Meal plans week of June 10

Meal Plans are  necessary tool to jump start your week.   When you know you have all the ingredients for a meal and part of it is prepped  , it just makes the dinner hour easier.   

Our Meal   Plans are based on a protein matrix.  Som people base them on a particular theme.   Whatever works for you.  Sometimes balancing a  inexpensive  dinner with some more expensive ones is a way to afford a great dinner every now and then if you are on a uncompromising budget. 

Make good use of  what you have on abundance in your refrigerator or pantry.

Vary flavors and textures and bear in mind any recipe that has less than optimum protein so that you can address the problem  with protein elsewhere in the meal or desert. 

• Potato soup, cheesy drop biscuits 
• Pizza
• Taco pie 
• Tuna casserole , peas and carrots 
• Chicken enchiladas 
• Chicken noodle soup. Artisan bread 
• Breakfast for dinner- use parfaits to use up yogurt

Notes : 

1. Use up last of the old bag of potatoes, cheesy drop biscuits are a BC recipe, easy, quick and delicious, 
2. Pizza is a mainstay,  scratch pizza cost about a dollar for a cheese pizza. Crust can be thin made on the food processor or a months supply made on the mixer. Or both can be made by hand.  Use any bits of toppings you have from meals past. 
3. Taco pie uses less tortillas if you need to.  This can be beneficial if you are using low carb tortillas that tend to be pricey.   
4. Tuna casserole is a favorite here,   Easily made with magic mix and Costco albacore tuna, 
5. Chicken soup is a good pairing of ingredients with the potato soup.  Make chicken stock first, then use the stock with both soups and the chicken with the chicken noodle. 
6. Chicken enchiladas are scratch and use magic mix with chicken stock and mild green chilies. 
7. Breakfast for dinner is a family meal.  Everyone cooks. 

Concept: know your prices

When  trying to eat on a budget, it really helps if you know the prices of things you buy on a regular basis.  We have ceilings on my prices.  Unless it is something we really really need, we just don’t buy it.   Stocking  while something is at a low price helps with this.

Example:  we keep 4 dozen eggs,   Typically we use a dozen eggs a week.   If we buy one or two dozen with far out pull dates each time they are at a good price, we never run out of eggs and we always pay less than 1.25 .

There are big fluctuations in prices between stores.  There can be as much as two dollars an item .
With a four dollar a day budget, two dollars is a BIG amount.

Yesterday, I worked at my volunteer job.  My husband went to find eggs and lettuce.  At one store 2 dozen eggs and a head of iceberg lettuce was 7.50 .  He went to another store and it was less than 3.00 for the three items.   Almost a third of the price.   5.00 buys a lot of chicken when it is .88 a pound.

Groceries on the cheap takes a different approach to buying groceries.   Instead of a panic mode where your cupboards and refrigerator are bare and it’s payday, you never pay full price and you stock basic food when it is on sale.   You go to the store to buy a rotation bulk protein , perishable dairy and produce,  and whatever your non perishable stock is low on that is a good price somewhere.

It takes some time, but you should strive for a four to six weeks supply of food.  You never know what is going to happen, and being prepared gives you piece of mind.

The government shutdown comes to mind.  If people had a stock of food, they would have been better off.

Making a master list helps a lot.   We all have a small list of meals our family likes.  Making a ,sit with those meals as a starter is a good first step.

Friday recipe

Spicy beans and rice

1/2 cup finely chopped green pepper **
2 tsp garlic , chopped
2 tsp oil ( olive or vegetable
1 can diced tomatoes
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp. Cumin

4 cups beans, cooked and drained

2-1/2 cups rice

Sauté the green pepper and garlic in oil
Add tomato sauce and diced tomatoes and Seasonings

Simmer about five to ten minutes

Add cooked beans

Heat  through until beans are warm.

Serve over rice.

** green peppers are .50 at sprouts this week.
Sometimes I add tomato powder to my rice water.
Both rice and beans are easily cooked on the insta pot.


Total Cost  1.40 not including spices or .28 a serving

Can be served with sour cream, green onions, and or avocado
Tortilla chips.

Hauls to 6/5

Sprouts
Strawberries ..98
Blackberries 2.00
Bell peppers .50
Cherries , 98
Corn 2/1
Total 9.16

Winco
Bacon 3.22
Sausage .98
Salmon patties 1.98
Bread 1.18
Tomatoes.98
Total 11.90

Total 21.06

Fred Meyers
1 milk .99
2 butter 2.99
5 bacon 2.99
Total 21.97

Grand total 43.03

Large cottage cheese free

Winco
Eggs 🥚.88
Lettuce .98

The best of the ads 6/5

Sprouts 

Grapes .98
Tomatoes .88
Peaches .69
onions, yams .88
Blues 18oz 3.98


Chicken, whole, split breasts, drums or thighs .87

QFC
Pork sale BOGO

B 5 S 5 
Cheerios 1.79 $$
Tide 4.99
BREYERS 2.99

Alberways 
* western tri cities only 
Corn 2/1

Regular ad 
Milk 1.99@@
Bread .99@@
Sirloin roast 2.99
Hamburger 80/20 2.99


@@ denotes in ad coupon needed 
$$ denotes there could be a coupon out there 

Fred Meyers 

Blues 8 Oz 2.99
Petite sirloin steak 2.99

B5 S 5 

Cheese 2.49
Tide 4.99
Cheerios 1.79
BREYERS  2.99
Ore Ida 1.99 ( French fries) 
Classico pasta sauce 1.99
Cream cheese 1.49 

Taco Tuesday

It’s Tuesday.  I’ve got writers block.   Let’s talk about tacos or American Mexican food,

We happen  to be fond of the stuff, and  it is inexpensive if you want it to be.

I cook hamburger as soon as it comes into the house, or shortly thereafter.  It is just easier to cook it on a batch and de fat it.  If you are in a hurry to get dinner on the table, you are less likely to de fat a half pound of hamburger or ground turkey.   De fating  hamburger can reduce your fat up to 17 percent.  I then bag it in meal sized portions and out quart bags on a gallon bag and label the gallon bag.   5 pounds of 80/20 hamburger nets a lot of fat.

The hands down easiest way to cook a whole  chicken for recipes is to do it  on the slow cooker.
Place an onion, or two small onions, peeled and cut into halves or quarters depending on the size of the onion in the bottom if a slow cooker.  Open the chicken on a sheet own and dry it with a paper towel.  sprinkle with a dry rub of choice or seasoned salt.  Place on slow cooker and cook on HIGH heat for an hour a pound or until the chicken tests done,  I like 180 degrees.  You will have a lot of stock and cooked chicken.  Be careful of what rub you use, you don’t want your chicken to be too flavored. LOL.   Discard onion.

You can make :
Tacos, chicken or beef
Burritos
Enchiladas
Tostadas
Taco soup

Enchilada sauce is cheap and easy to make. Green enchilada sauce is even easier with magic mix and a can of mild green chilies.  Use 1/2 the chilies in the sauce and the other half in the chicken mixture.

Flour tortillas and corn tortillas are cheapest in May.   You can meet them in the refrigerator. There are low carb variety, but they are pricy.  
Sometimes I have found a taco kit at Grocery Outlet.   It is the same rice as buying the tacimshekks, but has the seasoning and sauce with it too.  

I make my own taco seasoning, a packet of taco seasoning can cost 4.00 an ounce.  Mexican seasoning can be found in packets in the ethnic isle of the grocery store and even then, can be much cheaper than buying the packets.  

Paprika. Chili powder. Onion, garlic, cumin.

Kitchen Management

Kitchen  Management aka meal prep .

A little time when you can find it, saves a lot of time later when time is in short supply.

• Wash kitchen floor 
• Wash and disinfect countertops and sinks and drains. 
• Clean out the refrigerator and dump anything dead .

These three sentences are literally programmed into my reader! Lol 

• Make a plan to get the things that are close o expiration used up. 
• Wash vegetables with vinegar.  See this week’s post on organic buster.
• Straighten pantry 
• Wash kitchen window
• Wash save fan screen in the dishwasher, 
• Start dinner, 

Meal plans

It’s Sunday, it must be meal plans .  Meal plans are a necessary part of groceries in the cheap.  Being organized and planning to incorporate food that is in abundance in the house and things that may be ready to expire is a good plan. Also, incorporating your schedule into the plan to accommodate appointments and meetings.

• Chicken pot pie 
• Pizza
• Potato soup, cheesy drop biscuits 
• Tuna patties, oven fries, fruit salad 
• Spaghetti and meatballs, salad 
• Fajitas 
• Breakfast for dinner 

A form  makes it easy to take inventory and do meal plans.   

A matrix makes meal planing quick and easy and affords variety. 

Notes :  we eat on less than four dollars a day and keep a stock.   Keep on mind we are “old” and are not  feeding a 17yo linebacker. Lol Washington SNAP averages 4.25 a day,  you can still feed growing children and keep a 4-6 week supply of food.  

1. Chicken pot pie is easy and uses chicken already cooked.  We use one crust to curb the carbs. 
2. Pizza is a mainstay. A cheese pizza costs about a dollar of made from scratch.  Pizza dough can be made in the  Food processor  or by hand , or a batch can be made in the kitchen aid and frozen.  This makes 4 pizza crusts and it is a thicker crust. 
3. Potato soup is an inexpensive meal and uses a small mount of milk or cream.  Having an inexpensive meal means you can have a more expensive meal every now and then and still stay on budget.   
4. Tuna melt used solid albacore tuna from Costco and oven fries that are low in fat.   
5. Soafhetti and meatballs use 1/2 a package of spaghetti (4 servings) and meatballs from the freezer.  Pasta sauce on a jar.   8 minutes in the insta pot. 
6. Fajitas use peppers  that sprouts had on sale for .50.   Taco shells on sale from cinco de Mayo. 
7. Breakfast for dinner is a mainstay.  Everyone cooks— a family affair . 

Imagination

Make no bones about it, food prices is  are going to go up.  Seems the climate if the week is to put tariffs on Mexico and China.   The China won’t hurt as much for food because a lot of us don’t willingly buy food from China anyway.  But, we get a lot of our fruits and vegetables from Mexico especially on the winter.   Putting some extra veggies and fruit in the freezer this summer that are locally  grown might not be a bad idea.   Our great grandmothers had victory gardens.  They also had ideas of how to s t r e t c h their food supply.

I am hoping that the tariffs will hurt his fan base too hard and he will back off on the tariffs.
It won’t be politically advantageous?

We went to sprouts this week.  A lot of vegetables and fruits were reasonably priced. Taking advantage of special prices and incorporating the bargains into your meal plans makes your food budget go farther.   Peppers were fifty cents.   Ham is fifty cents at QFC.  We are out of freezer room, so I didn’t buy ham. Strawberries were a dollar a pound.   Blackberries were inexpensive and full of good vitamins.   Potatoes are down in price again here, probably because of the fact that Washington and Idaho are good potato producers. Potatoes have a lot of good nutrition.

Beef prices will go down.  The government has broke up a price fixing ring headed by TYSON and three other producers.  They together would keep prices high, no matter how much they paid for the cattle.   Remember higher prices started with a drought.   The other odd of that coin, is that China had a problem with their hogs that resulted in a hog shortage.   Shortage =higher prices. Now add a 25 percent tariff and you have higher prices.  The only remedy is to go with the flow.  Make use of the food that is a reasonable price.   If you are in a fixed budget, paying higher prices is not an option.
There is no getting around some things, but you can adapt to a lot.

Back to the produce bargains: potatoes. Strawberries, apples, peppers.  
Brainstorm, look at magazines and cookbooks,  the library has cookbooks, the thrift stores have cheap magazines and cookbooks, the internet of full of ideas and the on line Betty Crocker (BC) cookbook has a feature that lets you put an ingredient in and they show recipes.   Remember almost every ready made ingredient has a homemade substitution.  Learning to make a white sauce or magic mix and enchilada sauce is a great money saver.

• Strawberry muffins 
• Strawberry waffles 
• Fruit salad 
• Strawberry shortcake 
• Strawberry pancakes
• Baked potato bar 
• Potato soup 
• Depression stew 
• Ham and scalloped potatoes 
• Ham, and pepper omelette 
• Chicken fajitas 
• Pizza with peppers and chicken (Buffalo chicken pizza) 
• Stuffed peppers 
• Sausage and pizza soup

Incorporating what you can find that is a good price and nutritious is a good way to s t r e t c h your food dollar.  Going to the two stores that have the best prices  on food is a simple way to save money. 

Using all of your food, making stock from vegetable scraps, and incorporating as much as possible of leftovers into something else is another way.  Our great grandmothers survived the great depression and WWII shortages by being resourceful and coming up with ideas to use what they had.

Red velvet cake was invented because people wanted chocolate cake during the war and there was no cocoa available.   

Chili

Chili  is an inexpensive dish to make and can be easy made in a slow cooker or an  insta pot.

It is also very versatile . Besides a meal of chili, you can add pasta to the leftovers and stretch it for another meal.  You can also is use it  along with other ingredients for a  baked  potato bar.  Chili dogs? 

Add chili to rice and condiments like sour cream, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes or guacamole for a burrito bowl.

Ground turkey was on sale recently.  You can use canned beans, or cook beans quickly on the insta pot.   Any bean or combination of beans will work.   And, ground beef will also work.   Don’t limit yourself to a basic recipe.  You can make a substitution.   If you don’t have something, replace it with something of the same flavor or texture.  My husband won’t eat onions. Of I need something to replace the bulk of onions, I often add celery.  Of I don’t need the bulk, I add onion powder or grate a piece of onion on the micro plane . I only buy diced tomatoes.   I sometimes buy seasoned diced tomatoes; it saves time and money.   I usually have a couple of small cans of tomato sauce and some tomato powder.  If I use seasoned tomatoes, I omit the spices and adjust seasoning to taste.


30 minute chili in the insta pot or pressure cooker
10 minutes hands on time.
2 quarts - serves 8

1# ground turkey , cooked
2 cans / 4 cups of beans
1 -15 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 - 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 small red pepper , chopped
1 cup beef broth ( bouillon )
1 T taco seasoning

Combine all ingredients.
Process on high for 5 minutes
When finished, let naturally release for 10 minutes and manually finish it.

Serve with sour cream, chopped  jalapeños, and/or tortilla strips or chips.

hauls to 5/29

QFC

Milk 1.99
Blues 3.75
Bread 1.00

Total 6.74


Sprouts

Blackberries 1.25
Peppers .98
Red cherries 1.68
Banana chips .81
Pumpkin pie 2,99

Total 10.31

Total 17.05

Cottage cheese 1.99

Total 19.04

Best of the ads 5/29/2019

This is done using internet ads.  The post office didn’t deliver the ads on time again . 

Alberways 

Cheese 4.99@@

Yoplait .39@@

This is my top price on cheese, but I would so make it my protein rotation, 

Fred Meyer 

Digi, five only, selected days , bacon 2.99#

******

Foster Farm chicken BOGO

Milk .99

Breakfast sausage 2/5 

B5S5 

GM cereal 1.49 

Classico 1.99

Tater tots 1.99

Ketchup 38 Oz 1.99

Cream cheese 1.49

Aidells sausafe 3.99

Sprouts

Strawberries .99

Avacados 2/1

Red peppers  2/1

Blueberries blackberries 2/4

Pineapple 2/5 

FSS only 

Cantaloupe .98

QFC

Peppers .99

Blues 3.99

Raspberries 12 Oz 3.99

Kroger ice cream 2/5 

B5S5 

Cereal 1.49

Hebrew national 2.49

Ore Ida potatoes 1.992#

Ketchup 38 ounces 1.99

 

Making the most of a basket coupon,

Occasionally you will find a grocery store offering a basket coupon,   Basket coupons are when a coupon will say save 10.00 off you order of 50.00 or more.   Forget the more part.   Ten dollars off of fifty is 20 percent off your basket.   The more you spend, the less percentage you are going to get.   If the store is already 25 or more percent higher than other stores, twenty percent isn’t a bargain.  Unless. They are also having a good sale.  The trick, as usual is to know your prices.
You can make a good deal on these coupons, but planning your trip is essential.   You could wind up paying more than if you just went to a different store.

Going to two stores a week, researching what stores on your area have the best prices, is key to getting the most food for your dollar.

You don’t pick a grocery store because the clerks are the most friendly, or because they never have a line,  think about it, of they never have a line, they probably aren’t real popular and therefore, probably have higher prices.   Going to the grocery store shouldn’t be your social life! Lol

I would pick a store that was clean, or , rather, not pick a store that was dirty.

There can be as much as a two dollar per item spread on prices of the exact same thing.  Two dollars is huge.

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

No food is going to do your family any good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.

My other 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.  

Kitchen management

kitchen Management aka meal prep

Kitchen management is a tool to help you save money and time in the kitchen.   It helps take the hectic out ofmthemdinner hour.   By prepping food , you are one step ahead of the time it takes t make dinner.

1. Clean and slice the peppers.   Cut the tops and bottoms off and reserve for pizza.   Chop and freeze. Pit in a bag and place on the freezer door for pizza. 
2. Male bulk crust 
3. Wash potatoes and carrots with vinegar water 
4. Wash kitchen floor
5. Clean out the refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀.
6. Make note of anything that needs to be incorporated into a meal, 
7. Wash countertops and sinks and drains and disinfect, 
8. Clean the dishwasher and microwave. 
9. Clean strawberries and pit in refrigerator.

Meal Plans

Meal plans are a necessary part of your meal prep.    Having a plan staves off the take out demons.   It just makes meal tome easier.  It doesn’t mean you have to stick to the plan, but it is, rather, a road map to get you to economical dinners. 

• Fajitas 
• Pizza
• Depression stew 
• Potato soup 
• Chicken pot pie 
• Tacos, Spanish rice 
• Breakfast for dinner 

Notes 

1. Peppers continue to be a dollar at sprouts.  Green ones are cheaper, but we don’t like them. 
2. Spanish rice can do a double duty.  Tomato powder is a good thing to have when tomatoes are expensive, or you are out.  Ingredients :  dried tomatoes, period. 
3. Depression stew is a very old recipe from great grandmothers, or great, great, grandmothers. it uses  any leftover meat you have, bits and pieces. We have bacon I got for 1.28 a pound and a few stray meatballs on the freezer.   
4. Potato soup uses some of the ten pounds of potatoes we got for 1.69.  Cheesy biscuits are Betty Crocker  and easy, peas, quick.    Add some protein. 
5. Chicken pot pie is easy and a favorite, 
6. Tacos are good and you can use ground turkey or beef.  Double duty on the Spanish rice, 
7. Breakfast for dinner is a family affair with the family cooking, 

We made peach dump cake this week.  Friday was a half day at school for granddaughter.  It is easy and we had a free cake mix , so the cost was a cheese of butter and a can  of peaches  I had got on sale .  Teaching cooking skills is a good 5hing since they dint do that in school anymore,   She is learning safe knife skills,   

What we ate in May 2019

May’s grocery shopping carts cost on average 30 dollars and change a week.

1. Hamburgers, green salad 
2. Ribs, corn on the cob, strawberries 
3. Pizza
4. Taco soup. Multi colored tortillas strips for garnish 
5. French Toast, bacon, fruit 
6. Leftover chicken spaghetti
7. Sloppy joes, oven fries 
8. Ravioli , greens 
9. Chili 
10.  Chicken soup 
11. Depression stew 
12. Chicken pot pie 
13. Hamburgers, corn on cob, fruit
14. Sausage patties. Fried potatoes, strawberries and oranges 
15. Black bean enchiladas 
16. Steak, baked potatoes, green salad 
17. Hamburgers, corn on cob, salad 
18. Baked potato bar 
19. Breakfast for dinner
20. Chili, tortilla chips
21. Burrito bowl
22. Spaghetti, salad 
23. Rice, meatballs, green beans 
24. Baked spaghetti, salad, peach dump cake 
25. Fish and chips 
26. Fajitas 
27. Chili 
28. Clam chowder
29. Stew and biscuits 
30. Salmon, corn on cob, salad 
31. Eggs, sausage, fruit 

1. 
   

The spirit of grocery shopping

Groceries on the cheap takes a different approach to grocery shopping,   Instead of what one might call “panic” grocery shopping , you have a stock of about a four to six week supply and you shop to replentish  your stock.  You look at the ads to see what’s on a good sale, and buy a bulk rotation meat, fresh prodice and dairy needed, and replentish anything on a good sale that is on your shelf/ freezer stable list.

Yesterday, after showing up at the dentist ( they called trying to fill on a cancellation) we went shopping.  I had already looked at the ads ( see earlier posts) and had a list for Safeways, but had a vague idea of what I needed to fill in at Winco.  Usually here we find the best “buys”  at Fred Meyers and Winco.  There are exceptions and this is one week that held true.

We went to Winco first because it was the closest to our route from the dentist.   I bought tomatoes that we were out of and looked for a decent price on cottage cheese. Bacon was 3.39 a pound . ( when the package is 12 ounces, multiply the cost of the 12 ounce package by 1.25.   You can usually do this on your telephone,)

We then walked the perimeter of the store .  Bacon pieces were 1.28 a pound.  This works for seasoning beans, soups, and topping a quiche.  And, it is 1/3 of the cost of using strips of bacon.  It pays to think out of the box.

We went on to Safeways.  I filled on what was on sale for a good price and checked the mark down meat bin.  Most of the meat was, as usual still higher than the proverbial balls.  But, they had a package of cube steaks for 4.00.  That’s two dinners for us.  I added a salad made with the .79 head if lettuce and a Roma tomato that was a dollar a pound, and a baked potato we got for 1.79 for a ten pound bag.   That s steak dinner for 2.45. It took maybe 15 minutes to make.

And so it goes....

My average for this month is 30.00 and change a week for groceries. Part of this is because we are well stocked.   We have done this on 4.00 a day budget for almost 2.5 years now.   The secret is not paying full price for anything, simplifying your list, and efficient scratch cooking.  We don’t eat much asparagus or broccoli, mainly because my husband doesn’t like veggies, and steak is a treat.   I buy good hamburger and de fat it and cook bulk when it comes home from the store.  We buy pork loins when they Re 1-2.00 a pound and I butcher them myself— roasts, pork chops and stew meat or stir fry.  We buy boneless, skinless chicken breast when they are under 1.28 a pound,  sometimes split breasts are as cheap as .88 and then I process them and save a lot. ( see earlier post).   Occasionally we buy thighs so we can make stock and I use the meat for chicken  soup or enchiladas.

Keeping your supply list short makes it easier to shop, and easier to out things away, and you always know what ingredients you can use for recipes.   Basics is the key.

Frozen potatoes were 1.99 for two pounds,   This included sweet potato fries...yum.   We bought the “culls” fries from Winco for little more than a dollar for two pounds.  Frozen vegetables were a dollar  at Safeways,   I bought mixed vegetables, and peas.   This is a good fit because we make a quick chicken pot pie and peas can go by themselves, or even on a stew.

I basically bought anything that was a good buy and we could use to make dinners. The notion of...but we have a bag doesn’t cut it here.  You buy it when it’s on sale and don’t buy any more than you can realistically use before they go bad, keeping in mind how much storage space you have.   We are stuffed in the small freezer and pantry.  It just means we can save up for other bill becaise our groceries will be minimal.

It works, it is just a different mindset.

Hauls to 5/22/19

costtco
bisquick 5.49

winco
roma tomatoes .98
corn on cob 1.00
bacon 2.58
frozen fries 1.36
bacon pieces 1.28
cottage cheese 1.98
total 12.53


safeways
eggs .88
frozen veggies 1.00
frozen fries 1.99
frozen sweet pot fries 1.99
yogurt .40
buns .88
cube steak (30%)  3.94
10# potatoes 1.69
lettuce .79
 total 16.55


grand total 34.57

Winco
Slip lost.

Ground turkey -foster farms
Cucumbers
Grape tomatoes
Regular tomatoes
2 strawberries
1 blueberries
Ice cream
Sour cream
Cottage cheese -double
Green chilies
Total 27.90

Total 62.47

The best of the ads 5/22

QFC

Blueberries 4/5
Tillamook ice cream BOGO
Hebrew national or Nathan’s hotdogs BOGO

Digital coupons 4 days FSSM
Johnsonville sausage 1.99


Alberways 

Lean ground beef 1.99
Bag salad .99
Sweet baby rays .99
Milk 1.99@@
Buns .79@@

Ice cream 1.99@@
Ritz 1.39@@

Sprouts

Cherries 1.68
Blues 4/5
Roma, or on the vine tomatoes .68
Peppers .98
Oranges .98
boneless, skinless chicken thighs 1.99

3 days FSS
Corn 5/1
Strawberries 1.98

Pumpkin pie 2.99

Nathan’s uncurled hotdogs 3.99

Fred Meyers 

FF chicken thighs, leg quarters .88
Tillamook ice cream BOGO
Sweet baby rays 1.00
Hot dog buns 1.00
Hebrew national hot dogs BOGO
*****
Digital - Friday to Monday
Smoked sausage 1.99
Fruit pie 2.99
*****
Sour cream 2/3
Blackberries 2/3


Beef patties 6.99 ( Kroger in the frozen case ) 2#

Super good, yet super cheap dinners

Feeding a crowd!   At the end of the month when you have more month than money?   Just don’t have a lot of time.  There are a lot of reasons why someone might just need to out dinner on the table cheap/ and or quick.

• Sloppy joes - use already cooked de fatted hamburger and add beans or vegetables if you reallly need to s t r e t c h. 
• Spaghetti including vegetable spaghetti. Use olive oil, vegetables and oatmeal cheese, 
• Baked potato bar - use leftovers and a can or freezer chili.   
• Potato soup 
• Vegetable bean soup 
• Homemade chicken noodle soup 
• Eggs, waffles, or pancakes and fruit or pancakes and a yogurt parfait, 
• Depression stew. Use any leftover cooked meat you have. Carrots and potatoes 
• Chicken and noodles -add peas. 

• 
  

Monday Kitchen Management

Kitchen  Management aka meal prep is a tool to make your work at dinner time easier.  When you com one that with meal plans, things just go better.  Meal loans aren’t etched on gold, and they are not necessarily made to be restrictive as to days of the week.   They do take into consideration your family commitments that come up.  I have a meeting on Monday night.  I will make a soup so that people can eat when they are ready to eat even though I will be gone.

• Wash kitchen floor
• Wash refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀.
• Wash the dishwasher.  
• Clean vegetables and fruit with vinegar water 
• Make potato soup 
• Wash kitchen cabinets
• Water plants
• Clean and disinfect kitchen countertops and sinks and drains 
• Straighten pantry. 

• 
  

Meal plans

Meal plans are a necessary part of a organized kitchen.  It makes dinner hour less hectic.

• Potato soup 
• Pizza
• Pork stew , bread 
• Taco casserole 
• Chicken and noodles 
• Chicken stir fry 
• Breakfast for dinner 

Notes: 

Make your meal plans take into consideration, the food that you have avimdamce of, the food that was on sale cheap, and what is in your refrigerator that needs to be side up.   We have a lot of eggs. 

Potatoes were 1.69 for ten pounds, they are running  2.49 for ten pounds.  Eggs have been 2,50.  

We got lettuce cheap.    I see potato soup, I see salad, tacos. And eggs for lunch,   One trying to eat a lot of protein and less carbs these days.

Concepts -on reducing waste

There are ideas about groceries and shopping all over if you are looking for them.  As in anything, it. Is up to you to decide if they are worth while or will work on your scheme of things.

One idea that “April Holly Smith” had  was to bake a lot of potatoes, and use them during the week.

When I was doing the kitchen Management this week, I noticed that the old potato bag had some potatoes in it that were like on the edge,   I baked them in the microwave,  I could have done them on the insta pot too.  I haven’t tried that yet.  

It was easy to fry the potatoes for breakfast for dinner on Sunday.  On Tuesday, I added the ends of the  potatoes I fried on Sunday to our chicken pot pie.   

Anything you can do to stop waste is a good thing.  Cooking something, freezing something, making soup, adding vegetables to sloppy joes, or pasta sauce are all ways to stop the waste and stretch your food dollar.   

My mother used to make a carrot and raisin salad.   I am sure it was becaise lettuce those days was really expensive.   We also had fruit and cottage cheese, 

There are ways to stretch your protein too.   If we have a dinner main dish that is short on protein, I usually add something else that has protein.  Cheesey biscuits, cottage cheese salad, yogurt parfaits. 

Yogurt parfaits are a good addition to a breakfast firmdinner hat starts with waffles or pancakes,   

Layer yogurt, strawberries or blueberries, granola, and too with granola in a tall skinny glass or pudding cup. Or just have pudding for desert.  Scratch pudding is just as quick as making cooked pudding from a box.

Mixing a little butter with olive oil when you fry something makes the bitter   it bin so easy , but gives the thing you are frying a nice brown color. 

Any food that you can cook ahead and freeze or not, can simplify and cut time on the kitchen at the dinner hour.  

One of the best tricks is to precook hamburger.   You are more likely to batch  cook hamburger when you get bulk hamburger  when it is a good price.  Batch cooking makes it more manageable to de fat your ground meat,   De fatting can reduce the fat by as much as 17 percent. Portion control the bulk meat and you will save by not wasting and getting the meat at its lowest price.   

Already cooked hamburger can make spaghetti, tacos, and sloppy joes a ten to fifteen minute meal.   If you can cook a ,eat that fast, you will be less likely to be tempted to order pizza.   

Organizing your refrigerator and using “boxes” to group things is a good way to make your life easier.    

If one thing is in the same place, it makes it easy to pull what you are looking for and cuts the hot air getting into the refrigerator when you open the door for a long time.  That was one of my mother’s pet  peeves.   LOL. Like leaving the kitchen door open to let the heat out!   

Bread can become bread crumbs. 

Fruit and vegetables can be dehydrated

Incorporate bits into sauces and soups. 

Anything you can do to reduce waste is good. 

Friday focus

 Let’s talk about variety and adapting.    We are now in a trade war with China.  While most of us don’t buy food from China if we know something  is from China,  not everything is marked.  It seems that China is a big producer of pork.   They have already dealt with some kind of a disease that has depleted some of their stock.  Now, with tariffs, the price will go up more unless the retailers bear the tariff.   The lesson here, I guess is to get some while the prices are low and work around not cooking pork.  Bacon is going to be a problem here.   Maybe our pork producers will step up to the plate.

We went through shortages and foods that were not available during the Second World War.   We can do it again.  I suspect if the tariffs hurt the wrong people, they will be short lived.
We have been through a the Great Depression, double digit inflation, and WWII, and we survived and I am sure that we will live through this too.

We had depression stew the other night, not because of anything bit the fact that I was too lazy to find the stew meat in the downstairs freezer.   I made it in the insta pot.  Hands on time was about five minutes, and the processing time was three.

Potatoes, peeled and cut onto fourths 1 small potato per serving
Carrots, peeled and cut into even sticks. 1 per serving
Cooked meat balls- I used about 3-4 each serving
Beef broth - 2 cups
Process 3 minutes

When the pressure had released, I removed the “stew” from the pot with a spider and placed the stew in a serving bowl.  Add 1/2 cup of water to a small bowl and make a slurry with 2T cornstarch,
Turn the pressure cooker off and turn on the sauté mode.   Stir the slurry into the beef stock in the pan.  Stir until mixture has thickened.  Add the gravy to the stew in the serving bowl.
Season with salt and  pepper. You could add some onion to the vegetable mixture.  My family doesn’t like to bite into an onion.   You could also add some frozen peas and or bacon,

This recipe was made to use up any bits and pieces that one might have hanging around the refrigerator.

Ad update

I did not have the paper ads when I posted and Alberways wouldn’t cough up the electronic ad .

So, belated is the Alberways ad,  it actually is a good one this week,


Meat BOGO - Buyer beware....know your prices.

Yogurt .40
Apple or cranberry juice 4/5
Eggs .88@@
Buns .88@@
******
Our tri cities only
10 lbs potatoes 1.79
Iceberg lettuce .79
*******

Frozen potatoes 1.99
Frozen vegetables 1.00 16 ounces

@@ denotes in ad coupon

Hauls to May 15

Sprouts
Strawberries 2# 1.98
Squash .88
Bell peppers, red .98
Corn 3/1
Banana chips .54
Trail mix 1.84

Total 9.76

QFC
Sausage
Cake mix

FREE

Fred Meyers
Eggs .99
Cucumbers .99

Total 2.97

Grand total
12.73

qfc

lettuce 2.50
cottage cheese 2.10
total 4.60

total 17.33

The ads

Best of the ads .  The mailman didn’t bring the ads yesterday.   This is from the internet and Safeways web sight wouldn’t load.

Fred Meyers
Blues 2.99
Sirloin steak 2.69
Ground beef 73/27 1.79
Shrimp 5.99

Tillamook ice cream 2/6
Tillamook cheese 2# 4.99 brick

B5S5
Kellogg’s, GM 1.99
Hillshire farm rice sausage 1.99
Oscar Mayer Hot dogs .99
Tide 4.99

FRIDAY, Saturday digi 
Butter  1.99
Prego  .99

QFC 
Peppers, english cucumbers .99
2# strawberries 2.99
Sirloin steak or roast 3.99

B5S5
Ice cream (Kroger) 1.99
Kraft BBQ sauce .99
Jimmy dean sausage 2.99

Sprouts
Grapes .98
Peppers .88
Berries, ( black, blue, strawberries) 3/5
Onions, tomatoes .88
3 pk romaine 2/5

FRIDAY SAT! SUN ONLY

Mangos 3/1
Shrimp 4.99
Walnuts 3.88

Lists - top moneymakers in the kitchen

On appliances...

If you were to ask my husband, he would tell you it was the toaster and the coffee maker.   

As far as money makers, for me it would  be the work hors s that save me time and money .

• The food processor : Makes breadcrumbs, chops veggies, purées Foods like refried  beans, makes baby food.    
• The insta pot :  makes meals in minutes without watched no the pot,  of I need to quick release, I take a timer into the room where I am, so I  can return to the kitchen and release the steam.  It also makes rice, beans, refried beans, and soups in minutes, with little effort. Last night we had depression stew.  It took me maybe five minutes.  A can  of beans can cost upwards of a dollar, the cost is about 5 cents.   Ready rice is two dollars of you get it on sale and  the cost of 2 cups of rice is .12.   The cost of chicken noodle soup is 1.58 a single chunky serving.  The cost to make 2 quarts is about 1.69.  
• Hot air fryer.   This is not  necessarily about dollars saved, but more about frying with no oil.  Instead of deep frying, you can get the same result with either no oil, or a small amount of olive oil.   Much healthier and safer.  Hot boiling oil scares me. 
• Quick blender. Makes fast work of smoothies and sauces, egg batters. Make a quiche in minutes.
• Slow-cooker.   There is something really special about waking up to chicken stock some while you sleep or coming home to a hot cooked dinner you haven’t stood in your feet for an hour to cook.   The smell when you open the front door is divine.   Then there is chocolate decadence!  Enough said .
• Waffle iron - much cheaper waffles than their frozen counterparts. 
• Kitchen aid mixer.   I have one, I don’t use it a lot, I do use it for big batches of pizza dough and at Christmas when I make cookies, ands to grind my own meat if it makes sense.   If a hunk of beef is cheaper than ground beef, making your own ground beef or pork makes sense and you can control the fat.   Making your own sausage without nitrates is good too.   Often you can get pork sirloin for 1.69.  That may change in current months, but it’s worth keeping an eye on pork prices.   

Monday Kitchen Management

Kitchen Management is a tool when added to meal planning can save time, money and a lot of nerves.   It just makes your ,ice easier.   By deep cleaning a little bit of the kitchen at a time, it saves the big job of cleaning it all at once.

Reminder of meals

• Ham and potato chowder 
• Pizza
• Black bean enchiladas 
• Roast chicken w stuffing 
• Baked potato bar
• Hamburgers, corn on cob, green beans 
• Breakfast for dinner

1. Wash kitchen floor 
2. Clean and disinfect countertops and sinks and drains.
3. Wash refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀.
4. Note things that need to be used soon. 
5. Wash potatoes. Apples, and carrots 
6. Straighten pantry 
7. Wash dishwasher 
8. 
   

Meal plans

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers!

Meal plans are a necessary tool to help us get through the week with some degree of order. It just makes life easier.   Make a plan, or plan to fail.   We have been try No to introduce 1 new recipe a week to mix things up and try new things,   Boredom is a good thing to avoid.  

• Ham, potato, pepper chowder  soups cookbook from Taste  of Home 
• Pizza
• Breakfast for dinner 
• Black bean enchiladas 
• Roast chicken, bread stuffing, craisens, apples, green beans 
• Baked potato bar 
• Hamburgers, corn on the cob, green beans 

Notes 

1. Some meals are leftover from last weeks list. 
2. Pizza is a family favorite.  A cheese pizza is about a dollar.   
3. Black bean enchiladas are a new recipe from Betty Crocker. Make your own enchilada sauce 
4. Roast chicken is already cooked and on the freezer.  The bread for dressing was fifty cents at GO. 
5. Baked potato bar uses up potatoes before they go bad and is a good way to use up leftovers. 
6. Hamburgers, corn on the cob and green beans uses corn on the cob that was 3/1 at sprouts.   Hamburger patties that need to be used. Cleaning out the freezer.   
7. Breakfast for dinner will use the Jimmy  Dean Sausage we got for free at Kroger.   Add eggs and fruit,   Strawberries have been a dollar and oranges continue to be cheap, as well as apples.  

Using up what you have and making best use of things that need to be used up is a way of saving a lot of money,   It has been said that Americans waste 40 percent of their food,  I don’t think the average family does that ; part of that statistic is farmers plowing food that isn’t perfect.  Another part is buying organic when it spoils so fast. Organic costs about 60 percent more than regular fresh foods between the excess costs and the spoilage rate.  Pesticides are usually water soluble according to what I have read.   Wash your fruits and vegetables with vinegar water and let them dry,   

Concept:: 15 minutes at a time

The main reason for not scratch  cooking is that it takes a big block of time and people are busy or don’t like to cook.   Learning ways to get a home cooked meal on the table by carving out snippets of time can be the solution.  Having a few appliances that make sense helps in the concept of efficient cooking.

The thought of cooking pasta and boiling water, storing, watching the pot, draining the pot while making sauce can be daunting if you  have worked all day on your feet.    But, layering already cooked hamburger, spaghetti noodles, sauce in a pot, pouring water or stock around the edge and closing the lid and setting it to cook is far easier.  You can make a quick salad while the insta pot is coming up to temperature and still have time to sit down with your feet up and watch the news.   I have a timer that I take with me. Spaghetti  needs to be a quick release when done so the pasta doesn’t overcook.

Making the components of meals in bits of time is a good way to make a short meal prep dinner.

• Chicken stock takes about ten minutes split into two sessions.  Saves a lot of money on the scheme of things, 
• Bread crumbs are easy, another five minute trick and saves another bundle of money .  Anything that takes almost no time and cuts your cost by 90-100 percent is a good way to stretch your budget. 
• Artisan bread is another 10 minute trick that makes a loaf of bread a bit more than a quarter instead of anywhere between 2.50 to 3.99 .
• Cooking a bulk batch of ground meat and de fatting it saves up to 17 percent of the fat and a lot of time. Buying your meat when it is at a RBP and buying bulk saves a lot of money.  
• Making a four pizza crust batch of pizza dough cost about 1.25. It costs 1.50-2.00 a dough ball at the store.   A pizza can be anywhere from 5.00 for a good frozen pizza to 20.00 for a delivery one.  A cheese pizza costs a buck.  The cost of a cup of flour has risen 7;10 of a cent, so add a couple of cents to that.  My granddaughter has been putting pizza together from the dough ball to oven ready since she was four years old.   It’s not hard and saves a lot of money.   It’s fun family time and children get experience and self confidence.   

Think of a recipe on hands on cooking time.   That’s not the time when the pot cooks, but, rather the time it takes you to fill that pot.   Slow cooker meals have long been a mainstay in the busy cook’s  bag of tricks.  Now, add the insta pot, food processor, and hot air fryer. 

Tacos can be made in 15 minutes flat when your meat is already cooked and you just add taco seasoning and a little water.   While the meat warms , you can chop lettuce, cut a tomato and gather the cheese and sauce.  Taco kits sometimes  be found at grocery outlet for a dollar.   

The insta pot makes quick work of Spanish rice, or regular rice for that matter when you put rice in the pot. Add an equal amount of water or stock and pit the lid on, set to seal and push the rice button. The cost is .03 a serving and redi rice is about .50 a serving if you get the package on sale. Pitting it on the microwave takes about the same time as setting up the insta pot.   

Canned beans, besides having sodium in them and being in a BPA can, cost anywhere between  .50 and 1.50.   Beans cost .0125 a serving or about .05 for the equivalent of a can.  Again, it is wash beans and pick out any rocks or bad beans. Pit on pot, add water to cover the beans about 1.5-2 inches above the beans, close he pot, set to seal and push the bean button.  Winco foods cans have no BPA. When the BPA was tested in a can of tomato sauce, the BPA was 6 parts per like 2 or 3 billion.  

Put  stew meat in the pot.  Sear  it of you want, or you can put it on frozen right out of the freezer.  
Add potatoes and carrots and stock, put the lid on, set to seal and program.  Use a recipe, but my recipe takes 35 minutes.   

Soups are just about as easy.   Cutting the vegetables are the most tome consuming, using the food processor helps with that.  

The only thing I wouldn’t try again is chili from raw beans.  Cook the beans first or use canned.  

Buying diced tomatoes with seasonings is a good trick.  Saves money and time.   

Anytime I can throw things on a pot and walk away to finish dinner or sit down with a glass of beverage (sparkling water) and put my feet up is a good thing.  Saving money is an added blessing. 

Hauls to May 8

Winco

Apples .98
Roma’s .98
Strawberries .98
Corn .58
Tortillas 3.09
Oranges .88
Green chilies.69
Olives .78
Ice cream 2.98
Cottage cheese 1.98
Hummus 1.98
Chips. 1.18
Grapes 1.98
Yolait  refrigerator 3.68

Total 31.51

Blueberries 4.99

tortillas 4.00

grocery outlet
hunts ketchup , no HFCS .99
vermicelli  .34
brownie mix .50
tea .99
herb stuffing .50
bread .99
taco shells .50
antioxident blend fruits 2# ea 3.00
cauliflower rice .50
bacon 2.99

total 17.78

total 58.28

Almost no money, no time and save 90 percent

Sometimes, it is  just the little things. It’s just a mindset to economize on food without compromising on the quality or taste of your food.

Little things like making your own breadcrumbs.   Why throw the heels of the bread away and then pay two dollars a pound for breadcrumbs.   That two dollars a pound can be hamburger instead.

When I make homemade chicken nuggets, I cut squares of chicken breast into bite sized pieces,   Dip them in melted butter and then in a mixture of equal parts breadcrumbs, grated Parmesan, and chopped  nuts.  Less carbs, more protein.

Breadcrumbs are easy to put in a food processor and  whirl into crumbs.   Put your sheet  pan or cookie sheet pan with sides and put in an oven that has just been used and is still hot.

Another simple way to stretch your food dollar is to make your own chicken stock.   It is lower in sodium and lower in fat.   And,  virtually free instead of 2.44.  It tales your garbage and less than ten minutes.  It can cook while you sleep.

The third thing that saves tons of money is artisan bread,   It takes about ten minutes if your hands on time and a loaf of artisan bread costs about 28 cents. I saw it for 3.99 at Alberways, about 2.50 at Winco.   Many u tubes out there.  Big family Homestead is a good one, but there are many some call it peasant bread.    You can make it on a Dutch oven or on a pizza stone or sheet pan,

Three things that save about 90 percent and take minutes to do.

What a concept !

The best of the ads

Alberways
Milk 1.99@@
Bread 1.49@@
Frozen potatoes 1.99 2#


Sprouts
Strawberries 1.98 2#
Cucumbers 3/1
Corn 3/1
Blues 2/3
Squash .88
Grapes 1.98

QFC
Lean cuisine 1.88
18 ounces blues 4.99
Farmland bacon 2/7


Fred Meyers

Eggs .99
80/20 hamburger 2.79
Peppers, english cucumber .99
Oranges, pears .99
Farmland bacon 2/7
grapes  1.99
Corn 5/2

B5S5
Cheese 2# 4.99
Cereal both some Kellogg’s and some GM 1.99
Kraft bbq sauce .49


Obviously, Fred Meyers is the place for rotation protein....hamburger and eggs.

Basics for survival

Big box store

• Flour 
• Oatmeal
• Rice 
• Yeast 
• Beans 

Next , discount store 

• Bulk dry milk
• Salad oil
• Salt 
• Baking powder
• Sugar

Monday kitchen management

Monday kitchen Management aka meal prep

Kitchen management is a tool that allows  you to prep for your meals when you time is less hectic and real the benefits when it is hectic. Adding some deep cleaning a bit at a time means you keep ahead of the massive all day cleaning.

Meals
Leftovers
Pizza
Ravioli
Pork stew
Roast chicken, dressing,
Black bean enchiladas
Breakfast for dinner

•  Wash the kitchen floor.
• Clean out the refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀.
• Clean and disinfect the counter tops, sinks, and drains.
• Wash the vegetables and fruits with vinegar water 
• Look up the enchilada sauce recipe 
• Put  the stove vent screen through the dishwasher. 
• Grate Parmesan cheese 
• Straighten the freezer. 

Meal plans

There are lots of matrix for meal plans, I ran on to an interesting one a few weeks ago.

Pasta Monday
Taco Tuesday
Wet Wednesday (soup)
Pizza Thursday
Fish Friday
Stir fry Saturday
Sunday supper

Our matrix is
1 fish
1 beef
2 vegetarian
3 pork or chicken

Sometimes lately we have not had  fish,   Finding inexpensive CLEAN fish is hard.

• Leftovers 
• Pizza
• Ravioli, salad 
• Pork stew,rolls 
• Roast chicken , apple, Craisens dressing , green beans 
• Black bean enchiladas , tomato and lettuce 
• Breakfast for dinner 

Notes 

• Pizza dough is on the freezer 
• Ravioli is from the dollar tree...an experiment 
• Pork stew is from meat cut from the end of a pork loin. Carrots, potatoes, peas.   
• Roast chicken from the freezer , dressing was a quarter at GO, green beans .50
• Black bean Enchiladas are Betty Crocker , make your own sauce. 
• Breakfast for dinner used artisan bread from the dollar tree ( orowheat) 

Using a variety of meals that run the gambit from cheap to more expensive allows you to have a variety of meals and still keep a less than 4 dollar a day budget.   Add smart shopping and efficient scratch cooking and you have a winning combination.   

A low budget doesn’t mean just beans and potatoes.   It doesn’t mean canned pork and beans either, or top ramen and potato chips.   You can actually eat better than so,e people that have more money,   It’s a matter of good skills and knowing prices.   A pound of Jimmy Dean  sausage is 6.49 in so,e stores.   It is 2.49 in other stores.   I paid 1.49 in a mark down rack at Fred Meyers.  The lull dare was two days out.  I froze it.   That’s a five dollar spread.  A cake mix is 2.79 some places.   It can also be had for as low as .79 and certainly a dollar many times at other stores.   

It is not mad much WHAT you buy as it is WHEN and WHERE you buy it.   

Concept : cheap meals can afford you some more expensive ones

I started this blog to help people stretch their snap dollars so they could eat well on four dollars a day.   It has morphed into a bunch of frugal ideas for everyone , not just those in dire straights.   I’ve been working n dire straights, without a safety net of snap, but I also realize that a lot of people have been a lot worse off than I was.   Times have changed for us and I wouldn’t see us in any way dire straights.  It’s actually a little t more secure feeling knowing that our income isn’t going to change and we have the luxury of being able to do what we want , when we want to do it.  We still have volunteer positions, but it’s not the same.   I can still help people s t r e t c h their buck at the grocery store and have been for six years now,    I spend time searching for ideas that work and can be incorporated into a efficient way of buying food and cooking it.  The end result is home cooked, efficiently cooked meals that taste good.   I try for low saturated fat, hydrogenated oil,  salt, sugar, HFCS, and caustic soap free food.

This blog is going to be about low cost, good food.   If you can add some comfort foods that are low cost to your meal plans, it affords you a way to have a more expensive meal or two and still maintain a four dollar a day  budget. It’s all in the averaging.

Prices when I can quote them are based in buying your food at the RBP in the Seattle area.   Seattle is one of the highest COL states in the nation.  One might think that was because of the high cost of housing ,  but I research a lot of grocery shopping blogs across the country, and food is higher here. I think it is especially curious that even things grown on the west coast are cheaper in the mid west than they are here.

Four servings

• Chicken noodle soup , cheesy drop biscuits comes in at two dollars 
• Potato soup, artisan bread comes on at 1.50 
• Pizza for cheese, a dollar 
• Waffles or pancakes, fruit, eggs 2.50 
• Spaghetti with red sauce as low as 1.13 add a salad and some Parmesan cheese, or green beans (50) 
• Red beans and rice.  Beans come in at .0125 a half cup serving, Rice is .03 a serving. Cost is nickel a serving plus vegetables and spices. 
• Chicken enchiladas with green sauce 2.28 
• Taco soup 3.00

Notes: 

Chicken stock is virtually free and can be fat and salt free if you make it from chicken bones.   Dry little time involved.

Anything that takes meat pieces instead of a hunk of meat is going to be less expensive per serving,  add beans, rice, or cheese to “beef” up the protein.  If a meal doesn’t have enough protein, consider  adding a protein rich desert. 

Scratch pizza crust, and artisan bread costs about a tenth of what ready made does and it takes literally ten minutes or less.

Consider getting the tools to make cooking faster and easier.   You buy groceries over and over again,  tools you buy once.   They can save a bundle  of money.  The easier something is, the more likely you are to do it when you are tired or things are hectic. 

You’re at the beach......

a few years ago, we went to the beach for our anniversary.  We got cheap lodging with a groupon.   It was abundantly clear soon after we arrived why it was sooo cheap.    There was virtually no clean ( as  food and no kitchen facilities at our disposal.   Clean to us meant food that didn’t  look like it needed to be thrown out.   We had brought some food in a cooler like I always do.  That took care of a breakfast.   The first night we went to the only place that was open,,,a fish and chips that cost 40.00   For fish and chips one drink, , and mine  was ice tea.  

I wound up doing a search on my tablet and finding a subway at a gas station five miles away.  My husband went every night and bought us dinner.   Albeit better than nothing,  

That being said, I decided I would do a blog on what you can buy at the dollar tree that is not made in China and as healthy as it can be. This does mean that you have some basic cooking equipment .   I have for years carried a plastic container with plastic plates, bowls, cups and silverware, along with a cutting board and paring knife,   It has saved us numerous times.  

Dollar tree food you can eat, not necessarily the cheapest place to get it.

Canned chicken
Tuna
Salami
Crackers
Oatmeal
Almond milk
Spaghetti. And noodles
Pasta sauce. ( hunts)
“Parmesean cheese”
Pizza crust
Pizza sauce
Pepperoni
Fake cheese
Name brand Mac and cheese (frozen)
Name brand instant mashed potatoes
Chili
Canned vegetables
Rice
Beans
Tomatoes
Dried tomatoes
Dried fruit
Turkey bacon
Eggs
Tortillas
Chicken stock
Hormel chicken tamales
Peanut bitter
Bread
Bagels (sometimes)
Olive oil


Not that any of this is gourmet food, but in a pinch it would work. And some of it is regular food, but at a more expensive price than  other stores.  

The Hormel chicken tamales, and pizza sauce is actually cheaper .   And some of the tortillas are not so bad fat and cheaper.   Pepperoni is a name brand.  

Hauls to May 1

Sprouts

Strawberries .98

Celery 1.69

Cucumber  2/1

Pears .98

Italian squash .88

Red grapes. 1.98

Roma’s .99

Corn .20

Yellow squash .99

Total 13.01

Fred Meyers 

Milk 1.25

 Cottage cheese 1.49

Sausage 2.50

FF chicken breast (.88) 4.49

Diced ham 2.00

Total 11.73 

Grand total 24.74

Safeways
Potatoes 1.00
Real maple syrup 5.95
Coffee 5.99
Fruit syrup 2.99
Total 15.97

DT
Bread 3.00
Tortilla strips
Hormel chicken tamales 2
Salt
mustard

Totals 8.00

Winco
2 eggs 1.13

******
50.97

The best of the ads. 5/1

Alberways

Berries  BOGO. Bargain?...

THREE  DAYS ONLY. FSS

Pork blade roast 1.49
Roma’s, onions, avocados .99
Sour cream, tortillas .99


Barilla pasta @@.99
Salsa 1.99@@

Only at Edmonds, Lynnwood, Mountlake terrace
Apples .99
Black olives .79


QFC
18 ounces blues 4.99
Milk 4/5

NBH (no bargain here )
2 lb deli chicken 7.99

Chicken breaks even with bone to meat ratio at 3 lbs,
At two pounds, you are laying 8.00 a pound for the chicken
Last week, split chicken breast was .88 a pound at Fred Meyers,
Almost 10 pounds for the cost  of one!

Sprouts

Corn 5/1
Tomatoes .88
Apples .88

Fred Meyers

Berries 2/5
Wishbone dressings 1.79

Digital FRI, SAT, SUN
Shrimp 4.99
Tortillas, chips .99
24 ounce sour cream , cottage cheese 1.29

What we ate April

Meal plans are a road map, sometimes we take side trips.

1. daughter cooks 
2. Clam strips, fries, coleslaw 
3. Hamburger  steak, fruit salad, vegetable salad 
4. Chicken soup 
5. Chicken stir fry 
6. French Toast, oranges, bacon 
7. Chicken soup 
8. Pizza
9. Shrimp salad 
10. Vegetable stir fry with chicken 
11. Waffles, strawberries, bacon 
12. Ham and cheese sliders, fruit salad ( homemade buns) 
13. Tacos, chicken tamales 
14. Pizza
15. Chili 
16. Ham quiche 
17. Chicken pot pie 
18. Spaghetti 
19. Tomato soup. Toasted cheese 
20. Sheet pan dinner, sausage and oven roasted vegetables 
21. Potluck, Broccolli roasted 
22. Potato soup, cheese drop biscuits 
23. Pizza
24. Herb crusted chicken breast, corn on the cob, salad 
25. Chicken enchiladas 
26. Hamburger steaks with blue cheese, vegetable sauté with summer squash, red peppers , tomato, celery, red pepper flakes  and parsley 
27. Baked potato bar 
28. Sausage, waffles, strawberries 
29. Chicken pot pie 
30. Potluck. Refried beans (scratch)

L

Monday Kitchen Management

The joy of Kitchen Management is that you are free to do as much or as little as you want.  Kitchen management or food prep is a tool for getting you out of the kitchen fast in week nights that are sometimes hectic and your plate is full.  

Reminder of meals
Chicken pot pie
Pizza
Breakfast for dinner
Taco soup
Chicken noodle soup
Pork stew

1. Wash kitchen floor 
2. Clean out the refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀.
3. Clean and disinfect countertops and sinks and drains. 
4. Wash vegetables : carrots and potatoes , dry
5. Chicken is already cooked as well as the hamburger for the taco soup. 
6. Check the homemade  mix levels.   Magic mix? Rice? Muffin? 
7. Clean the microwave .

I bought colored tortilla strips at the dollar tree.  I also bought hamburger buns and Texas toast that we need to freeze or use during the week.    

The Texas toast we use for French Toast for breakfast for dinner.  Last night I snuck whole wheat flour into the waffles.   Some people have used hamburger buns for poor mans French bread. Lol. O think I’ll freeze  them for sloppy joes.  Bagels are food for breakfast and we have cream cheese.   

Having muffin mix means you can have muffins made in about 15 minutes at a cost of about .32.   

Add the cost of any flavoring like a small apple or strudel topping 

It costs three cents  a serving for rice.   Adding some chicken stock and some herbs is pennies and far cheaper than a box mix.

Magic mix is basically a mix that makes white sauce with the addition of water.  Faster and easier than scratch.  Add chicken stock instead for green enchilada sauce and add mild green chilies.   These are cheapest at Winco for Winco brand.  Winco canned foods have no BPA in the cans along with being cheaper.   

Dollar tree had Hormel chicken tamales , tortilla strips , orowheat bread including bagels, Texas toast type bread, and hamburger buns,   They also have hints ketchup in a large bottle, a sea salt grinder, pizza sauce (name brand) Chex mix (name brand), sometimes Barilla pasta.   Watch the frozen foods, many are from China,   I have got Ore Ida there before.   I watch for American name brands.  Some things  like cereal, cake mix, pasta sauce, suddenly salad and canned veggies are cheaper elsewhere and  sometimes in a bigger package.  Pinto beans are .67 a pound.  The only place beside buying 25 pounds at Costco that I have found cheaper is in the bulk isle at Winco.    

Sunday, it must be meal plans

Meal plans save time and money and keep you organized along with a prep , kitchen management  day.  We use a protein driven meal plan.

• Chicken pot pie 
• Pizza
• Roast chicken, pear salad , mashed potatoes, green beans 
• Taco soup, chips, cheese, sour cream 
• Chicken noodle soup , cheese biscuits 
• Pork stew, bread 
• Breakfast for dinner. 

Notes 

1. Chicken pot pie is quick and easy and uses magic mix, frozen mixed veggies, and chicken pieces. 
2. Pizza is a mainstay.  A cheese pizza costs about a dollar, five or take a few cents .
3. Roast chicken is frozen, pear salad has blue cheese and walnuts.  Pears were cheap at sprouts. 
4. Taco soup is easy on the insta pot— or not.  Hamburger is already cooked and on the freezer.   
5. Chicken noodle soup uses frozen chicken pieces, cheese biscuits add to the origin and are quick and easy. (Betty Crocker) 
6. Pork stew is on the insta pot for 35 minutes . Stew meat comes from a pork loin end. Potatoes are a dollar at Alberways. 
7. Breakfast for dinner is another mainstay.  Sausage was on sale at Fred Meyers . Eggs were 1.13 a dozen . 

Balancing some cheap dinners with some more expensive ones makes for a better variety of meals. 

Principles of thrift

Basic necessities of food can be inexpensive and are the start of providing good meals for your family.  Trying to keep up with the Jones’ that earn three times your income doesn’t work.   The reality is, you have to make it on what you have. It’s the truth, but you can actually eat better, because you aren’t eating a bunch of preservatives and fat.

Buying your groceries 1 week or day at  a time means you are paying  top dollar for your food. Using a replentish based shopping strategy instead of a panic strategy is key.  Panic strategy is when you have nothing left in the refrigerator but a jar of pickles and you rush out to buy groceries at the nearest store.   Replentish based shopping, replentishes  what you used, yet  you still have food in the house,  It is a lot more relaxing,  you can go to the store at your leisure and take advantage of sale prices at two stores.  You are going to the store for a rotation protein, your dairy, and produce, and to replentish your stock of something  is at a good price.   The price of the same thing, in identical box and brand can have a spread in price of two dollars.   All those two dollars add up fast.  Something as simple as buying frozen instead of fresh can make a big difference.  In actuality, many times the meat you are buying has been previously frozen anyway and the frozen vegetable has been frozen at its peak of freshness.

Ten dollars during spring and summer months at a Sprouts or a farmers market can buy a basket of food.   Not buying organic saves a lot of money.  Pesticides are water soluble.  Wash your produce with vinegar water. Peel it if it makes sense.   There are a lot of storage containers  that keep  the gasses  out and keep vegetables longer.  Organic food doesn’t last as long as regular.   The upshot can be a sixty percent markup from regular food.  My take in that is that I have lived through almost three  quarters of a century with regular food and  they used to use a lot more caustic pestisedes than they do now. I am still alive and kicking!   LOL

Oxy moron. LOL
They say that not buying junk food and pop can save 50 percent of you food budget.  Buying things half price can save 50 percent.  But, somehow that doesn’t mean you are getting your food for free!

• Never pay full price.  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 . 
• Identify the foods you use in a regular basis.   If they are  on perishable, consider keeping a four to week supply of those foods.   That means that of you eat spaghetti and sauce once a week, you need  to keep four packages of pastah and four containers of sauce. 
• Buying your protein in bulk when it is a “loss leader” and purchasing enough for a four to six week supply, saves money and avoids waste.   Break  the bulk down on meal sized portions.  If you eat ground beef once a week, you will need four meal sized portions. For is, that would be two pounds.   
• Keep fresh fruit and vegetables in stock at home,   Buy produce when in season,   The basics of carrots , celery, and potatoes are year round.   When produce is in season, it tastes better and is cheaper.    
• Dairy usually goes on sale once a month,  most dairy with the exception of milk had a month pull date.  Buy the basics when it is on sale.   Milk can be had usually with coupons or with deals for free pairing cereal and milk,   Use coupons for the cereal.   
• Eggs are a good source of protein .   The prices vary,  again, you have a month pull date.  Buy them when they are cheap and keep a four week supply.   Replentish as you use them and when they are at their cheapest. 
• Know your prices.   If it is something that you can substitute something else for or go without, don’t buy anything unless it is at or below you target price.   
• Portion control is good for your waistline as well as your pocketbook.   Know what the RDA mis for protein and milk.   It just might surprise you. 
• Keeping a four to six week supply means you never have food anxiety,   Food anxiety can actually lower you life span.   This also good insurance against not having  food  in an emergency.   It’s not like you can live without it.  I’m recent years, we have had floods that meant the trucks couldn’t get to the grocery stores; snow, and a government shutdown  .   Grocery stores carry a three DAY supply of food.   In an emergency  situation, you can’t depend on the store to cover your butt.
• Learn to efficiently scratch cook.   If you are stretched for time, spend more time planning and organizing and less time cooking.  Planning an organizing, and shopping wisely saves money, efficient scratch cooking saves time and money. It costs .28 to make a loaf of artisan bread and takes ten minutes of your hands on time.  It costs up to 3.99 for a loaf of artisan bread.    ( Safeways) .   A full pot of potato soup and cheesy drop biscuits cost about 1.50. The same price of a can that serves 1

Finally Friday

Yesterday, we bought a bulk tray of split chicken  breast;  it is Foster Farms.   Last night I de boned 4 chicken breasts. The tray  totaled five pounds that cost about 4.50.

I did this quickly and didn’t try to get real close to the bone.  Each breast was over a pound.  I got four reasonable single serving breasts and   it left a lot of meat on the rib bones.  This morning I placed the bones in the insta pot on the slow cooker mode.  I will have chicken stock and a lot of chicken pieces to make numerous dinners.  This netted 2.75 quarts of stock, 4 chicken breasts, amd a full pound of chicken pieces.   

It doesn’t take a lot of hands in time to de bone chicken and saves a lot of money.  I put corn n the cob in the microwave, made a green salad, and cooked chicken breast in the insta pot.  The recipe I used called for an herb and olive oil paste on a boneless , skinless  chicken breast.  You browned it on the sauté mode , then  removed it, de glazed the pan adding a cup of chicken broth.  Replaced the breasts on the rack and processed it for  6 minutes. I felt the breasts were bigger than normal, so I added a minute to the time.  While the chicken was cooking, I disinfected the cutting board and made salad .   

Today, we are having chicken Enchiladas with some of the meat from the insta pot slow cooker

.   .   

Cooking meat ahead of dinner time goes a long ways to making dinner time efficient. 

1 cup of shredded , cooked, chicken 

2 cups green enchilada sauce 

1/2 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese 

1 can - 4 ounces , diced green chilies (small can is .69 at winco ) 

6 small flour tortillas

• Mix together in a bowl, the chicken, half of the green chilies, 1/4 cup cheese, and enough sauce to bind together,   
• Place small amount of mixture in the lower third of a tortilla, roll and place seam side down in a baking pan that has a small amount of sauce in the bottom.   
• Pour  remaining sauce over enchiladas and top with remaining cheese,
• Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbling around the edge of pan,   
• 
  
• Serves 2 adults and two children. 
• 
  
• Enchalada sauce is magic mix made with chicken stock instead of water.   Add green chilies. 

•  
• 
  

Hauls to 4/24

Fred Meyers

7 chili .99
5 butter 2.49
Peppers .99
Blackberries .99
Sour cream .99
Total 25.33

The best of the ads 4/24

Sprouts
Strawberries .98
Tomatoes .88
Mango 2/1
Oranges .88
Pears .98
Squash .88
Blues, blackberries 2/5


Alberways

Chicken , whole or part .99
Ribs, pork 1.99

General Mills cereal. Buy 2, get three free.  -bargain?..

Milk 1.99@@
Bread .79

Dollar sale
Garden salad
Red delicious apples
Roma’s
Peppers
Naval oranges

Corn on cob 2/1
Potatoes 5# 1.00

QFC
.99
Tomatoes
broccoli

Digital coupons
Cheerios 1.79
Milk 4/5

Digital coupons 4 days only Thirsday  - Sunday
Sausage 1.99

Fred Meyers
Very hard to follow ad

Foster farms chicken .88 includes split breast 
Kroger bacon 2.99 # I’m 3 pounds package 
Milk 4/5 
Sausage   2/5 
Sausage 1.99


Digital coupons 
Marie c frozen dinners 1.88
Cheerios 1.79
Yoplait yogurt 10/5
Deli meat Oscar  Mayer 2.49 

Digital thurs -Sunday 
Cheese .99

Note : split chicken breast and cheese at Fred Meyers is a good stock price.   Note vlog on split chicken breast....make the chicken stock pay for the chicken.  

How many things can you make from flour

A 25 lb bag of flour at Costco is now 7.29. That is .29 lb or .087 cup.

Most bakery items and frozen bakery items are marked up by about 90 percent.  Understandably, when there  is someone else’s labor involved, we need to pay for it.  But, when you are economizing it usually means you have more time than money.  Besides the fact that homemade has no preservatives and you control the ingredients.

• Artisan bread 
• Pizza
• Muffins
• Pancakes 
• Tortillas 
• Noodles 
• Dumplings
• Biscuits 
• Cookies
• Pie crust
• Bread
• Doughnuts 
• Fruit crumbles 
• Waffles
• Buns for sliders
• Cake 
• Cupcakes 
• Hoagie rolls 

Monday * the price book

 Price books are a tool to keep track of the lowest prices on your master list.   I have a few things in my master list  and keep it in my head.  You can, however, keep a spiral book and keep t 8n your purse or coupon book.

Small spiral tablets  are about three for a Dollar at the DT.  List the item on top of the sheet, add the date, store and price .  After a few times posting to the sheet, youmwill have a sense ifmwhat the lowest price is.

Canned vegetables .50
Any fresh veggies 1.00 or less
Chicken less than 1.30
Hamburger 80-20 less than 3.00
Pasta sauce 1.00 for canned
Pasta sauce in jars 1.50
Tomato  sauce , 8 ounces 3/1
Ketchup, 1.00
Mayo 3.00
Diced tomatoes .58, , .50 is better
Cream soups .50 or less.
Sugar 4 lbs 1.00
Eggs 1.50 tops.
1/2 gallon milk 1.00
Sour cream 1.00
Pork loin 1.00- 2.00 #
Pizza sauce 1.00
Suddenly  salad  1.00 large box
Pinto beans .67 a #
Cheese 2.00-2.50 lb
Cheese slices 2.19 - real cheese

Meal plans

Meal  plans are a necessary part of an organized kitchen and help us  to stay in track and save money and time.

• Potato soup w ham , cheezy biscuits 
• Pizza
• Black bean enchiladas 
• Beef stew, with carrots, and potatoes 
• Sausage cream pasta ( Big Family Homestead u tube) 
• Salmon, glazed carrots with honey and ginger. Green beans 
• Breakfast for dinner : waffles, fruit, eggs 

Balancing cheap meals with some not so cheap helps to keep you in budget without feeling deprived. 

Notes 

1. Potato soup comes in at less than a dollar.  Ham cubes are left over from another meal.   
2. Pizza is a mainstay.  Cheese pizza comes on at a dollar a pizza.   
3. Black bean enchiladas are a Betty Crocker recipe,  ,ale your own enchiladas sauce. 
4. Beef stew is made a n the inst pot on 35 minutes. 
5. Sauce cream pasta is a skillet meal and quick.   
6. Salmon, glazed carrots and green beans used regular carrots coins and fresh green beans 
7. Breakfast for dinner is another mainstay.  It can be cheap or not so cheap.   Waffles can be healthy with grains and fruit and eggs finish the meal 

What 4.00 a day doesn’t mean

what four  dollars  a day doesn’t mean...

1. It doesn’t mean that your cupboard  is bare at the end of the month 
2. It doesn’t mean eating boxed meals full of preservatives or top ramen 
3. It doesn’t mean you need to work all day in the kitchen 
4. It doesn’t mean you shop at the corner store or the organic store 
5. It doesn’t mean that you have to give up the five food groups. 

1. It does mean you get organized and know the meals you cook on a regular  basis.
2. It does mean that you simplify your list of stock items that help you make a meal anytime you want.
3. It does mean you can have artisan bread 🥖 with ten minutes work anytime you want for a cost of a quarter— give or take a penny, instead of 3.99.
4. It does mean that eventually you will have a stock to carry you through a month if necessary.
5. It does mean that you shop to replenish, instead of shopping in a panic . 
6. It does mean you go to two stores—the best of two stores and cut your food budget in half or more,   
7. It does mean you save the planet by not wasting food and making best use of what you have.
8. It means you actually eat healthier because you aren’t  eating hydroginated oil, too much meat, gmo, HFCS, oreservatives, avoiding trans fats, amd a lot of sugar and salt. 

Introduction

Back in 2012, I started this blog at the encouragement of my children.  My daughter has taught children from low income households for years. Some were lamenting that their SNAP money ran out before the month ran out.  My daughter told one that her mom knew how to stretch a food dollar.

In the early 1970’s I found myself a single parent with more bills than money.  We went through double digit inflation with no raises in three years and my child support was spasmodic at best.  I had no choice but to economize the best I could.  We turned off heat on the bedrooms, I stopped the dishwasher to air dry and I read everything I could get from the library and watched everything I found on our 10 inch black and white tv with rabbit ears.   I already knew some principles from watching my mother.  I just added to it, some things I tried were hits, some things were misses.  It was a learning curve.

Times changed and things got a lot better, but we still economized.  It was a habit by then.  We continued to find new ways to save money on groceries.   I am still learning.  I don’t make money from this blog, my motivation is to help people.

Groceries on the cheap takes a different approach to buying your groceries.  Instead of buying just what you need a day or week at a time , you buy what you need to replenish your supply.  Instead of running out of things and stretching the last week of the month to get by and running to the store the minute pay day comes, you always have food in the house.   Studies have revealed that not  having food in the house lowers your life expectancy.

Having a four to six weeks supply of food is not hoarding and it is a good insurance policy in case of adversity.  We have had roads flood, snow storms, amd a government shutdown on recent years.  Having a four week supply of food takes care of at least one necessity.  It is not hoarding

The basic premice is to buy food when it is at its lowest price and eat it when it is at the highest price.
It is the same premise as stockbrokers use.  And not different than our great grandmothers on the farm, canning food when it was orevelamt in the summer to get through the winter,

This principle allows us to eat well on a four dollar a day budget.   The idea is that if you can do it for four dollars a day, it isn’t hard to spend more. Lol 😂

Unless you have a big influx  of money, this doesn’t happen overnight.  Bit by bit, it happens.   We have had a four dollar a day budget for over two years now.  We strive for low sugar, low salt, low trans fats, non gmo, HFCS, hydroginated oil, and junk food.
We do get REAL Parmesan cheese, real vanilla, real maple syrup, real butter.  We afford this because we don’t buy fake boxes of food.

We talk about the tricks retailers use to get you to buy more,  Pitfalls, efficient scratch cooking, meal plans, basic stock lists, new recipe ideas, old recipe ideas revisited to be healthier, and tools to make life  easier.

I blog everyday.

Hauls to 4/ 17

costco bulk run

Rice 9.79

Flour 7.29

Bomboli 8.99

Oatmeal 8.29

Cottage cheese 4.99

Total 39.35

Sprouts
Strawberries 2/3
Cantaloupe 2.50
Red peppers .98
Grapes .98
Roma’s .88
Yellow squash .88
Total 10.46

Winco
Milk 1.37
Lettuce 1.28
Grape tomatoes 1.38
Total 5.41

Grand total 55.22
Of which 25.37 is long term storage. 

The best of the ads 4/17

Alberways

Shank half ham .99
Spiral ham 1.29
Broccolli, cauliflower.99

Bread 1.49@@
Butter 1.99@@

Pillsbury rolls 4/8$$
Pantry essentials BOGO bargain?...

Foldgers 5.99@@
Cream cheese 1.69@@
Ketchup 2.99@@
Classico pasta sauce 1.49@@


QFC
Spiral ham 1.37
Tillamook ice cream 2/6

B6S3

Cream soup .49
Redi whip 1.99
Healthy choice 1.88
Cottage cheese 1.79
Best foods 2.99
Butter 2.49

Sprouts
Corn 5/1
Green beans .98
Berries 3/5
English cucumbers .98
Snacking tomatoes 2/5
Apples .99


Fred Meyers

B6S3


Butter 2.49
Ritz 1.79
Cream soup .49
Nalleys chili .99
Baby rays sauce .99
Pasta .49
Best foods 2.99
Sour cream .99

*****
Spiral ham 1.27
Blackberries .99
Peppers. Cucumbers .99
Tillamook ice cream 2/6

Military discount Thursday only with coupon

5 budget changing ideas

I was thinking last night...scary idea!  And came up with five change of habits than can save a lot of money and be healthier and safer too.

• Look over the ads and note the items that you need that are a good price. You are  looking for the best two stores.  Going to two stores gives you the best of two stores.  No one store has the lowest prices on everything and going to two stores gives you the luxury of picking the best produce from two stores.   
• Identify your sources of protein,  ours would be beans, rice, cheese, eggs, chicken breast, pork loins and good hamburger.  Buy your protein in bulk when it is a “loss leader “. And buy enough for four to six weeks. IE: if you eat hamburger once a week, you will buy four to six meal sized portions.  
• Identify meals you make on a regular basis and list the items you need to make them,   Sort between shelf stable and perishable.  You want to start trying to stock a four to six week supply of the shelf stable items when you find them at a RBP.  Again, if you use diced tomatoes twice a week, you need enough to make 8-10 meals.   This will take time, but finding the RBP will help.  If you can  buy 2 or 3 for the same price as one, it  doesn’t  take long. 
• Simplify the amount of items  you buy and buy in bulk whenever possible.  It’s cheaper and you have less items in your cart.  Soon, instead of buying just what you need for the week, you will be buying a rotation protein, perishable produce and dairy, and anything on a real sale that is on your stock list and you need. 
• Last one, collect efficient scratch recipes.  This is a way to save a lot of money,   A Costco bag of flour can  save hundreds of dollars.   Artisan bread a quarter, five or take instead of 3.99.  Muffins cost .30 plus a flavor instead of 5.00.  Pancakes fractions of what that bag in the freezer section costs.  Most things save 90 percent and many take ten hands on minutes.   My mother started us baking at 9 yo.  It was good for us, and saves her time.
• Stop buying junk food and pop from your grocery money.  The operative word on SNAP is nutrition .  There isn’t much nutrition in pop and chips.   If you really think you need junk food, take it out of a entertainment bidget.  It will make it abundantly clear how much that stir is costing you.