Terrific Tuesday

In my research, I am seeing a lot of comfort foods kicked up a notch.

braised beef with hot peppers, taco seasoning, beans and corn.

Peppers with pork and sweet potatoes and cornbread

Brownie ice cream sandwiches with caramel ice cream topping.

Mac and cheese made with sharp cheese.

meatloaf and mashed potatoes ( my mother would make a oven meal. Her version of wick before microwaves and crockpots. Meatloaf, baked potatoes wrapped on foil and acorn squash cut and seeded , with butter, brown sugar.
All baked in the oven at 400 degrees.

Chicken pot pie
pot roast in the slow cooker
Chicken and dumplings
grilled cheese with tomatoes


All from January Family Circle. Look on line or at the library.



We had chicken pot pie last night. I kept it simple because our grandaughter was eating it.

Sometimes, adding one over the top ingredient can make a big difference. Make the difference between low cost hum drum and special. Presentation makes a real difference too. The difference between a " family " restraunt and an upscale one often isn't the menu, it is the ambiance and the presentation of the food. A few fresh herbs ( grow them yourself) or some capers make a big difference.

We eat very well for well under the USDA guidelines for Thrifty meals. Remember, they count real food, not paper products, magazines, or other stuff you can get at the grocery store.

My mother only bought chips if it was for a particular meal. And she wouldn't allow pop or Kool aid on the house. We had milk, water, or tea. When we were older she bought lemonade frozen in the summer when it was .33 a can.
We had breakfast, lunch and dinner. Snacks were almost nonexistent. If we didn't eat our dinner, there was always breakfast. I didn't miss many dinners! LOL. we weren't poor, we had karastan rugs and real china and sterling silverware. She didn't want to waste money, She always wanted to have something to show for her money. She grew up during the Great Depression, she went to work as a teenager to pay the rent, not to buy herself a car. There was no such thing as food stamps, you just had to forge food as best you could. She just believed in plenty of good basic food. My parents thought junk food, was bad for you, even before someone coined the word junk food.

In the sixties, she spent forty-five dollars week on food for five of us. I don't know what the USDA stats were then, it would be fun to find out.

PS. I wrote the USDA. he got back to me really quick. Our family growing up had stats of 30.00. I am sure that some of difference was because we had basically beef and fish ince a week. my Dad didn't like chicken and my mother was afraid of pork.

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Jane

Monday madness

I thought that I would talk about salad dressings. Some salad dressings are just best bought. We use a lot of ranch dressing. There is a recipe for smashed potatoes using ranch dressing. it is really good. Vinaigrette, however is really simple and can be made at the time you make the salad.

Basil Vinaigrette

1/4 cup olive oil
1 -1/2 tsp vinegar
1/4 tsp ground mustard
1/4 tsp basil
Pinch of garlic powder
Salt and pepper

Mix. Whisk together before dressing salad.

Pantry deserts...


Lemon Pudding

In a bowl, combine
2/3. cup sugar, 4 tsp flour

Stir in 2/3 cup milk, 4T lemon juice

Separate 2 eggs. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Fold egg white into lemon mixture.

fill four Ungreased custard cups. Place in baking pan, leaving room around sides of custard cups. Fill baking pan 1 inch up. Bake pan in oven at 325 35-40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.
Serves 4.

I would serve with whipping cream and lemon zest if I had it. Otherwise, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

This is a good go to when you want a really cheap desert. When I was a kid, we girls would do the bakimg.
There were a few cookies that took things that my mother always had the ingredients for. Walnut squares were one. If we didn't have walnuts, we didn't use them. The recipe is in the Betty Crocker cookbook from the 50s. The one with red check cover. The other one was snicker doodles. Sometimes, peanut butter.

When we are having breakfast for dinner, I sometimes make yogurt cups.
Layer plain or lemon yogurt, fruit, and granola if you have it or have recently made it.


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Jane

Suddenly Sunday

Don't forget daylight savings ...spring forward !

I purchased the women's day magazine yesterday while grocery shopping. It has 20 meals you can make from pantry items. It is a little misleading because there are fresh ingredients, but most of them I have in my pantry. It would be a good go to if you we're trying to get by with what was in the house at the end of the month.

Also, they have recipes for trifles. The article on money saving has to do with organizational skills in the kitchen,

Yesterday, we went grocery shopping. We hit four stores in a three mile round trip. I dropped off some paperwork at the pharmacy, got groceries, stopped at a store for supplies for my business, and went to another grocery store and checked for supplies at another store. We were gone from home about an hour. I spent 37.00. I spent 95.00 last week because I found a lot of my target foods at a very low price. Stocking your freezer at Safeways is very fruitful and is still going on this week.

One of the things I bought was a bag of lemons. Lemons are a versitile fruit on the kitchen. Besides using them for salad dressings and to liven up sauces , you can make lemon pudding-- a really inexpensive desert that uses a few inexpensive staples you have in your pantry. Lemon bread. A lemon with some salt disinfects a cutting board and cleans a copper pot.

Meals from the ads

2 beef
2 chicken or pork
2 vegetarian
1 fish

1) Spaghetti and meatballs (pasta was .75 on JFU at Safeways )
2) Beef and Bean Burritos
3) roast chicken (.88 at QFC)
4) chicken soup
5) Mac and cheese (use up bits of cheese). Cheese was 5.12 on JFU
6) pasta with mushrooms, spinach and garlic ( mushrooms were on JFU )
7) Dagwood sandwiches (artisan bread on JFU)

I got fruit juice for free at Safeways JFU.


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Jane

Saturday notes

I finally got my reader up and running, after a grueling week of stomach flu and trouble shooting so I am back in business.

I think it is interesting when the chew talks about frugal meals, they are talking about 5 bucks a plate, not five bucks a meal. I do realize, that they are in NYC and they don't have the space in their homes that people in the suburbs have. Every house my parents had, no matter how small , had a storage room in the basement for food. Having bench marks for the amount you are going to spend on a meal, or meat and veggies helps you to keep a budget. I spent two bucks a meal in the 60s when we were two adults and 1 small child. It increased when we had two teenagers in the house to three dollars. We are back to about two dollars again. The kind of meat has changed a lot. We don't get much steak nowadays.

Yesterday, they cooked a flattened chicken breast and a fried greens and polenta. This could be doable for close to five dollars shopping wisely. I got couscous cheap at big lots. Boneless chicken breasts are 2.66 per pound this week. And greens are always inexpensive. I don't count basic staples in my meal costs. I do count them in my total food budget. a lot of more sophisticated dishes can be doable by watching prices and substituting some expensive ingredients.

Today, I am cleaning out the fridge, dumping hopefully not much that is dead. ( with all of us with the flu, we have not eaten quite what I planned.) and using up bits and pieces. I think we will have Mac and cheese , carrots, and a fruit and cream dish for desert. It's a lot of fat, but probably not as much as if we ate a beef dish. rationalizing?!? Not all our cheese is high fat content. Portion control.
grocery shopping didn't happen yesterday. We spent the day getting a new reader.

I am seeing a lot of pasta with veggies and a little meat sometimes. I think it is a great way to compensate for the skyrocketing meat costs. I am still finding chicken inexpensive sometimes, but beef is about double.
mushrooms and spinach sounds interesting to me. That wouldn't go over we'll with my husband, however.

soups continue to be a good go to especially if you are going to have a hard day and you know it, or you know the family is going to hit home at different times. They can be hearty, satisfying,and hold well in a slow cooker.

I love salads,and summer is coming. You can still get shrimp for five bucks at Safeways often, vegetables are cheaper and you can plant a garden or pots on the back porch.

Often, traditional winter meats are cheaper in the summer. Just wait for a colder day. That's not hard in the pacific NW some summers!!!LOL

I tend to use parsley a lot. it just seems to make anything with a colorless hue more appetizing. I mix bread crumbs, Parmesan or another hard cheese and parsley to top Mac and cheese. Make your own bread crumbs from your crusts. It's easy and you aren't paying big bucks for someone else's garbage bread.
A older kid can do it if you set up the food processor and deal with the blades. kids like to push buttons. Grating cheese is another job kids can do in the food processor. Just set things up and you deal with the blades.

I learned a lot from watching my mother. How to economize on food is a good life skill. No matter what your lot in life is.

There is a movement out there for people to cut their grocery bill for one week and give the savings to the food bank. I guess to help to end hunger and enlighten us. There are people that can't get food stamps or are temporarily unemployed or taking mandatory days off and that is I am writing this blog. There are also people that don't know how to put good food on the table on snap and still have food at the end of the month. there are, of course, other reasons to want to economize on food and people tell me they get other ideas from the blog. It is my intention to help people.



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Jane

Oops forgot Safeways adds

Safeways

Pot roast 2.69
Blues or blackberries 2.99
Shrimp 5.00

Just for u
Cheese 2/5.12

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Jane

Friday

I saw a segment yesterday on The Chew. It was about little children eating top ramen and potato chips for breakfast, lunch and dinner because it was all they had. There isn't much I do about that. But, I'll bet those little children are not too worried about the race car drivers having a track. Someone should remind their congress people that they are working for the people, and necessities come before Luxeries.

I can, however, do something about the people that are lucky enough to get food stamps and can't make them last all month. That's what this blog is about. Many other people are reading for time saving kitchen management tricks, or are saving for somethimg they really want, or just don't feel the need to waste money or like beimg reminded of an new recipe to wake up dinner.

No child should be denied a good meal and nomchild should wake up to no food in the house. This plan is doable. All of us run into obstacles, but With some creative problem solving can overcome them. My sister in law and I went to the grocery store together when she onlynhad one car and we both had toddlers. It was easier and more efficient to leave the little ones at home and go together. when I lived in a low rent apartment house, we all banned together and helped each other. We had a community vacume cleaner, the guys took the garbage out so we girls didn't have to deal with the rats. We shared paperbacks, and babysitting.



Spanish Omlette

Potatoes, cooked and sliced
Onion, bell pepper, garlic, green olives, oregano,

Mozzarella cheese, grated

6-8 eggs
Salt, pepper

A good use of leftover potatoes, or stair step them

In a greased skillet, cook the onion, peppers and garlic until wilted. Add the potatoes. Cook until heated through. Add olives and oregano. Remove from heat. Stir in cheese.

Mix together the eggs, salt and pepper. Cook 4 omlettes with the eggs.

Place heated vegetarian mixture inside Omlette.


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Jane





How

Thursday notes

This might be a short post. I am still having connectivity issues and it just erased my first post.
There are not a lot of good buys this week. It may be a good week to make a WinCo trip. If you go, wear your walking shoes and bring a buddy and your price list. They don't have weekly specials, but some are really good.
The place is HUGE. My husband swears it is bigger than Costco. And you have to bag your own. Two people means you can watch the register, and bag too.

I'm watching the chew I heard a new word. Passive cooking. I really like that word!

Since our house is sick bay this week, I thought a soup recipe would be in order.

Tomato soup

8 ounces of tomato paste
Onion powder
1 T butter
pepper

Mix together and heat in pan.

Add 2 cups milk

Heat through.

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Jane

Is it Tuesday or Wednesday?

Between me having the flu and the wifi not working, I missed Tuesday altogether.

The ads

TOP

Drumsticks .97
Ice-cream 2.99
15 percent beef. 3.00


ALBERTSOMS

Oranges .50

Weekend only.
Chunky soup 1.00
Ragusa .99
Milk 2.49. Coupon
Craisens 1.69 coupon

QFC

Chicken .88
Grapes 2.49
20 hamburger 2.66
Deli chicken 5.99
Butter 1.88

Monday Madness - Alternative shopping

Yesterday we went to breakfast...the cheaper way to go out on a "date" . Breakfast is much cheaper than lunch or dinner. Afterwards we went alternative shopping.

At the Goodwill, I got a new (as in never worn) shirt and a pair of denium shorts with pink roses embroderied on them. for my grandaughter. I also found a
bunny book and a new bunnie cookie cutter set. Magazines are .50. cooking magazines don't go out of date much. All for 6.30 including tax.

We went to Big Lots. They were having their one day only twenty percent off the entire store sale. I got all kinds of canned goods really cheap. Triskit crackers were 1.60. Diced tomatoes that were .80 on sale were .48. Pickles .80. Pineapple, large can was .80. Pineapple and cottage cheese is a good lunch. Also, pineapple teryicki burgers are delicious. We tend to eat burgers in the summer. Ranch Dressing was an extra large bottle, twenty percent off. 2.40. Whole wheat pasta was .80. Also, pasta with servings of veggies in them. They might be a good way to get veggies into pickie eaters.

The Grocery Outlet was less fruitful. I got a box of soup for 1.29. The soup boxes run upwards of three dollars. Tomato red papper is sometimes cheap at Costco, they don't always have it. They had a lot of cheeses, Tillamook cheese slices were 3.50 a pound. They have romano and parmesean for 2.00 a carton usually. Coffee is really cheap always.

I am working on the regular computer, my tablet lost the ability to get an internet connection. Bummer, I do a lot of research and development for my businesses on it. I really miss it. Hope my husband can get it fixed today.

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Jane

Sunday Notes

Carrots continue to be an inexpeñsive vegetable. One of the ways I found to cook them is to add red or new potatoes and any other root veggies I have and roast them in the oven with olive oil and salt and pepper, or rosemary or parmesean.


Carrot Soup

1/2 cup chopped onion
Butter
3 cups chopped carrots
3cups vegetable broth
2T uncooked rice
1/2 cup cream
2T tomato paste
Salt, pepper

Cook onion in butter. Add carrots, stock and rice.
Cover, and simmer until carrots and rice are tender.
Cool. Process in food processor.

Return to pan. Add cream, tomato paste, salt and pepper.

Back in the 80s, compound butters were popular. I think the recipes are on an earlier post. It seems that they are coming back. It is a easy way to add life to a sandwich. Bump up the old Dagwood. My children used to love Dagwood sandwiches. Make them a little more sophisticated.

With the goings on with the drought and congress, it seems to me that a whole lot more people are going to get on the cheap bandwagon. It sounds like a whole lot of people are going to loose funding which translates to less jobs. Just what we need. ( I'm being sarcastic. ).

Eating on the cheap doesn't have to be unhealthy or time consuming.

I do this blog for free. Many others have made millions, yes, millions telling people to cut their toilet paper in half and feed their kids cheap hotdogs and cheese pizza. I am doing this blog so that people in the same boat I was years ago can feed their kids adequate meals on a disastrous budget. I wasn't lazy, I went to work everyday. Day care took 1/2 my wages, and housing took the other 1/2. I was not on welfare. Something good came out of it. I took what I had learned from my mother and read everything I could to learn more. I'm trying to pass on what I learned to people in need. It is not good for child's sense of security to not have food in the house at the end of the month. Anyone can live on the food stamp allotment if they shop wisely. They can't do it buying sodium potato chips and cheese sauce for 13.28 a pound that doesn't have any cheese in it.

That being said, I have found that some people read this blog for the time saving tips, or for a new idea for dinner. Or, just because they don't believe in wasting money. Face it, who can't use an extra few thousand dollars in the bank??

Back when I was first divorced in the mid seventies, I had twenty five dollars left one month for food. Desperate times called for desperate measures. I bought .35 worth of liver and cooked it with tomato sauce and peppers like my mother had. I called my three year old to dinner. I cut it up in small pieces so he could eat it himself. he looked at it and said " what's this?". Not wanting to sway his opinion by any rumors he had heard at daycare, I looked him straight in the eye and said " meat.". He took a bite, and chewed it, and looked at me and said " well, it ain't hamburger! Years later, We had liver once a week, because he liked it. Back in the 70s it was good for you!! LOL


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Another blog

I ran on to another blog where they selling their ideas in a book. They say that they paid off their first house and paid cash foe their cars. On thirty five thousand dollars a year with five kids.I did notice that the kids work too.

The only thing that I notice that I had forgotten about was that ifmyou are buying packaged veggies, weigh them. Some are heavier than others. Also, look carefully especially at Costco. they don't pick over their produce. If one apple is spoiled, you haven't saved anything.

Getting Inspiration.

My daughter brought a take out menu home from a bistro. I thought I would analyze it for inspiration.
Inspiration can come from anywhere. Having varied menu plan keeps things interesting and makes you not even realize that you are eating on the cheap.

Nicoise salad, I totally forgot about. with salmon and balsamic vinegar dressing.

Shrimp salad with field greens, shrimp, corn, tomatoes, jack cheese

Blue cheese and Pear salad. With candied pecans and dried cherries.

Vegetable pizza. Roasted artichokes, baby spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, mozzarella, provolone,Parmesan and basil.

Chicken and angel hair pasta with garlic pasta sauce, spinach, mushrooms and rosemary butter.

Most of these are doable on a budget with some variations, watching for sales. They sound yummy to me without the 10 plus dollar price tag per serving.

inspiration can come from anywhere, your favorite bistro, magazines, the Internet, the back of boxes or even the back of a candle!

When my children were young, they were more likely to eat the same familiar things like pizza, burritos, tacos, spaghetti etc. Someone asked the school one time why there was not a lot of variety on the menus. The answer they got was that they could tell by how much was left in the garbage can what the kids ate and they cooked accordingly . you can encourage children at home to try just one bite of new foods often. Eventually, they will eat a more varied diet. Often it is the texture and sometimes they outgrow it. Just keep trying. Don't make ot a power struggle. I offered my granddaughter mashed potatoes the other night. She Buttoned up her mouth and turned her head. I put a little on my finger and put it on her pouting lip. She ate it. I gave her the bowl, and before long, she was eating it out of the bowl. She needed a bath after that, but she ate it. LOL.

Often, when my husband and I were having spicy food, I would make the preschool age kids Mac and cheese and green beans. They wanted to taste our food.

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Jane

The other meals

It was brought to my attention (thank you my one commenter ) that I don't talk avout breakfast and lunch much. breakfast in most families is not a sit down together affair. We are all rushing somewhere in the morning, and are separate places for lunch.

I take a more casual approach ot the other meals. I usually have whole wheat toast and fruit, or banana bread, or yogurt, sometimes with pumpkin seed granola.

Muffins work well. They can be madenand frozen when you have time, and pulled out of the freezer the night before or defrosted in the microwave. You can put all kinds of nutritious stuff in them and the kids will eat it!!! I have a muffin cookbook that has a formula for muffins, and and a whole lot of variations.Any basic muffin recipe will work. Just substitute what you have for the bananas or whatever. Bare in mind what texture and consistency your new ingredient is and match itmwith the old one.

I tend to use bisquick, it's cheap and easy. The banana blueberry one is so nutritious, I usually use it. Making a quick bread is easier and more efficient.

Thinking about the ingredients.

Low fat bisquick
Oatmeal ( lowers colosterol)
sugar ( I use fake because I am diabetic, but it is not a lot)

Bananas ( they are super ripe, good for anti cancer)
Blueberries (antioxidants)
Eggs, you can use fake eggs
Low fat milk

A lot of good nutrition.

Lunch for us is either a sandwich and a piece of fruit, leftovers, or a salad. I especially like whole wheat crackers, cheese, and a piece of fruit like an apple.

The answer to another question! How do I keep a budget and fill my teenage kids hollow legs!
When my kids were teenagers, I had a fifty dollar a week budget. I posted the weeks menus on the fridge so they knew not to eat the rice I had double batched for another meal etc. I also had a list of things that they knew were FREE stuff. Things they could eat all they wanted of if they hungry.
It was top ramen, beef and bean burritos, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and popcorn.

I get the which is cheaper, WinCo or Costco question often. The answer is no one grocery store is cheapest.
The best way to beat the system is to pick the two cheapest per week. Then go to the overstocked stores, the bakery outlet, WinCo and Costco on a need basis for the things that are cheaper there. We hit Costco once a month or when we are running out of meds or TP. WinCo we once every six weeks or so. Grocery Outlet and big lots we hit when we are in that section of town for something else. I plan our trips so we can make the beat use of our time. Thankfully these stores, except WinCo and the bread outlet, are clustered together. I have learned where the food is and can get in and out quickly.

If you just hate to shop and record keeping is not your bag, don't hestitate to deligate the job to a trusted family member. Even an older child sometimes can research prices and fill in a spread sheet.

That being said, I remember putting a grocery list on the fridge, hoping when someone noticed we were almost out of something, they would write it down, and not put the empty box back in the cupboard. I got snicker bars in the list. Like I was going to buy snicker bars. Nice try. LOL

I remember sending my husband to the store to grocery shop because I had had an operation and couldn't go. He came back with a pomegranate and a case of beer! I sent my college age daughter with a budget to Costco. We got a weeks worth of good food.

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The Stats

I have had the day to myself for the first time in what seems like years. I did some research on the Internet. Average food stamps are 133.00 per person per month. 533.00 for the typical family of four. USDA stats for low income family of four is 627.90 a month. High income is 1245.60. Those figure are for June 2012. This is for food only. Paper products, alcoholic beverages etc. Are not included. I am sitting at 1/2 the low income stats and have built a stock besides.

Meals from the ads

My usual post after the ads post is to do a post on making meals from the ads and what is still in my fridge. It is mainly to show the process. My fridge is probably not your fridge and my family dynamics are probably not yours.

My formula for meal plans is

2 beef
2 chicken or pork
2 vegetarian
1 fish

We tend to like Tex Mex (easy for me to compensate for the veggies). When the children were growing up, we tended to have the same things, because the kids liked them a lot.

1) Tacos,Refried beans
2) beef barley soup, crusty bread
3) chicken pot pie
4) pork spareribs
5) Tomato soup and quesidas.
6) pizza
7) tuna casserole

I got wheat pizza crust at grocery outlet for 2 crusts for a buck. Mots is 2.19 a pound at Costco. I got tortillas for .60 at big lots.Spareribs are on sale at top. My very technical recipe for country style ribs is to slice an onion on top of them in a slow cooker. Add a beer on top and cook for 8-10 hours. Carefully take them out with a slotted spoon when done. Place them on a broiler pan, brush with BBQ sauce and broil until sauce is bubbly.

The chicken, beef, and taco meat are already cooked in the freezer from previous weeks.
Mixed veggies were at the dollar store, also on sale at QFC. Good tuna is on sale as well with a coupon.

My tag phrase is 4+1 is 5. Four people, one meal, five bucks.

If I know that we are doing to have a long, hard day,I plan a meal that cooks itself , so dinner is ready when we are.

I was asked one time, why I would want to feed a family of four for 50 bucks a week. My reply was that my husband and I had both been laid off and we took cuts in pay to get new jobs. And, the mortgage company didn't have a sense of humor! LOL. If you have never been there, you don't understand.

But, besides averting disaster, groceries on the cheap can free up discretionary money for other life enriching things--like the kids college fund, or a vacation that you have always wanted to go on. There is a smug satisfaction that you have beat the stats and a sense of security knowing that You have food in the house at the end of the month.

I started this blog when it was brought to my attention that there were people on SNAP that were running out of money before they ran out of month. The amount of full food stamps is well enough to live on, if you manage it wisely. The trick may be to realize that they are FOOD stamps, not SNACK stamps.It is healthier to snack on an apple or some air popped popcorn than potato chips or sugar coated cereal. It also, won't work if you buy ready made meals.

Knowing how to grocery shop on th cheap is empowering. Even if you don't need to, why waste money??


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The ads

Here are the ads


QFC

10 for 10

Mini carrots
Apples
Frozen veggies 12 oz

Strawberries 2/5.00
Pork shoulder 1.79

Grapes 2.49


SAFEWAYS

sirloin steak 2.99
Milk 2.59

FIVE DOLLAR FRIDAYS

BLUES, 18 ounces
Shrimp

Skippy peanut butter

Sausage buy 1 get1

Coupon****. Tuna, solid pack. 1.19
Coupon. Brownie mix . 99


Frozen foods. Buy five, get ten dollars on your next trip.

Frozen fries 2/7
Mornimg star farms 2.99. That makes them a buck EACH!!!!


ALBERTSOMS

BUY 10

Hunts pasta sauce .80
Brown and serve. . 80

Chicken breasts . 99
15 ground beef. 2.49****
apples .88
Lettuce 1.00
Carrots 1.69




TOP

Apples 1.00
Tomatoes .89
Grapes 1.99

15/10. Beans and tomatoes canned. .67 each"""""


Blues 16 ounces. 3.98
15 percent ground beef 3.00****
Pork ribs 2.00
Pork chops 2.00
Pork roast 2.00
Beef roasts 3.00



Note the flux of ground beef prices, You probably would be better off making it from sirloin Safeways.
Also, there is a great flux on baby carrots.
Beef roast is 3.00. The new two dollars. That's a fifty percent increase.
The 15/10 canned foods are a stockimg alert.
Vegetarian alert Safeways has a net of 1.00 a package on vegetarian "meat".

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The rest of the story

Today is the day I usually do the ads. However, I couldn't finish yesterday's blog.

There are a lots of tricks to make cooking from scratch fast. There is one school of thought that makes a entire month of meals one day, and freezes the rest. I call it marathon cooking. I don't have the stanima for that,but I can see where it might be beneficial to some families. I have dome a mini version of it before and boxed up some for our elderly mothers. I thought it might be fun for them not to eat their own cooking and have some things that they wouldn't cook for one person.

I use the slow cooker a lot of I am going to work the late shift, or entertain. It just makes life easier. The last thing I want to do after I have been on my feet on cement floors all day is to set on to cook a meal from scratch.

When I get a bulk batch of ground meat, or make ground meat, I cook and de fat it and portion control it. Put it into bags and label. It makes life easier and dinner is half made. I make taco meat, crumbles, meatballs, Salisbury steak, and we have meatloaf that night. You can do that for sausage also.

Or I roast off a chicken and separate it into 4 bags: 2 1/2s of chicken breasts, one leg portions and the bones for soup.

I cook off a roast beef or pork and we have a roast meal and then slice the rest thin for a hot sandwich and freeze on family portions.

Take a couple of zip lock bags and put them in the freezer door,label them meat, and veggies. Every time you chop a veggie or cook a meat that goes on a pizza, set aside a little in your bag. I would use separate bags for the meat. At the end of a week or two, you have enough for "almost free pizza". The recipe for dough is on a prior blog. It is really easy and fast. You use the food processor. We also found pizza crusts whole-wheat for 2/1.00 at the grocery outlet .

Another idea, if you are not the tracking type, consider delegating to another family member. I set up my mothers file system when I was in jr high school.

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Jane

Will return with the ads

The basics revisited again !!!

About every first of the month, I go over the basics for any new people, or to refresh memories.

This blog is about grocery shopping on the cheap. It takes a three pronged approach at putting inexpensive, tasty meals on the table. It is not about eating cheap hot dogs, top ramen, or .28 a pound chicken or dumpster diving??!! LOL. There are many reasons why one would want to economize on food. Some people read this blog to see new recipes or get an idea how to get out of the kitchen fast. The idea is "If you spend more time on the front end of the 'get the food on the table train' and less time on the back end you will be better off. You essentially get paid for shopping, not for cooking.

If you can cut your food bill in half, and save 75 dollars a week on food, you save almost 4 thousand dollars a year. What can YOU buy or save for that much money. If you are like I was in my early years, I didnt have it to save. I just had to make what I had stretch.

The basics take a three pronged approach.1) Planning and organizing,2) shopping and 3) cooking from scratch

1) Planning and Organizing
Everything successful starts with a plan. First, gather main dish recipes that use inexpensive sources of protein that your family will eat. Start with seven, and go from there. Fourteen is better for variety.

Now, make a list of the staples you use frequently. In our house it would be beans, refried beans, cheese, diced tomatoes, pasta sauce, pasta, some tuna, and some salmon and instant mashed potatoes.
make a spread sheet or a small spiral notebook to track the prices. Record the item, the size, the amount you paid, when and where. Pretty soon you will discover the rock bottom price of the article. Plan your menus when you get home from the store keeping in mind what is leftover in the fridge before you went to the store. Nothing fancy, just jot down seven main dishes. Do this after you shop something that is on sale might not be as good a quality as you want, or not available.

2) Shopping.
When you find the rock bottom price, buy a) as many as the store will allow you to buy, b) as many as you can afford to buy,or c)as many as you need to replenish stock. If I use something once a week, I keep 24. If I use it once a month, I keep 6. This isn't about hoarding.

When the grocery ads come out, take a piece of computer paper , divide it in fourths. Put the name of a store at the top of each section. Go through the ads and mark down any meat and veggie buys that are a good price and any stock items that are a good price. Skip the ready made items and snack food.

When you are done,cross off any thing that is a higher price and anything you don't need. Record lowest prices of your target foods. Pick the two stores that have the lowest prices on things you need. plan your trip to save gas.

Take the ads, and your list. Get in and get out. The More time you spend in a store, the more money you will spend.

Store your fruits and veggies properly. There are storage solutions on the market that make fruits and veggies last longer.

3) Cooking from scratch
There is no room in a good food cheap budget for snacks and ready made foods. That being said, there are a few things that are cheaper to buy ready made than to make from scratch, and a few things that are best bought ready made. Refried beans, canned beans and tortillas and mayo come to mind. Sometimes instant mashed potatoes are cheaper than scratch. There are ways to make dinner as fast as you can by using a box. I did a post on a hamburger dinner box. It is a real eye opener. it is about the most expensive item in the store pound for pound. Booze excluded.

I'm out of time, hope I covered everything.

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Please share. I'm not getting any money for this blog, I am trying to help someone that needs it.

Jane

Price comparisons

My mother was an antique dealer. She always said that every antique store had sleepers and the trick was to find them.

No one grocery store has the lowest prices on everything. If you can effectively and efficiently take advantage of
The lowest prices, you can master 1/2 price food.

We did a Costco run yesterday. We only needed a few things, but they were really necessary things. I thought I would spend some time comparing prices. I have had a lot of questions about comparing Costco prices.

Many produce prices at Costco are pretty stable year round. Bananas are 1.39 the cheapest anywhere. Grocery Outlet is 1.99, other stores .79. All bananas are organic. Berries are almost always cheaper. Blueberries are full of antioxidents and are very versitile.

Toilet paper is the cheapest I have found.

They have pizzas on sale at times. I got a extra Large pizza for 5.99 yesterday. It is so large that I havento cut it into quarters to get it in our fridge and oven!

Cheese was 3.19 a pound. I have been getting it for 2.50 a pound. They had mots for 2.19 grated. Grated cheese should not be more expensive than the bricks. We went to the Tillamock factory. Mthey make cheese in huge molds. Then put it through a cutting machine. The excess goes into a plastic bin and goes to the grater machine. Basically, it is the leftovers.

The chicken sausage that I buy for 2.99 at grocery outlet was more expensive.

I buy the brown and serve baguettes from Costco unless I can find them at the bakery outlet. The bakery doesn't always have them. I keep them in the fridge, they last a long time. Tortillasmaremcheaper. I keep them in the fridge too.

Re fried Beans were cheaper than the regular price at the other grocery stores. They were not the .50 that got them for on sale.

Pasta was a lot more expensive. Pasta has a very, very long shelf life. You can stock very comfortably.

Spices are a lot cheaper. I buy the spices that I use a lot from Costco along with better than bouillon low sodium. Some that I don't use often I get at the dollar store or Big Lots.

Stamps are less than par value at Costco.
Magazines are thirty percent off. They don't have a complete selection.
Some magazines are .50 at the goodwill.

Cottage cheese and sour cream is cheaper at Costco most of the time.

Dry beans are really cheaper. The quantity is huge! In would get together with friends , neighbors, or family and split a bag.

The trick to all this is to know the prices ofnthe things that you use all the time. If you can't remember, keep a spread sheet or spiral notebook . It gives you an overview of prices and where the rock bottom price is. Often times, you can save as much as a dollar or more on an item.

It adds up fast. 75 dollars a week is almost 4 thousand a year!

Thanks for stopping by

Please share

Jane

Notes on Sunday

I came across a trivia that is interesting. The grocery chain stores research their locations carefully. they are based on demographics. The dollar stores piggy back certain stores. If you notice most of the time, the dollar store be in the same strip mall as Safeways or grocery outlet! Grouping your stores saves time and gas. We have TJ MAXX , Safeways, and the dollar store and Costco just down the highway. Oe we have Joannes, Albertsoms, Safeways, and the dollar store, and big Lots in a cluster and grocery outlet nearby.

I know I sound like a broken record, but the slow cooker is my best friend in the kitchen. I have to work the late shift today. I'm going to put soup on this morning so it's ready when I get home.

Beef and vegetable soup

1 pound lean ground beef, cooked and defatted
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
1 bottle beer
1cup beef broth
1 cup water

1-1/2 cups sliced carrots
1 cup celery
1/2 cup chopped sweet pepper

Salt, pepper, bayleaf

Place all ingredients in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Discard bay leaf.

Note. You could use ground pork or turkey. I don't know how fake meat would hold up, but you could add it the last and heat through. You, of course, could add non alcoholic beer.You couldmusenany other rootmvegetables that sounded good to you or add some noodles or cooked rice at the end.


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Please share

Jane