially finger foods  is festive and easy.
2. Pizza is a mainstay around here.  The cost of a cheese pizza is a dollar when ingredients are purchased at RBP and it is made from scratch.  
3. Pork chops are from a pork loin purchased at .99 a pound.   The insta pot makes it with mushroom gravy on a matter of minutes.   Glazed carrots 🥕 are simple and tasty.  Carrots at Winco are 2.28 for five pounds as opposed  to baby carrots for a dollar or more a pound.  Inventing baby carrots  was a way for a farmer to sell his misshapen carrots instead of having to sell the, for animal feed.   
4. Ranch Mac and cheese lowers the amount of flour in the cheese sauce.   Boxed Mac and cheese has soap in it.   TSP was a soap that we used to sell at the paint store to wash the walls so the grease etc was off the walls and the paint would adhere better.   You needed to wear rubber gloves so it didn’t eat your hands up.   Another sink in moment. Lol 
5. SASON chicken pasta.   Uses a chicken breast that we got for a dollar a  pound. SASON is a spice blend that isn’t spicy hot , but has Tex mex flavors.   
6. Vegetable bean soup is full of protein, but doesn’t have meat in it,   It’s really healthy and a good contrast to the two pasta dishes this week.    
7. Breakfast for dinner is a family meal. Everyone cooks.  It can be French Toast. Waffles, pancakes. Or egg omelette, or a quiche.  Fruit or yogurt parfaits round out the meal.   

None of these meals are over five dollars.   None of them are extra time consuming.  J

Basic Pantry

Yesterday was a good day to clean the pantry and organize, take inventory.  We have gone with a thirty dollar a week pantry challenge  and went a little over, bit  we can  go another month easy and save some more towards the real estate taxes.   It is no secret that our stock market has taken a dump and anyone with  a 401k has taken gas.

Keeping a stock on  a four dollars a day budget is totally believable.   We have a decent stock and we averaged five dollars a week LESS than four dollars a day per person.

The basis for groceries in the cheap is to stock basic food when the price is low and stock enough to last you until it goes on sale again.   This is not a new concept, my mother had done it for years.  The trick is to simplify your stock list .  It just makes life easier.  Buying in bulk simplifies your grocery cart and gets you in and out of the store faster.   It also helps you with the concept of having a stock of food on hand in case of an emergency. Remember, if the power goes out, opening yoir refrigerator or freezer is not a good idea.   The longer the door is shut, the more cold  stays in and the longer you food will stay frozen,  having even a few things that are shelf stable, like cans or jars of dry food kits will facilitate you having emergency food and keep your freezer in tact as long as possible.   It is a concept that not everyone can grasp.

Buying a limited variety of meats allows you the luxury of buying it in bulk at the lowest possible price.  Picking a versatile meat allows you to eat a variety of dishes, while taking advantage of bargain prices.  Rotate your protein selections.  On our house, that would be hamburger, pork loin, chicken breast, and cheese, beans, and eggs.  I want to keep four dozen eggs at a time.  That is about a months supply.  The pull dates are usually a month out. So, buy purchasing two dozen at a time when they are at a low price, you can rotate out about every few weeks and always have fresh cheap eggs,  our eggs are about a dollar to one and a half dollars a dozen,  if they are more than the highest price, we don’t buy them.  I call that my “buy “ price or a target price.   Nothing to do with the store with the red balls.

Shelf ready pantry

1. Diced tomatoes.  Buy price .58 or less, Winco has no BPA in their cans . 
2. Pasta - it has an 8 YEAR shelf life.  Buy price 1.00 a POUND. Some packages are 12 ounces.  A four serving size is 1/2 a box. 
3. Pasta sauce.  I have been getting jars for a dollar  .  Classico comes in a canning jar size and the jars are a dollar alone. You  can’t can in them but  they are super for dehydrated foods and can be food saver sucked. 
4. Keep one ahead on catsup, mustard, and we have a few bbq sauce.  I want less than a dollar.   Use coupons when it is picnic time.  Also mayo.  Our last one was .67 with coupons and a sale. 
5. Instant mashed potatoes.  Try the bulk isle. 
6. Salad dressing.  Again, use sales and coupons. A dollar is a good price. You can make it yourself, but it is wasteful. 
7. Some canned soups for an emergency,  sales and coupons are great,  some of ours were  41 cents.  Cream soup base is inexpensive and quick the make. 
8. Chili, canned (some) cost less than a dollar. Bulk purchases. 
9. Dry beans.   Pintos are 67 a pound at the dollar  tree.  Non gmo, grown in USA. 
10. Popcorn, bulk from Costco 
11. A few cake mixes. Some at .68. Also brownie. 
12. Oatmeal one box at a time. 10 pounds at Costco is close to 8.00.  It comes out to .085 a serving.  There is no typo there. It is that cheap. 

1. Flour, sugar, yeast.   Costco for flour and sugar during the holidays when baking supplies are their cheapest.   Easter is the next one, 

I dry veggies and fruit when they look like I am not going to use all we have before they will go bad.  I have zucchini that we grated in the food processor and dried.  It is a good way to sneak veggies into a soup. 

Keeping a back up of some things and a small four to six week supply of other things is a good way to accommodate having food in the house and doing it at RBP.  (Rock bottom prices) soon, there will be case lot sales to move canned goods that are last years crop and make room for this years.  There is still usually well over a year on the pull dates.  The usda web site has listings of how past a pull date still makes your food safe.  It is not necessarily a day past the pull date, as much as some adult children think. Lol 

I am always reminded of a conversation I heard on the today show.  It made a lot more impression to me when I discovered that the host asking the question loved in a ten MILLION dollar house. He asked a lady what she would say to naysayers about couponing.  She matter of factory said, I would say, If you don’t understand, you have never been broke enough.  

Appliances that save you money and/or time

The Christmas world s full of appliances that, in my estimation are gadgets.  Hot dog cookers, breakfast machines come to mind.

There are, in reality some appliances that are worth their weight in gold.   Of course, if you are going to leave them in the box to collect dish because you don’t like appliances, they aren’t going to do you any good.  Lol.

10 appliances that will save you money —

1. Air pop corn popper.   Uses no oil, and replaces the nasty microwave popcorn. When  you make air popped popcorn, you control what goes on it and it doesn’t have any chemicals or ingredients  you can’t pronounce.  It is also really cheap compared to microwave popcorn. A very large canister at Costco was close to 12.00 last time I bought it.  
2. Drip coffee maker.   Compared to the big bucks store.....anyway, it makes a lot more coffee for the same price as a cup of Joe at one of those coffee shops.   
3. Toasters are nice, most people have them, but I can’t say that they save money,   
4. Food processor.   Again, worth its space on the counter.   Grind meat.  Make breadcrumbs.  Breadcrumbs, even at the dollar store are two dollars a pound.  It takes minutes to make them from the bread that you might ordinarily throw away.  So easy, my 6 yo granddaughter has been doing it for years.   Pizza dough.  The cost of pizza dough is .19.   It costs anywhere from 1.50 to 2.00 to buy in the deli department.  The dregs of a pork loin if I have any  are pulsed in the food processor to be added to good beef for a flavorful meatloaf.   
5. Hot air fryer.  Cooks fries or other would be deep fried foods in little or no fat— fast.    The savings here are in your health and time.  
6. Insta pot.   Cooks things easier and in less time than cooking scratch and watching the pot.   A can of beans can cost upwards of a dollar.   Even at Winco they are .58.   The equivalent of beans cooked on the insta pot are .05 .  A nickel.   Cooking scratch beans is an ordeal at best and you have to be home for hours.   Beans don’t freeze well, and they have a short refrigerator life as does rice.  The insta pot takes 1 footprint on the counter, but does the work of a rice cooker, a pressure cooker, a slow cooker, and some make yogurt.   They even make cheesecake.  Don’t let it overwhelm you, take 1 item to cook at a time.  How many times did you make something else for dinner or order pizza because you forgot to pull out the chicken to thaw and defrosted chicken in the microwave is yuk yuk,  cook a frozen chicken breast in a few minutes.   
7. Upside down blender.  There is a name for this, but I don’t know what it is,   It makes smoothies and blends or “ beats “ things like eggs to a homogeneous consistency .  Not money saving , but time savings.  I guess of you are buying smoothies, they are probably cheaper to make at home. 
8. Waffle iron.  You can get waffle irons at reasonable price if you don’t get a commercial one.  The price of waffles in the frozen food case is about 90 percent more than making scratch.  You can  still make more than you need for Sunday breakfast and freeze them. Chocolate waffles are to die for!   Lol
9. A food saver extends the life of freezer meat and dehydrated veggies in mason jars. 
10. Our electric grill was about 20.00 on same at kohl’s. It doesn’t save money, but it makes French Toast, pancakes, and toasted sandwiches a whole lot easier to cook and in less time because  you can cook them in one batch instead of the many batches that you might have to cook if using a frying pan.  

December what we ate

1. Beef stroganoff 
2. Spaghetti 
3. Pork roast , mashed potatoes, green beans 
4. Pizza
5. Pork sliders , tater tots, fruit 
6. Loaded potato soup 
7. Pork chops, dressing with apple and Craisens, green beans pear salad 
8. Meatball subs, oven fries 
9. Fajitas, rice 
10. Spaghetti 
11. Meatballs, white gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans 
12. Steak, baked potatoes, mixed veg, sslad 
13. Chicken pot pie 
14. Nachos 
15. Chicken noodle soup 
16. Taco soup 
17. Leftovers 
18. Chicken chimichanga 
19. Potato soup 
20. Leftovers 
21. Spaghetti 
22. Roast beef a jus 
23. Baked potato bar 
24. Christmas Eve. Greenbeans with pecans and blue cheese or bacon 
25. French Toast, berry compote. Bacon, sparkling cider 
26. Chicken enchaladas with green sauce, 
27. French bread pizza. 
28. 
    
29. 
    
30. 
    
31.  
32. 
    

Hauls to 12/26 Left 22.75

left 6.12

Budget 30.00
Total 36.12

Olives 1.00
Pumpkin 2 ea .50
Tomato sauce  3 /1.00
Bacon 3 lbs 5.00
Cream cheese .50
Sliced cheese 2.19

Total. 13.37

Left 22.75

Hauls to 1/2 /19

Winco

Carrots (5#) 2.28

Roast beef 1.84

Grapes 6.20

Boullion 4.98

Total 

15.30

QFC
Bacon (5) 14.95

Total 30,25

December recap hauls

No spend 30.00 budget for December

12/6 to 12/13
21.24

12/13-12/19
32.64

12/19-12/26
44.93


12/26-1/2 19
30.25

Average 32.26

Includes  bulk bacon and cheese.

The best of the chains store ads

note that Winco does. It have an ad.  I post when I have been to the store and can verify a good deal. 

Safeways 

Berries  BOGO

Digital coupon for nakkys chili .90 limit 2

QFC 

Clementines, 5 lb bag 4.88

Milk .99

Eggs .99

Oranges .99

Pork shoulder roast BOGO 

Fred Meyers 

Foster Farms whole chicken .99

Note the legs, thighs and quarters are the same price, but nit a bargain 

Digital 5, FRIDAY to Monday. Breakfast sausage 1.50

Barilla pasta 1.00

Pillsbury tube rolls 2/4 $$

B5 S 5

Crisco oil 1.99

Coffee, foldgers 6.99

Red Barron pizza 3/10

Traditionally  , the holiday ads are more, what’s FOR  sale than they are what’s ON sale.   

Not many bargains here, exception would be milk and eggs at qfc. 

Eggs have a long refrigerator life and are a good stores of protein and versatile.  You can easily keep a months supply and rotate out as they come on sale.  This affords you to always buy eggs at a good price most of the time.   We have buy prices or target prices for things,   If the item isn’t better than the buy price, we just don’t buy it unless there is no substitute and we have to have it.  If you stock a 4-6 week supply, you can usually avoid getting stuck paying a top dollar price.   

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas. 

Stories from Christmas past


The Christmas the Grinch was pranked.

One Christmas our family was invited to  tea by a Greek captain of a ship.  We had marvelous tea and Greek cookies in the captains quarters.   When we got home, some naughty little elves had broken into  my parents home and stole my gift.   I can only imagine the look on their faces when what to their wandering eyes should appear, but an empty box saying my present wasn’t here .   My mom had ordered sewing scissors for me and they hadn’t come yet .


The Christmas miracle.
My best Christmas was the one when I brought my youngest son home  from the hospital.  My husband picked me up and we picked the rest of the kids from his family’s Christmas and we went to my parents home  on the island.  They had served canned chicken Chinese food for dinner at the hospital. I was grateful, for the plate my mother saved for me...roast beef.   I was especially grateful that my mother and my husband took turns feeding my son so I could get a much needed full night’s sleep.

Home for Christmas
Then there was the Christmas that we had to decide to pull the plug on my dad’s respirator.  A really memorable night to remember.   My sisters and mom ate leftovers together. That hadn’t happened for a long time and hasn’t happened since.  It was the Christmas that dad went to see his mom he hadn’t seen since he was 14 .


The rock.
The Christmas that my eldest son got a rock!  It was just too funny .  We had bought him a bike for Christmas.  He was 10 yo and got home  from school  a few minutes before I got home from work.  I just knew he would snoop .  So, we left the bike in Grampas garage.   Early Christmas Eve, my husband went to fetch the bike. Meanwhile , our eldest was very upset because there weren’t any packages under the tree for him .  Did I say he would snoop!   So, I went outside and picked up the big rock that was in the flower bed next to the front door.  I wrapped it up complete with fancy bow.  He shook that package until it was thread bare.  He kept saying, what is it?   I finally  said it was a rock .  Yah, right mom was his answer.  We let him open the rock while  my husband went down and got the bike.

The Barbie Christmas
My daughter walked in on me wrapping gifts.  She was getting Barbie stuff for Christmas .  I told her they were for her cousin, Kristin.   I didn’t want to spoil her Christmas.  She then proceed to be get upset  because  Kristin was getting all the Barbie stuff !

Merry Christmas !  Hope that  you new year is filled with new beginnings and memorable moments.

Insta pot tutorials

It’s  Christmas Eve and Monday Kitchen Management  has been preempted.   In case  someone is getting an insta pot for Christmas, or you have one and am wondering what to do with it, this is for you,   

Modern pressure cookers  are a far cry from our grandmothers.  They are much safer and most are electronic.   The insta pot is a pressure cooker, a rice cooker, a slow cooker  and some are yogurt makers too.   Unlike some appliances that fall into the trap where if they are multi task, they don’t  do anything well, the insta pot is a workhorse in the kitchen and take a lot less of a footprint on your countertop.   No, I don’t have stock in insta pot!   Lol

Just a few basics. It is important to check you seals every now and then and make sure that they are all in tact and clean.  Also the pressure valve — a little bump out inside the lid needs  to be clean. 

Always use the pressure cooker function with a clear LIQUID.   And, never make split pea soup on the pressure mode, unless you want to be cleaning for e v e r.  Lol 

Many foods that can take a lot of time and attention can be made a lot more efficiently.  

• Rice : measure rice, wash it if you  ordinarily wash your rice,   Place equal parts of rice and water or stock in the bowl, cover, seal, and push the rice button. 
• Beans: pick over your beans and discard any foreign material. Rinse in colander,   Poor beans in the bowl. Cover with water to above your second knuckle.  Cover, seal, and push the bean button.   Seal means place your valve to the seal position. 
• Spaghetti with meat sauce.   Place cooked meat on the bottom of the bowl. Alternative,y, you can set the cooker to sauté and cook your raw meat until no longer pink and drain off the fat.  If you cook raw meat, you then need to turn off the cooker.  Add 1/2 a package (8 ounces) of spaghetti that has been broken in half over the meat in a bird nest fashion,   That will insure that your noodles won’t stick together.  Norm pour a can or jar of pasta sauce over the noodles, Pour 2 cups of water or broth AROUND the outside of the bowl as to not disturb the sauce and noodles.   Place the cover on the insta pot, set to seal, and manually program it for 8 minutes.   You can finish the salad or bread or whatever else you are going to eat, because you,need to catch the pot when it finishes cooking or shortly after and manually release.  Be careful and use a wooden spoon type instrument to release.  You can also put a dish towel over the vent .  Not manually releasing will result in over cooked pasta.   
• Cooking just pasta.  Place pasta in the bowl, you will need a quart of water for a package of pasta.  Cover, set the valve to seal and process on manual for 2 minutes.  Again, don’t let the pasta sit on the water .  Most of the water will be absorbed and sitting will make it over cooked.  
• Cook frozen chicken breast on a trivet, with at least a cup of water or stock and cook for anywhere from 8-15 minutes depending on the thickness of your  chicken breast.  Test for doneness with a meat thermometer and make sure you have no pink in the center.  This is good for anything you are making that calls for cooker chicken.  

We make pork or beef stew in 35 minutes.   You can make pork chops with cream of mushroom gravy in a matter of minutes.   I prefer a pork roast in the oven.  Cheesecake is marvelous.  Also, a taco pie that is another ten minute meal. 

The. Internet is full of ideas and recipes.  Six  sisters on  U tube is a good resource .  

As well as a guy that is called something like Pressure Luck. 

Meal Plans

Meal plans are an necessary tool  to save  time and money.  It’s one ofnthe things along with kitchen management that takes away a lot of the stress of making dinner during the busy dinner hour.

• Christmas Eve:  green beans with blue cheese and oceans, or green beans with bacon on the side. 
• Christmas breakfast: sparkling juice, waffles or French Toast, bacon, fruit, yogurt, English muffins, 
• Pork roast, mashed potatoes. Green beans, 
• Pork sliders , oven fries, 
• Pizza
• Enchaladas, rice, beans 
• Breakfast for dinner 

We continue to have no spend.   Christmas Eve comes out of the entertainment budget.  Christmas Day is food at home.   Our average for the YEAR is under four dollars a day per person, and we still have a stock. We saved almostmfive dollars a week, 

Simplify your shopping list , make efficient scratch meals, buy groceries at their lowest orice, stock up on non perishables when they are cheap, and rotate buying protein in bulk. 

Try a soup  once or twice a week.  

Try breakfast for dinner .  We don’t mean cereal here, but a full diner breakfast will put you over.

Pizza costs a dollar a pizza.  Add topping from leftover meals.   

Pork and chicken are rmeoeated and varied over weekmbecaise with two of us, we use a larger piece of meat twice in the same week,   Pork roast becomes pork sliders.  Chicken breast becomes chicken pot pie and maybe chicken enchaladas or pizza.   

Portion control.  Portion control, portion control. Your waistline and your health will appreciate it. 

Be Prepared

Every Part of our great country has some weather phenomenon that can put us high and dry so to speak.   Windstorms, tornados, floods, earthquakes among a few,   It is always good to have some back up plans to eat with little or no ingredients or prep.   

I’m an remember a snowstorm where we lost power.   We had a power box to he,o for a short time.  I made a fire in the fireplace and let the fire die down to coals.   We put a cast iron Dutch oven in the coals and heated soup and I made sandwiches from things in the pantry.  If you open the freezer or refrigerator, you let air n and you loose their efficiency.   

While others were driving in the snow looking for a restraint that had lower, we were eating and listening to the basketball game, warm and dry, 

Meals n a jar is a good way to be prepared,   Most take a bit of water and can be made on the fireplace or on a bbq.   In your desk drawer , it makes for a quick bit of food if you are stuck in the office in a deadline.   

Potato soup in a jar. 

2/3 cup mix to a cup of hot water. Or use water until the consistency you desire, 

Mix 

2 cups dried potatoes 

1-1/4 cups dry milk powder 

1-1/2 T chicken boullion 

1/2 tsp parsley 

1/4 tsp pepper 

Mix and store  in a clean dry jar.  Shake before using, 

Cream soup base 

2 cups dry milk 

1-1/2 cups cornstarch 

1/2 cup chicken granulated stock 

4 T onion powder 

2 tsp basil

2 tsp thyme 

1 tsp pepper 

Place 2/3 cup in a pint jar and add dried veggie of your choice. 

Cook with 1 part mix to two parts water,   

Note :  you can get non msg and low sodium chicken granules, 

Saxon 

Equal parts 

Coriander 

Cumin

Paprika 

Garlic POWDER 

Salt 

Use in any Mexican type dish 

Hauls to 12/26

Left 6.12


franz bread

14.81

Cheese snacks
6 large French bread
5 bagels. English muffins, Texas toast
1 hoagie rolls
1 oganic whole grain
1 chocolate donuts
2 white bread


Fred Meyers
Tortilla chips
4 boxes raspberries, blueberries
Grapes
Sour cream
Total 13.97

Total 28.76

Left 7.34

Milk 1.37
Eggs 1.53

Friday Recipe Day

Last  night we made insta pot potato soup.   This was in the insta pot, but it could be made on the stove, it would just take a bit more watching . the whole thing comes in at 1.50 to feed four .

2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
1 large, or two small carrots, peeled and sliced thin,
1 stalk celery, chopped onto cubes.
3 cups chicken or vegetabke stock
Pouches of :
Thyme, salt, pepper, parsley, onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic, minced

Place ingredients in insta pot and close lid and set vent to “seal”
Program to process manually for 3 minutes.

When done  processing, let partially de pressure and then finish it manually. Open the lid and turn  the pot off.  Switch  to sauté mode.

Mix 1 cup milk with 2 Tablespoons of corn starch.  Stir until thickened


Optional garnish with cooked crumbled bacon, green onion tops or cheese .

We served it with  French bread 🥖 buttered and sprinkled  with parmesean cheese and parsley,

This can also be made by putting the ingredients all but the milk and cornstarch inna pot on the stove and simmering until the potatoes and vegetables are tender. Turn the heat up and add the milk and cornstarch .

Bread from Franz Outlet Store

Franz Outlet Store is on 164th street near Wall Mart.  It is well worth the trip every month or so for us.  Yes, it is cheaper to make bread from scratch.  That doesn’t always happen here. Especially when talking bagels and English muffins. Also, the high fiber breads.

Wednesday’s and Sunday’s are ten percent off for military and seniors.  
Also, there are free bread for bulk purchases.  We spent 15.00 to get two loads of white bread. They gave us a box of chocolate donuts as well.

We got
6 only 12 inch French breads
6 inky smaller hoagie rolls
2 English muffins
1 blueberry bagels
1 loaf bread for French Toast
1 package cheese snacks
1 loaf of high fiber bread, organic
Totaled 14.81

10 items, one of which was six loaves of bread, so really 16 loaves for 14.81 or less than .92.5 cents a loaf . English muffins were 1.99 someplace, the grain bread would have been at least 4.00 and the Texas  Toast loaf is on sale for 2.00 and I’ve seen it for 4.00.  Bread has taken a big hike lately. Even Winco wanted 1.19 for hamburger buns.  

Hauls to 12/19

8.76 left

30.00

Total 38.76

Winco 

18 eggs 1.89

Yellow squash .70

Cucumber .48

Pears 1.26

Brownie mix 2 - 1.36

Grapes 4.54

Ice cream 2.98

Parm 2.38

Tomatoes 1.69

Egg rolls 2.48

Diced tomatoes (10) 5.80

Total 25.44

Left 13.32

QFC
5 cheese .99
10 Yoplait 2.15

Total 7.20

Left 6.12 

Chain store ads - the best of

QFC

Spiral ham 1.27
Strawberries, blackberries 2/5

Tillamook brick cheese 4.99
Pumpkin pie 3.99

Digital coupons

Progresso soup  2/2
Cake mix .79
Yoplait 10/4 $$
American beauty pasta 4/3

*****
Sour cream 4/5

Marie callnders pie 4.99 with FREE ice cream
Crescent rolls 3/5$$
Ritz crackers 1.99
Sweet potatoes .99

Safeways

Mandarines 2.99 - 3 lbs
Potatoes 1.99 10 lbs


Butter 1.99@@

Extra lean ground beef 3.99
Jimmy Dean sausage 2/6$$
Foldgers coffee 5.99@@
Frozen veggies 1.49 -2lbs @@




Fred Meyers

Ham 1.27
Berries 2/3
Oranges 2.99
Sweet potatoes .99

Pork loin BOGO

Ritz crackers 1.77

DIGITAL COUPONS
Cake mix .79 ( note Alberways wants 1.25)
Artisan bread 1.99
Hillshire farm sausage 2/5


B4S4

Sausage 2.49$$
Frozen fruit 2.99 -  best if 16 ounces 

$$ means there are coupons out there 
@@ means with an in ad coupon 

Lentil soup in a pot.

Carrie Ulness 

Monday Kitchen Management aka food prep

Kitchen Management is a tool that can help you save money and time.  It deflates some of the stress bubble that happens around the hectic dinner hour,

Reminder of meals

• Taco soup 
• Pizza 
• Chicken enchaladas 
• Chicken chilli 
• Loaded potato soup 
• Fish cakes oven fries 
• Breakfast for dinner 

Prep 

1. Wash kitchen floor 
2. Clean and disinfect countertops and sinks and drains.
3. Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀. 
4. Note things in refrigerator that need to be used up soon 
5. Wash potatoes and carrots 
6. Make pizza dough , freeze 
7. Straighten pantry

Watching your perishables carefully helps to make sore that you keep waste down.  Apples hanging around too long?  Make applesauce or muffins.   Vegetables 🌶, make vegetable omelets.   

Yogurt, make parfaits for dinner with breakfast for dinner,   It works well if you are having a entree that has little protein.   If a dimmer is short on the protein like the loaded potato soup, you can either add cheese , bacon, or ham to the soup or have a protein loaded desert.   Remember, we don’t need as much protein as Americans are used to eating. One peanut butter sandwich  is enough to satisfy the protein grams for our 6 yo.  She eats  more, but that is the stats.  

Things like homemade granola bars with honey and popcorn are better alternatives than sugary or calorie laden no food valise junk food.  Apples and oranges are a good alternative and usually can be purchased for under a dollar a pound.  The doctors and nutrition people will tell you to give a child an apple instead of that sugar laden juice box or apple juice. 

Meal Plans

Meal plans are necessary to keep things running smoothly,   This week before Christmas there are so many extra things to do, that soup seems to be the word of the day,   It’s fast, easy and warm on the cold weather.

• Taco soup 
• Pizza
• Chicken enchaladas 
• Potato soup loaded 
• Fish cakes, oven fries, fruit 
• White chicken  chili 
• Breakfast for dinner 

Notes :

1. Hamburger meat was a bulk purchase last spring,  cooking hamburger , de fatting it and freezing it takes a lot of work out of the dinner hour.  Taco soup is a pretty much dump and go on the insta pot or slow cooker . 
2. Pizza is a mainstay here.  Batch making pizza dough in the kitchen aid saves time.  Anything that you can give a little attention to and an appliance takes over is a good thing on my book.  
3. Chicken is also from a bulk purchase.   Enchiladas take a bit more to,e, but well worth it.  They can  be made early on the day and put on the oven when it’s time for dinner,   
4. Insta pot potato soup is full of vegetables and the toppings add more protein,   Yum! And it’s easy, 
5. Fish cakes can be made and chilled ahead.   Fried in a little olive oil.   Oven fries in the hot pot means a little olive oil is all. 
6. White chicken chili uses the rest of a batch of chicken .
7. Breakfast for dinner is a family meal. Everyone cooks.   

Spending more time planning your shopping trips and meals and less time cooking is a more efficient way to save money and still eat well.    

Quotes ....

My mother used to say that 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,  

No food  does anyone good if  you are  feeding it to the garbage disposal.

It’s not  what you buy as much as it is when and where you buy it.

Make a plan or plan to fail.

Help to reduce your food costs is everywhere, you just have to be open to it.

The operative word in junk food is junk.

Read labels. Do you want to eat that?    There are wood pulp and caustic soap on s,e of the boxes out there.   Fortunately, there are other choices.

Christmas cookie time.

Since  I wrote today’s blog yesterday and hit the wrong button, you already have read it.   Oops,!

Today is a half day for school....again.

It’s time for chocolate Kringle cookies.   I always enjoy the he,o of granddaughter because rolling cookie dough is not my favorite thing to do and she is sooo good at it.

I usually make the dough, use a portion scoop and hand it off for her to roll and dip.  

What are your favorite cookies to make?  

Involving  children on the cookie making is a good way to keep them busy and make memories.  

Friday Focus

Basic foods that are versatile and inexpensive are your key to eating well on a budget.   Picking a few cuts if meat and some inexoemsove other origin choices makes life easier and affords you to buy bulk and save time and money.

A pork loin, good hamburger, and chicken breast are all good alternatives.   Add cheese, beans and eggs.   Buy on bulk as inexpensive  as you can find them.  Rotate your expenses to maximize your budget.  

Versatile osmthe key word.  There are zillions, no exaggeration, of recipes out there for chicken and hamburger.  Pork loin can be cut into roasts, pork chops, stew meat, amd stir fry,  

Since protein is one of the most expensive parts of your bidget, saving money on it first is a good idea.

You can have good meals and still keep a very inexpensive budget.

• Pork chops, bread stuffing with Craisens and apple. Vegetable 
• Pork roast, mashed potatoes. Fruit salad 
• Pork sliders. Oven fries, coleslaw 
• Burritos. Spanish rice, lettuce. Tomatoes
• Taco soup , tortilla chips. Grated cheese. 
• Meatballs amd gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans 
• Tacos. Homemade refried beans, 
• Chicken pot pie 
• Roast chicken , rice seasoned with chicken stock and herbs, honey ginger glazed carrots, 
• Chicken stir fry , rice 
• French Toast. Maple syrup, yogurt and fruit parfaits, bacon 
• Egg omlettes, English muffins, fruit
• Quiche, field greens with strawberries 
• Chilli, cheese, tortilla chips, sour cream 
• Enchaladas, salad 
• Rice and beans 
• Pork stew, sourdough bread 
• Pork stir fry , rice 
• Chicken noodle soup 
• Pizza: chicken, or sausage and pepperoni, or vegetables  or a combination .also leftover meat. 
• Breakfast burritos. 

Versatile sources of protein that can be purchased for around two dollars a pound average are a good way to s t r e t c h your food dollar and still eat well.   

Hauls to 12/13

Costco

Oatmeal 8.29

Qfc
Buns  1.19

Grocery outlet
Bacon 5.00 (3 ea)
Cheese 2.29

Total 7.29

QFC
2 sugars (8 lbs) @ .99
1 canola oil @ 1.49
Total 3.47

Total 20.24


9.76 left,

QFC
Bread 1.00

Total Left
8.76



Tips and  tricks.

Oatmeal in bulk at Costco costs .085 a serving,   Add milk and something for flavor and you have a hearty breakfast with fiber and protein.  A little apple chunks, banana, honey, cinnamon sugar, raisins or Craisens go a long way to make it delightful

Buy things like sugar, vegetabke oil and other baking needs at holiday time.  Buy sugar and anything else that doesn’t spoil in bulk and buy enough for the year.   The savings can be remarkable and you don’t have that item on your list for a year.  Simplify.  The less things you oit in your cart, the quicker the checkout and the faster you can get through one of your two stores.    It os also faster to out things away.

I bought a large bag of salt and soda a long long time ago.   They dint go bad and those things are off my list.   The salt  was five dollars and will last my lifetime and my daughters lifetime, and probably into my granddaughters lifetime.  Soda and vinegar are both good inexpensive cleaning  supplies.

Chain store ads/ the best of

QFC

Digital , buy up to five , Thursday, Friday, Saturday 

Cheese .99


Raspberries or blues 2/4
Oranges .99
Apples .99

Tillamook  ice cream 2/6

More digital all week

American beauty pasta 4/3 (.75)
Yoplait 10/4 $$$$
******

Tillamook cheese on a brick 5.99
Free ice cream when you buy a 4.99 pie.


Fred Meyers

Digital, buy up to 5, Thu, Fri, Sat 
Kroger cheese .99

Progresso soup 1.00
American beauty pasta 4/3
Yoplait .50
Cake mix .79


Alberways

BOGO - bargain ????
Round steak
Lean ground beef 80/20
New York steak
Pork loin chops

Navisco snack crackers 1.69@@
Milk 1.99@@

Tube biscuits 1.00@@

Coupons, digital or part in ad
Cream soup. .89
Coffee, foldgers 5.99

Winco
18 eggs 1.89
Pears and yellow squash .88
Graoes 1.48
Diced tomatoes .58. All of Winco canned foods are BPA free.
BC brownie mix .68

Sandstrom chicken thighs and legs are a good buy.  I can’t re,e,get exact, but around .78.

Tuesday Notes

I have been watching a lot of how to save money videos and radio whenever my back is out,   I tend to listen to the radio when I am working in my art room.   Like on the news sometimes, I have heard some whoppers.

First  of all, it is not cheaper to buy a  block of cheese and grate it yourself.   Cheese is cheese.   Check the price per pound.   I have been getting it for under two dollars a pound. Always  check your per pound unit price.   It makes no sense to work any harder than you have to.   Now, if you want a specialty cheese instead of sharp cheddar, Mexican blend or mozzarella, it is probably going   to necessitate your grating it yourself.   But, for what we use for everyday cheese, it just isn’t to your advantage to buy a brick.

We toured the Tillamook cheese factory years ago.  They make a huge block of cheese.  Then it goes to a station here it os out through a giant cheese slicer where it is cut into two pound bricks.  The pieces that are leftover go into what I would describe as a bus boy tray.  These trays go on to the shredder to be made into bags of cheese. In other words, shredded cheese is the leftovers.

Next whopper is that it is cheaper to have your food delivered.  It is just common sense that if you ask someone to do your labor , it is going to cost you more.  If you price check the items, you will find that they are more expensive than you can find elsewhere; or sometimes, even at that particular store.  Even if they wave a delivery charge, you should tip the delivery person.  You loose the control of price comparison, and looking for alternatives if something is priced  too high.  It’s true you avoid impulse buys, but that’s a high price  for not  having self control.   If I only  want a few things and I don’t want to see markdowns or special buys, I send my hubby to do the shopping.  He will usually come home with just what is on the list, and only deviate if he sees the item cheaper.  He has shopped with me long enough to know what’s a bargain.

When we were both out of work, he would go with me to shop.   I truly thought he was just walking around aimlessly and bored. One day we came upon a end can display of 8 ounce cans of tomato sauce marked .25 .  He said, “ that’s not a bargain, they were a dime last week.”
He is a lot more savvy a shopper than he was when we were first married.

The best rule of thumb is of someone  has to extend their labor on a product, it is going to be more expensive.  A bowl of cut up fruit is going to be a lot more expensive  than buying the fruit and cutting it yourself for example.   A rotisserie chicken will be about three times what it cost to buy it and cook it yourself. There are ways to cook a whole chicken that takes less than 10 minutes.   

For the most part, any boxed mix or bag dinner in the freezer section, will be a lot more expensive than making it from scratch. The exception is pasta sauce when you get it on sale.  By the time you buy tomatoes fresh or canned, you have spent more than pasta sauce especially if you get it on sale.  The exception is of you grow your own tomatoes.  And, as I was reminded by a reader, some people are sensitive and can taste metallic from canned food.  You can get pasta sauce in jars.  I got Classico for a dollar not long ago.  It costs .80 for the jar and a canning jar lid works on it.  I don’t think I would can in them,  but I use them for dehydrated food and food storage.  We are trying to avoid plastic when we can.

Virtual paycheck.  It is a concept not everyone can grasp.  If you compare the price of something made from scratch with the ready made product, you will find the price difference. Now, time how long it will take you to make the product from scratch.  Divide the time by the profit.  This will give you the amount per hour that you are saving.  If you make Starbucks lemon pound cake, it is about 212.00 an hour.  If you make tortillas, it’s about  ten cents an hour. I have purchased tortillas for as little as .50 a package.   Use your time wisely.

The concept that using an insta pot takes just as long as making a dish in the stove is a misconception.
It is true that the pot has to come up to pressure, and  then it cooks sometimes in a fraction of the time.  The difference is in the fact that you can take a few minutes to load the pan on an insta pot, and after you program it, you can walk away.  Instead of watching a pot, you can finish the rest of dinner.  In the time it takes to cook spaghetti complete with meat sauce, you can make a salad and butter the French bread.  Maybe even set the table! Lol 😂
Stew cooks on 35 minutes, not two hours.  Chicken breast from frozen on 15 minutes.  If you de frost it on the microwave and cook it, it won’t be as moist  and it will take longer. Now, I, not going to tell you that it will have a crispy skin, but boneless, skinless chicken breast won’t have skin anyway.

The bottom line is that you can’t always believe everything you hear and common sense has to prevail.   When buying food, do the math.

Kitchen Management aka meal prep

Kitchen management is setting aside an hour when things are less hectic can save a lot of time when they aren’t, namely dinner  time.  

By prepping for dinner and using a meal plan, you save time and money and reduce your stress.   If you clean one thing towards a deep clean a week , your kitchen deep clean  is a lot less work.

Meal plans are a plan, and plans can change, but you are a step ahead of no plan. I was sick last night and didn’t feel like cooking.  I defrosted a bag of fajitas and added diced tomatoes and we had fajitas.  
Now that have part of a can of diced tomatoes.   Tonight we will  have spaghetti in the insta pot so I can use the rest of the can of tomatoes.  

Spaghetti in the insta pot—

1 ) Cooked hamburger, about 1/2 a pound.  Or, cook it on sauté and drain of fatty hamburger,  
2) Add 1/2 pound of spaghetti noodles, broken in half, and placed in a circle around the meat,   Like a birds nest.  This is to prevent noodles sticking together.
3) pour a jar or can of pasta sauce over the noodles and hamburger.
4) pour 2 cups of broth of your choice AROUND the outside of the noodles.  You don’t want to disturb the noodles and pasta sauce.
5) put the lid on the pot and make sure it is set to the seal position.
6) process on manual for 8 minutes.
7) when it is done, manually release the pressure.  Letting the pot release its own pressure will result in water logged noodles.  
8) while the pot is coming to pressure and cooking, you can make the rest of dinner without tending to a pot.

Meal plans

• Chicken pot pie 
• Fajitas 
• Chicken noodle soup 
• Shrimp and noodles 
• Christmas party out
• Pizza 
• Breakfast  for dinner 

Kitchen management 

1. Put the stove vent screen in the dishwasher 
2. Change the lightbulbs on the task lights 
3. Wash kitchen floor 
4. Clean and disinfect countertops and sinks and drains. 
5. Clean out the refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀.
6. Note things on refrigerator that need to be used up soon 
7. Cook chicken for the chicken pot pie and soup 
8. Wash vegetables for the soup and pot pie.
9. Check the mixes and replentish any that need  to be added to.

Rice mix 

Taco seasoning 

Ranch dressing mix 

Cream soup base 

Meal plans for week of 12/10 no spend

No spend December with  a 30.00 budget .

Meal plans arema way to make life easier and save time and money .

We use a protein based matrix.

• Chicken pot pie 
• Dinner party out 
• Pizza - buffalo chicken 
• Chicken noodle soup. Biscuits 
• Breakfast for dinner 
•  Fajitas, rice 
• Shrimp and noodles 

Notes 

1. Chicken pot pie uses chicken breast purchased on bulk for a  dollar a pound.   Mixed veggies were .88.  Cream of chicken soup was .49.   
2. Buffalo chicken pizza uses some chicken from the chicken breast, hot sauce. White cheese, parm, blue cheese dressing.   Blue cheese if you have it. 
3. Fajitas are leftover from a previous meal in the freezer. 
4. Chicken noodle soup is a good cold weather meal. Comfort food is always good. 
5. Shrimp and noodles uses the rest of the noodles from the soup. 
6. Breakfast for dinner is a mainstay here, everyone participates.   Eggs continue to be cheap, one dozen of ours was free.   Keeping a controlled supply gives you the luxury of waiting for cheap prices.  We also have dehydrated eggs in a mason jar that has been food saver processed.  They were .78 a dozen and a good back up for emergencies.   

Buying food as inexpensive as you can keeps your food budget down.  Bulk buying some things inexpensive is a good tool.  Anticipating your needs and buying multiples to last you until the next sale is another way to cut your costs.   Relate it to a stockbroker.  They want to buy low and sell high.   You want to buy low and eat then food when the price is high. Not too different than when our great grandmothers on the farm, bought fruit and veggies when they were plentiful in the summer and canned for the winter.   

Start saving for bulk purchases.  Soon the new crop will be filling stores warehouses.  Last years crop  will be put on case sales.   Last year I lucked out and the case sales coincided with a basket  coupon.  

Still half price food is never something to pass up if you can help it.   

Planning to use leftovers is a good way to stretch your meals.  It saves time and money.  One study says tha we throw out 40 percent of our food.   That seems high to me, but with the fad of buying organic food, it is not surprising.   Most pesticides are water based.  They wash off.  We use vinegar in the water.   Organic food spoils almost as soon as you get it on the house.   At least, that is my experience.  The cost is  almost always twice that of regular food.  The farmers  aren’t making as much money.   That tells me that it just might be a marketing ploy to make higher profits.   Just my opinion .   

 

Concept Saturday

Yesterday. We talked about basics.  It’s a state of mind.   Our grandmothers or great grandmothers went through the Great Depression and the Workd Wars where food was either in short supply or rationed or money was more than tight.  There was no welfare back in the depression time.  Soup kitchens was it.   They learned to stretch what they had and morph a bit of a leftover into  something new.

Using what you have and using inexpensive  ingredients can stretch your food dollar a lot.  Carrots can be on a stew or they can be on a carrot bread or on carrot and raisin salad.

Rice can be a side dish, rice pudding, or rice and beans.  Spanish rice, or rice pilaf .

A pork loin can be a roast, sliders, stew, stir fry, or pork chops.  Pork chops with stuffing, pork chops with rice.  

Potato dumplings, mashed potatoes, potato fries, boiled potatoes or potatoes in stew, hash browns....

Sausage pizza, sausage omelette, sausage on soup.

Eggs, well, just about a zillion different ways.  Besides breakfast for dinner, they go in a host of baked goods and pasta. A good source of protein that can supplement a dinner that is short on protein.
Yogurt parfaits are another way to stretch the protein . Layer yogurt, fruit, yogurt, granola, etc until a small glass or dish is full. Top with granola and a berry of you have one.  Frozen blueberries work well.

Pizza is a good way to stretch bits of meat and cheese.  The cheapest pizza sauce is to either set aside a couple of tablespoons from pasta sauce or get it from the dollar store aka DT.   Freeze the pasta sauce in an ice cube tray and then when frozen, pop them into a zip lock bag and put them in the door of the freezer.  Two cubes dress a small pizza.  Also, whenever you are chopping anything that can go on a pizza, set aside a couple of tablespoons  and freeze.    Soon, you will have a stash in the freezer ready to make a pizza in a hurry.   Just be sure to keep it all in a section of the freezer,  we have a side by side refrigerator so one shelf works.  The bulk pizza dough fits on the shelf as well.   Making four pizza crusts in the kitchen aid takes nit much more time than making one pizza.  Now, putting a pizza together is done in a matter of minutes.  My granddaughter did it from the ball of dough to ready for the oven at four years old.

Of course, we had happy face pizzas, but she was happy, felt accomplished, and stayed out of trouble. LOL

Chicken pizza can use a little bit of cooked  chicken.  Buffalo chicken pizza is a good alternative and can be as hot or not as you like it.

Chicken is a versatile meat.  The internet and cookbooks are full of recipes.
A lot of southwest or Tex mex recipes as well as old family favorites.  Chicken can often be found for a dollar or less a pound.  Rotisserie chicken is never a bargain. That is on another blog.

Ground meat is another budget stretcher. Figure a quarter pound per person unless you are also using another source of protein in the meal.  Tacos have cheese, chili has beans.  Hamburger crumbles stretch further than patties.  Armor meatballs are cheaper than buying the meat AD making them yourself.  I have been finding coupons lately.  The cheapest I have seen are at Winco.  With coupon they netted 1.45 for the equivalent of making a pound hamburger into meatballs from scratch.

Simplifying your ingredients means you can buy your ingredients in bulk and buying in bulk means less time and money in the store .

What we ate ...

December 2018

1. Beef stroganoff 
2. Spaghetti 
3. Roast pork, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans 
4. Pork sliders,, tater tots , fruit 
5. Pizza
6. Potato soup, loaded 
7. Pork chops with gravy, stuffing with craisens, pear salad, green beans 
8. 
   

Basics

Grocery on the cheap takes a different approach to putting food on the table .   A few concepts can drastically reduce your food bill along with eating basic food.   I strive for less salt, sugar, trans fats, HFCS, hydrogenated oil, and additives.

• Instead of going to a store and buying just what you need for a week, you go to two stores and buy what you need to replenish your stock.   What you buy is based in your needs and the items that are advertised at a rock bottom price (RBP) .  
• Simplify your stock.   Everyone has a list of about 15 things that they buy on a regular basis.  It is important to know the RBP of those items. Spending too much for a can of cranberry sauce you use once a year doesn’t effect your budget near as much as that can of diced tomatoes that you use every week.   
• Never, never never pay full price.  Something  has to be really necessary and have no substitute for me to pay full price.   If you rotate stock and buy in bulk using a calculated amount of stock.  In other words, calculate how many of an item you will use in four to six weeks.   That is how many of that item you will stock.   Now, when that item is in sale for a big discount, buy a four to six weeks supply.  Rotate items until you have a supply of your master list.   
• Our master list would be pasta, Pasta sauce, diced tomatoes, green beans, frozen vegetables, meat ( hamburger, pork loin, chicken breast) dry beans.  
• Rotate meat when you find it on sale.  Again, buy a four to six week supply.  In other words, if you eat hamburger once a week, you need enough for four meals. This week maybe hamburger. Next might be a pork loin.   I have been getting pork loin for a dollar a pound.  
• Efficiently scratch cook.  The object is to spend more time prepping or planning a grocery trip and less time cooking from scratch. The internet and Pinterest are full of ideas. 
• Use coupons when they are a help.  Lots of coupons are for things you would be better off without.  But, there are also coupons for good food and every little bit helps.   Ibotta is a rebate type ap that give you money back.   
• Know what stores have the best prices on what you need.  There is a recent blog on what you can find in the PNW .  Fred Meyers usually had dairy on sale at least once a month.   
• In the Seattle area, grocery outlet. Fred Meyers and Winco are the cheapest  stores.  When we didn’t have a local Winco, we went once a month to six weeks.  
• The twenty dollars that gives over and over..again and again .  Costco’s bulk flour, oatmeal, and rice.  Add 3.50 for bulk yeast.   
• Food for thought...the average cart has 50 percent snacks and drinks.  Eliminate them and you are on your way to a good budget.  Popcorn at Costco was 12.00 for almost a years supply last I purchased it.  Use an air popper.  
• You don’t need a list to go to the store, you do need a plan.   I can tell what we are short of that I need to look for a good price by looking at the shelf.  Can I see white?   The refrigerator tells me of we have milk, eggs, sour cream and cheese.  I want the lowest price.   2.50 is my highest price I will pay for cheese.  I often get it for 1.00 a half pound.   

My advise would be to pick one thing and tackle that and then keep adding until you are comfortable with your budget.

First, list 7-10 meals that your family likes that use inexpensive sources of protein.   We like eggs, dry beans, cheese, good hamburger, boneless skinless chicken breast, and pork loin that
can be cut into pork roast, chops, or stew and stir fry.   All of the parts of a pork loin cost a lot more when purchased individually.   Your goal is to keep the cost per pound at two dollars or lower average of you are going for a four dollar a day per person budget.

List your meal main dishes.  Now, write down the main things you use to make the dishes.  Keep things simple.  Remember efficient scratch cooking. Now decode how many of that meal you will use in a month. Do the math and you will have a target list of your eventual stock.

Start with the protein. Watch the sakes and pick one protein on your list that is a RBP. Buy a months supply. Next week. Buy something  different.  Pretty soon you will be on a roll. If you don’t have enough in the budget, Rock the boat and cut down drastically on the junk food.   Your doctor, and your budget will be happy.