Easy chocolate pudding cake. No special ingredients!

We always had a recipe growing up for cookies that  took ingredients that mom always had on hand.   A vanilla brownie and snicker doodles .   We also made a caramel pudding cake that I think came out of a Betty Crocker booklet.   It was called ranch or cowboy or something like that. Mi lost the recipe and it wasn't in my mothers things when we cleaned out the house.   Anyone have that recipe, I'd really like to try it again.  

I found this on the Internet.   It's in the oven baking as we speak.   I used half real sugar and half fake.


Chocolate Pudding Cake

3/4 cup sugar
1 cup self rising flour*
2T cocoa
1/2 cup milk
6 T melted butter
1t vanilla
Pinch salt

Mix together ingredients and spread in GREASED 9X13 pan.

Topping
Mix together and sprinkle in top of wet ingredients in pan,

1/2 cup sugar
1/2'cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa

Pour 1-1/2 cups HOT water over ingredients in pan.
Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

Serve hot or cold

* self rising flour substitute is 1 cup flour. 1-1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt.

Chocolate... Did somebody say chocolate!  

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Jane

Trip!

We had to go into town today. Not make best use of our gas, I tagged along and went to grocery outlet and the dollar store.  

I got tissues and nail supplies at the dollar store.
The grocery outlet netted hummus, ice tea for three for a dollar. Ham slices and half price jimmy dean lunch entrees.   Split peas were more than last time,but still cheap.  Offer was more than I got ot at Fred Meyers last time. They still have Cheerios with added protein for a buck. Also, animal cookies were a buck.  

The bottom line still is you need to know your prices.

Thanks


Jane

The ads

QFC has a two week ad.    We need to refer to last week.  

SAFEWAYS ad ism it worth mentioning,   Not even five dollar Fridays,    I'm not sire which SAFEWAYS are tuning to ALBERTSONS.   Apparently the 25th of them,onto some are becoming Hagens. But not in our area.   Everett and shoreline.  

ALBERTSONS has their quarters ad again,   I see some stocking possibilities .  Pudding for the backpack gang is .80.   As is pasta sauce and I am low.    Ditto diced tomatoes.  I was paying .67 for diced tomatoes, but I am not seeing that lately,   Fred Meyers has had some good prices last summer.  

I hear Kroger is going to only carry organic veggies.  That doubles or triples the cost of fresh veggies.   I hope that Winco gets into the top building soon.  I would hate to go back to the fifties and only,have canned veggies in the winter when we can't grow our own,  

ALBERTSONS

Eggs 1.:9@@
Bacon 2.99@@

Yogurt .50 ( Tillamook)
Entrees .75
Ramen 3/.50
Small tomato sauce .25
Bc muffin mix .25
Bumble bee tuna .75
HORMEL chilli $$ 1.00
Beans .75


.80
Refried beans$
Sunflower seeds
Healthy choice soups
Pasta sauce
Diced tomatoes
Catsup
Pudding
Microwave pasta bowls ( backpack??)
Manwich


That's about all.  

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Jane

Some of those things I don't buy.   Some are on the backpack list.  

5 things I never buy cheap

Economizing on food sometimes is a necessity,sometimes  is a conscious decision.  Either  way, if you are on  a budget, you still have to be mindful of quality.  

Five things that I will never buy cheap.  

1.  Tuna fish.   I opened a can of chicken by the sea tuna.  I thought it was a good brand.  Yuk.   It looked like cat food to me.m. Kirkland has albacore tuna.   I think bumble bee is ok too.   If anyone has experience with bumble bee, please comment.   
2. Hot dogs.   I will only buy Hebrew National or Nathan's.    We don't have them often, but I still don't want the garbage that os on cheap hot dogs.   
3. Butter.,      Margarine is not good for you.  The more dense the fat,the worse it is for you.   My nutritionist told me that a little butter was better than margarine.   I think the work she used was skim.   ( in other words, not a full oat on a roll.    
4. Mustard.  Life is too short to use dollar store mustard.   Que.  the man in the rolls Royce!    
5. Chicken,   Washington or Oregon grown please!    

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The rest of the story......

I finished the rest if the shopping on Friday.    The dollar store netted the largest box of plastic wrap I have seen that wasn't the economy box from Costco amd some deodorant,    I was hoping for coupons to match, but there weren't any.

SAFEWAYS had shrimp and chicken as well as salad and strawberries.    Im still plugging along for the year at 65.00 a week.   That's for my husband and I and supplementing daughter and granddaughter.    That's considerably less than the thrifty plan for the two of us.  

The shoreline SAFEWAYS is going to be a Hagens  the 25th of the month.  We have a Safeways and an ALBERTSONS at the same intersection.  No word as to what is happening with those stores.  Since themsafeways is in disrepair, I am guessing it will close.  They haven't bothered to fix Broken  freezers etc.  

We had eggs, hash browns and mixed berries last night,  pizza tonight. Tommorrow I will roast the chicken.

Guess that's all.    


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Jane

Fred Meyers

We hit Fred Meyers today.    All the winter type clothes were sixty per cent off the last marked price.   Scarves were as low as forty percent of 7.97.  

I don't have the bottom line yet because the coupon book is in the car.  As soon as I can, I'll post and get monthly average.  

I went armed with  a list of items we needed to replenish.  I used the last of the bread flour  to make parm peppered Italian bread.  

I found blue cheese and hummus marked down cheap.   We like boxed tomato soup with basil and blue cheese.   Milk was a dollar and butter two dollars.    Cottage cheese was two dollars.    I picked up a no sugar added cherry pie for three dollars.  
Other than getting staples we needed and dairy, there wasn't much of what I would call  a stocking
item.    Keeping eyes peeled for bargains helps the bottom line.   I stick pretty much to just what's on sale , keeping in mind things we are just about out of if they are in our need to have list.   I keep one ahead on things that we use occasionally.  When we open the back up tome, I start looking for a sale, or if we are running low on a stock item, I start watching,my right now, I'm watching for does tomatoes. I want to pay less than .80.  Closer to .70 would be better.   I have got them for as little as fifty!  

Tomorrow chicken noodle soup is  10/5 and I have coupons that may or may not work.  Last week they worked, but it was my understanding that electronic coupons don't stack.    Chicken is a buck.   Shrimp is on five dollar Friday.  

I usually work on a matrix for meal plans.  

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

Since we have four dozen eggs, I am trying to make breakfast  for dinner  once a week.  
We have lots of Pozza in the freezer at this time because the six dollar pizzas on wiper bowl Sunday weekend were less than three bucks.    Taking advantage of soecials and adding appropriate coupons is a good way to get the most from your food dollars.   Sometimes it can make the difference whether  you have a decent quaility of life, or you just get by.   You don't buy the things that you need on a regular basis when you need them, you buy them when they are the cheapest and you try to buy as many as you will need until they go on sale again.    Of you pay half price,you can afford twice as much.  That will help to assure you of not running out before you find another sale.   I buy facial tissue at the dollar store unless I can find it on sale cheaper.

That's about all I have for today

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Jane

The ads

This is a holiday weekend so imam not holding my breath for good buys.   Usually the ad space is taken up with buy my holiday stuff.  

QFC

.50, when you buy six
Cheerios, when u buy six$$

Oranges .99
Pork loin 2.99
Cascade ice 1.00
Yogurt 20/10

SAFEWAYS
Strawberries 1.99
Chicken .99
Free milk when u buy 4 kelloggs cereals $$ ( have to calculate if it's a good deal or not.  
Cucumbers 1.00
Lemons .50

Five dollar Friday
Blues
Shrimp
Cheesecake
Bath tissue$$
Chicken noodle soup10/5

ALBERTSONS
Ice cream 2.69@@
Yogurt 3/.99@@


That's about it.  @@ - in ad coupon     $$ you can probably find a coupon.   See newspaper or coupons.com


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The ads, later......

First of all, Fred Meyers has butter for two dollars.   I'm not sure  who, (as soon as I find my ads......my granddaughter has been role  playing....seeeen looking at the ads while sitting in the potty chair?..LOL.  ) chicken is a buck somewhere also.  

The new woman's day appeared on my inbox.   Some really good recipes for economical meals.   Remember they have a magical figure for costs.   Costs, I have found vary between states and parts of the country.  Your availability and competition has a lot to do with how much you pay for food.  I can only report what is happening in Seattle.   Still, using a buy low and eat high mentality will service you well.   It's no great surprise, our great grandmothers did it all the time.   They got fruits, vegetable etc in the summer when it was low price or from the farm and canned to last the winter.   It's the same concept.   BUY YOUR NECESSITITY FOOD WHEN YOU CAN GET IT THE CHEAPEST, AND
BUY ENOUGH TO LAST YOU UNTIL YOU GET IT CHEAP AGAIN.  

ITS A DIFFERENT COMCEPT.  You are not necessarily buying just what you need for a weeks dinners except for perishables.  

• I buy eggs once a month when I can find them for 1.25 a dozen on sale.  They have a month pull date.   I try to make it a point to have breakfast for dinner once a week.   
• Dairy - sour cream and cottage cheese is cheapest at Costco and again , it usually has a month or so pull date.   Milk I get when I can find it for 4/5 or a buck at Kroger stores.   
• Meat or protein is best purchased in bulk ( whatever the proclaimed loss leader special is that week.  Buy enough of that particular item to last you for a months worth of that meal.   Ie :if you eat beef twice a week, you need 8 meal portions.   Cook it and freeze it in meal sized portions if appropriate.   Rotate in a four week cycle. You are spending less for meat and cooking it more efficient.  
• Staples like flour , sugar etc I keep a reasonable amount on hand and look for sale when I'm getting low.   My flour is low now because my daughter made play dough.  Play dough is better home made because you can make it edible. Mlike you,never heard of a toddler eating it!    LOL.  
• Basic staples like tomato sauce, pasta sauce, pasta and other staple shelf ready items are bought when they are on sale.  I keep a three to six months supply.   When I see it dwindling, I look for a sale.   When I see something like pasta sauce ( a staple here since it is a fill on if we are having meat and daughters are non red meat eaters) I buy it.   The savings are remarkable. I have got ot as cheap as fifty cents.   I never pay 1.59.   

Some things I make from scratch.  I don't make something that is really labor intensive or that I can get cheaper ready made.   It seems the drought of several years ago is still having an impact on beef prices, as well as many other prices. As predicted, some ready made meats are cheaper than scratch.   I am still able toget pork sirloin to cut self and whole chicken for reasonable prices.   Coupons make other proteins within reason.   

January costs were 64.00 a week.  February is shaping up to be about the same.   I was 85 gross one week and 40 the next.   I am seeing a shortage of tomato on the pantry shelf and need to start a list of a few things that are running low.  Vegetable oil and a few of those things I keep one ahead and replace them when I open the last one when prices allow.   

The bottom line is NEVER pay full price for anything.   

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Armed with coupons

Our shopping trip Friday was quite productive.    I spent forty dollars and got four bags full.   That's what a  bag of groceries cost me on the eighties!  

I went armed with coupon binder, the ad, and my just for I list.  Bought mostly protein, fruit and veggies, and some bakery.  

I am reading of people that spend a thousand dollars a month on food.   I have never spent a thousand dollars on food a month.   Not even when I had three adult children living at home.    LOL

Good food doesn't have to cost a bundle.   It does take some effort to go to more than one store and pay attention to prices.    We lost our top foods, and there is no plans for us to get a Hagens.   ALBERTSONS and SAFEWAYS are merging , so Basically we are loosing 2 stores.  If I go to Fred Meyers I have to go one town over.   QFC and Fred Meyers are both Kroger.    That means we have two grocery stores controlling the marketplace.  That isn't good for consumers.  The less competition, the higher the prices.   I sure hope that Winco goes into  the top foods building.    There are alternative stores that carry a limited amount of food.  Some are priced way too high for a budget minded person.
When food is  twenty to a hundred percent higher than the rest of the stores, it's just plain gouging .  One of those stores  has a 42 percent markup.   Generally, the more speciality foods, alternative foods a store has,the higher prices you are going to pay.  They are going to charge high prices because of you are passionate about eating special foods, they will charge what the traffic will bear.

I buy inexpensive cuts of meat, but I won't buy cheap meat.   My mothers advice of buying the best quality you can afford is good advice on anything you buy with the exception of throw away things.   My mother didn't buy  much throw away things.   Those things are usually cheaper at the dollar store.
Any single use item doesn't have to be quality.  Ditto kids coloring books, stick pens.   For the store where they would disappear in a week, I bought stock pens at the dollar store.   They doesn't last long enough to run out of  ink!   I guess I'm saying use common sense.

Guess that's all.

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The ads

ALBERTSONS
Milk 2/5@@
Lean ground beef 3.99@@

Buy 4 save 4
Prices are net
BREYERS 2.49
Mayo 2.99
Green tea 1.49

SAFEWAYS

Oranges .99
Milk 2.79

Five dollar Friday
Berries
HORMEL dinners, BBQ beef
Shrimp
BREYERS 2/5
Cod
Cheerios 3/5

There should  be coupons for the meat and Cheerios.  Coupons.com had precious few real food coupons this month.  

QFC
Sirloin roast 3.99
Berries 2/5
Milk 4/5
Tillamook yogurt 20/10
Butter 2.49
Refried beans 1.00


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Five reasons not to buy a rotisserie chicken

Five reasons not to buy a rotisserie chicken

1)  Most of them are three pounds or less.   The cost is anywhere from five to eight dollars a piece.   The cheapest I have found is five dollars for a three pound chicken.   That is 1.67 a pound,   Chickens are a buck a pound or less all the time.    That is about 70 percent more.

2) The  ratio of meat to bone has a break even point of three pounds.  It is never a good buy to buy a chicken less than three pounds, and  a five pound chicken is the best buy.

3) you don't know where that chicken has been.   I only buy Washington or Oregon grown chicken for reasons I won't delve into here.

4) it smells so good to have a chicken roasting in the oven.

5) you can use your own seasonings and make it taste better.


The biggie is that a five  pound chicken roasted at home gives  you a lot more bang for your buck.
A chicken takes me about ten minutes tops to pu in the oven.

Wash the inside of the chicken and scrape it out with a spoon.   Dump a handful of salt on the cavity ( a couple of tablespoons. ) stuff it woth anything you have hanging around. -- short of the kids  dirty sox! LOL.  ... An orange, apple, lemon, onion, etc.

Massage olive oil on the skin, top and bottom.

Pit in roasting pan and roast at 375 degrees until done.  I use a meat thermometer that registers 179 degrees for well done chicken,   Juices should run clear and the leg should break away easy.

Wash everything that you touch with raw chicken well.   I use a glass cutting board and put ot through the dishwasher or disinfect it along with the counters , sink, and any implements I use.
That is standard procedure for any raw meat!   Don't cross contaminate raw veggies with raw meat.

I cut a chicken apart and break it down to the bones, dark meat, and cut the breast in two.

• Roast chicken dinner with mashed potatoes etc.  
• chicken pot pie 
• Chicken tacos or enchiladas. ( make scratch enchalada sauce...the canned kind can cost more than the chicken.   
• Chicken soup
• Buffalo chicken pizza
• Chicken noodle casserole 

Guess that's all

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Jane 

Shopping trip

First I went to the dollar store.  
I got a but load of health andnbeUty supplies for fifteen dollars.   Also included was a popcorn bucket and a set of pens and two bags of sugar free candy. Werthers original.

QFC was the buy six, get thre.  I did two and used coupons.   Savings was 46 percent.   The percentage would probably be higher but hubby put cheap white bread in the cart.    I got a brick of cheese for six dollars.  

Total food 20.83.

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De jiorno pizza -2
Johnsonville sausage -2
Laundry detergent
4 - 120 count tissue boxes
2 pound cheese
1 lb pasta
Bread
2 packages goldfish crackers

The ads

We went to happy hour last night.   I had a flatbread with basil, tomato,roasted garlic and white cheese.   It would be easily replicated with a bomboli or other pizza crust.  

The ads
ALBERTSONS

Lean ground beef 3.99
Dreyers ice cream 2/6

SAFEWAYS

Berries 2/6
Red Barton 3/9
DiGiorno 2/9
Ground beefb7 percent 4.79
Johnsonville brats 4.99$$

Five dollar Friday
Pizza
Tony Roma's ribs
Strawberries
Shrimp
Ice cream 2/5


QFC

Frescjryya or red Barron 3.99
Pork chops BOGO
Cheese 5.99
Grapes 2.99
Tomatoes 1.99

Buy 6, save three

Digiorno 3.99
Johnsonville smoked sausage $$ 2.99
Dreyers 2.99
M and ms 2.49$$

Rosa Rita refried beans 1.00$$

$$ means thermos a coupon out there.  
I also saw on a video that toothpaste with coupons at SAFEWAYS was a quarter after  coupons.  I have not checked that out yet!  

Please note that some things are cheaper than others between stores.  Cross off anything that is higher priced when deciding your stores of preference.


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Notes

I made an interesting observation yesterday.    I went looking for more cupcakes for my granddaughters valentine treats for school.  I would make them, but it isn't allowed.   I didn't realize that there were two to a package, so I needed more.   ThemboxesmRe done and ready for my granddaughter to put stickers on.  

I digress.    I decided to pick up some things that I needed .  The ten pound potatoes and the often pound potatoes were sitting side by side.   There was fifty cents difference between the ten and the fifteen pound bags!  

I got a pumpkin pie ( 10 inch) for 3.99.  You can't buy he pumpkin and cream for 3.99.
Strawberries were 2/5, and I needed eggs.   Killed me to have to buy eggs.  I usually find them for 1.25.  

I have saved receipts and am going to post them to a spread sheet  today. I know the figure is going  to be remarkably low and I have a lot of food stocked.   From the sounds of the weather madness on the east coast, I hope others are well stocked too.  

I buy canned  beans.  Beans have a very short fridge life.  As does rice.   Of all things that can become tainted fast, they are in the top of the list.   The beans also go bad.  I tried in vein to get split peas to become soft-- they were old.    I don't buy a lot of dried  beans at a time for that reason.  

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Interesting article!

http://www.alternet.org/food/what-i-learned-week-food-stamps-paul-ryan-couldnt-be-any-more-wrong


This is an interesting article about how one guy made ot through a week on food stamp money.  
The prices are much higher than I pay, but then, again, it's New York.   The wages are higher too and selecting out one week is much harder than doing a month or more so that you can develope a stock amd pay less than top dollar for your food.  

Thos month I have spent less than 225.00 on food. I have a lot of stock and a lot of perishables still in the fridge.   I should make it easily until the end of the month.  

I bought a large package ( about three pounds ) of pork loin roast.   Today I cut several pork chops off of it and cubed  the rest of it and pit it in the crockpot for stew, or fried rice etc.  

I still have a chicken to cook Tommorrow or the next day.  

The trick is to manage meat ( or your protein) .  That is the biggest expense in the food department,  
If you pick what you find really cheap you can average your meat costs and still afford a more expensive cut if meat every now and then.  I try to get beef into us twice a week.   It is a good way to keep yourself from becoming anemic.   We eat a lot of fresh  fruit and veggies-- more fruit than veggies because I have a hubby that grew up on the fifties when everything was canned or cooked to death.    LOl

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Winco trip

We just got back from Winco.   I spent 69.22 on food.   Beer was two dollars less than Rite Aid  and one dollar cheaper  than wallmart.  

The pic is on the facebook on janes groceries on the cheap.   I got a lot of dairy, meat, and staples.  I got two cucumbers and a five pound  bag of carrots.

Yoplait eight pack. 3.58
Pork sirloin ( right at two bucks a pound) 6.57
Cottage cheese 4.28
Sour cream 2.51
BBQ beer 3.18 net of coupon and there is another dollar coupon  on the tub
American cheese 2.98
Butter 2.98
Nathan's hot dogs 3.97
Canned beans .67
Green beans .68
Olives .94
Sauerkraut on glass 2.10
Hard rolls 2.48
Cucumbers .58
Bomboli 2 pack with sauce 5.98
Noodles 1.02
Instant potatoes .87 with coupon .54
Little debbie cakes ( treats for school) 2.96
Hunts pasta sauce .97
5  pounds carrots 2.38

That's about all. I only bought what was cheaper than other stores.  Winco takes coupons, but you can't stack coupons.  They take debit cards,  but no credit cards.  You have to bag yourself.  

The savings are remarkable.  I can't wait until they come to our neck of he woods.  

Shopping trip

My total before the trip for the month was 64.00.  I spent forty two dollars at SAFEWAYS  and thirty dollars not including beer at QFC.  136.00 for over three weeks total.  

SAFEWAYS had chicken for a buck a pound.   QFC has a ten inch pumpkin pie for 3.99.   Pie crust was a buck.     I did splurge and buy lefsa.    I got blues, strawberries, oranges and apples.  Frozen potatoes were a buck for two pounds.  

I pretty much replenished the perishables We  still have staple items.  

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It's a Winco kinda week.

We got the ads yesterday, such as they are.   Not much there.  

ALBERTSONS has eggs, cheese, and Yoplait and apples.  

QFC has oranges for .69, roast for 3.99,  and frozen potatoes for a buck!  

SAFEWAYS has blues 2/5, tomatoes 1.99,,chicken ,99, salad dressing 1.49, Hillshire farms sausage 3.99,

Five dollar Friday
Strawberries
2lb ground turkey
Blueberry custard pie

That's about all I see.   Unfortunately, my daughter informs me that welfare out of pasta sauce.  That's a first for me and there are no sales so far.    Thus, a trip to Winco is in order.   I sincerely hope that the top building is the new home for Winco.   It will save us a lot of gas.   We can't shop too often, ots too far away.  


Be sure to check the coupon matchups.  

What t do with that stale baguette.

I saw a clip with Rachael Ray and Sara mouton.m take a stale, rock hard baguette.  Put it under running water.  Douse it good.   Wrap in foil amd put in a cold oven and turn the oven to 300.  Bake for 12-15 minutes.   Ots miraculously bread again instead of a baseball bat!    LOL.  

Shopping trip

We went to SAFEWAYS today.  I was adamant that I was going to stay to twenty dollars because I had a three dollars  off twenty just for u.    Seems my just for u hadn't hit my card, but they gave it to me. I spent 27.00.  

I was careful to only buy specials that we would use.
Blackberries, strawberries, salad, beef tips, pasta was a buck. I also had a coupon for a dollar off two which made the pasta .50.  Add that to cheese sauce I got for free and we have a really cheap Mac and cheese.   It's still cheap of I add cheese and veggies.  

I digress.   I got a brownie mix for a buck.  

I used five dollars worth of coupons last week and spent 37.00.  This week I spent 27.00 and used 2.00 worth of coupons.   Total 64,00 for two weeks with 7.00 in coupons.

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