The weekly ads

The mailman finally brought the ads.

Turkeys at Safeways are based on how much you spend this week.

Spend 150.00 free
Spend 100 .49
Spend 50. .69

Boneless pork loin 1.99

Broccoli .79

Milk 2.99
Oranges.79
Green beans 2.50

Albertsons

Turkey 7.00
Turkey, large 9.00

With a fifty dollar purchase

Yams .48
Celery 2/1.00
Berries 2.99
Pie crustv2/5


QFC

Turkey .69 small
Turkey .49 large
With 30 purchase

Butter 2/4
Frozen veggies 1.00
Ice cream 3/10
Celery . 69
Yams . 99xxx
Berries 2.99


TOP

Turkey
Free with 150 purchase
.49 for 100.00
.69 for 50 purchase

Butter 1.88 coupon
Cheese 4.99 w coupon
Frozen veggies 1.00
Mashed potaroes1.00
Eggs 2/5
Cranberries 2.00
Berries 12 ounces 5.79


Nothing is a big bargain.

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Jane

It's wednesday! No ads yet

This would normally be the day that I would analyze the ads. Because of the holiday, the mail is late. Better luck tomorrow! LOL

Yesterday we had quiche and salad for dinner. I had bits and ends of bacon that I got for free at Safeways. It made for a really cheap dinner. The bacon and eggs were free. We paid for salad and bisquick!

Pork chops with potatoes ( slow cooker)

6 pork chops, 3/4 inches thick
1T cooking oil

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup wine
1 sr cup Dijon mustard
1tsp thyme
1tsp minced garlic
Pepper

6 potatoes, cut in /4 inch slices
1 medium onion, sliced


1) brown pork chops

2) in bowl, combine soup, wine, mustard, thyme, garlic and onion.

3) add potatoes and onion and stir to coat.

4) put in slow cooker and top with pork chops.

Cook on low. 7-8 hours.

6 servings


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Jane

Tuesday ideas

Breakfast casserole

1 pound pork sausage
1large green pepper, chopped
1medium o ion, chopped
1 pound loaf bread, cubed ( bakery bread)
1cup ( 4 ounces) shredded cheese
6 eggs
2cups milk
1tsp mustard

1) cook sausage and green pepper.
2) place bread in a greased 9X13 pan
3) top with sausage mixture and cheese
4) whisk eggs, milk and mustard
5) pour over the top.
6) refrigerate overnight.
7) remove from refer and let stand 30 minutes
8) Bake uncovered at 340 for 30- 35 minutes.


Individual apple treats

In separate bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar with 2 tsp cinnamon
Unroll a pre made pie crust on a floured board, spread crust with butter.
Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon mixture.
Cut the pastry onto 1 inch strips


Cut apple onto wedges. Wrap pastry around apple wedge, sugar side out.

Place apples on a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 425 for 13-15 minutes.

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Jane

Monday madness

Better, cheaper, faster. Meals on the cheap!






First, I made a pot roast last night. I thinkthat there is something different going on with the beef we are getting. It was in the slow cooker for over 8 hours, and still tougher than. I would like. It is usually fall apart tender, this was not.
Next time, I will get up earlier and allow a full 10 hours.





Chicken Sausage
1/2 pound linguini, cooked and drained. ( keep warm)

2 teaspoons minced garlic

3 medium peppers,assorted colors, cut into strips

4 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1pound chicken sausage, cut into bite sized pieces.

Parmesan
Parsley


1) sauté garlic in olive oil. Add peppers and cook till peppers are limp. Add sausage and cook intil heated through. Add tomatoes and Parmesan. Garnish with parsley.

2) serve over pasta


Turkey and black bean quesadillas

stir together

Salsa
Cheddar cheese
Turkey breast cut into strips, thin
Can of black beans, rinsed and drained

Place mixture between flour tortillas that have been brushed with butter or olive oil.
Place on a bakimg sheet
Bake at 10- 15 minutes at 375.

This would be good with a tomato soup. Or topped with lettuce, tomato, sour cream and salsa.



Note. You could use sandwich turkey, or chicken, or leftover turkey ( thanksgiving black Friday?!?)


Another note. At business Costco they had 27 percent hamburger for 1.49 a pound. They also had shredded cheese in a variety of types for 2.32 a pound. Peppers were a buck a piece. I have doumd them cheaper other places. Ready made salad was really cheap.


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Jane

Food glorious food

Last nights dinner.

Quick Chicken and Couscous

1 medium carrot, thinly sliced
2green onions, sliced

1 1/2 cups cubes chicken or turkey, cooked
1cup frozen peas

2tsp curry powder


2cups chicken broth
1cup couscous

In saucepan, cook carrots and onion in butter until carrots are crisp tender. Add chicken, peas, and curry powder. Cook one minute. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil.

Remove from heat. Stir in couscous. Cover, let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.


Easy skillet Tex Mex

3/4 pound ground beef
1cup instant rice
2cans diced tomatoes

1/2 cup water
4 ounces of cubes cheddar cheese

Tortilla chips

1) cook beef until no longer pink and drain. ( or use pre cooked defatted meat.)
2) stir in rice, tomatoes, and water. Cook until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until rice is tender- 6 minutes.
Stir in cheese, sprinkle with chips.


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Jane

...and one fish

Yesterday we talked about a formula for meal plans to introduce variety in your meals.
I found a canned ( or left over) salmon recipe looking through my old cookbooks.


SALMON PASTA

8 ounces of Shell pasta, cooked and drained

1/2 cup frozen peas
5 plum tomatoes

1cup milk
1 can cream soup
1T butter

1/2 cup parmesan

Onion, garlic, w sauce and Tabasco sauce. ( about a tsp each except Tabasco to taste.

1/4 tsp dill

1) put peas in colander and thaw under running cold water.
2) seed tomatoes and cut into small cubes.
Set aside
3) make sauce. In saucepan combine soup and milk. Add butter, seasonings, and cheese.
4) heat to almost boiling, melting cheese.
5) drain and pick salmon if necessary. Flake fish. Fold into sauce with tomato and peas.
6) pour sauce over pasta.


Kirkland salmon is really good quality. I sometimes get salmon on sale at bar tells.

Roma tomatoes continue to be cheap with just for u at Safeways.

Pasta was a buck again at Safeways, it is better brand to wait for a .88 on the blue box. I'm getting g old, o forgot the name LOL.

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Jane

Easy weeknight dinners

I thought I would continue on a weeknight dinner track. Seems like our weeknights are pretty hectic these days.

This is the first day my husband has had off...he's exhausted!

Growing up, we had a limited variety of meats. We had a variety of veggies, but Mom didn't think pork was safe back then, and Dad didn't like chicken. We had ham and beef. I had to learn how to cook other things when I became an adult.

Oven Fried Drumsticks

Drumsticks are often a buck. There are about 4 drumsticks to a pound.

1/2 stick butter, melted
1 cup breadcrumbs mixed with parsley and Parmesan.
8 drumsticks , skin of desired

Wash drumsticks I'm cold water and dry on paper towels.
Spray a 9X13 pan with cooking spray
Dip drumsticks in butter and breadcrumbs,b mixture.
Place in pan, bake at 350 for 1 hour.





Spanish Fish

Fry 1pound of thin fish in a frying pan with olive oil about 4 minutes a side until done. Salt and pepper

Mix 1 can diced tomatoes- drained add a pinch of onion powder and oregano, 3 ounces of green olives, sliced, juice of 1/2 a lemon in a bowl.

Remove fish from skillet. Deglaze pan with water or wine. Add tomato mixture.
Heat through - 4-5 minutes until slightly reduced. Serve sauce over fish.

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Jane

Meals from the ads

Yesterday we did the ads. I purposely showed the wide variance of prices. You need to cross off anything that is higher priced. I think that the price difference between the lowest price on good hamburger and the roasts doesn't make it worth your while to grind your own.

Pot roast in the crockpot os always a welcome meal to come home to for a "Sunday dinner" .

Shrimp is five dollars again on just for U. maybe a stir fry. Snap peas are on just for u too.

Stuffed baked potatoes are always fun.

Apples are cheap this week. Maybe pork chops and apple sauce.

Chicken pot pie is always a favorite and cream of mushroom soup is cheap and I have chicken left in the freeer from last week.

It's supposed to turn colder. How about split pea soup and toasted cheese sandwiches.

Meat balls over rice would make use of a double batch of rice from the stir fry.

let's recap my thought process

1) pot roast
2) meatballs over rice

3) pork chops and applesauce
4) chicken pot pie

5) shrimp stir fry

6) stuffed baked potatoes
7) split pea soup. Toasted cheese sandwiches.

2beef, 2 chicken or pork, 2 vegetarian and a fish.

Your breakdown may be different. But, having a formula makes for easier planning.


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Jane

this weeks ads

Here are this weeks ads. I posted a picture of chicken nachos yesterday after dinner.

Thanksgiving is coming so the ads are full of feast food.


SAFEWAYS

TURKEY .99 a pound for everything but butterball.
9 percent hamburger 2.99
Pot roast 2.69

Apples .88
Pork blade roast 1.49

5 Dollar Friday
Pizza
Shrimp
Olive oil

Stove top 1.50 ( just a note we paid .75 last week at QFC )
Cream of mushroom soup 1.00 ( we paid .69)
Mashed potatoes 1.00
Berries 2.99

QFC

Zucchini .99

Buy 5
Cr of mushroom soup .69
Stove hop .79

TOP

FREE eggs with 25.00 purchase
FREE MILK for 50.00 purchase
FREE BACON WITH 75.00
all items free with a hundred dollars


London broil 3.00
Pan bread 2.50 ( more than the bakery outlet)
1pound carrots 1.00
Apples .89
Sirloin tip roast 2.75
Top round roast 2.75
Bottom round 2.75
Chuck roast 2.75
Pork loin 2.75
London broil 3.00
7 percent hamburger 4.00

Chicken broth, vegetables 15/10.00

Albertsons

Buy 6
Cake mix or brownies.99
5 lbs flour 1.99

Lettuce .99
Bottom round roast 2.99
Whole fryer .88

I purposely showed some items that are grossly overpriced to show the savings. Remember to cross off what you don't need and what is higher priced elsewhere.

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Jane

Weeknight dinners

I had a chicken panini for lunch yesterday. It made me go looking for more! I used the George Foreman grill,but you can use a stovetop grill or a frying pan.

CUBAN PANNINI

1 tsp minced garlic, 1/2 tso mayo and 1/2 tsp olive oil.

8 pieces artisan bread

Assorted thin slices of smoked turkey, ham, and Swiss cheese.

Dill pickle,

Raw spinach
Assemble sandwich, and toast.

Serve with dill pickle

CHICKEN NACHOS

Nacho chips
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 tsp chopped garlic
1 T vegetable oil
3 cups shredded chicken
2T taco seasoning
Salsa
1cup cheese
Roma tomato, seeded and diced

Cook onion , garlic, in oil. Add chicken, taco seasoning.
Heat through.
Pour over chips in a baking pan. Sprinkle with cheese.
Bake at 350 until cheese has melted.Top with salsa and tomatoes,Serve immediately.

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Jane :)

Dinner

Last night we had roast chicken, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans and green salad for dinner. It cost 2.80.

By balancing a more expensive dinner with a low cost dinner , you can still eat well for less. Take advantage of everything offered to you and the nest buys.

Chicken .88 a pound. The almost 5 pound chicken cost 4.27. The salad was free at Safeways. The green beams were .49. The sweet potatoes were .79. A tomato was .27.

It could have been cheaper if I had made cut broccoli for a veggie that I got for free.

Tonight we will have chicken burritos.

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Jane

Breakfast for dinner?

About once every two weeks we have breakfast for dinner. It is an easy way to balance an expemsive dinner. A seven dollar dinner and a three dollar dinner averages 5.00.

I find Texas toast sometimes at grocery outlet (.50) and can find itmat the bakery outlet. Eggs this time are free becauseni have a coupon from QFC.
I got berries for 1.50'a box.


Oven French toast

1/4 cup butter, melted
4 eggs
1cup milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon
8 slices Texas toast

Cover bottom of a baking pan with sides with melted butter.

Beat eggs, milk, and cinnamon .

Dip both sides of bread in egg mixture.

Place in pan.

Bake at 375 for 20- 25 minutes or until browned.


The other thing that my family loves is Impossable Pie ( eggs and sausage or ham)
See bisquick box for recipe. It uses few eggs and sausage or ham and cheese.

I get ham cubes sometimes at grocery outlet or WinCo. A little goes a long way.

Thats all for today. I had a rough night LOL

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Jane

Notes from my book written in the early 1990's

Back in the mid eighties, I wrote A booklet Feed a family of four for fifty dollars a week. I updated it in the 1990's to Feed a family of four for sixty dollars a week.
Now, in 2012, I am up to feed a family of four for 75.00 a week. Seventy five dollars a week feeds your family, and grows a stock. I have done it for years. Now, I could skip a week and we might not have fresh perishables, but we could still eat.

Rich people don't spend their money on consumables, they spend their money on appreciables.( investments that go up in value). Obviously, I wrote that before the economy went in the toilet!

Another concept that I haven't talked a out is that there are four styles of cooking dinner. only you know what mealtime is like aroumd your house and can choose what works for you. What works this week, might not work next week. LOL

1) FAST. Includes steaks, chops, pressure cooker meals, and stir frys.

2) MAKE AHEAD. Includes marathon cooking and batch cooking.

3) SET IT AND FORGET IT. Slow cookers and quick fix and forget meals are included here.
Things that you can assemble in the crockpot or oven, and walk away to get something
Else done.

4) STAIR-STEP METHOD. Cook double of something too get a head start on the next night.
Sundays roast becomes roast beef a jus sandwiches on Tuesday. Some of the rice you cooked for stir fry becomes Spanish rice the next day. Rice and beans have a short refer life.

QUICK TAKES

1) reference cookbook

2) meal plans combat the "Blank stare at the fridge, what's for dinner syndrome"

3) keep a price log for your staples

4) be brave enough to make substitutions if you like a recipe that calls for an expensive ingredient. a good reference book is The Kitchen Companion by Polly Clingerman.

5) stock your staples, never get stuck paying full price. If you dont have storage, find it. Under your bed? When I was living in a small apartment I had an ottoman that
Had a lid. My parents always had a storage room in the basement.

6) don't buy snack foods out of your food budget. Growing up, we never had pop, potato chips or Kool aid in the house. we all survived! LOL

7) decide on a dollar amount for protein for a meal. In the 70's when there were three of us, it was 2.00. By the 90's with two teenagers, I had to imcrease it to 3.00.
I still average about three dollars, but it is getting harder and harder. The operative word is average.

8) avoid impulse buying at the grocery store. Make a list, get in and get out.
Don't frequent the fancy stores --somebody has to pay for those live lobsters and water fountains! And don't go to the store multiple times during the week. If you run out of something, you're not doing your shopping right.

9) in the 90's an average family spent 120 a week on food. That was twenty years ago.
Inflation has hit hard in twenty years. Green beans were always 3 cans for a dollar, for example. Now they are 1.29 a can.

10) cook from scratch. The first letter in convenience foods is $. There are a few ready made items that are cheaper, and a few that are too labor intensive unless you have all day to cook.

11) almost free pizza! We will go into that on a future blog.

12) making your own breadcrumbs and croutons saves a bundle. As does taco seasoning. I recently saw taco seasoning on "sale" for 1.25

That's all for today.
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Jane

Gone shopping

I just finished shopping, putting things away and eating lunch. QFC has a good sale this week. I came out of there with 1/2 price. Saving more than I spent.
Cream of mushroom soup was .69. Stuffing mix was really low priced. Green beans were.49. That was cheaper than TOP.

Chicken was .88 a pound? Hebrew national was 3.00.
Berries were buy one, get one and I had a coupon for a buck off. So berries were 1.50 instead of 4.00.

Doughnuts were 4.79 a dozen.

Frozen broccoli was free with a coupon.

That's all.

Thanks for stopping by

Jane

Dinner

Tonight we had oven roasted root veggies and salmon, and a green salad.
French bread with dipping oil would have been good too.

The point I am making is that I heard this advertised as an restraunt entre on the tv today. It sounded good, so I made it from stock that I had on hand. Inspiration is all around us. Just because we are on a budget, doesn't mean that we have to eat budget food.

Spending more time on the front end of the meal train and less on the back end makes the difference. Many ethnic recipes are budget recipes.

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Jane

Back to the basics

I can't bellieve it, but ut has been a month since I covered the basics of 1/2 price groceries.

The USDA comes out with stats on how much it should coat to feed your family based om the age of the family members. I am trying for 1/2 the price.

I am trying to help people feed their family better, cheaper, faster. If you are looking any of these, I hope I can help.

My approach comes from many years when I had to economize. I read everything I could find to educate myself on eating well for less.

This takes a three pronged approach : plannng and organizing, shopping, and cooking from scratch.

1) planning and organizing:

Develop a book of recipes that use inexpensive sources of protein. Start with seven and try for 14. This gives you a variety of meals.

If you have to answer the question " what's for dinner? "after a long hard day, it is to easy to say "take out". you need a plan, even if you don't always follow it.

The object is to never pay full price for your food. Make a list of the staple items you use often. At our house that would be beans, pasta, pasta sauce, tuna, salmon,
re fried beans, and diced tomatoes. You want to buy them when they are at their lowest price. When that happens buy, as many as you can afford, as many as the store will let you buy, or as many as you need to meet your target quanity-- whichever comes first.

Track what price you pay, where you bought it, and when. You can use a spiral notebook or a spreadsheet. If you use a spiral notebook, you can take it with you. Mark a sheet with the item and the size of the package. Now record on a line, the date, store and amount you paid.

1 lb pasta

10/25/12. Safeways .88

You are not tracking everything you buy, just the things that you buy often. You will soon see what the rock bottom price is.

If I use the item once a week, I keep a stock of 24. If we use it once a month I keep a stock of 6.

Watch pull dates. Canned goods have a three year shelf life, except meat and fish that have a shorter life. Pasta has a eight year shelf life.


2) shopping

When the ads come out for the week, take a sheet of paper, draw lines to quarter it. Put the name of the stores on top . Now write down whatever is cheap that is either on your stock up list, or fresh food and meat that is on sale cheap. Not everything in an ad is cheap. Then cross off anything you don't need more of or that is cheaper elsewhere. Now pick the two stores that have your best prices. Go there, get what's on your list and your dire necessities, and get out. The more time you spend in a store, the more money you will spend.

Avoid snack foods and pre packaged foods. They are a sure way to de rail your budget.

3) Cooking from scratch

Cooking from scratch doesn't have to mean all day cooking . There are ways to cut your time in the kitchen. Make good use of slow cookers and a pressure cooker if you have
one. Oven meals are a time saver. If you can put something in a pan and shove it in the oven and walk away to do other household chores, you make best use of your time.

You can precook ( batch cook) when you have free time, and it saves a lot of time at dinnertime. It seems like dinner time in many households is hectic.

That's what this blog is about. Recipes that are on the cheap and ways to cook faster and more healthy.


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Jane

Meals from the ads

This week is a good week to stock up. A lot of the canned goods are on sale at TOP for .67. the beans especially are cheap. I have been paying less for tomatoes and I am not sure how much the green beans are at Costco. I don't usually stock a lot of canned veggies.

Chicken is .88 at QFC. That's about half the cost of a three pound deli chicken.
That's the cheapest I have seen them. It's a good buy if it isn't southern grown.
It's not hard to get three or four meals off of a five pound chicken. Most deli chickens are three pounds. Anything under three pounds means you are paying for too much bone, and not enough meat. It's really quick to roast off a Ken. See earlier posts.

I got a coupon from QFC for free eggs. I don't spend a lot on food at QFC, but we spend a lot on meds.

Cream of mushroom soup is .69 and tuna is on sale as well.


Meals:

1) roast chicken
2) chicken chimichungas
3) quiche
4) pizza
5) stuffed acorn squash
6) meat ball subs
7) tuna casserole


It has long been a trick if our mothers to make best use of the sales to plan the weeks meals.

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Jane

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This weeks ads

So I am getting a head start on this weeks ads .

TOP

Veggies, tomatoes, soup, beans 15/10.00
Olives 10/10.00
Tuna .80

Drumsticks 1.00 lb
Sirloin tip 3.00
Butter 2/5.00
Pears .79

QFC

Whole chicken .88
20 percent hamburgerv2.49
Berries b1g1. Nets 2.00
Camp bells soup / cr mushroom .69 ...buy 5
Stove top stuffing .79 ?.. Buy 5

Hebrew national 3.00

Safeways

Turkey .99
Pumpkin, canned. 3/5.00 (5 ounce cans

Country ribs 1.99

5 dollar Friday

Sub sandwich
Cookies

Albertsons
Apple.99
Lettuce .88
Veggies, canned.67


That's about all.

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Jane

Notes and more Tex Mex

I have been reading a lot of blogs on budget food. It goes back to eating cheap food, or food cheap. I feel that eating well balanced and a variety of foods is better than eating very little and empty calories. In Other words, you can pay full price for top ramen and a box of imitation cheese, or you can pay 1/2 price for real vegetables and real meat. Don't skimp om the food value, skimp on the amount you pay for good food.


Beefy Spanish Rice

1 cup uncooked brown rice
1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cans diced tomatoes
1tsp celery salt
1 tsp salt
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1cup ( 4 ounces) shredded cheese


1) cook rice
2) cook beef and onions until meat is no longer pink, drain.
3) Stir in tomatoes, seasoning, and rice.
4) put in greased baking dish
5) cover and bake at 350 for 50 minutes.
6) uncover, sprinkle with cheese and bake an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is melted


Note. You can sauté onion, or zap in the microwave and add it to already cooked beef.
1 pound of ground beef nets about 3/4 of a pound cooked.

Rice can be cooked ahead, but don't hold it longer than two days. Cooked rice and veins have a short refer life.


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Jane

Let's talk about Mexican

Mexican food is a Popular cuisine in the US. Growing up, we had a lot of spaghetti.
We will probably go in cycles, like the type of television shows that are popular.
Remember westerns? And game shows?

I digress.

Beef and Bean chimichangas.

1.5 poumds ground beef
1 Medium onion, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1clove garlic, minced


2 cans re fried beans
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1/2cup taco sauce

16 - 10 inch flour tortillas

Vegetable oil

Toppings

Lettuce
Sour cream
Chopped ripe olives
Chopped tomatoes
Cheddar cheese


In large skillet, cook meat and vegetables until meat is no longer pink.
Add the beans, cheese, and taco sauce. Stir until cheese has melted.

Spoon about a third of a cup of mixture in the center of each tortilla.
Fold up the edge nearest the filling. Fold on the sides, and roll up. Secure with a toothpick. Fry, seam side down in oil 2-3 minutes a side. Makes 16.

Note: you could use shredded chicken instead of ground beef.

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Jane