Finally Friday

We eat a lot of tex mex at our house, it's cheap, it's vegetarian and semi vegetarian friendly, and most of the time it is quick-- all attributes of a happy meal at this house.

Turkey Enchiladas

8 ounces ground turkey
1 T olive oil
1 T butter

1 onion
4 tsp minced garlic
2 T flour
Dash salt
Pinch of cayenne pepper to taste
1/2 cup chicken broth, or vegetable broth
1-4 ounce Can diced green chilies, undrained

1-8 ounce can tomato sauce
2 T tomato paste
1 T chili powder

8 corn tortillas
1-1/2 cups shredded cheese

1) Brown meat. Remove meat from pan. Defat. Do not wash skillet.
2) In same skillet add oil and butter. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is translucent.
3) add flour, salt and pepper and cook until bubbly.
4) ( roux) add broth and stir until mixture thickens.
5) add chillies and tomato products and simmer until flavors blend , a put 10 minutes.

6) add 1/2 cup of sauce to the cooked meat.
7) stir in most of the cheese ( reserve some for the top)
8) dip corn tortillas into the sauce. Fill the tortilla, roll and place seam side down in 9X13 pan.
9) cover tortillas with cheese.
10) bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes until heated through.


Notes
Chilies are expensive, but I have found them as low as .50.
They are a believable expense because the turkey is so inexpensive. I find it for 3/5. Half of 1.67 is only .84.
I still have cheese for 2.50. I am still finding sales for 2.50 .
one and a half cups is 6 ounces or .94. Tomato sauce was .25 at ALBERTSONS. Tomato paste is .40 at Costco. 1/2'can is .20. Total of 2.73 plus onion and tortillas. I don't usually buy corn tortillas, I know they are at big lots often as well as grocery outlet. There is a large Mexican section at grocery outlet. My educated guess is that this recipe is under 5.00.


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Jane

Notes on Thursday

Hamburger is 2.99 for low fat at ALBERTSOMS with a coupon in ad. I Sometimes get it as cheap or a little cheaper at business Costco. I can't believe that back to school stuff is here. It's August and the stores and my suppliers are showing fall and thanksgiving merchandise. I still want to enjoy summer! LOL. We are having an unusual summer this year, it is actually hot! It isn't really the season for hamburger, unless you make taco salad or nachos. There are some meats on BOGO, but they don't have a base price, so I can't tell if they are inexpensive enough or not.

Ice cream is 2/6 at rite aid with a two dollar up reward. That makes it 2.00 a carton. That's about as cheap as I have seen it.

Fruits and veggies remain relatively inexpensive, so take advantage of them as well as a good cheese sale. The dairy prices and meat prices are continuing to rise and the projections are for them to rise more. People with six digit incomes will be able to adapt easier than those of us that don't. Your best hedge is to stockpile what you can. There is no help for milk, but grated cheese freezes and adapting recipes and your menus to include more of the cheaper meats or more vegetarian meals will get you through. As predicted,ready made meat is cheaper than scratch at the moment. I think they call that rolling with the punches. The USDA projects higher prices into 2014.

It seems like Fred Meyer has the best prices on vegetables this week. Other than hamburger, I am not seeing any other definitive meat prices. Last week, with coupons, smoked sausage was 1.33. That's why it pays to stock and not just buy one meal at a time. Take advantage of the weather and low vegetable prices and make chefs,Cobb, taco, or Cesar salads. The Betty Crocker web site has a really good salad with orzo and beans and a little meat.
Add a piece of brown and serve bread and you have a really good meal for hot weather. We got a huge bag of brown and serve bread sticks for less than two dollars last week.

With careful strategies,taking advantage of sales, you can eat well with five dollar dinners.
These days, with the Internet there are plenty of recipes to choose from. If a recipe calls for an expensive ingredient, figure a substitution.


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Jane

The ads 8/14/13

Posting the ads.

QFC

Roma's, jalapeño peppers .99
Strawberries 2/4
Raspberries/blackberries 2/5
Blues 2.99 pt.

Chuck roast 2.99
Milk 2/3
Eggs 2/3
Kroger ice cream 2/5
Grapes 1.48

Hillshire farms lunch meat 2.99 - digital coupon for .50******+ see note

Plums 1.49

ALBERTSOMS

Grapes .99

BOGO
London broil
Petite sirloin
Eye of the round
Boneless pork chops

There is no original price listed, so I don't know if this is a bargain or not.

Pitted olives 1.00
7 percent ground beef 2.99@
Milk 1.79 @

SAFEWAYS

Nectorenes or peaches .99
Corn 3/1
Beef chuck 2.49
Sirloin 2.99
Pears . 99
Grapes 1.67
Pork loin chops 1.97

Mix or match
Buy 10. Nets .80

HUNTS pasta sauce
Snack pack
Refried beans
Ketchup



Carrots .79@
Tillamook 2.99 @
Grapes 2.00
Peppers, cukes 2/1

IGA

London broil 3.49
Corn 10/2.98
Kraft singles 1.99@


Notes @ means an in flyer coupon.

Some of these things have coupons out there; check couponconnections.com

Note there is an electronic coupon at QFC for Hillshire farms lunch meat. If you have a paper coupon for more momey you are better off not using a electronic one. You cannot stack electronic coupons.


That's about all I see. The only stock items I see are the .80 things at TOP.

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY

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Jane

Terrific Tuesday

Tuesdays are always terrific because I don't have to cook. Actually I like the cooking, it's the cleanup that I don't like. I would rather be playing with my granddaughter. Tuesdays we go to happy hour with friends. It is an inexpensive way to go to dinner with friends. Often times we get dinner for 5 bucks..all you can eat tacos, stuffed chicken with asparagus, super nachos. Things are usually 1/2 price. Walking out under twenty dollars is really,nice, and it is nice visiting with friends, We usually do a house happy hour once in a while.

Last night we had nachos. We do a lot of Mexican because I can cook once for everybody and can adapt for the vegetarians and semi vegetarians.

One quick note, dryers ice cream is on sale 2/6 dollars with a two dollar up reward at rite aid. That makes it two dollars a carton. Dryers is supposed to be more natural than some of the others. Some ice cream has a lot of air whipped into it.

Yesterday we went to the dollar store and I picked up the paper. Be sure to look to see if there is an insert in it.
The recipe starter is down to fire roasted tomato. I haven't cost that out yet.
J
Fred Meyers has a different ad schedule and the ads don't come in the mail. Sirloin steaks are 3.49. Because of the portions, they are still probavly a big treat for a thrifty budget. It still will work of you have several inexpensive meals like on yesterday's blog. Note the small print, you have to buy a mega package. You could make a meal of beef stroganoff , or cut some of it in small cubes and make vegetable soup to stretch it. The lean beef is 3.88, it is much cheaper at the business Costco. Last time I was there, it was about a dollar a pound cheaper. I have some things that I always get there. Salt and other staples are much cheaper and they last forever. I buy them once and can forget them on my list for a long time. It is also a good thing to get with several other families and make a grocery list to split. Beans in very large bags are much cheaper too. I bought split peas, but so,e lady was buying garbanzo beans one time. I think that it was fifty pounds, you really would need to split with a lot of families. My daughter and I made hummus. It was really good, and really inexpensive. There is a good dinner salad on Betty Crocker this week. It's free to sign up and you get many new recipes



Peaches or nectarines are .97.
1/2 gallons of milk are .99@
,pan bread is 2/3@,
Dryers ice cream is 2.99****note that is almost a dollar more than rite aid,
Corn is 3/1
Cottage cheese is 3/5
Cheese is 4.99, no limit
N ally's chili is .89 @ limit 6
Eggs 4/5. Limit 4. Note you don't have to buy four. Check pull dates
Blackberries2/5
Celery .69
Green onions, radishes 3/1
Spinach .89
Cukes 2-1
Mini carrots , 2#, 2/4
Zucchini .88

Note: watch the register or at least check the receipt before you leave the store. Last time I was charged 1.29 a pound for .69 a pound zucchini. It was too far to go back for the less than a pound of zucchini that I purchased. But, still,I don't like to be over charged. Mistakes happen. Someti,es I haven't picked ip the right item, or the shelf has become untidy and the right item is not under the right tag, but you want the sale prices.

Be sure to check couponconnections to see if there are any match ups. A few,clicks of the mouse can result in several dollars off your food bill.


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Jane

What to do with what you got!

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/braised-sausage-and-beans/c12e7ee6-b058-4a6a-98c7-7ac5d401506c

Recipe for a braised sausage and beans. . Betty Crocker is a good source for new dinners. Some of them you will need to adapt to keep them in your budget.

I use bisquick all the time and Betty Crocker cake mixes. I usually get cake mixes for free or almost free. You can base your price on the fact that a cup of flour costs .075 a cup. I get Betty Crocker instant mashed potatoes, but prefer a different brand. I get them when they are cheap usually at Winco. Winco sometimes sends 10.00 coupons; they don't have sales. Everything is a lower price already. Still, sometimes their prices are more than a sale price at another store. You have to know your prices.

Smoked sausage is 1.33 at ALBERTSONS with a coupon. Beans are .50 with a coupon. Of you were lucky enough to get a printable coupon when they were available, they would have been free.

I would use my own chicken broth or better than boullion and my own carrots. 1.33 for sausage, 1.00 for beans, .50 worth of carrots equals 2.83. Plus staples. You are still well under five dollars. Add a baguette and it totals 3.13. I don't count anything that is less than 2T in my calculations, but this meal is well under your five dollar benchmark. The key, as you probably have seen, is to buy in bulk and watch for sales. The savings are remarkable.
Beans are 1.50. Getting them for .50 is a dollar savings, all those dollars add up. They make a big difference in the amount of food you can buy.
K
That brings me to another observation. If you are not going to use a printable, don't print it. You are using your ink and paper, and they only allow so many printings. If you are not going to use it or share it, leave it for the next person. It goes along with the common courtesy of not clearing the shelf. I only clear the shelf of there are only six or so left. Be sure to check for dented cans in that case. Often if they are the last cans, that's why they are left. ...just a heads up.

We go to the bakery outlet once every six to eight weeks. Last time I had plenty of sandwich type bread still in the freezer. I got a large package of brown and serve baguettes, another large sized package of brown and serve bread sticks, a bag of frosted animal cookies for grand baby, a package of peanut butter cookies, two packages of English muffins. They gave us another package of English muffins, and a package of hoggie rolls. All for 11.00.
The brown and serve baguettes were .36 each. French bread at the grocers is well over a buck.

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Jane

Step 3: cooking from scratch

One way to burn your food dollar fast is to buy ready made food. Besides, often they are made with a bunch of stuff you can't pronounce. When you buy ready made food, you are paying for the food, and the labor to make the food.

You never want to buy a chicken that is less than three pounds. Under three pounds you are at the break even point of meat to bone. You are much better off buying a four to five pound chicken. I get chicken for a buck a pound.
Buying a deli chicken is very expensive. They are seldom three pounds, often closer TO two. They cost between 5 and six dollars each. That's two dollars a pound, and you are paying for a lot of bone . Roasting your own gives you more meat for less money. It only takes about 15 minutes non passive time.

There are ways to cook from scratch without spending all day in the kitchen. If you have the time and enjoy cooking, more power to you, but many of you, I suspect have busy lives with children. Dinner time is the most hectic time of the day. If you work and have just picked up kids from daycare, they want to tell you about their day and .....

Precooking your meat when the house is quieter saves a lot of stress. Batch cooking one meat a week and rotating the meat saves a lot of time and money. Buy the meat that is the loss leader for the week. Stores rotate their specials. Buy that meat in bulk...enough to make a months worth of one or two days a week, depending on your matrix.
You're buying in bulk, and you get a cheaper price. You're portion controlling, so you don't have waste, and you have half your cook time cut at dinner time. Many things thaw fast.

Chicken cubes are good for pizza, casseroles, chicken pot pie, chicken salad.
Hamburger crumbles augment a pasta sauce, are good on pizza, go in a Cassarole.
Pork loin can be a pork roast the day you cook, and then become hot sandwiches for a quick meal. Or reheat them in stock.
Sausage crumbles are also good on pizza, fill a quiche, work in soup. I make a sausage and bean soup in the crockpot. Ten minutes in the morning and dinner is done.

A crock pot is your best friend in the kitchen. There is something very therapeutic about walking in the house after a long, hard day and smelling dinner already cooked. Add a brown and serve bread from the bakery outlet and you have a wonderful meal.

No Brainer pasta is easy, quick, and an answer to a ground beef dinner box. ounce for ounce, they can be the most expensive thing on the store! That sauce mix can cost 13.28 a pound! The recipe for no brainer pasta is on an earlier blog....my own creation.

To recap the tools for quick scratch cooking

Stair stepping...cooking a double batch of something to use the other 1/2 for another day. Macaroni makes a casserole or Mac and cheese one day and a pasta salad another. Rice for a bed under sirloin tips becomes fried rice another day.

Batch cooking. Hamburger can be meatballs, crumbles, meatloaf on cooking day, Salisbury steak, taco meat.

The crockpot speaks for itself. There are many cookbooks dedicated to it.

The thrift stores are full of inexpensive microwave cookbooks.

Any meal that you can assemble and shove I'm the oven and walk away is a good scratch meal.
My mother used to make meatloaf, baked potatoes and acorn squash, yum comfort food.


My daughter made the fastest meal ever a week or so ago. She had already cooked macaroni. Receipt starters are 1.59 at SAFEWAYS. They are .50 at the dollar store. At .50 they are cheaper than making your own white sauce. She used basil. Macaroni, recipe starter, some sour cream and cheese. And shoved it in the oven. It might have taken her five minutes. I would not have bought recipe starter for 2.59. At fifty cents, it was cheaper than scratch.

Scratch cooking doesn't have to take all day and is a good way to stretch your food dollars.

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Jane

Step 2, shopping wisely.

Ok, I have some weird thing going on with my muscles. I am attempting to post this anyway. It is not as logical in sequence as I would like. My brain just isn't working well with the pain.

One of the worst things that you can do on the shopping vane is To blindly go shopping at the most fancy store in town and buy one or two days worth of food. You are going to pay top dollar and subject yourself to impulse buys.
Going to the store to buy what looks good is a real mistake. The only thing worse is to do it with a couple of tired and hungry kids?!

Shop once a week. Shop two stores. Analyze the sale ads and pick the two stores that have the best buys on the things you need. I do it on the blog, but it only works for the Seattle area and only you know what you need.

Step one :

Take a piece of computer paper and quarter it. Head each quarter with the name of a close by grocery chain.
Now, write down any sale prices on perishables that are in season you may need to fill out your meals. Fill in any stock items that are a rock bottom price. Pick one meat that is a loss leader. Remember, you don't ever want to get stuck with that dreaded F word! ...full price. LOl

Now, cross off anything that is a higher price elsewhere. Cross off anything you don't need to stock.
Pick the best two stores. Write a list. Mark coupons @ for those things that have an in ad coupon. Check coupon connections or your matching service for your area. Download the printable coupons, and pull the coupons from the circulars. Mark the manufacturers coupons with a @@.

I'll back up....there are coupon matchup services ( free) for different parts of the country. If you collect the newspaper circulars, keep them in a stack with a binder clip by month. The coupon matchups will either tell you where to get the coupon from the paper, or will steer you to a printable coupon.

Pick two stores, plan your trip to maximize gas, get in, and get out. He longer you spend in a store, the more money you will spend.

Only use coupons for something you would buy anyway. Unless, It is free or near free. You can always give it to the food bank if it is free.

I wouldn't bother with coupons until I had the rest of the shopping down pat.

Remember, your goal is 1/2 price food. You want to try to get the savings at the bottom of your slip to be as much or more than you pay.

After you bring home the food, sit down and write your meal plans. You can do a tentative meal plan before you shop, but you never know when the meat is not worth carrying home, they don't have any,or you need to buy much more than you need to buy.

Eventually, you want to buy enough of one loss leader meat to feed your family four times.
If you batch cook your meat, and portion control it. You are spending less time and work than of you cook it once a day.

I rotate ground beef, pork loin or chops, chicken, and sausage. I used to do a beef roast before the drought did a number on beef prices.

My meal plans are based on a matrix.

2 beef
2 pork or chicken
2 vegetarian
1 fish

This allows us variety and helps to make everyone happy. Your matrix will probably be different.

There are tricks the retailers use to get you to spend more money. They are on an earlier post.



There are stores all over that sell food. Some are better than others. We go to the chain stores once a week. ( pick 2)

We hit the warehouse stores about once a month for bulk purchases. Thats Winco and Costco for us., there are alternative stores that are further away for us. For us that would be the dollar store, big lots and grocery outlet. Often times , they carry overstocks. You need to watch stale dates. But, we have had stale dates at the chain stores as well. You can save a ton of money if you are selective in your purchases. We usually go when big lots has a 20 percent day, or when we are in the area. They each have specialty items that they have better prices on.

There is no room in the thrifty budget for junk food and ready mades. There are, however,a few ready mades that are either too much trouble to make from scratch, or that cost more to make from scratch than to buy. Refried beans, Sometimes instant mashed potatoes, and there are now some beef main dishes that are cheaper than scratch with a coupon. Tortillas are easier too.

Track your prices of your staples. With rising food costs because of the drought, they will fluctuate.
You want to pay rock bottom prices on your staple items. If you don't have a lot of storage, make storage. You can always find room with some ingenuity.

If you rotate the loss leader and buy/cook enough for a months worth of meals, you should be able to get a months worth on a regular freezer. You will fond that life is simpler at dinner time, and you will work less. One clean up alone saves time.


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Jane

Shopping

We had some errands to run up north. We stopped at ALBERTSONS and big lots. ALBERTSONS had Tillamook yogurt for 10/4.00. Just because it's listed at 10/ 4 doesn't mean you have to buy 10. I had a coupon for 1.00 off 4. I bought 8 for 1.20. Or .15 each instead of .85 each. Beans were 1.50. I paid .50. There was a coupon, but I didn't get to it before they were all gone. I got potatoes for .60 instead of 1.49 at bog lots. I also got applesauce cups for a quarter and Curious George fruit snacks for a buck. Baby picked up the entire box of dominos she dumped on the floor, one at a time, that deserves a treat! Ha ha. We got TP at ALBERTSONS with a double stacked coupon.It made the mega pack 4.44. All on all, I saved more than I spent. That means I got more than fifty percent off.

Picking up sale items that match with a coupon is a good way to stretch your food dollar.

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Jane

Follow me ..... Step one: planning

I just found a new thing on my blog....follow me.... So I invite you to follow me.


For anyone new, I started the blog a year ago when it came to my attention that some people on SNAP were running out of money before they ran out of month. It is my opinion that no child should be subjected to the insecurity of waking up to no food in the house. And, no child should have a diet of top ramen and potato chips. My mother had the idea that no child should have to wear hand me down shoes. She did something about it: she started a fund to buy school shoes for needy children at the school. This is my attempt to do something about people not having enough food at the end of the month. I can't help everybody, but I can help people make better decisions at the store, so they can still have food in the pantry at the end of the month. I can give people the tools,what they do with them is their call.

What has come if it is that a lot of people like the time saving tips, some like the recipes , and some like the saving idea. I have no clue if I am reaching anyone on SNAP.

The basic idea of groceries on the cheap is to never pay full price for anything. I learned that from my mother, she even negotiated the interest rate on car loans with the bank. She used to say that if you went in looking like Lady asters pet horse, like you didn't need it, you would do better. One time, she went in and they quoted her a high interest rate, she said, if you are going to charge me that much,I'm better off to just take the money out of savings and buy the car. The banker said he didn't know she could do that and gave her a lower interest rate.

groceries n the cheap is based on a three disciplined approach.

1) planning and organizing
2) Careful shopping
3) cooking from scratch.

PLANNING AND ORGANIZING

Like any project you endeavor, having a plan makes it better. You wouldn't dream of building a house without a plan, or going on a vacation. Most people plan their days.
Some of the planning you could have already done. A lot of it is a one time chore. When you are up and running, it will probably take you less time to shop and cook dinner than it does now. The added advantage is that you will not run out of food before you run out of month and you will pay less for it. 1/2 price food for the average family means about four thousand dollars in the bank.

The USDA has stats on line to give you a benchmark of what it it should cost for your family for food. It is based on the ages of your family members, and it has several income levels. I am dealing with the lowest level of income. It is harder to spend less on food, than it is to spend more! LOL. this is a whole new approach to how you buy food. Don't let this overwhelm you, take one step at a time.


Step one :

Identify the inexpensive sources of protein that your family will eat. Meat should be less than 2.75 a pound.
In our house that would be:

Eggs, cheese, beans and rice, good ground beef, pork, chicken, and some beef cuts. It is harder with the drought prices this year.

Step two:
Identify 7-14 main dishes that use that source of protein. Pick things that your family will eat! Fourteen is better so that you don't burn out on eating the same thing. I do know that most kids would eat pizza and burritos seven days a week. LOL. Bear in mind dinner for four should cost five bucks. Total, not per person.

Step three:

Make a list of shelf ready items you need to cook these dishes. These are your staple items. In our house that would be pasta, pasta sauce sauce, beans, refried beans, diced tomatoes, black olives, some tuna, some salmon, some chicken noodle soup and some chili and some green beans and corn.

Step four|
Make a list of your most frequently used staple items, there should be about 10-15 max.
Now, set up a notebook or spread sheet that tracks the prices of these items.

Pasta

Date, where purchased, coupon? Final price

You are looking for the rock bottom price on that item.
you are going to stockpile that item. Stockpiling an item is NOT HOARDING. Stockpiling is buying your staple items at their cheapest price and buying enough to last you until they go on sale again. This is not a new concept. Our grandmothers put up fruits and vegetables from the farm to last them through the winter. People that play the stock market buy low and sell high. You are just buying low and eating high. Buy when the food is at a low price and keep enough to last you until the next sale. Sales run on a 8-12 week cycle. I keep 24 of something that I use once a week; I keep 6 of something I use once a month. I keep one ahead of things like mayo, mustard and ketchup. When I open the back up jar, I start looking for a sale. I don't want to be in the middle of something and have to run to the store, that wastes time and gas and I am prolly going to pay top dollar for my product.

Don't try to stock everything all at once. When you find a good sale, buy six or so. It is bad manners to clear the shelf unless there is only six or so left. Leave some for the next bargain hunter.

Use coupons when they match up with a good sale. Only use coupons they are something you would buy anyway or need. I always watch for toothpaste coupons. . Most of the time I get toothpaste free. You can't be brand sensitive, but you can get sensitive toothpaste. I never stray from that idea unless it is something new and is free or almost free. Ready made items have to cost less than scratch ; that doesn't happen to frequently. Scratch is better for you.


Stay timed for the next segment !

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Jane

Savings ???? And shoreline top alert. Now 40 percent!

I just downloaded the women's day magazine. I thnk they are somewhat misrepresenting themselves on the covers . This is the second time I have been postured to learn a big savings idea and had to look really hard to find the article they were tempting you to buy the magazine for.LOL. I always get my 2.00 worth out of the magazine. Then, I pass the reader to my daughter to read.


The September issue has a really good recipe for oat snack bars, it calls for honey,something that my granddaughter and I can't have, but I have a food substitute book, so I can adjust it accordingly.

The save money on food tease on the front cover was recipes at 1.50 a plate for dinner. Looking at the recipes, they are probably right on the pricing some of the time. The shrimp dish sounds really good, and it is probably right. The chicken legs and thighs with zucchini is probably too high. Mi for chicken parts for 1.49 , I have got them for as low as a buck, and zucchini here is often free or as much as .69 cents a pound. I would bet I could make that recipe for under five bucks for four people. Vegetables a d eggs should come in for less than five too.,

I can only judge by the food prices in our area. I find the cheapest I can.


I read a magazine article while I was in the doctors office today. Basically ten ways to save at the grocery store,they said things in different ways. But basically they said the same things that I have said for years. The only thing that I don't actually agree with is that you will pay more with a card. I use my debit card. We don't carry cash, it is too hard to track and too easily spent for junk. I do know that paying with a credit card can get you in trouble unless you are really disciplined and pay it off every month.
Maybe that was what they were talking about. They did stress the importance of going to several stores, and not buying your non food items at the grocery store. You, can by contrast, save of you buy food at the drug store. They don't carry lots of food, but they are selective on what they do carry. So it's usually cheaper! Again, you have to know your prices.

Today we went to the dollar store. All they had in the recipe starter end cap was tomato. My husband likes sunflower seeds and salami and pepperoni. I did not have a pepperoni coupon. I did have a hefty slider bag coupon and got an special box so I got 15 instead of 13 bags; basically getting one free. I got free bic stick pens. We go through a lot of pens, and a lot of pens for work. I got 30 pens for free. You can't use more than two coupons per item at the dollar store. I got one package at SAFEWAYS and two at the dollar store. Pudding cups were buy two, get 1 free at SAFEWAYS and I had a coupon. A,real easy way to get calcium into someone that won't drink milk. Berry Crocker cake mixes were on a coupon for .99 and I could stack another coupon to make them closer to .50 instead of 1.50. All those dollars add up. Again I average about six bucks a week on coupon sales alone. Some weeks are more.

I save about 50 percentage the store, and I save by selective meal planning as well. We are still well under USDA stats for the actual food consumed. We have a large stockpiled And I usually pay half price for anything I can. Some things just never go on sale. Fortunately they are things we don't have to have often.


I write this blog to try to help people get the tools they need to cut their food bill, either because they have to, or because they want to. I started it because I heard that some people on SNAP were running out of money before they ran out of month. I really am not getting enough feedback to see if those are the people I am helping, but Imcan tell that I am helping some people by my stats! I just found a join button on my blog. You have to know technology is not my strong suit, Typing on a I pad isn't either LOL.

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Jane

Finally Friday

It's finally Friday. SAFEWAYS has specials for Friday only. We don't buy much bakery goods, but my husband loves the pudding cake, it is like a coffee cake. I haven't found a recipe for it yet. It is 2.50 this week.

We don't eat many baked goods, but I like to make quick breads when fruits need to be used up. They are fast and everyone likes them in our family. Many recipes call for two breads and you can eat one and share one, or eat one and freeze one. great for when you get unexpected company. My MIL always had goodies when you stopped by for tea. I miss that.

Quick breads are an inexpensive way to have a quick breakfast, or a snack. The bisquick cookbook is full of recipes. I get bisquick at Costco . I have a recipe for it on an earlier post, but with the cost of dry milk these days ( more than regular milk, and the fact that it calls for shortening, I am not sure it is still a desirable alternative. There is vegetable shortening these days, but dry milk at Costco is 40.00. My daughter got some cheaper at wallmart. I found the same milk at Winco. It was 10.00 for 2.5 gallons at wallmart. Thats more than whole milk.

My family likes impossible pie. My MIL used to make a apple strudel pie with sour cream. It was really good too. I use bisquick for the topping on chicken pot pie.

Tex Mex Beer Bread

2-1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tsp chili powder
1 -12oz beer
3 T butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
1) measure out dry ingredients in a bowl. Combine.
2) stir butter into a beer in a separate bowl.
3) combine the wet and dry ingredients. Do not over mix.
4) grease and flour a 9X5 loaf pan. Pour batter into pan.
5) bake for 55 minutes or until bread is form and golden brown.m batter will be away from the side of the pan.
Serve warm.

Good with chili or a hearty soup.

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Jane

Shopping trip

I went and did 1/2 of the shopping today before I went to work because I have a doctors appt Tommorrow. I will do the rest Tommorrow.

I got smoked sausage for 1.99 and used a 1.00 coupon. I took advantage of the mega deals at QFC. I got a very large basil plant for 3.34. Total savings was .47 percent. It see,s every time I go to QFC, it says I saved 47 percent. One time I got 67 percent.

I went to IGA and got veggies and a couple of packages of chicken thighs. By finding a few extremely good priced sources of protein, you can average and also get a few more expensive cuts of meat.

For people in the Seattle area, top foods in shoreline is closing. Everything is 30 percent off. I'm waiting for 50 percent.

Tonight we had sausage and potatoes,peas, salad,and cucumber salad from the garden. It was late when my daughter got home, so I didn't have a chance to take a picture. We had pie and ice cream for desert. Tillamook ice cream was 2.79. Peaches were a buck. I also got cantelope for a buck.


By purchasing foods at their lowest price, we can eat well for 1/2 the national average.

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Jane

Terrific Thursday

I just got an e mail from QFC about their save 5 on 5 . That's a buck an article and there are coupons that match up to some of them. There are actually some real food in them--cheeses yogurt , etc.

http://kroger.softcoin.com/programs/kroger/winlist/content/shopping_list.pdf

A buck an article plus a buck coupon would make for a sweet deal. You can stack mega deals, you can't stack electronic coupons.

I made chocolate zucchini bread from a taste of home recipe. It called for 1/4 tsp baking powder, I think it was a typo, or my bakingnpowdernismold because I got chocolate zucchini brownies! Taste good, but not quite what I expected. There's a recipe for peach bread. Peaches are a buck a pound.

I have been trying to use up some of the stockpile and the vegetable garden. Last night we had sirloin tips , mashed potatoes and peas and carrots out of the garden. Yum!


linguine with clam sauce

3T butter
1T olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
4 tsp chopped garlic

1 pkg linguine, cooked and drained
1 can minced clams
1 can of sliced mushrooms
1/2 Tao dried basil
3 T lemon juice
1/4 cup sour cream
1 T cornstarch
Parsley to garnish


Start the linguine cooking

Combine butter and oil in a large saucepan. Add onion and garlic and cook until tender.
Add undrained clams, mushrooms and basil. Toss with drained pasta. Combine in a bowl, lemon juice, sour cream, cornstarch and blend . Add to saucepan and stir until it bubbles and thickens. Pour over pasta and
Toss.

Notes: I combine butter and olive oil often. While making white sauce especially. The butter doesn't burn as fast, it adds flavor and the olive oil makes the dish more healthy than just using butter.

A can of clams for four people is probably not enough protein. That's when I make cheese bread to go with and add a pudding or another desert that adds more protein. I would add a hard cheese for garnish .


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Jane

Coupon matchups, UPDATED,

Coupon connections has matchups and if you click the things you want, they will print you out a list.
Recap

QFC has Tillamook YOUGERT 10/4. Coupons make it .15 each when you buy 4.
Tillamook cheese is 4.99 without a coupon
Annie's Mac and cheese is .79 or .44 with a coupon

Strawberries are 2/4
Peaches are .99

ALBERTSONS

Hillshire farms smoked sausage is 2.33 if you buy 3. Coupons make it 1.33
S &w beans are .49. With coupons they ate not free. Be sure to bring your add coupon . the manufacturers coupon
Is not available at this time. Angel soft TP is free with a coupon. I tried to use it at dollar tree, but our dollar tree doesn't carry it.

I really like that word free! It really stretches your dollar!g

SAFEWAYS
Snack pack puddings B2G1. Coupon .45 off
Bc cake mix .99 before coupon
Bic pens w coupon free

5 dollar Fridays alert
Coffee 5.00
Pudding rings 2/5

Tomatoes .99
Pears .99
Grapes 1.77


Another note

Watch the scanners carefully. Some are hard to check because the discounts come into play after its all done. At least check the receipt before you leave the parking lot. Lately, I have had to go back twice, and should have gone back a third time, but the amount of the overcharge wouldn't have been worth the gas. Fred Meyer charged me 1.29 tomatoes instead of the .69 zucchini that they should have. Do yourself a favor and check the receipt before you get out of the parking lot.


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Jane

The ads 8/7/13

Here are the ads for the Seattle area. Better said, here are the buys for the seattle area.

QFC

StrAwberries 2/4
Peaches .99


Mega deal/ buy 5
Freshetta pizza. 3.99
Tillamook ice cream 2.79
Cheerios 2.49
Bounty towels 5.99
Hillshire smoked sausage 1.99


Pasta 10/10

WEEK END OMLY SALE
Pork loin 1.99
Cheese 4.99***
Annie's cheese . 79


TOP

Organic grapes 1.79
Annies 5/5 @@
Huggins 15.99@@
Lettuce/spinach 1.00
Plums 1.69
Chilinoeppersv1.00
20 ground beef 2.49
7 percent ground beef 3.99
15 percent ground beef 3.00
10 percent ground beef 4.00

SAFEWAYS

Chicken breasts 1.49 bone in
Chicken breast boneless/skinless 1.99
Cheerios 2.50
Tomatoes .99
Strawberries2/5
Pears .99
Grapes 1.77

5 dollar Friday
Pudding rings 2/5
Blues 5.00. 2lb

Betty crocker cake, brownie mix .99
I,ago e soup. Free w coupon...see cc

ALBERTSONS

Medium eggs .49@@
Tuna 2/1 @@
Crest 1.00 @@
Hillshire farms sausage 3/7 @@
Barilla pasta .88
S and w beans, with coupon free ***'see cc

Cereal, breakfast bars buy 10. 1.89

Meat, buy 1, get 2 free
That's 66 percent off

Chicken breast
Pork chops
Pork loin strip



NOTES. To figure the best buy on hamburger. Multiply the cost of the hamburger by 1.XX. With XX being the percentage of fat.

Note there are coupons for cereal always. There are coupons for Annie's and pasta. I am not sure that blue box pasta will work for yellow box coupons. Check coupon connections for match ups., I saw several potential match ups.


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Jane


Cc coupon connections

@ means im ad coupon

500 blogs!

This is 500 blogs. We finally had our pork chops yesterday. My husband cooked the, on the BBQ. I picked peas and tomatoes from the garden and cooked peas and made a salad. My daughter baked potatoes. The baby supervised along with taking her stuffed dog for a walk between the kitchen and the back deck! LOL.

Someday, I will get my act together and photo journal a weeks worth of foods. We really do at normal food for 75.00 a week, and stock. I would estimate that we eat about 60.00. We are stockpiling more than usual. I'm hedging against still higher drought prices and the lack of business revenue if loose my venue.

I have a cookbook from the 70's that I have added to through the years,m I am starting a new one from the Betty Crocker e mails that I get and from the numerous magazines I have been getting at the goodwill. I can have a lot of inspiration from a .50 magazine. Many of the new recipes call for boxed or premise ingredients. Most of them can be altered to use scratch ingredients. I buy a few ready mades, but usually steer clear of anything that can be made scratch cheaper. Beans and rice have a short fridge life. I usually don't have time to cook beans from scratch and cook a batch of soup in the same day. If I get canned beans cheap enough, they are the same price as cooking them from scratch. I would rather not take the chance of food poisoning. I usually have leftover soup, so we are stretching the holding time.

One way to stretch your food dollar is to use plentiful produce in the summer in unusual ways. We had chocolate zucchini cake at a family picnic earlier in the month. The lady had put chocolate chips in it. It was really good.
I posted zucchini recipes in an earlier post last week. I am getting a lot of tomatoes on our plants, so far not
all of them are ripe in spite of the fact that we are having a really hot summer for a change.

Corn Potato pancakes

2 cups leftover mashed potatoes made with butter and milk.
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup corn, mashed up
1 egg, slightly beaten
3 T onion, chopped fine, or grated, pinch of dried parsley
Salt, garlic and pepper.

Combine ingredients. Fry 1/4 cup portions on vegetable oil 1-2 minutes in each side until browned.


Corn Dip

6 medium ears corn on cob, grilled 10-12 minutes, remove from cob.
1/2 onion, chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, chopped
2 T butter
1 tsp minced garlic
1 cup mayo
1/2 cup plus 2 T sour cream
1/2 tsp chili powder
8 ounces jack cheese, grated
1-1/4 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 can sliced ripe olives

1) sauté the onion and pepper until tender. Add corn and garlic and cook another minute. Take off heat.

2) in large bowl combine mayo, sour cream and chili powder. Stir in corn mixture, cheese and cooked chicken.

3) Pour into a greased 2 quart baking dish.

Bake, uncovered @ 400 degrees 25-30 minutes.
Garnish with black olives.

Serve with tortilla chips.

Chips can be made from tortillas. There is a way to do it with cooking spray in the oven and reduce the fat, but I can't remember the particulars. Corn or flour tortillas, and for how long? Anyone remember???


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Jane

Monday shopping

I had some rite aid dollars. The dishwasher soap was on sale BOGO . I have a coupon. I paid 1.05 including the almost ten percent tax for 64 tablets. That is a two months supply for us. We went on to the bread store . We hadn't been for a while. I got

A Costco sized bag of brown and serve French loaves
A bag of brown and serve bread sticks
A bag of frosted animal cookies
A package of peanut butter cookies
3 packages of whole wheat English muffins
A package of hoagie rolls

All for 11.00.


When you go to the bread store, they give you stuff for free. Even if I'm not going to use it, I make bread crumbs out of it.


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Jane

Monday madness

Last night we were going to have pork chops for dinner. My husband went crabbing, and needless to day, we had crab instead. Any plan can be modified, but you need to have a plan. Meal plans keep the drive through gremlins away!
It really helps to have emergency plans for a day when your world seems to fall apart.
Tacos and breakfast for dinner come to mind as the fastest and simplest to make. I always have taco meat in the freezer and eggs.

Taco seasoning and other seasoning packets are expensive. The Dollar Store and Big Lots are good sources for cheap spices. If a spice isn't at those stores, you can get just the amount you need from the bulk isle.
I have a recipe for taco seasoning on an earlier blog. When they cost as much as a dollar, they can really bust your five dollar budget.

If you are not usually an organized person, you will find that little steps will help and being organized takes away a lot of stress in your life.something as little as organizing the fridge so that all of one kind of thing is on a particular shelf or drawer is a good first step. You can tell at a glance what you are short of and what needs to be eaten and incorporate it into your meal plans so it doesn't go to waste. Remember,if you don't live alone, you can always delegate some of the planning to an older child or a spouse.

I can remember when I had an emergency operation, It had been two weeks since we had grocery shopped. I sent my husband to the store for the weeks groceries. He came back with two pomegranates and a case of beer! I sent my college age daughter with a hundred dollar budget, she came back with more than a weeks worth of food we generally eat and spent 98.00. I guess the lesson there is to be careful who you delegate a chore to.

An older child can process bread chunks for bread crumbs if you deal with the blades. Ditto cheese. They can certainly mash bananas and crush crackers or chips for a recipe. My kids used to love to take their aggression s on the crackers or tortilla chips ! I started baking when I was 9 years old. When I was 13 years old I got my First iron. Can you tell what chores my mother didnt like to do? Her thought was that she was teaching is how to be self sufficient. That was back In the days when everything was cotton. You had a laundry bag and wet your clothes. You didn't dare put your ironing off or you had mildew on your clothes.

I digress, back to the topic....

Using up bits of things and all of your food is good for the environment and good for your pocketbook. You can use the peelings from carrots and potatoes to make a stock. I use the tops of celery as a garnish instead of parsley.
If sour cream or cottage cheese is getting to the expiration date, use it in recipes. If you ate stumped, get on Betty Crocker web site and google the item, it will pop up recipes that use that item. I use cottage cheese in lasagna, It can replace cream cheese in a dish. There are a lot of recipes that use sour cream , pound cake is the first one that comes to mind. Vegetable soup and/ or vegetable stock is a good use of buts of veggies. Cream of ...brocolli, cauliflower, or ??? Comes to mind.

This time of the year, zucchini is prolific in gardens. Often times neighbors will share the abundance. Our summer squash has not grown to maturity yet. luckilly, our neighbor has shared hers. There are lots of zucchini based recipes out there, chocolate zucchini cake is my favorite along with stuffed zucchini.

Banana, oatmeal, blueberry bread is another favorite to use up food on the edge. Sometimes bananas on the edge are really cheap at the grocery store. If you have time to take them home and cook them immediately, you can save a lot. Otherwise, the cheapest place to buy bananas is Costco.

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Jane

Suddenly Sunday

Yesterday I spent the morning doing laundry and putting up corn and making banana- blueberry- oatmeal breads.
I clipped the new coupons on coupon.com. There are coupons for Betty Crocker MAC and cheese, and hefty sandwich bags. I used them at the dollar store ;that made Mac and cheese .25 as apposed to Kraft that is a buck. And the hefty bags .50. I like the hefty bags to use in granddaughters lunch. Boxed Mac and cheese is a good children's snack or a good emergency ration. For that price, it is a good food bank donation. Kids love it.

My daughter and I went to Big Lots and grocery outlet. Big lots doesn't take SNAP or coupons. lasagna noodles were 1.40 and pizza crust was 2.00. Double cans of tomatoes are a buck. They had a really interesting hot sauce for a buck, and I got anti- itch cream for a buck.

Grocery outlet is a good source for cheese. They had spicy jack cheese for 2.00 a package ( that makes it 4.00 a pound). Top dollar for regular cheddar. So,eti,es a splurge makes things better-- my husband likes Mac and cheese with it. Everyone in the family likes peppers. My husband likes smoked Gouda cheese and that is the best way to find it. I got a name brand lunch meat for a buck. The exact same brand as the one I paid 2.00 for with a coupon.
Chicken sausage is 3.00 instead of 5.00. Individuàl Angelfood bundt cakes were a buck. Strawberry shortcake !!! I don't remember ever using a coupon at grocery outlet.

Yesterday I dissected a meal box that I got for free at QFC. I wouldn't have purchased it. I can make the same thing for little effort. I precook my meat, so I spend less time in the kitchen at dinner time. By dinner time,I am wiped out, especially of I have worked that day. I want fast, thrift conscious food. I would cook the pasta in the microwave, chop up some cooked chicken breast, and either use a can of basil recipe starter from the dollar store or make a quick white sauce with a hard cheese in it. Two cups of white sauce costs .70. It would cost less if you used vegetable stock instead of milk, or part milk and part vegetable stock. There is a recipe for cream soup base, but I haven't cost it out. The recipe starter is .50 for 2-1/4 cups. It's actually cheaper,than scratch.

I haven't talked about stair-stepping. Stair stepping is where you make a double batch of something and reserve part for another night in the same week. Rice can become stir fry and fried rice. Chicken pieces can become chicken and rice and chicken on biscuits. Sloppy joe meat can become sloppy joes and shepherds pie another night. Chicken and summer squash can become chicken fettuccine.

Get out of the kitchen strategies :

Stair stepping
Crock pot meals
Batch cooking saves time and money
Leftovers
Quick hot dogs, hamburgers, Dagwood sandwiches, or hot meat sandwiches, sliders, sloppy joes, etc.

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Jane

Ultimate box dinner, updated

As promised, ultimate dinner box, dissected.

The red box is 2.50 at QFC. It was free to me.

It has a total of 9 ounces. It breaks down as such ( Tare weight included)

5.33 ounces of penne pasta. At 1.00 a pound ( I get it for as low as .38). It is always somewhere for a buck
Cost. .34

1.13 ounces of seasoning mix

3.14 ounces of cheese sauce. There is less than 5 mg of cholesterol.

For a total of 4.27 ounces.

The difference between the cost of the pasta and the cost of the box is 2.16 or 8.00 a pound.

The mixes ( I can't differentiate between packs) include the following. Please note that 4 punches is a quarter of a pound.

Water
Canola or soybean oil
Cornstarch
Milk cheese cultures, salt, enzymes
Whey
Modified whey
Sodium phosphate
Non fat milk
Flour
Corn syrup
Parmesan cheese ( part skim milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes)
Sea salt,
Modified tapioca starch
Natural and artificial flavors
Partially hydrogenated soybean oil
Mono and diglycerides
Lactic acid
Sodium agin ate
Parsley.....a word I can pronounce lol
Citric acid
Enzyme modified cheddar cheese ( milk cheese cultures, salt, enzymes)
Dried buttermilk
Can than gum
Yeast extract
Cream
Spice
Sodium DIACETATE
ONION, DRIED
sodium casein ate
Silicon dioxide
Sorbitol acid nisin preparation.

A lot of that has the word salt and sodium in it. There are words that sound really chemical in nature. I am not a chemist, or a nutritionist, this is just my observations for what they may or may not be worth. The fact that there is less than 5 mg of cholesterol in it sounds at least a little better than the last box I dissected. It sounds like it would take the same 23-26 minutes; maybe with less intensive cooking so you could cook the sides too. It actually has some dried milk in it, an improvement from the last box. I will look into what cheese cultures means.

I haven't made this yet. I suspect , judging from the milk, flour, thickener ingredients, that it is pasta, chicken you provide, milk you provide that it is a white sauce with onion and undisclosed seasonings, and some Parmesan cheese. Subtract the .34 from the price of the box and your cheesy white sauce is 2.18.

My daughter made a fast version of the same thing sans the chicken with a .50 can of recipe starter basil, .50 worth of sour cream and a handful of asigo cheese. She added milk, but you have to add milk and butter to the box too.
Probably less money. Probably not less time because pasta takes time to cook. Cooking pasta in the microwave means it is passive cooking and you can make the rest of dinner while it cooks. I might add peas or,chopped brocolli to either version.

You could also, just make a white sauce and add some Parmesan and onion and or garlic powder to it. And stir in some Parmesan or another hard cheese. . I usually buy whatever is the lowest in price. I buy fresh cheese, the box stuff is awful! For a white sauce, 2T veg oil cost .05 and 2T flour cost .008 Milk totals .63 for a total of .70
Add penne at .34equals 1.04 plus some cheese. The mix costs 2.50 and you have to add some milk. Simce all of the ingredients including cornstarch and other thickeners, preservatives, milk solids etc total 4 ounces, there can't be much cheese in the box.

It costs .35 for a cup of white sauce. It cost .50 for 2.25 cups of recipe starter.


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I'll be back after I look up cheese cultures. Cheese cultures are bacteria specimens that are added to make cheese.


Jane