Terrific Thursday / tools

I was flipping through the channels waiting for pain meds to work amd saw a pressure,cooker on qvc.  I didn't  buy it, but it reminded me I hadn't used ours in a while.   I go on spurts and we eat certain foods for a whole and then I switch out for other things.   We get tired of eating the same things.

Brings me to my point.   There are tools that make life easier in the kitchen.  If  things are easier, we will be more inclined to cook at home instead of eating out.   Most of them are not terribly expensive and can be bought over years, or found at estate sales or on your Christmas list?   On ez pay at qvc takes the sting out of something that costs a little more.

• A pressure cooker cooks ribs and split pea soup in minutes as well as many other things. Mthey showed corn on the cob, but it took three minutes.  By the time the oressuremcookermcomes up to speed and cooks and has it's down time. You can cook them in the microwave.   It takes six minutes on the microwave .   Cut the silk part off the top, put the, in the microwave,  use hit pads or a kitchen towel to pull the husks off after you have cut the bottom off the cob.   

• A crock pot can vey our best friend in the kitchen.  You can prep your ingredients the night before, put them in the insert and turn the pot on in the am.   Dinner is ready when you get home.  There is something about the smell of cooked dinner when you walk into the house after a long hard day that is miraculous.  Chocolate decadence is marvelous.   
• A food processor makes cakes amd chops food, and grates cheese.   It is sometimes cheaper to grate your own cheese than buying grated cheese.   Add a little cornstarch to it and freeze it.   Frozen cheese works fine in Mac and cheese and any place it is melted.  You can also chop meat in a pinch.  
• A meat grinder ( either as an attachment to a kitchen aid,mor the old fashioned kind grandma had) is a good investment,  you can make your own sausage or hambirger when roast is cheaper than good hambirger and you control the fat!   
• I love my waffle iron, and my husband loves the George foreman, but they are not as necessary or a money saver like the other appliances are.  

There are appliances that cook a special item all over the place.  Most of them are just dust catchers and a gimmic.  

There is a theory of the snowball effect.    In essence, it says that of you save momey on something and spend the momey you save to buy something that will save more momey, you will be better off because your savings will grow.  

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Jane  

The ads

I got the ads.  My daughter found an app that gives you the ads,but so far all I find os SAFEWAYS and some other retailers I don't need.   It's free and called  Retale.

SAFEWAYS

Apples,.99
Grapes 1.99
Ribs 2.29
Corn 6/2
Cantelope 2/5
Ice cream 2/5
Barilla pasta 5/5. You don't have to buy 5 and there are coupons


Five dollar Friday
Grapes
Fudge cake
Salad 4/5

ALBERTSONS
Grapes 1.48
Cheese 5.99
Eggs, med .99@@

Ok, this might be confusing.  Spend 10.00 on Tillamook and get 2.00'off.  There are coupons for cheese out there.
Cheese 6.99
Ice cream 2.67
Sliced cheese 4.00$$
Sour cream 1.60

Final prices.
Buy 3 ice creams for 8.00
Buy 2 sliced cheeses for 8.00 and use a coupon.
Sour cream 5/10 now 5/8.
You can mix and match at retail and  spend 8 instead of 10.

Scenario:
Buy 3 ice creams, 2 sliced cheese,pay 20.00, get four dollars off, nets 16.00, use 2.00 coupons for the cheese, nets 14.00.    Retail on  three ice  creams is 15.00.   Cheese coupons are on coupons.com.



1.00 sale

Cake mix
Brownie mix
Pasta sauce
Frozen juice

QFC

Apples .99
Raspberries 2/3
Eggs 3/5
Peaches 1.49
Yoplait 20/10$$
Barilla pasta 1.99$$
Grapes 1.99
Buns 4/5
Canned chicken 1.00 ( a good emergency stash)
Red Baron pizza 2.99

There is absolutely nothing in the red plum insert!

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Jane

Sunday at Fred Meyers

We did go to Fred Meyers today.  I don't have the ad because my husband thought we were through with it so he recycled it.   The best I can do os tell you what I remember

Frozen veggies were .99 with a coupon in the ad. There were supposed to be peas, corn, and mixed veggies.  There were only mixed veggies.

Frozen French fries and tater tots are a buck, Kroger brand

The cheap Mac and cheese was .88

Canned beans were .50 with an in ad coupon limit six.  

Barilla pasta was a buck and there was a coupon in the paper.  

Radishes and cucumbers, and green onions were 2/1

Frozen fruit was 2/5 with store coupon.

I pretty much restocked our freezer from when the old one thawed.  
Total 42.39.

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Jane

Saturday - all is quiet

It's strange around here when  things are quiet.  Husband went for his walk on the beach and daughter and grandbaby went to check on some things at her work.   I have the house to myself!    Walking with my cane, even if it hurts.  Eventually I'll be back to normal, I keep telling myself.    LOL

I haven't shopped except for sending my husband for five peanut butters for .99  each and two Nathan's hot dogs for 3.49 less two .55 coupons.

Last night I made vegetable bean soup, or , rather, I made the soup in the crock pot in the morning.
We love that soup and it's easy.  Our weather  is more like summer this week, so I suspect we will be eating more picnic type foods.

The first of the month basics didn't happen.   I'll bullet them for lack of time.   I am gearing up for a card party( making cards, not playing them! ) and have a card class in making cards for the troops at the rehab center.   I still have to make our  Christmas cards.  

I digress.   The bullets

• The basic idea of  groceries on the cheap is to never pay full price for your groceries.   I want to average 1/2 price.   It's a different way of buying your food.  You aren't buying a weeks worth at a time.  You are buying what's on sale and keeping a pantry.   You never are without some food in the house.   This is possible because you are spending less than the person that buys a week at a time, and you have more volume because you are spending less. 

• The best thing you can do is know the price of the foods you eat on a regular basis.  Track these prices so you know what is a RBP.  ( rock bottom price.  You can use a spread sheet or a notebook, by now, I have them in my head.   But, I can remember numbers better than I can remember names! LOL 

• Buy foods when they are at rock bottom prices.  Buy as many as you can, as many as the store will let you ( limits) or as many as you need to replenish your self imposed ceiling.  I have spaces on my shelf. For our target foods.   I can tell at a glance what we have used.   

• Obviously, you have to identify the foods you eat on a regular basis that are stock items.   In our house that would be diced tomatoes, beans, refried beans, green beans and corn ( not much corn) chili, chicken noodle soup, pasta, pasta sauce.   

• Meat usually goes on sale in a rotation.  Inexpensive ( laugh) cuts of meat are usually on sale in a rotation.  Pick the one your family will eat when it happens and buy enough for a month of that meal.  Assuming you fond a meat a week.    Cook it and divide it onto meal sized portions,  usually for us that would be eight meals. 
•  
• Plan you meals,  I use a matrix to make sure we have variety and  everybody is happy.  It is 2 beef, 2 pork or chicken, 2 vegetarian and 1 fish or shellfish.   Your families matrix may be different. Adapt it to your families preferences and the cost of protein.   Plan your meals.  I plan a weeks worth, but not necessarily day by day.   

• Most coupons are for premade, expensive foods.   There are, however, so,e that are for things you can purchase on a budget.   Computer coupons come out once a month on the first of the month.   You can print two of each coupon. They are limited in quantity, you snooze, you loose.  Print  them as soon as they come out.   The newspaper has some.  I get the Sunday paper at the dollar store.   My friend brings me her inserts.   I save the inserts to match up with a coupon match up site.  The one I was using isn't there, I'll have to find a new one.  They match the ads to coupons.  Some direct  you to the coupons or tell you which insert it is in.   I put the date of the insert  on the cover and file them by month.   I only cut the ones I am going to use.  I can manage to get toothpaste, deodorant, and soap for free.  The last time I bought toothpaste they paid me a quarter to take it out of the store.   I always buy toothpaste when it's free or nearly free and save it up for the women's shelter.   

• When the grocery stores ads come out, gather them and analyze them.   I take a sheet of computer paper out of the recycle and divide it into sections.  Label the sections.  Our variety of grocery stores is shrinking.  Top closed and ALBERTSONS and Safeway are merging or ALBERTSONS bought Safeway.  We are hoping to get a Winco in the top foods building.  I digress.  Divide the paper and list the perishable in season that are a good price, the "loss leader of protein" and the stock items that meet your RBP criteria.  Now pick the two stores that have the things you want to buy. Plan your trip to save gas, go, bring your list, the ads, and your coupons.   Get in and GET out!   The more time you spend in the store,the more impulse buys you are bombarded with.  Impulse buys account for 70 percent of the grocers sales.  

• That's not to say that you don't keep your eyes open for unadvertised specials.   I got chickens for .50 a pound at QFC once!   Most of the good veggie and fruit buys last week at Fred Meyers were not advertised.   Just don't buy junk.  Keep it to the proportions your family will eat before it goes bad.   Divide your grocery money onto sections,   Less than ten percent should be drinks and chips, cookies etc.  the majority should be dairy, protein, and fruits and veggies.  

This takes some planning and some discipline. But the rewards are good food on a budget.  

Thanks for stopping by and for sharing,  

Jane 

Finally friday

Not grocery shopping.   I can't still get into our cars.  We shopped some on Sunday at Fred Meyers.   I have a really good back pack alert, peanut butter  is a buck at QFC!   You have to buy five, but there are other things on the list that are a decent bargain, or you can get five peanut butters.  

For those that are wondering what a backpack alert is, some of the readers are gathering food for children that otherwise wouldn't get food on the weekends.

There are enough things on the buy five, save five list at QFC that it can be worth your while, besides the peanut butter .  

Taking advantage of sales when they are true sales of regular food is a good way to stretch your grocery dollars.   The trick is knowing your prices and stocking what you will use until the next sale.   Ot doesn't mean you only buy peanut butter this week and eat peanut butter for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.   I buy perishables just enough to last is until the following week or so, or however long they are going to last.   Shelf ready or freezer items can be bought in moderation, so that you have enough at a low price to last you until they go on sale again.  

Having a stock really helped when I broke my hip and was in rehab for a month.  The family could just fill on with fresh and eat from the pantry and freezer.   I have my stock built, amd just add when there is a sale the amount we have eaten lately.   Winter is coming and we eat a lot of soup and chili in the winter.   Prices have gone up, but I am still finding tomatoes and beans for .60.  I would rather pay .50, but I haven't seen that lately.   Beans and rice have a very short fridge life.   Unless you have the time to cook beans and eat them the same day, canned is safer.  Just rinse them thorrorally to reduce the sodium.

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Jane

The ads

ALBERTSONS

Buy 5, save 5

Cream cheese .8kraft singles 2.99
Ice cream 2.49
Baron pizza 2.99
Kleenex .99


Milk 2/5@@
Vegetables .49@@
Ground beef 3.99, for 7 percent


QFC
Broccoli .99
Sour cream 1:00
Chili 1.00

Milk 2/3

Buy 5, saves 5
I've cream 2.79
Pea nut buyer .99
Cheerios 1.49

Ritz 1.77

SAFEWAYS
Red Baron 3/10. Look 4'coupoms
Tomatoes 1.00
Grapes 1.99
Corm 6/2
Cake mix .99

5 dollar Friday
Berries 2/5


That's about it.  ,


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Jane

Dinners, to be continued

Last night we went out to dinner with friends.  Happy hour menus.   I got shrimp fettuccine.   It was a half cup of under cooked noodles and five shrimp for eight dollars.   My husband had two beers and two sliders.  The bill was thirty three dollars with tip.

Tonight we had Mac and cheese and mixed veggies.   Total cost for four is three dollars.  

Thursday: the last of the summer!   My 4th if July was spent in an ambulance going to rehab!
Hot dogs, potato salad, amd corn on the cob.

Friday. Vegetable bea soup.


Saturday. Fish and Chips, cla, chowder, coleslaw

Sunday. Shrimp stirfry, noodles

Monday  chicken sausage,corn on the cob,mpotatomsalad,fruit salad.

Tuesday, happy hour , flat bread pizza
Wednesday. Hot dogs and baked,bans


To be continued.  

Short and sweet! , updated

Just a few notes.  My daughter downloaded some of this months coupons.   Nathan's hot dogs are 3.99 thos week at ALBERTSONS there os a .55 coupon.   Also so we here there is a sale on redi rice. I don't usually,buy it., but there is a coupon for that too.  Also a lot of fake stuff if you are into turkey this or that and almond milk.  

There are a lot of coupons, but coupons for something that is still a lot more than making something from scratch os not a bargain,    A lot of times , they put a few spices and sauce into ordinary things and charge an arm and a leg for the pro ledge of not having to add a few spices.   It's usually about two minutes of your time.   Do the math, how much time are you saving, and how much are you paying an hour for their  time?

I got my daughters car for an hour.   ( can't get onto our car, it's too low to the ground. ) we went to Fred Meyers.  
A lot of produce is in then100 to 1.28 price range.   I did find apples for 7.00 plus a pound and a box of peppers for almost forty dollars.   Milk was two dollars a gallon with in ad coupon and beans and tomatoes were sixty cents.  M

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Jane

Sunday ads

It's a holiday weekend.   There are no cohpon inserts usually on a holiday weekend.   Thos time there is the p and G. Insert, but I'm not finding anything too useful.

Fred Meyers

Grapes 1.28
Milk 1.99@@
Bread 3/4@@
Peanut butter 2/5@@
Zucchini .88
Brats 4.99
Sour  cream 2/5., also cottage cheese
Red Barton pizza 3.99$$
Chili .89@@
Ice cream  2/6@@


Back lack alert for the peanut butter. I will post on Facebook also.

Coupon grocery cart has red Barron pizza coupon .

Last night we had ribs, corn in the cob and green salad.
I didn't buy a lot of meat  that wasn't picnic meat.  Chicken sausage was in sale at SAFEWAYS as well as ribs and hot dogs.  I stocked on chicken and good hamburger a few weeks ago so I didn't have to find a bargain this week.   That is where it pays to buy the bargains when you happen to find them and coast through the weeks  there isn't much.mm meat is getting harder and harder to find good meat deals.  Typically there are no really good buys on holiday weekend.  Picnic supplies are an exception, usually that happens on Memorial Day.

Buying what is in sale, provided it is in your usual buy list is a good way to cut your grocery costs.  We all have to eat, but we don't have to eat what is top dollar in the grocery store.   A little effort goes a long ways to stretch your grocery budget.  Remembering a few basic principles can save a bundle

• The basic food is around the perimeter of the store.   
• Don't buy ready made unless it is cheaper than scratch.  Do the math.  
• Before you buy a box of something, read the ingredients.  Again, do the math.  
• Spend more on meat , dairy and produce than anything else.  
• Steer clear of bottled drinks. And junk food.   Junk food is defined as anything that has no real food value.   It's stupid to pay big money for sugar and water.   Ditto a few ounces of potatoes.  
• The biggest weapon in your fight against the break the budget groceries is your calculator and a price book of the things you buy most. Know when a bargain is a bargain.  If you haven't spent your money on junk, you can afford to buy bulk of bargains and feed your family better, cheaper, faster.   .   

Thanks for stopping by. As soon as I get to the point I am back to normal, I'll start a better post routine again.

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Jane

Saturday, suddenly

It's Saturday.  I have been loosing track of days all week.   Have to get back to our schedule.   Sitting with a mud bath on my feet my daughter put on.

We went to SAFEWAYS yesterday.   I just bought the specials and spent fifty dollars.  Lou's of fresh fruit and produce. Picnic supplies.   Also, green chilies were 1.00 and chicken noodle soup was .50 on  Friday, after that it is .69.   Still a good buy.    Remember that coupons will come out in the next couple of days.   Download soon to get the good ones.   Like bargains, the coupons are harder to find.  

I managed to get enough food and go withs for a week.  Other than chicken noodle soup. I didn't stock and because I stocked meat double last week, I didn't this  week.     It is typical of a holiday week to not have stocking specials .  It's all about back to school amd Labor Day.   It's a good time to stock picnic food.  

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Jane

Wicked Wednesday / the ads

QFC has a two week ad, they a,so have a four day sale.

Berries 2/5
Tillamook ice cream 2/6
Tillamook cheese  5.99
Pie 2.99

Sour cream 1.00
Kroger Ice  cream 2/5

Brats 4.99
Baked beans 3/5
Ready rice 3/5
Frozen veggies 10-12 oz 1.00

4 day sale  - Fri to Monday - ends sept 1.
Apples .99
Sun sandwich 5.99

SAFEWAYS
Ribs 1.79
Corn 6/2
Sausage 2.99
Salad 1.00
Buns 1.00
Tomago soup  69 also chicken noodle
Brats 5.00
Grapes 1.99
Nathan's 3.99
Berries 2.99
Chili .89@@

5'dollar Friday
Berries :2/5
Ice cream 2/5
Soup  10/5

ALBERTSONS

Sirloin steak b1 g 2 , buy one, get two, don't say the reg price so it s buyer beware.

Betty Crocker cake or brownie mix 1.00

Corn 3/1@@
Ice cream 2.49@@
Hillshire farm sausage 2.49
Coupons - all below have @@
Skippy peanut butter1.99
Salsa 3.99
Sour cream 1.69


Nathan's 3.99
Lemon merange  pie 5.99

That's about it .   Sounds like SAFEWAYS and QFC are my picks.   Soup is  a big alert for Fridays.
At SAFEWAYS,  picnic food is the most of the sales,but that is par for the course with the holiday weekend.  

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Jane

Monday madness: Fred Meyers ad

Fred Meyers ad for Sunday to Sunday..  

Sirloin steak
Gala apples .98
Blues 3.99
Johnsonville brats 4.99
Peaches 1.49
Kroger frozen potatoes 1.88
Tillamook ice cream 2/6@@
Hillshire smoke sausage 3/10@@
Mayo 2/5@@
Cucumbers , green peppers 2/1
Broccoli .99


That's about it.   SAFEWAYS has the best buys in protein and some fruit.  I like Fred Meyers ice cream and veggies.  

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Jane

Finally Friday , most common mistakes to eat up your food budget.

Most common mistakes

I have been watching grocery hauls on the Internet. Mostly young gals are doing them. I am beginning to see a picture that is all telling.

The most common mistakes grocery shopping to be on the cheap instead of spending the whole paycheck are

1. Buying  8  gallons of drinks.  Buy tea bags, herbal if you wish, and some crystal light type mix at the dollar store or big lots.  Water is a good hydrater.  .  Buy a lemon to add a slice to it and chill it.  
2. Buying ready made mixes and meats.  Take on one meat at a time, and learn to cook it.  The savings are remarkable.  If you don't have the pans to cook it, go to the goodwill and find one.  if you don't have a roasting rack, pile rough chopped carrots / and or potatoes or onions  on the bottom, and roast your chicken on top.  
3. Buying tons of junk foods.  Buy popcorn it's cheap and relatively healthy.  The savings more than make up for the price of an air popper on sale.  I got mine for 14.00.  
4. If your passion is sweet, find easy and inexpensive recipes for brownies or another cake or cookie.  There is a recipe on the Internet for a mixture of 2 cake mixes that cooks in a few in the microwave.  Or make muffins or quick breads.  They can be healthy and satisfy your sweet tooth.  
5. Not Sticking to your meal plans and not thinking things out. don't come home without the things you need to make them or you have wasted your time and need another costly trip to the store.  
6.  The worst mistake is to go to the store hungry, with screaming kids that need a nap, and buy 
7. anything in the store that looks good to you.  It's stressful and expensive.  you shouldn't come home broke and ready to drop from the grocery store! LOL  

Take a look at your grocery receipt and break it down as to how much is drinks, how much snack food and desert, and how much fruit and veggies.  The most percentages should be fruit and veggies and proteins.  Less than ten percent should be snacks and drinks.  

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Jane 

The ads ,

First, QFC went to a two week sale ad, so you,need to refer to last weeks post.  


ALBERTSONS

Quarter sale
Tomato sauce  .25
Zap ems .50
Muffin mix .25
Tuna .75 ( we don't like the quality)
Noodle bowls .75
Tissue 1.00

Note: some of these things I wouldn't buy.  Some are the things I bought when I was feeding children with hollow legs and they needed snacks that were filling.  None of my children had a weight problem.   They still don't.  

Berries 2/6
Roma's 1.49
Salads .88


SAFEWAYS
Grapes 199
Corn 6/2
Cantelope 2/3
Chicken .99
Cod 4.99
7 percent fat hamburger 2.99
Yoplait 10/5. $$

Pudding ring 3.49
Cottage cheese 3.49

5 dollar Friday
Tuna or salmon 5/5
Shrimp
Turkey sausage or burgers
Johnsonville dinner sausage
Berries

Check your just for you
Print coupons.

Note hamburger is a good stock item.   I did some from Costco last week, but will also do some this week because of the freezer going out.   We cooked three chickens last week or I would also buy chickens.  Mainly because there has been weeks lately when there were no protein buys.

Fresh fruit amd veggies are  at their peak here.   I don't tend to put veggies or fruit up, bit we just adapt to frozen or what is in season.    Next year, maybe, but this summer is a summer to forget!   LOL

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Jane

Monday madness

Good morning.   I have  can PT today and it's change the sheets and cook the ground meats I bout yesterday day.    I needed to replenish the freezer after it broke down and we got the new one,   My husband already bought two ice creams and actually arranged the freezer so that one type of thing was on one shelf.   I haven't been able to get down there to see it so. Have to depend on him .  

Yesterday we talked about protein.   It's really a given that veggies and fruit we buy when they are on season.  Each es are really cheap about now. Our nice neighbourhood gave us cukes out of her garden.  

Pasta I buy when it's on sale, preferably with a coupon.   I have got it as cheap as .38.  Pasta has a very long shelf life so ot pays to buy it only when its on sale with a coupon.   We don't load up on pasta, and none  of us  are overweight.  

Groceries in the cheap works on the premise that you never pay full price for anything,   Of you can get your core ingredients for 1/1/2 price  or less, you can eat better for less.   This takes a little organizational work in the beginning, but the work is well rewarded in savings.  

• First , identify the inexpensive sources of protein that your family will eat.   It's a given that of your family won't eat something, it's not a bargain at any price.  
• Now, list 7-14 dinners that use these sources of protein.   
• Identify the staples ( shelf ready or frozen ) you use to make your dinners,   For us, that is refried beans, pasta, pasta sauce. Beans. Green beans, diced tomatoes, some chili and chicken noodle soup, instant mashed potatoes, Tuna, clams, frozen veggies, cheese.   This  is usually a list of about 10-15. 
• Track these prices.   Some use a spread sheet, some a notebook they can carry with them.  The object is to buy low and eat high.  This is not an original concept. Stock traders use that principle .   You want to get a feel for when things go on sale and buy enough to last you until it goes on sale again.   Stores work on a 8-12 week cycle,   Fred Meyers works on a monthly cycle for dairy it's getting harder because prices are rising,  
• The biggest advantage you can have is to know your prices.   My mother used to say, some people could have a bargain get up and bite them in the butt and they wouldn't see it.  Don't be that person.  LOL

When the ads come out, analyze the ads and write  down the prices at each store.  I take a piece of scratch from the computer stand and divide the paper into four ( now three) stores.   Now, record the price of 

• The "loss leader" protein 
• Any perishable that is a good price ( produce and dairy 
• Any stock item on your list that is a good price.   

Now, pick the best two stores and get what you need.   Bring the ad, your list, and any coupons you have.   You can check a coupon matchup site and pull coupons .  -- that's another blog! LOL 

Get in the store , get your list and anything you really  need and get out the more time you spend in a store, the more you will spend.   There os another blog on the tricks retailers don't want you to know.  

Guess that's all for today.   

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Thanks for stopping by

Jane 

Sunday ads and......

I got the ads yesterday, but after I screwed up and thought it was Sunday Saturday, I thought I would wait until Sunday to post the,.

Fred Meyer continues to have a periodic dairy sale.  

Peaches 1.28
Eggs 4/5@@
20 percent hamburger 2.98
Milk 4/5@@
Ice cream 2/5@@
Ravioli 1.00....backpack aler
Strawberries 2/5


Note that @@ means there is an in ad coupon.   Back pack alert is for those contributing to a charity that feeds low income children breakfast and lunch on the weekends by sending them home bags of certain food items on Fridays.

Buying hamburger In bulk and precooking it saves time and money.   I was getting the low fT hamburger for that price. But meat on general has taken  a big hike.  It was predicted that the drought prices would prevail well into 2014.   I think we are beyond that.   I digress.

By picking an inexpensive protein a week and buying bulk enough to last you for a four week rotation, you can cook all of ot at one time and portion control dinners.  That saves time and clean up time in the kitchen and reduces waste.   You are going to buy enough to last you a month.   In other words, of you are using hamburger for your beef component and you are eating beef twice a week, you are going to buy enough to make 8 meals.  

When I buy hamburger, I make crumbles for pasta sauce or pizza, taco meat, meatballs for meat ball subs or to have with a sauce on rice or noodles, or meat loaf or Salisbury steaks.

I try for out meal plams to have

2 beef
2 chicken or pork
2 vegetarian
1 fish or shellfish

I try to average five  dollars a dinner.    That is getting harder with the price of meat these days.  I see my average per week is creeping up.   I lost track of July because I wasn't home and things are harder when I have to rely on my husband to shop.  

Because of the freezer malfunction, we have been eating a lot of chicken this week.   Last night we had oven roasted potatoes. Scrambled eggs, and a fruit cup of fresh berries.   We also like a meal of blueberry waffles or pancakes. Bacon, and fruit.   Chocolate waffles and a yoghurt parfait is a really good sometime alternative.  The kids love it, even though it doesn't happen often.   Mac and cheese is a mainstay.  I cook it with mixed veggies and three or four kimds of cheese.   It's a good way to clean out the cheese bin.   Grocery outlet has a really good selection of designer cheeses.  

I have a stash of salmon in the freezer, and tuna and clams are still a good price.  

The Internet is full of artful ways of cooking chicken.  We like chicken pot pie and chicken stirfry.  Chicken noodle soup and chicken tacos or enchiladas.   Make your own sauce. That is a case where the sauce can cost more than the meat!    I only buy something  like that of I can get it for less than scratch, or near scratch.   I try for less processed foods, but cave in if they are cheaper than scratch ( not often ).

Eggs are 1.25 a dozen again.   It is a good way to add protein into your dote for low cost.   Chef salad, puddings. Breakfast for dinner.   Eggs got a bad wrap, but the attitude has changed.   It's hard for some people to get past the bad stigma.   Ground beef can have less fat than boneless skinless chicken breasts.  It just needs to be defatted.   Ditto sausage.  
French fries can be more healthy than some other potatoes if they are cooked in a really hot fat, like commercially.  Studies have proved that the hot fat sears the outside and no fat gets on the potato.  A regular serving is supposed to have less than a teaspoon of fat.  

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Jane

What to do with what you got.

Savy shopping is only one component of the concept of making food get on the table with little money.  Somehow, the good food has to get from the pantry/fridge to the table.  Most of us lead busy lives, and  taking care of children is a job in its self.   I have relied on a crock pot and quick meals, and precooking when time is less hectic to solve the problem.

I recently discovered a chicken recipe for the crockpot.  I am squeamish at the thought of cooking our chicken when the recipe  starts on a low heat.    This recipe cooks on high right off the bat.   I resorted to it when the freezer quit and I had just come home from a month at a "nursing home" because I broke my hip and     wrist.  I had three chickens to cook.

Over the years, I have tried many comcepts and kept the ones  that worked for our family.    Different things in different ,  stages of our lives.   At this point, I can't bend at the waist and can't chop because one wrist is cracked.   My daughter has been picking up the slack.   I do what I can.   Making spice rubs etc.

Last week, eggs were 4/5 at Fred Meyers.   Breakfast for dinner is a good alternative once a week.   It certainly helps if husbands realize that there is a problem with finances and solving the problem takes cooperation on everybody's  part.  ( my answer to the comment of a reader that their husband won't eat breakfast for dinner ).  I was impressed at 13 when my dad was hurt in the job and we had no income for a few months,   He even ate liver!

Lately, meat prices have not been very cooperative.   Chicken continues to be on sale often.  I can find cheese at Costco wholesale.  ALBERTSONS has a bunch BOGO, but they aren't telling what the original price is so I can't tell if it's a bargain or not.  I used to try for two dollars a pound average.  That's not happening.  Country style ribs  are 3.49. I found hamburger reasonable.  When a roast is more reasonable, I grind my own( or rather, I usually cut it up and my husband runs the grinder.  )
Pork chops are 1.99 at SAFEWAYS.   I can still get canned clams and tuna cheap.   Probably because someone has decided it isn't good for us.   We have been eating it for years.   I wrote a blog on that.  Enough said.   SAFEWAYS has pizza dough balls for 1.50.  I didn't like the one I tried a year or so ago, but.maybe it just got a bad one.   There is a recipe  for a good cheap easy pizza crust.
Pizza is one thing everyone likes and a way to stretch a little amount of meat.  Costco still has sausage in a roll for less that some other stores.  It's not the six  bucks it was last year, last I looked it  was 8.49 .  There is a post on how to reduce the fat in ground meat on a earlier post.  You can make hamburger have less fat that a boneless, skinless chicken breast.

You can use less meat and augment the protein for the meal with cheese that you get in sale, or eggs and milk.   ( pudding for desert, hard cooked eggs on your chef salad.   )

I buy cheese when I get it close to five bucks for two pounds.   I buy it whether  we need it at the moment or not.  It lasts a long time when kept in its wrapper.  You can also grate it and add a tablespoon of corn starch to a couple of pounds of cheese and freeze it.  Or skip the cornstarch and use it when you will be melting it.

Steering clear of boxed dinners is another way to keep your costs down.   My daughter and I diasected a hamburger meal box.  The results were remarkable .     Since then, they have revamped their boxes, but scratch skillet dinners are all over the Internet and I have posted some I wrote myself that are easy and more nutritious .

That's about all. My husband brought me a basket of clothes and I have therapy today, so I'd better get cracking.

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Jane

The ads

ALBERTSONS

Berries. 3.99

Buy 4
Dryers 1.99
outside fruit bars 1.99
Drumsticks 3.99

Milk 2/5@@

10/10, you don't have to buy 10
Ravioli, chili, bumblebee tuna, pasta sauce , soy sauce ( pasta sauce ,not such a food buy

Bread, bagels 2/5
Grapes 2.49
Peaches, nectarines 1.99

Note, I am not fond of ALBERTSONS ad, it's too hard to read.

SAFEWAYS
Raspberries 2/3

Apples 1.49
Pork sirloin chops 1.99
Kens salad dressing BOGO $$
Corn 6/2
BREYERS 2.99
Grapes 2.99. All colours.  The darker coloured grapes have more food value
Cantelope 2/5
Ice cream 2/5

Cake mix .99

Five dollar Friday
Blues
Pizza
Cod per pound

QFC
Berries 2/5
Peaches 1.49
Bread 1.79
Grapes 1.99
Oranges, pears 1.49
Pumpkin pie 2.99

Pasta 1.00  look for coupons
Ice cream 2/5
Cottage cheese, sour cream 2/3
Broccoli, celery ,99


Again, I am not finding a real bargain in the protein department.   Last weeks chicken and eggs were about it.  Eggs have a month out pull date so at four for five it was a good buy amd  stored probably in your refrigerator should last as all momth.   Having breakfast for dinner is one of the ways you can stretch your dollars, especially at that price. Chefs salad is  good with hard cooked eggs for these warm nights.

Last week we cooked three chickens because I bought two for stocking and saved one with ice crystals still on it from the defunct freezer.  Two we cooked in the crock pot.   A really easy way to cook chicken in a pinch for time.   The large pieces stay pretty much in tact, the parts submerged under the natural broth are good for tacos and chicken soup or chicken and noodles.  

The third one my husband roasted in the oven.  

Last night we had chicken stir fry.  my daughter is becoming a good cook.   We do have to have something besides chicken soon.   LOL

That's about all.

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Jane

There is a first for everything,

I didn't think it would ever happen.....,my husband is going to the store and indiscriminately,buying a can of coffee.    Was out of commission ( in a rehab center for breaking my hip) and didn't shop for six weeks.   Of course he has had plenty of time driving around and on his walks to go to grocery outlet and buy coffee.   Now, I am stuck without transportation for a week again.   I have to borrow my daughters car to go anywhere and that entails taking her to work ( two trips) because I can't get into the car and the baby can't fit in the truck.  He can go with the baby by themselves.   What a concept.

I have spent about 80.00 so far on groceries.  Considering that I didn't shop for sox weeks and we had to throw away 160 pounds of food because the freezer quit, I don't think that's bad.   We have a decent amount of food in the freezer and fridge and the pantry is pretty much ok I will need to buy green beans soon.

I have to download coupons.   There haven't been a lot of food ones lately. But there have been Yoplait ones and peanut butter.   Chicken cc is a buck at QFC and I salvaged one from the freezer that was still frozen.   I have been cooking  the, on the crockpot with the help of my husband.   This time we watched it and turned it off as soon as it  was done,   We have more pieces.  You would be surprised how much liquid one onion and the chicken gives off.   My daughter made chicken noodle soup out of it.    My granddaughter loves soup.

Last night we had ribs, corn on the cob and fruit salad.   The night before we had roast chicken, mashed cheesy potatoes, and sliced tomato.   Sometimes  I drizzle tomato  slices with olive oil, sprinkle it with basil and add some grated white cheese.

My daughter made a casserole skillet dinner with rice, cheese, diced tomatoes and peppers.   It called for zucchini, but dear old dad didn't like it.   Seems lots of people don't like zucchini.   Que in chocolate zucchini bread or cake!

Tonight I think we will have chicken enchiladas.   Rice and beans.   I bought all for cartons of eggs at 1.25 each at Fred Meyer last week.   We need to have breakfast for dinner one day a week.   I am supposed to be eating hard cooked eggs to build my muscle after the surgery.   At 1.25 that makes dinner really cheap, so we can afford to have red meat more often.

That's all I have for now.  Hopefully we will get the ads tomorrow.

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Jane

No ads

We didn't get any ads this  week.  That makes shopping difficult for me.   I like to plan my trip ahead of time and these days I have to borrow a car and I'm  resorting to a wheel chair.   My husbands back is out and the freezer quit, so we might be winging it for a while.   Not having the benefit of the freezer stock will make things challenging.  

Yesterday, I cooked a chicken on the crock pot.  I had never done that before because I didn't like the idea of chicken not being brought up to a temp quickly.   Thos recipe is really simple and is cooked on high.

Crockpot chicken
Place a cut up onion on the bottom of the crockpot .
Place washed and ladled dry woth a paper towel chicken in crockpot.
Rub with a slice rub.
Cover and cook on high about an hour per pound.
Check to make sure chicken is done,

2 tsp paprika
1 tsp each of
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Salt
Thyme
Dash pepper.

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Jane