Meal plans

Meal plans help to assure that food is not wasted.  i developed a meal plan template to make meal planning quick and easy.  These days, the less time spent on meal prep the better.  I spend more time planning my shopping and less time cooking,   It makes things more cost and time efficient,   I get paid to shop in savings,

Step by step process.   

The form  has a column of food on hand.   Clean and arrange the fridge to reflect the things that need to be eaten shortly.  Write  down the perishables and meat that you have in stock.   Highlite or mark with a star the things that need to be eaten soon.

I have.

1. Cottage cheese
2. Carrots 
3. Acorn squash
4. Sour cream
5. Fresh green beans 
6. Eggs 
7. Spinach, fresh
8. Blackberries
9. Apples 

Develop a matrix .   It makes planning easy and quick if you have an outline.   Ours is 2 beef, 2 chicken or pork, 2 vegetarian and a fish or shellfish.    Yours very well may be different,    Some people go with types of meals-- like soup, breakfast, etc.   or have fourteen meals and rotate the same meals.   

A second column is for food  to be purchased.    Hold off on this one until you finish planning.

Now fill in the seven blocks .

1. Breakfast for dinner : yogurt parfaits, eggs, toasted English muffins   Yogurt parfaits are yogurt, blackberries (or blueberries when I get them cheap) and topped with some granola.  Granola is at the dollar store (Chex) English muffins are usually cheapest at Fred Meyers .  
2. Vegetable bean soup.   Cheese biscuits 
3. Pork tenderloin. Baked acorn squash( with butter and brown sugar, cinnamon dash , spinach salad . I got pork tenderloin for 2.50 at Safeways a few weeks ago.  Froze it.   Squash was .68 at Winco.    
4. Chicken nachos.    Costco is the cheapest usually on nacho chips.   Diced  tomatoes make salsa in a pinch , use up sour cream 
5. spaghetti  and meat sauce, spinach salad. ( brown and serve baguettes are cheapest at wholesale Costco.  I keep them in the fridge and they take less than 15 minutes in the oven.   They are usually about a dollar a piece.    Pasta is on sale now for fifty cents when you buy 10 of a list of things at QFC.   Hunts   pasta sauce is cheaper most all the time than scratch.   I never pay more than a buck, the last batch I got was .75.   
6. Sloppy joes. French fries, vegetable sticks.   ( I got carrots at QFC with a five dollars off fifteen coupon.   24 ounces ( 1.5 pounds) of seasoned potatoes made in America are at the Dollar Tree, bins Re cheapest at Winco, and I use a recipe I found in a family circle years ago. Manwich has been on sale for eighty cents lately.   
7. Fish packets .   Tilapia is at Winco.   Layer on parchment paper individual portions ( dollar tree) spinach, cooked rice, or instant soaked in water, a few white beans, the fish, and a green vegetable.    I bought just what we needed at qfc.    Seal up the packets, and place on cookie sheet with sides.    Bake at 400 for half an hour or until fish is flakey.  

Note: it might sound like I run all over town to shop.   Not so.    I shop in bulk and freeze or refrigerate.    I usually shop two stores.   Get in and get out.   Put on blinders to anything that isn't on sale or the RBP.   Avoid snack tyoe items.amd sodas.     Use coupons when I can.  These meals average less than five dollar a meal for a family of four.  ( assuming two adults and two school aged children) .  

Hope this helps.   It's easy I be overwhelmed, but planning uses up what you need to use up and makes the what's for dinner question more manageable.   

Thanks for stopping by

Please share 

Jane 

Sunday ads ......turkey!

The cheapest price on turkey I have found is either free at Fred Meyers with a hundred fifty dollar purchase.   At Fred Meyers, you have a wide variety of things, not just food to purchase.    or it is .69 a pound with a thirty dollar food purchase ( the turkey doesn't count) .

QFC
mandarines   3.99
Pumpkin pie 3.99

Still buy 10, save 5
Stove top .99
Sugar 1.99
Crescent rolls 1.38 - $$
Butter 2.49

Fred Meyers
Milk .99@@ ( note it is free at winco)
Bread  3/4@@
Vegetables frozen .79@@
Betty Crocker   boxed potatoes .89
Pumpkin pie 3.99
Jello 1.00
Frozen entrees .89
Red Barron 3/10
Cool whip .79@@


That's about all.

Bargains......

Wednesday, my hubby went to get a free oil change and a free haircut..     Score forty dollars.    I went  to Winco and got paper towels for less than Costco with a coupon.  Like about half.     I also got another twenty cent ibotta.  

Today we went and I got a haircut.  QFC netted a fifty six percent savings on tomatoes, pasta, and veggies.     Five  dollar off fifteen on veggies. And five off of ten items netted a lot more than just the five dollar savings.  Last week I got 69 percent plus.   ( almost 70) .   I hit three stores last week and averaged twenty five dollars each.   It was a good week to stock.   Tomatoes are .49 at QFC, chili is a dollar and I have coupons.    Pasta is 49.   You don't have a lot of selection on the pasta, but at that price, I can live with it.    My daughter is a vegetarian and we go through a lot of pasta.  

At Fred Meyers, Four percent hamburger and .99 Foster farms chicken meant that I got two loss leader meats this week.    It makes up for the weeks that I got none.    I roasted the chicken and made meatloaf, meatballs, and crumbles with the hamburger ( 3 pounds,) the chicken was 6.5 pounds.    This saves time and money.   I spend more time shopping and less time cooking.  I probably spent an hours a week shopping .  I get in and get out of a  store.   I just get what I need to buy. Impulse buys will kill your budget.   I was an accountant, so prices are easy for me to remember.  I know the RBP of the staples we buy in a regular basis.   If you know the staples, the rest will take care of itself.    I'm not too worried about the cranberry sauce I will buy once a year.    It's the green beans that I use a lot because it's about the only vegetable everyone will eat, or the diced  tomatoes that I use at least once a week.  
I know who typically has the lowest prices on certain things, but always keep my eye open.   We use few paper towels.   A 12 pack will last us six months.    Winco had brawny for 11 dollars and change and I had  a dollar coupon.  That was almost half of Costco's price according to favado.   Favado isn't
always correct.   I try to use paper products sparingly.   Not always an easy task with a three yo in the house.  

Now that I have rambled at three .v  in the morning. I hope this helps.  

Thanks for stopping by

Jane

   We have had roast chicken, chicken pot pie, and I will portion control the rest for the freezer.   We had chicken with stove top stuffing that I got for free at Winco and green beans that were  .33 .  That meant that dinner was a total of 1.33 not counting cooking supplies that are too small to cost out ( butter, salt, oil etc.  ) another night, I made meat balls, added tomato sauce that was leftover from homemade pizza another night, and peppers from the freezer.   The tomato sauce cost twenty five cents and the peppers were six for three dollars at grocery outlet.

Grouping errands saves gas.   Meal plans help use everything up.   Being flexible helps.    Last night my husband didn't get the  fish from the freezer to thaw in time, we had pizza.    I got pizza on sale with coupons for 2.38.   I just add things to it.   A bag of spinach at Costco goes a long ways.  

The ads...such as they are.......

QFC has a two week ad last week.  There is still time to make a planned trip.    Fred Meyers wasn't bad, I only,bought sale items , preferably with coupons,  

The only ads I got were for Safeways and Albertsons or  Alberways ha ha

Safeways
Turkey free with 150.00 purchase, or .68 with fifty dollar purchase.  
It makes for sense to me to wait and see what Freddie's brings to the table,    At Fred Meyers you can buy any number of things for your minimum purchase.  

Five dollar Friday
Shrimp
Cherub tomatoes


Eggs 1.99@@
Crea m of mushroom soup .69@@-   Not...its .59 at Fred Meyers and there are coupons out there.  

About it

Albertsons
Pork chops 1.99
Eggs 1.99@@

Five dollar Friday, sat, sun
Tomatoes

Same turkey offer

Coupons
Cream cheese .99

About it.   Most of the prices are cheaper at QFC or Freddie's.  
Winco has free cookies and a gallon of free milk in a flyer in the mail.  
Most of all the prices are either cheaper at Winco or Kroger stores.  

Cream of mushroom soup is 59 at Fred Meyers until next Sunday.  There are coupons for .40 off of four.   Fred Meyers limit is six.  
Marshmallows are cheapest at Winco.  
 You can load a coupon at fc for five dollars off of fifteen dollars worth of produce.    That's 33 percent of you stock to often dollars.  
Green beans are cheapest at Winco.
Vegetable pasta is. 49 at QFC when you buy multiples of ten things.  

Jane

Budget hacks

I started this blog to help the people on snap get through the month eating somewhat healthy on a limited budget.   I developed  a plan over fifty years.   A little background: I grew up with a mother that had survived the Great Depression.  While we had money, my mother never forgot her life lessons and she was always cognoscent of not wasting money.    When  I was in my early twenties, found myself in a position of being a single parent.  It was the days  of double digit inflation.  We didn't get a raise in three years.    Nixon froze wages.  I got paid twice a month.  One paycheck went for rent, the other for daycare.   There was no earned income credit, no food stamps, and no help with childcare.   I just had to make it on what I had.   I started with what my mother taught me and read everything I could get my hands on.  Through the years,  I adapted ways  to stretch a buck.   I'm still learning.
This blog post explores ways I have found to cut costs on other necessities also.

• Personal heigene.   Many items can be purchased for free with coupons.   I have yet to get free toilet paper, but I am working on it.   The drug store chains have reward points.   I have successfully rolled points to get some things for free.  Rite aid used to have a better plan, but I have scored with the new one too.   It's a little less  complicated  than Walgreens.   I managed to get an electric toothbrush, toothpaste, and mouthwash for free.  They paid me to take it out of the store.   This is the only senecio  I have found in this state to get overage.  Toothpaste is one of the easiest things to get for free.    
• Coupons:   I spend very little time clipping coupons.  I do use coupons. They help a lot. Favado is a free ap that matches prices with coupons and tells you where to get the coupons and even sometimes gives you a link.   I get a newspaper from the dollar tree for a buck on Saturday( Sunday's paper).  My friend saves hers for me too.    More inserts come in our mail.   I give them a quick glance and cut any that I know I want.    The inserts then go in a file folder with the date on the insert and a monthly date on the file folder.    Once a month I download coupons from coupons.com.  I do it as close to the first day of the month as I can.   The coupons are limited . You  can only print two and when they are gone, they are gone.   
• Laundry.   Necessary evil!   I don't use dryer sheets or fabric softener.   With laundry detergent, I got five months supply for 5.79.    I used two three dollar coupons. And found a rebate on a bottle.    
• Clothes.   I watch Fred Meyers when they have up to seventy percent  off the last marked price.  I try to buy classic clothes.   Once or twice a year, we go to the off price mall and buy clothes.  We get an inexpensive off season room. At at a old fashioned breakfast diner we eat one meal and either purchase dinner at the Safeways or do Subway.   Breakfast is free at the motel.  I got 6 Christopher Banks tops for 20.00.   Goodwill is another good resource.   I got a darling party dress for granddaughter for four dollars. 

The best advice I give is to know your needs and prices.   My mother had the expression , "some people wouldn't know a bargain of it got up and bit them". Don' t be that person.  

Plan your trips.  Try not to buy anything unless it is at least half price.  When grocery shopping, stick to buying only the actual sales.   Only deviate when it is something you have to have or if you see an unadvertised special. Today. I got four percent fat hamburger for 2.99.   One time I got whole chickens for .50 per pound.   

Pick two chain stores a week based on the store ads.   Plan your trip. 

• Check the ads from the newspaper, or favado.   
• Write down what is truly on sale that you can fill in your meals with ( perishables), a loss leader protein,  and your stock items that are short. 
• Check favado or your coupons binders or matching coupons.   Everyone but Winco will let you stack coupons - a store coupon and a manufacturers coupon.  
• Make meal plans from what you need to use up and what is on sale .  
• When you get home, check ibotta for any match ups.    

I had a huge bag of chocolate crispies I got at Winco for a dollar.  I bought a bag of mashmellows for a buck.  I barely made a dent in the cereal, we had chocolate crispy treats for 1.33 a 9x13 pan.  

Jane 

  

Fred Meyers ad

Here is themfred Meyers ad :  
I have found that there are usually more good buys than are advertised on the ad .   You still have to know your prices of the things that you use on a regular basis.  

Ground beef. 7 percent. 2.99
Raspberries .99
Stove top stuffing or cranberry sauce .89@@
Cream of mushroom soup 2/1@@$$
Kroger ground pork 2/5 @@
Red Baron pizza 3.29@@$$
Hefty slider storage bags.99$$
Foster farms fryers .99


@@ means there is an on ad coupon
$$ means that there is a coupon either in a insert or on line.  

Soup coupon is .40 on four and it is on coupons.com
Red Baron pizza is a dollar on two and is from an imsert.
Hefty storage bags coupon is an insert and is 2.00 off of three.  



That's about all.  

QFC sale

QFC buy 10 save $5.00 sale  

Spent 25.09; saved 56.17

70 percent savings!   

The ads

I got the ads late as usual.   We did go to Winco and I took the apple juice that is to much  for one small child to drink to school.   It will make for a good drink with snack time.    Winco netted a lot for 22.00.   They have no sugar added Klondike bars.   It is hard to find them.   Safeways is the only other place. Have found them.   Being diabetic, they only have 16 carbs and are portion controlled.    The lady there stopped and showed me all the options I had for sugar free.   It was very pleasant to see someone take the time .
They also have some canned veggies and soups on sale really inexpensive.    Cheese was five dollars for two pounds.   I have found that commercial grated cheese goes further than the stuff I grate  at home.   I think it is finer texture and melts faster and you use less.  

Taco shells continue to be a buck.    I got stove top free as well as a brick of cream cheese.    Tulips was reasonable.

On to the ads

QFC is a two week ad  They have a buy ten save five sale going on.   I think I can score with coupons,   Favado does not have qfc on their data base, so I'm going to have to plan my trip by myself.   I will post the plan when I get it done.   It will take me some time.

Ground turkey 2.99
Alaska cod 2.99

Save five in ten items.  Net prices

Butter 2.49
Triscuit 179
Chili or chunky soup .99$$
Tomatoes, canned .49
Stove top .99 ( it's .99 at Winco and the dollar tree) but a good fill in if you aren't making your 10.
Smoked sausage 2.49
Crescent rolls 1.38
Cake mix .79
Brownie and muffin mixes 2.49
Ronzoni pasta .49
Hot cocoa .99-it too is the same price as dollar tree, but a good fill in
Kleenex 80-160 count .99. It's only a good buy if you find 160 count.   You can get Larger at times tree at times cheaper on big lot sale.


On to. Safeways or Alberways

Chuck roast 3.99
Milk 2/5@@

5 dollar Friday
Berries 2/5
Cream puffs 7-9 count
String cheese 20 ounce
Pasta sauce in jars 5/5

Coupons
Bread 1.49
5 lb flour/sugar 1.79


Albertsons
Milk 2/5@@

5 dollar Friday
Berries 2/5
Donuts
Market flowers
String cheese
Pasta sauce in jars

Coupons
Bread 1.49
Sugar or flour 1.79
Veg oil 2.49


That's about all.   I have to double check the ads between Safeways and Albertsons.  They are just about the same.    Even the logo is disguised to be about the same.    I am very thankful for Winco.  
I see that haggens  at shoreline is closing.   It will be interesting to see how all this plays out.   I am thankful for Winco, Costco and Grocery Outlet  in the mean time.  With care I am back to 75.00 a week with stock.   Probably a good thing since our ssa is going to be cut.   There is,no COL imcrease , but the Medicare premiums are raised.   Net results is that our ssa checks are going down.  

That's about all.

Thanks

Jane

The ads, Fred Meyers and notes

I'm late getting the ads, toooo much Halloween!    If you are in the Seattle area, watch in your mail for a Winco ad.   It came for is on Thursday,  but our mailman is not up to snuff.    Free, yes, free things.   Don't pass them up of you don't need those things, I'm siremthemfood bank would love to have them.  

NOTE. There are buys on thanksgiving ingredients.  BUY NOW,   If you wait, you snooze, you loose,   The price goes up for procrastinators.   IF IT WONT ROT, YOULL BE GLAD YOU GOT!  (It)

They have a h u g e package of cocoa crispies ( wantabe) for under a buck.....ok. So it's a few cents.  
I bought marshmallows for a buck at the dollar store and with a few tablespoons of butter, we have chocolate crispy treats.  

Fred Meyers

Ez peel shrimp or ny steak ( like we could afford that) !   5.77
Clementines 3.99
Milk .99@@
Bread 3/4@@
Vegetables or tomatoes 2/1@@
Pasta sauce--Ragusa. .99.  Limit 4@@
Sausage 2/5@@


Berries 2/4
Pears .99

Pills bury cake mix 1.00
Sour cream, cottage cheese 4/5
Butter 2/5@@
Cream of mushroom 2/1@@
Broth 2/1@@
Grape tomatoes 2/4


Note:  @@ means there is a in ad coupon.  
Limits may apply


Bar tells
Clams 1.00
Sour patch kids .99.

About it.   I prolly wouldn't make the trip for that!  


 Thanks for stopping by



Jane

Grocery outlet, dollar tree, Winco

We went to the above stores today. sounds like a lot, but grocery outlet and the dollar tree ar next to each other.    I had found metallic papers at the dollar tree for a fraction of the cost elsewhere.  The quality is not exactly the same, but I'm getting 20 for the price of one.    Putting things in perspective, only an eighth  of an inch shows when I'm done, so the great quality is an overkill most of the time.

At the dollar tree, they have k cups for 4/1.00,  Betty Crocker sweet potatoes, and sugar free jello.    They have some interesting books.    Sally Hansen fingernail polish.   Seasoned frozen potatoes from the USA are a buck for a pound and a half.  

The grocery outlet only netted sliced cheese.  

Winco has green beans for .33.  Progreso chunky soup is .88 and there are coupons out there for fifty cents off two.   Potato salad is cheaper at around three dollars for Reese's.    Tomato sauce is.48.   I needed one for a recipe.   I usually just do diced tomatoes,but this lasagna soup takes both.
Pumpkin pie was cheaper than the pumpkin.    Toothpaste was .75.

In addition, we got a flyer in the mail with a bunch of things for free.  

Guess that's all

Meal plans next.

Safeways and dollar tree haul.

I spent nineteen  dollars at the Safeways and five at the dollar tree.  
At the dollar tree they had mashed sweet potToes and we loved them when we could get them.   I bought two.   Also  bought jello parrots ( sugar free) and a box of coffee.  

At Safeways,misused a dollar coupon for pizza that was bogo and a three dollar off twenty just 4 you.  

Pasta shells
5 nalley  chili
1 salsa
1 sour cream. - 24 ounces
2 red Barron pizza
1 bread
2 Klondike bars (6ea) no sugar added

Savings 47 percent.  

Tonight we are having acorn squash, pork tenderloin. And fruit salad.    Apples were,.48 a pound,  pork tenderloin was 2.50 ( we are using 1/2 ) raspberries were 5.00. The squash was a dollar (1/2) total cost.  3.75.   ( picture later)

There is a dollar coupon in Tillamook in my e mail.   It is is 5.99 at Safeways.    
Country ribs were 1.99, but they didn't have any.  


That's about all.


Thanks
Jane

Fred Meyers - tomorrow's ad

Chuck roast 3.99
Apples .99
Hebrew national 2.99
Sour cream /cottage cheese 2/4

Freshesetta 3.99
Tombstone 2/5$$ net 2.00

Tomato/ chicken noodle soup .89
( Winco chicken noodle soup is .33)

Kroger coffee 4.99
Grapes 1.68

That's all folks.

I got the best buys this week at Winco.  


Thanks

Jane

Winco haul

Winco

We went to Winco today.   Almost everything I buy was at least 12 percent off.  
I use a fifty cent coupon and got a .20 ibotta.   My net OOP cost was 41.99


I got

1. Nathan's Frank's 2.98
2. Jello chocolate pudding ( almost no carb snack.) 2-4 packs 4.78
3. Bacon 2.78
4. 2 lbs  mex blend cheese 4.98
5. Chocolate cereal .98
6. Apples .48 lb
7. English muffins 1.48
8. Nacho chips .98
9. Hot dog buns .88
10. Jalapeño bread 2.18
11. Pizza crust 2.98 for 2
12. Devils food cake mix .88
13. Brownie mix - both .88
14. Taco shells ,98
15. Chicken noodle soup .33
16. Large olives .78
17. Refried beans rosa Rita .88
18. Progreso clam chowder .88 less .50 coupon 
19. 10 lbs potatoes 1.48
20. 2 cans of chillies totaled 3.64
21. 1 lb ground pork.  free

Eggs are two dollars a dozen

Thanks 

Jane 

The ads. Oct 21,2015

Thenads came such as they are........again I am blessed with the thought that Winco is coming tomorrow.   It will  be interesting to see if we get better prices with some competition.  

Safeways

Pot roast 3.99
Ground beef - 20 percent 3.99

Albertsons
Ground beef -15 percent 3.99


5 dollar Friday ( wed thru Friday)
Raspberries 5.00 12'ounces.   ---they are a buck at Freddie's


QFC

Chuck toast 3.99
To,a toes .99
Grapes 1.48
Milk 1.25 - 1.00 at Fred Meyers
DiGiorno pizza 4.99$$
Freshet a 3.99


Ten for ten -- you don't have to buy 10
In other words, a dollar each
Cake 1.00
Brownies 1.00


 I usually go to 2 stores and buy just what's a good buy of
Meat or protein
Stock items I am short of
Perishables in season.and dairy


I dont go to a store for one or two things unless I am already there for some other reason,   Of there is something that is a lot discounted and I need it, I will get it....the savings offsets the gas I have used .  
I had to go to Bothell for business, we stopped by dollar tree and grocery outlet on the way home.  
Folders coffee was 4.99.   It is 10.99.  That six dollars goes a long ways to filling my gas tank.  

I wrote down the specials for each chain store.    Cross off anything that is cheaper elsewhere, and I get a good feel for where we are going.    I already went to Fred Meyers.  QFC is close and we use their pharmacy.    I will probably. Check out Winco tomorrow if I can get there ( the car is in the garage because it didn't pass the inspection for license tabs.   I just love  magic surprises!

Fortunately, I don't need much.  

I have target (RBP) prices on our staples.   I just buy them when I see a really good price and buy enough to fill in my stock.  If I find we are running low, I start looking for a sale.    Rarely do I find
myself having to buy something a full price....or top dollar as my mother called it.    I got stuck on milk last week.  We ran out before Sunday Fred Meyers.  

I figure we save about three thousand dollars a year.   It takes some effort, but probably not much more than the person that goes every few days to buy their food.    It is never a quick trip to Costco.  

After a while you know where and approx. when some stores have the best prices.   Fred Meyer has milk for a buck about the third week of the month.   Costco is cheapest on dairy.  The packages are large and have a month pull date.  I go once a month.   They are also usually the cheapest on refried beans and bananas.  They are the cheapest on gas and hubby picks up bananas and nuts frequently.  

When I'm in the area, big lots and grocery outlet as well as dollar tree have certain things cheaper.  Some this are not, you have to know your prices.   Grocery outlet and Costco wholesale have the best prices in cheese.   It is a retail trick to put small bags of cheese on sale-- for as much as five dollars a pound,    Do the math.  I want cheese  for 2-250 a pound.    Already shredded is better because you use less than if you grate it yourself.  

Winco is cheapest on mashed potatoes and some canned goods.   I am not a big fan of their fresh produce, you have to pick very carefully.  

I can usually make good use of QFC with their. Buy 5, save five when I can add coupons.    I consider it a win if I can save as much as I spend.    Sometimes with coupons, I can get as much as 75 percent off.    You have to look at your bottom line.  75 percent of something you will never use is not a bargain.  

Dollar tree is good for no yolk noodles, pizza crus ( individual ones ) and some name brand items,  you have to know your prices, some things are more expensive.  Hormel pepperoni is cheaper and sometimes you can find a coupon.   I just love the word free.  

Plan you trips.   Be open to stopping at a discount store if you are on your way to or from another errand,   Buy enough of a staple item if

1. It won't go bad before you can use it up
2. Your stock is getting low.( have self imposed limits - I like three to six months supply.   
3. The price is RBP or lower     

If they are out of a sale item, ask for a rain check.    Fm was out of whole chickens at .88.   I asked for a rain check and bought thighs.  In the mean time, I got one elsewhere for a buck a pound.   I can till use my ranch I in a week I can't find a sale ( limited time) 

One last thing....just because it says it's on sale in an ad, doesn't mean it's a bargain.    Safeways pasta is on sale this week for 3/5.     I can a,ways get an off brand at the dollar tree.   But, I got Barilla extra fiber for .88 at Fred Meyers.    That's half the price  and a better quality pasta.    Jimmy Dean sausage is foce dollars for 8-16 ounces.   It's about 2.50 a pound at Costco.    

Thanks for stopping by 

Please share 

Jane 

.

Fred Meyers ad

Short and sweet!  

I did go to target and Michaels yesterday.  I needed some light weight paper for a project and Michaels has it fairly inexpensive.     They have gone to 5X 7 card bases, though.   The 5 X 6-1/2 is now only at paper wishes.    Five by seven takes more postage.   Bummer.    

I go to target just for my makeup.  I like ELF and it is cheap enough to switch it out before the recommended time for health safety.    I found four thanksgiving placemats with crayons in the dollar spot.    Also a plastic divided tray for my craft room and spider rings for the kids trick or treat bags.  

On to Fred Meyers.  

Raspberries. .99
London broil 3.99
Salmon 5.99
Peppers .99
Milk .99@@
Progreso soup .99@@$$
Bread or buns 3/4@@
Ice cream 2/4@@
Yo plait 10/5 $$
Freshettin3.99


.88 sale
Kroger canned fruit
Ravioli
Bumble bee tuna or chicken
CB cake mix
Cottage cheese@@
Barilla pasta @@
Colgate toothpaste @@$$



Note @@ means with an in ad coupon.    $$ means there is a manufacturers coupon either on line or in the paper.  
RBP means Rock  bottom price.    The cake mix is a RBP as well as cottage cheese.  



Jane

Notes

We had some running around to do.   Stopped by grocery outlet and the dollar store for a look see.  I knew that there was sharp cheese for two dollars and it's my husbands favorite.   I have been getting coffee pods for .25.   I got a build your own DiGiorno pizza for 4.99 and nuts.    We also got individual pizza crusts and shortbread cookies.    No yolk noodles were a dollar.

Get Jesse wrote a piece on grocery shopping,  most of it made a lot of sense and I was especially interested  in the 15 things that you are overpaying for  if you are buying organic.  

Some things didn't make sense to me, If I buy a five pound bag of potatoes, most of them go to waste.   I find ready made  potatoes at RBP and feel we are better off.   I got 2 pounds of French fries for .60 at QFC a couple of weeks ago.    That's cheaper than scratch and cooking them in the convection oven makes them crispy without oil.  

I buy canned beans because I can't predict our bean usage.   Beans and rice are two of the most temperamental food items  for spoilage.    I would rather buy canned and not be worried about spoilage.   I haven't enough stamina to cook beans and then set out to make dinner at 7 o'clock when people get home from work and watch a toddler!    It's too convenient to get beans at a RBP and have them at the ready.  

I'll have to admit we are not foodies.   I wrote this blog because I knew of people on snap that were running out of money before they ran out of month,   No child in my opinion, should have to suffer the indignity of an empty pantry , not knowing where the next meal was coming from.    Full snap is more than enough to feed a family if you know how to stretch a buck at the store and cook from scratch.      No, you can't buy steak and lobster, and you can't buy food from Mars.  But you can buy good real food our grandmothers ate and managed to live 80 plus years on!   lol.  It's using the age old secret of putting up for the winter......worked for hundreds of years.....long before the word hoarders was invented!

Age old stock market premise.   Buy low, sell high.    You buy food at the lowest price, and eat it when the price is high .  Wait for a low price again.   You buy fruit and vegetables in season and
Buy staple items when they are at their lowest price-- enough to last you Intel they are a low price again.   Buy meat at low price and cook and /or portion control.    You can rotate meats with the sales.
This week I bought seven percent hamburger and .88 a pound chicken highs. I got a rain check for whole chickens because Fred Meyers didn't have any.    A few weeks go, I bought three pounds of sausage at Costco.    Pepperoni is .50 at dollar tree with coupons often.  

I have been spending between 75-80 a week for food and. Have developed a stock in the freezer and the pantry.   I can go for some time without buying anything more than perishables.   Good thing, because this is the time of year that we hit the donut hole and meds start taking a good portion of our income.  We are a family of four.

Bottom line, is that I've paid about half of what retail is on any one item.     It's simple
KNOW YOUR PRICES AND ONLY BUY AT RBP.   Don't buy a lot of pre packaged things or dinner meals unless they truly are less than scratch!   I can get hunts pasta sauce for as low as .75.   That's about the cost of a 15 ounce can of tomatoes.   It doesn't pay to scratch cook it.

All this has been harder since Haggens has taken over Albertsons, Safeways, and Top foods.
I can hardly wait for Winco.   Oct 22nd,   Now, we have to drive ten miles and we don't do that more than once every six to eight weeks.    I buy some things from Safeways, but a lot own comes from Kroger , and Costco for some things.     I'm waiting for the dust to settle and we get some stability on the grocery marketplace.  

Food has taken a big hike and the poor see it first.    There is no increase in social security this year,
but medical insurance and food has taken a hike and the elderly see that much more than gas or housing.

So much for my take on the economy!  lol.



Jane

fm update

We went after the football game.    As usual, they had no Foster Farms chickens.  They had heritage the for the same price.   no dice!    We got my husbands favorite checker so  we got a rain check.

I did get chicken thighs for .88, Foster farms.    I for hamburger for 3.99 for the good quality and some fruits and veggies,    Some sake ite,s were hard to find, but I managed.   I picked up cheese even though we didn't need it right now.   Cheese lasts a long time when it is shrink wrapped.  
and,max usual, the charged us twice for the same blue cheese.   Ugh.   You have to go to the store, stand in th customer service line to get your money back.  

Fred Meyers

the ad for this Sunday


Grapes 1.28
Chicken .88
Tillamookmcheese 4.99@@
Apples, oranges .99
Strawberries 2/6
Raspberries 2/5
7 percent hamburger 3.99.   ( watch your checker, the last time they charged me 4.45) seems to happen a lot at Fred Meyers.  Either they charge me twice for the same thing, or it doesn't ring up right they don't have what they advertise. )

Pears .99
Mini carrots 5/5
General Mills cereal 1.88

That's about it.   Jane

All I can say is 72 percent......

Hormel pork tenderloins

Retail price 10.00
Cost for four 40.00
Paid 10.00


On sale at Safeways for five dollar Friday.  
Coupons are on coupons.com and in inserts.  
Just for you discount coupon.  

Nets 72 percent.  
Actually 75 percent off of qfc s retail price.  

8 dinners for 10.00!