nite: this week Tuesday, March 1st is a ten percent off for seniors day. Clip coupon and certain things are exempt. It only works in private selection and natural choices food.
Oranges .69
Broccoli. Cauliflower .99
Barilla pasta .89. Limit six . The coupon pit there won't work. @@
Kroger tomatoes or beans .49@@
Strawberries 2/6
That's about it.
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Couponing. -- far from extreme.
It used to be that couponing meant that you could get a lot for free. Especially at places like Rite Aid.
I'm not seeing a lot of regular necessity things on big rewards. By watching coupons when we need heigene items, I can usually get them for near free. I don't carry a lot of those things, I buy toilet paper at Costco and that's about it. When I can find detergent for free or almost free, I go for it, otherwise, I get Costco.
As far as food is concerned, we are trying to avoid a lot of ready made food. It isn't always good for you and it's almost always more expensive. Cookbooks are full of easy ways to make good food fast. I do buy instant mashed potatoes, and some canned soups and frozen pizza.
There are still a lot of coupon opportunities for what I call real food. Coupons.com loads coupons the first day of the month. You are allowed to print two coupons per household. There is a limit on how many coupons can be printed, so the high dollar ones go fast. You snooze, you loose! Common courtesy says don't print all the coupons. Just the ones you are likely to use.
Favado is an app for your phone or other electronic device that is supposed to tell you the sales for a particular store. They aren't always accurate , but a good benchmark. They match coupons and tell
you where the coupons are located. You still have to read the fine print because they don't always do that.
Our ads come on the Tuesday mail for Alberways! And QFC ( Kroger) if they have an ad that week. Grocery outlet and Winco don't have ads. And Fred Meyers comes in the Sunday paper. I can get the Sunday paper on Saturday at the dollar tree for a dollar. I pull the inserts and the Fred Meyer food ad. I put inserts on a file folder after I date them and give them a quick look-over for things that I know I always buy on a weekly basis, like yogurt. It makes it easy when I find a coupon matchup that give you the name of the insert and the date it was released. I keep back three months.
All this takes minutes a month. It saves sometimes 75 percent off you bill. Usually about five dollars or so a week. Hey, it usually means about three hundred dollars , or another ten percent off our groceries a year. It all ads up. That's like thirty dollars an hour and I can do it in my pj's LOL.
There is no double couponing on this state that I have found and most stores will not let you make money on a sale. The only time that happens is with Ibotta or sometimes with reward points.
Ibotta is an ap that gives you rebates on food--even things like bread, milk, and veggies. When you have enough credited to your account, you get it back in a card to anywhere from Starbucks, Amazon, Walmart and more.
I don't calculate Ibotta money against my food budget. I spend 75.00 a week for two of us plus supplementing two others and that includes keeping a stock.
The USDA has stats for 4.income levels based on number of people in the family and their ages.
It is for actual food eaten. We are at half. Which makes sense, because I try for our food at 1/2 price.
No one thing makes that happen , it is a combination of efficient scratch cooking. Couponing, watching sales and trying to match coupons to them, only buying our everyday staples at 1/2 or less and stocking.
You can eat well on four dollars a day and have food in the pantry at the end of the month. It takes time, it takes patience, but it can happen.
Groceries on the cheap is looking at the Put Dinner On The Table meal train from a different
pro spective. The emphasis is on purchasing good food( shelf- stable/ freezer staples )at the lowest possible cost and purchasing enough to last you until it goes on sale again -- Keeping a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you use on a regular basis. It means that when you shop, rather than purchasing just what you need for a day or a week, you buy a loss leader protein, produce you will need on sale, a stock item if it's a RBP, and dairy instead. This allows you to put well balanced meals on the table consistently for a four dollar a day budget per person. You spend more time on the planning and shopping end of the meal train and less on the cooking end by cooking efficiently.
I'm not seeing a lot of regular necessity things on big rewards. By watching coupons when we need heigene items, I can usually get them for near free. I don't carry a lot of those things, I buy toilet paper at Costco and that's about it. When I can find detergent for free or almost free, I go for it, otherwise, I get Costco.
As far as food is concerned, we are trying to avoid a lot of ready made food. It isn't always good for you and it's almost always more expensive. Cookbooks are full of easy ways to make good food fast. I do buy instant mashed potatoes, and some canned soups and frozen pizza.
There are still a lot of coupon opportunities for what I call real food. Coupons.com loads coupons the first day of the month. You are allowed to print two coupons per household. There is a limit on how many coupons can be printed, so the high dollar ones go fast. You snooze, you loose! Common courtesy says don't print all the coupons. Just the ones you are likely to use.
Favado is an app for your phone or other electronic device that is supposed to tell you the sales for a particular store. They aren't always accurate , but a good benchmark. They match coupons and tell
you where the coupons are located. You still have to read the fine print because they don't always do that.
Our ads come on the Tuesday mail for Alberways! And QFC ( Kroger) if they have an ad that week. Grocery outlet and Winco don't have ads. And Fred Meyers comes in the Sunday paper. I can get the Sunday paper on Saturday at the dollar tree for a dollar. I pull the inserts and the Fred Meyer food ad. I put inserts on a file folder after I date them and give them a quick look-over for things that I know I always buy on a weekly basis, like yogurt. It makes it easy when I find a coupon matchup that give you the name of the insert and the date it was released. I keep back three months.
All this takes minutes a month. It saves sometimes 75 percent off you bill. Usually about five dollars or so a week. Hey, it usually means about three hundred dollars , or another ten percent off our groceries a year. It all ads up. That's like thirty dollars an hour and I can do it in my pj's LOL.
There is no double couponing on this state that I have found and most stores will not let you make money on a sale. The only time that happens is with Ibotta or sometimes with reward points.
Ibotta is an ap that gives you rebates on food--even things like bread, milk, and veggies. When you have enough credited to your account, you get it back in a card to anywhere from Starbucks, Amazon, Walmart and more.
I don't calculate Ibotta money against my food budget. I spend 75.00 a week for two of us plus supplementing two others and that includes keeping a stock.
The USDA has stats for 4.income levels based on number of people in the family and their ages.
It is for actual food eaten. We are at half. Which makes sense, because I try for our food at 1/2 price.
No one thing makes that happen , it is a combination of efficient scratch cooking. Couponing, watching sales and trying to match coupons to them, only buying our everyday staples at 1/2 or less and stocking.
You can eat well on four dollars a day and have food in the pantry at the end of the month. It takes time, it takes patience, but it can happen.
Groceries on the cheap is looking at the Put Dinner On The Table meal train from a different
pro spective. The emphasis is on purchasing good food( shelf- stable/ freezer staples )at the lowest possible cost and purchasing enough to last you until it goes on sale again -- Keeping a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you use on a regular basis. It means that when you shop, rather than purchasing just what you need for a day or a week, you buy a loss leader protein, produce you will need on sale, a stock item if it's a RBP, and dairy instead. This allows you to put well balanced meals on the table consistently for a four dollar a day budget per person. You spend more time on the planning and shopping end of the meal train and less on the cooking end by cooking efficiently.
Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap. My premise is that of you can do it on four dollars a day, spending more isn't hard. You still get more bang for your buck.
De- fating ground beef
One if the ways you can make ground beef healthier, is to defat it. Beef is still a good source if protein that has iron and vitamin b-12 that is hard to get in good qualities in other foods. It's expensive now, and we eat it once or twice a week because if it's cost.
It used to be that batch cooking would be ten pounds or so; now three pounds to five pounds is plenty.
It is a more manageable quality and mess of us eat it.
Meat loaf in meat loaf pan so that the fat drips away from the meat and the meat isn't cooked in its own juices. Meatballs are cooked on rack over a sheet pan to drain fat. Meatballs were placed on rack using a portion scoop so that they are all the same size to facilitate even cooking.
I buy seven to nine percent fat hamburger -- Fifteen percent max. The way to compare prices is to multiply the percentage of fat plus 1. By the price. In other words of hamburger is 1.00 a pound and its 7percent fat, the net price is 1.07 or 1.00 X 1.07. ; if fifteen percent hambirger is 1.00, the net or ice would be 1.15. That way you can tell which hamburger is the cheapest.
De- fating the hamburger ( or other ground meat, Ground turkey and sausage don't have a fat content listed. )
1) brown the meat until it is no longer pink. Pour into colander. Set over bowl of you don't want the fat to go down your sink drain.
2) remove bowl, and pour boiling water over meat. Return drained meat to clean pan.
Heat and add taco seasoning, drain or separate some into portion controlled batches and add taco
seasoning to some.
Groceries on the cheap is looking at the Put Dinner On The Table meal train from a different prospective. The emphasis is on purchasing good food shelf/ freezer stable staples at the lowest possible cost and purchasing enough to last you until it goes on sale again -- Keeping a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you use on a regular basis. It means that when you shop you don't buy just what you need for a day or a week. You buy a loss leader protein, produce you will need on sale, a stock item if it's a RBP, and dairy instead. This allows you to put well balanced meals on the table and feed your family on a consistent basis good, nutritious meals for a four dollar a day budget per person. You spend more time on the planning and shopping end of the meal train and less on the cooking end by cooking efficiently.
Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap. My premise is that of you can do it on four dollars a day, spending more isn't hard. You still get more bang for your buck.
Friday, February 26, 2016
Cake for dinner. ....
My granddaughters answer to what did she want for her birthday dinner was. Cake. I told her she could have meatloaf cake with mashed potato frosting and we would spell out her name in parsley. She wasn't impressed!
Last night we had pizza from scratch. 1/2 pepperoni and black olives, 1/2 cheese and black olives.
Tonight we are having breakfast for dinner.
After a long day. What"s for dinner is the last question you want to hear. Years ago, every once in a while I retorted with " whatever you cook! ". That had them standing with their mouth open! lol?
I digress......
What do you want to see covered in the blog.YOU CAN COMMENT BELOW. IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO HAVE A GOGGLE ACCOUNT, YOU CAN COMMENT UNDER ANONOMOUS.
What to do with what you have.
Chicken - whole. Or Thighs when appropriate.
- Chicken pot pie
- Chicken tacos or nachos
- Roast chicken dinner
- BBQ chicken thighs. Legs, and wings.
- Chicken soup
- Chicken noodle casserole
- Chicken and cheese stuffed shells
- Buffalo chicken pizza
- Chicken and vegetable stuffed baguette.
Pork Roast ( loin)
- Roast pork
- BBQ pork sandwiches
- Pork and vegetable stuffed baguette
- Pork pie
Other inexpensive protein sources : ground turkey or hambirger (7-9 percent fat) , cheese, beans, rice, eggs, sausage .
Groceries on the cheap is looking at the Put Dinner On The Table meal train from a different prospective. The emphasis is on purchasing good food shelf/ freezer stable staples at the lowest possible cost and purchasing enough to last you until it goes on sale again -- Keeping a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you use on a regular basis. It means that when you shop you don't buy just what you need for a day or a week. You buy a loss leader protein, produce you will need on sale, a stock item if it's a RBP, and dairy instead. This allows you to put well balanced meals on the table and feed your family on a consistent basis good, nutritious meals for a four dollar a day budget per person. You spend more time on the planning and shopping end of the meal train and less on the cooking end by cooking efficiently.
Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap. My premise is that of you can do it on four dollars a day, spending more isn't hard. You still get more bang for your buck.
Thursday, February 25, 2016
Om gosh...it's bad for you....a parody.
Hey, I have been watching way too much in the Internet about food that is bad for you, so I have come up with my own ideas......
1) WATER. Omg. It hydrates you,,,,and then you have to pee.......and my husband says that it rusts your pipes !
2) American cheese slices.....OMGOsh.......the first imgredient is cheddar cheese!
3). Food at the dollar tree..... Potatoes , frozen potatoes and their from IDAHO! Need I say more.
I have been reading a lot on the subject of what you should and shouldn't eat. Some of it contradicts itself. Somethings I've checked, and just isn't true. When in doubt, read the labels. Some suggest you make product yourself. I am reluctant with the amount of food borne illness that can happen. I think you are better off leaving things that need precise monitoring to the professionals. Not to mention, all that takes time.
The things that have been identified that are really bad for you that we can pretty much buy into are hydrogenated oils, ( thicken your blood) , HFCS, concentrated sugar, nitrates ( cancer causing ) , and fake sugar.
I'm still staying within the guidelines of four dollars a day per person or less. A lot of things I can and we already don't eat.
We love pepperoni and sausage. I am just limiting our consumption to once every week or two.
A lot of HFCS has been eliminated by manufacturers and I count carbs closely, so a lot of that concern is not a problem. We don't eat a lot of catsup or BBQ sauce. I almost never drink soda. Our cookie consumption is not a problem,.
The things that will be a problem are the hydrogenated oil and fake sugar. I already drink coffee and tea black. I drink a lot of water. I do use some things that are sugar free because of diet restrictions.
Hydrogenated oils are a problem because they are in so many of our foods . I use olive oil in our cooking almost exclusively. We use real butter. I think it is remarkable that the fake butter that is supposed to be good for you , that costs twice as much as real butter, is actually worse for you than the real thing. I looked at two fake butters. One had water for its first ingredient, The other was a bit better, it had olive oil in it as well as hydrogenated oil.
We bake our fried potatoes, I don't buy potato chips and the like, I use olive oil in dressings, and we don't use a lot of salad dressing. Mayonnaise comes with partial olive oil, I get tuna packed in water.
But, there is a lot of hidden oils in our foods. Not buying a lot of ready makes helps. Reading labels helps. Remember, ingredients are listed in order of volume. I read several jars of peanut butter at the grocery store. There was actually some that had very little oil and sugar, not HFCS.
The cost wasn't prohibitive either.
You can't believe everything you hear about a product, read the labels for yourself. There is a lot of misinformation and generalities out there, but it can be clarified with the simple reading of a label. Some brands are better than others and cost doesn't seem to be a factor. I looked at two cans of beans. The Winco brand, the cheapest had beans, water, amd salt. The other brand had beans, water, salt and a couple of preservatives.
The above information is based in a lot of reading. I am by no way an expert. I am just repeating what the consensus of opinions were. I think I read that the FDA was mandating that the manufacturers fix cake mixes and frosting mixes by a particular date. The problem might be that they are having a problem finding a suitable substitute.
1) WATER. Omg. It hydrates you,,,,and then you have to pee.......and my husband says that it rusts your pipes !
2) American cheese slices.....OMGOsh.......the first imgredient is cheddar cheese!
3). Food at the dollar tree..... Potatoes , frozen potatoes and their from IDAHO! Need I say more.
I have been reading a lot on the subject of what you should and shouldn't eat. Some of it contradicts itself. Somethings I've checked, and just isn't true. When in doubt, read the labels. Some suggest you make product yourself. I am reluctant with the amount of food borne illness that can happen. I think you are better off leaving things that need precise monitoring to the professionals. Not to mention, all that takes time.
The things that have been identified that are really bad for you that we can pretty much buy into are hydrogenated oils, ( thicken your blood) , HFCS, concentrated sugar, nitrates ( cancer causing ) , and fake sugar.
I'm still staying within the guidelines of four dollars a day per person or less. A lot of things I can and we already don't eat.
We love pepperoni and sausage. I am just limiting our consumption to once every week or two.
A lot of HFCS has been eliminated by manufacturers and I count carbs closely, so a lot of that concern is not a problem. We don't eat a lot of catsup or BBQ sauce. I almost never drink soda. Our cookie consumption is not a problem,.
The things that will be a problem are the hydrogenated oil and fake sugar. I already drink coffee and tea black. I drink a lot of water. I do use some things that are sugar free because of diet restrictions.
Hydrogenated oils are a problem because they are in so many of our foods . I use olive oil in our cooking almost exclusively. We use real butter. I think it is remarkable that the fake butter that is supposed to be good for you , that costs twice as much as real butter, is actually worse for you than the real thing. I looked at two fake butters. One had water for its first ingredient, The other was a bit better, it had olive oil in it as well as hydrogenated oil.
We bake our fried potatoes, I don't buy potato chips and the like, I use olive oil in dressings, and we don't use a lot of salad dressing. Mayonnaise comes with partial olive oil, I get tuna packed in water.
But, there is a lot of hidden oils in our foods. Not buying a lot of ready makes helps. Reading labels helps. Remember, ingredients are listed in order of volume. I read several jars of peanut butter at the grocery store. There was actually some that had very little oil and sugar, not HFCS.
The cost wasn't prohibitive either.
You can't believe everything you hear about a product, read the labels for yourself. There is a lot of misinformation and generalities out there, but it can be clarified with the simple reading of a label. Some brands are better than others and cost doesn't seem to be a factor. I looked at two cans of beans. The Winco brand, the cheapest had beans, water, amd salt. The other brand had beans, water, salt and a couple of preservatives.
The above information is based in a lot of reading. I am by no way an expert. I am just repeating what the consensus of opinions were. I think I read that the FDA was mandating that the manufacturers fix cake mixes and frosting mixes by a particular date. The problem might be that they are having a problem finding a suitable substitute.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
This weeks meals
meal plans for this week.
monday: roast chicken, mashed potatoes, green salad with cucumbers and tomatoes.
Tuesday: out
Wednesday : BBQ pork sandwiches, salad , waffle fries mixed fruit
Time go away from me, I skipped the fries. Plenty of carbs from the bread.
Thursday : homemade pizza
Friday : tuna noodle casserole, peas and carrots
Saturday: tacos, refried beans, rice.
Sunday : breakfast for dinner. : eggs, hash browns ( oven) mixed fruit , English muffins,
2 pork or chicken
2 vegetarian
1 fish
1 beef
1 parents night out.
Notes :
Monday
green salad is romaine and cucumbers from Winco purchase less than target prices. Chicken eas .87 a pound. 2.85
Wednesday :
BBQ pork sandwich is part of the pork roast purchased do 1.69 a pound , a baguette at .95 and
More of Wednesday's green salad. 2.50
Thursday
Home made pizza- scratch crust from winco .98, pepperoni .50 from FM with coupon, cheese .50 1/2 pound, tomato from yesterday's homemade BBQ sauce. 2.00
Friday
Tuna casserole, Noodles purchased for a dollar. Tuna from Costco, peas and carrots purchased at QFC for .65 . Home made cream sauce. 3.65
Saturday
Sausage purchased for 3.00 ( mixed with cheese and vegetables ) , peppers frozen from 6/3 at grocery outlet, and potatoes 1.50 for five pounds.
3.95
All less than five dollars a meal.
Thanks for stopping by
Jane
monday: roast chicken, mashed potatoes, green salad with cucumbers and tomatoes.
Tuesday: out
Wednesday : BBQ pork sandwiches, salad , waffle fries mixed fruit
Time go away from me, I skipped the fries. Plenty of carbs from the bread.
Thursday : homemade pizza
Friday : tuna noodle casserole, peas and carrots
Saturday: tacos, refried beans, rice.
Sunday : breakfast for dinner. : eggs, hash browns ( oven) mixed fruit , English muffins,
2 pork or chicken
2 vegetarian
1 fish
1 beef
1 parents night out.
Notes :
Monday
green salad is romaine and cucumbers from Winco purchase less than target prices. Chicken eas .87 a pound. 2.85
Wednesday :
BBQ pork sandwich is part of the pork roast purchased do 1.69 a pound , a baguette at .95 and
More of Wednesday's green salad. 2.50
Thursday
Home made pizza- scratch crust from winco .98, pepperoni .50 from FM with coupon, cheese .50 1/2 pound, tomato from yesterday's homemade BBQ sauce. 2.00
Friday
Tuna casserole, Noodles purchased for a dollar. Tuna from Costco, peas and carrots purchased at QFC for .65 . Home made cream sauce. 3.65
Saturday
Sausage purchased for 3.00 ( mixed with cheese and vegetables ) , peppers frozen from 6/3 at grocery outlet, and potatoes 1.50 for five pounds.
3.95
All less than five dollars a meal.
Thanks for stopping by
Jane
Quality foods
I just read an article that indicates seven foods that if you eat too much if, can hurt you. Lately, I have been researching a lot. For every idea, there is someone to d bunk it. I tend to research the source before I repeat them. Bottom line, use common sense. Most of the "new age " foods are over processed. Isn't that what the foodies are trying to avoid?
I give everything I read a taste of common sense. Is it Logical? Who's funding the study? Some lady told me the other day that nutritionists only say what they learned. Well, duh!
There is too much contradictory out there. Our grandmothers USDA food pyramid has been revised to deal with the too much salt, sugar, and fat. It has worked for years. My grandfather was 92 years old when he died. This new-age food has not stood the test of time. I'm not sure that substituting one thing for another isn't just opening a new can of worms.
There are far too many picky eaters out there. I think that is more of a problem than eating a tried and true balanced diet. Vegetables are only good for you if you eat them.
My take.....
Eat basic food. Make it tasty. Buy the best quality of regular food you can afford. You can eat cheaper food; just eat good cheaper food.
We eat hot dogs seldom. When we do we eat them , I only buy Hebrew National or Nathan's. I only buy good white albacore tuna packed in water. Foster Farms chicken. Buy good food cheap; not cheap food.
I go back to eat in moderation. There are a lot of foods that aren't supposed to be good for you. ( this week) If you eliminate every food that someone says is bad for you, you would die from mal-nutrition--there would be nothing left to eat.
My take : Just eat a well balanced diet of a wide variety of foods in moderation. You can't fool Mother Nature. Fake is never better than the real thing.
Basic, bottom line, if you are trying to feed your family on four dollars per person per day, you can still eat good basic food and have enough to eat. You don't have to resort to beans every night or leave out whole food groups. You can avoid or use in moderation the things that are bad for you. That is, that have been proven to be bad for you. Even the experts acknowledge that to omit all the substances that are bad for you would be nearly impossible.
Some manufacturers are working on the HFCS and the hydroginated oils. I use a lot of olive oil which is better for you. It just doesn't work in a lot of things. You can avoid some of the things, but all of them would be hard. Mayonnaise does come with part olive oil and it is the same price as regular mayo.
Ingredient labels in this country have to list ingredients in order of their volume. If the first ingredient is hydroginated oil or water.......think again. If it is the last on the list, you're probably ok.
Buying food 1/2 price means you can be picky about what foods you feed your family and be mindful of the best quality you can afford.
I give everything I read a taste of common sense. Is it Logical? Who's funding the study? Some lady told me the other day that nutritionists only say what they learned. Well, duh!
There is too much contradictory out there. Our grandmothers USDA food pyramid has been revised to deal with the too much salt, sugar, and fat. It has worked for years. My grandfather was 92 years old when he died. This new-age food has not stood the test of time. I'm not sure that substituting one thing for another isn't just opening a new can of worms.
There are far too many picky eaters out there. I think that is more of a problem than eating a tried and true balanced diet. Vegetables are only good for you if you eat them.
My take.....
Eat basic food. Make it tasty. Buy the best quality of regular food you can afford. You can eat cheaper food; just eat good cheaper food.
We eat hot dogs seldom. When we do we eat them , I only buy Hebrew National or Nathan's. I only buy good white albacore tuna packed in water. Foster Farms chicken. Buy good food cheap; not cheap food.
I go back to eat in moderation. There are a lot of foods that aren't supposed to be good for you. ( this week) If you eliminate every food that someone says is bad for you, you would die from mal-nutrition--there would be nothing left to eat.
My take : Just eat a well balanced diet of a wide variety of foods in moderation. You can't fool Mother Nature. Fake is never better than the real thing.
Basic, bottom line, if you are trying to feed your family on four dollars per person per day, you can still eat good basic food and have enough to eat. You don't have to resort to beans every night or leave out whole food groups. You can avoid or use in moderation the things that are bad for you. That is, that have been proven to be bad for you. Even the experts acknowledge that to omit all the substances that are bad for you would be nearly impossible.
Some manufacturers are working on the HFCS and the hydroginated oils. I use a lot of olive oil which is better for you. It just doesn't work in a lot of things. You can avoid some of the things, but all of them would be hard. Mayonnaise does come with part olive oil and it is the same price as regular mayo.
Ingredient labels in this country have to list ingredients in order of their volume. If the first ingredient is hydroginated oil or water.......think again. If it is the last on the list, you're probably ok.
Buying food 1/2 price means you can be picky about what foods you feed your family and be mindful of the best quality you can afford.
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Five things that will derail your food to the table train.
Five things to avoid buying,
Dissecting hamburger box. 7/21/12
The above article is the sole opinion of the writer. It's just my educated opinion.
- Bottled water. Seriously, you are paying a buck for water ? Water is free. ( kinda) . It is necessary for you to drink it; but ,why pay a buck essentially for a thin plastic bottle. Basic rule : don't pay for MT calories. Water has NO calories. You want the MOST bang for your buck.
- Pre - packaged individual servings: no surprise here. You are paying for the labor and all that plastic or paper-- not to mention extra space to ship. It's like buy your oatmeal in bulk, it takes,no more time to measure out a 1/2 cup from a canister than it does to open the package. It takes one and a half minutes in the microwave to cook. Just add water and cook. Scant one cup water, 1/2 cup oatmeal, and 1- 1/2 minutes. Add a banana, 1/2 an apple chopped, some raisins or craisens.....keep cinnamon sugar in a shaker......the possibilities are endless.
- Meal boxes or frozen meals. Again you are paying for something that takes so little of your time if you are efficient. Many are not what they are cracked up to be and are full of preservatives and things you can pronounce. Many take no more time than making them from scratch, There are a lot of easy meals out there that don't make you take something out of an over priced box. My daughter and I tested a hamburger meal box a few years ago. They have improved their boxes since then, but the same premise holds true. My daughter cooked one, I cooked the meal from scratch. We both used cooked "hamburger" . The difference in time was seconds. Mine looked better, had more product and had more cheese and vegetables. The meal box consisted of little more than four ounces of pasta, and 1.57 ounces of a cheese sauce that you added the milk to to make it cheese sauce. I suspect that Mac and cheese in a box consists of a small amount of macaroni and a cheese packet you add milk to. Scratch isn't that hard. There is a recipe for no brainier pasta I made up on another blog. My nephew made up the name. LOL.
- Snacks like potato chips and such. Don't buy empty calories, make your calories count. A lot of us are on diets to loose unwanted pounds or because our doctors have diagnosed us with a disease that we need to adjust our diets for. Most of them don't include high salt or sugar. Make your money count and buy real food. An apple or an orange is much better for you than a package of potato chips.
- Soda pop, carbonated beverages-- what ever you want to call them. They, too are empty calories. Some say that the carbonation leaches calcium from our bones, most doctors say we don't need the sugar and the alternative is not much better. There is a lot of hype out there; and for every yin there is a yang. Bottom line is the food value is nil.
And one myth: Scratch pasta sauce does not cost less than pre made. Pre made sauces in cans are about the same or less than buying the tomato sauce. When you can get them on sale, they are less.
I see that dollar tree is carrying a smaller can than what I am seeing at the grocery stores. Ina, still finding it for a dollar or less. Hunts peels their tomatoes with steam, Some other high prices tomato companies do it with chemicals. If you have to buy your tomatoes, real scratch pasta sauce is really pricey. Finding tomatoes less than a dollar a pound is rare on our world. Most of the time they are close to two dollars. It is definitely cheaper to buy it made.
Thanks for stopping by
Jane
The above article is the sole opinion of the writer. It's just my educated opinion.
Monday, February 22, 2016
The ads in Seattle.
It used to be that I could gather the ads on Tuesday and analyze them. Now, since Albertson's and Safeway's were bought out they seem to be the same store., QFC sometimes has two week ads, Fred Meyer has ads that come out on Sunday, and Costco and Winco don't have ads, life has gotten more complex.
I can analyze QFC and what I call Alberways . Lately my Alberways is a bust. I have target or my RBP on the things that we use often, Most of the time Alberways has few real specials. Fred Meyers is better a lot of the time. Their ads run from Sunday to Saturday.
I get the ads for Fred Meyers on Saturday for Sunday. Alberways comes out Tuesday along with QFC if they have an ad that week. I can then analyze the two or three ads. I go to Freddie's or QFC of they have things on my target list for a good price. I usually go to Winco if I still need more or if om need things that Winco is always cheaper on.
Some weeks I go to three stores. Some weeks I can skip all but a few perishables. It averages out. It's not as cut and dried as it used to be. I'm thinking when the dust settles and Haggens gets threw bankruptcy and the Albertsons and Safeway stores are sold, things might be less crazy.
Costco is pretty stable, and we have a few things that we always get from them. We go to Costco on a need to basis.
None the less. I am still making it work. I can be more efficient on the kitchen and spend more time shopping than cooking, It all averages out, the difference is that I can feed us more healthy by paying 1/2 price and cooking in batches.
Thanks for stopping by
Jane
I can analyze QFC and what I call Alberways . Lately my Alberways is a bust. I have target or my RBP on the things that we use often, Most of the time Alberways has few real specials. Fred Meyers is better a lot of the time. Their ads run from Sunday to Saturday.
I get the ads for Fred Meyers on Saturday for Sunday. Alberways comes out Tuesday along with QFC if they have an ad that week. I can then analyze the two or three ads. I go to Freddie's or QFC of they have things on my target list for a good price. I usually go to Winco if I still need more or if om need things that Winco is always cheaper on.
Some weeks I go to three stores. Some weeks I can skip all but a few perishables. It averages out. It's not as cut and dried as it used to be. I'm thinking when the dust settles and Haggens gets threw bankruptcy and the Albertsons and Safeway stores are sold, things might be less crazy.
Costco is pretty stable, and we have a few things that we always get from them. We go to Costco on a need to basis.
None the less. I am still making it work. I can be more efficient on the kitchen and spend more time shopping than cooking, It all averages out, the difference is that I can feed us more healthy by paying 1/2 price and cooking in batches.
Thanks for stopping by
Jane
Better for less chicken
Last night we had a pork chop bake - we tried a new recipe from Betty Crocker on line cookbook. I omitted the French fried onion rings. My hubby doesn't like onions and it would have just bumped up the price amd added fat to the dish.
Today o out the 5.5 pound chicken in the crockpot to cook. I will divide it only o four portions. Portion control is one of the best ways to keep costs down. I'm hearing that we all need a out six ounces of protein a day, some of which needs to be egg.
A balanced diet is the key. Some families allow seconds, the children just have to have seconds of a little of everything.
We cut the cooked chicken ( a lot less work than when it is raw) into two 1/2 breasts, the dark meat, amd the bones left for soup. When we cook a chicken on the crockpot ( see prior recipe) I save the broth. Four meals with a five pound chicken cost somewhere around 1.25 per meal for meat. That makes a five dollar or less meal really work.
There are a lot of recipes that call for rotisserie chicken. Cooked chicken is a good substitute.
Betty Crocker on line cookbook is free. You can plug in what you want to cook and recipes will pop up. Many of them are easy. Many can be adjusted to use your own mixes of necessary.
Always be mindful of your budget.
Our favorites are chicken pot pie, chicken enchiladas, chicken tacos, chicken orzo soup, chicken dinner, ....... Ther is a list on a precious post, and Betty Crocker is full of them. I choose Betty Crocker because they are up to date, but down to earth. The recipes are tested and work. Most of the time, they are quick and easy.
I spend more time on the front end of the meal train and less on the back end. By dinner time, my get up and go has got up and went. I want easy. I cook in the morning when I have the energy, I batch cook. It is cheaper to buy in bulk and batch cook; you save money,time, and clean up.
Even if you don't take some thing out if the freezer, you can still put a meal on the table fast.
Thanks for stopping by
Jane
Today o out the 5.5 pound chicken in the crockpot to cook. I will divide it only o four portions. Portion control is one of the best ways to keep costs down. I'm hearing that we all need a out six ounces of protein a day, some of which needs to be egg.
A balanced diet is the key. Some families allow seconds, the children just have to have seconds of a little of everything.
We cut the cooked chicken ( a lot less work than when it is raw) into two 1/2 breasts, the dark meat, amd the bones left for soup. When we cook a chicken on the crockpot ( see prior recipe) I save the broth. Four meals with a five pound chicken cost somewhere around 1.25 per meal for meat. That makes a five dollar or less meal really work.
There are a lot of recipes that call for rotisserie chicken. Cooked chicken is a good substitute.
Betty Crocker on line cookbook is free. You can plug in what you want to cook and recipes will pop up. Many of them are easy. Many can be adjusted to use your own mixes of necessary.
Always be mindful of your budget.
Our favorites are chicken pot pie, chicken enchiladas, chicken tacos, chicken orzo soup, chicken dinner, ....... Ther is a list on a precious post, and Betty Crocker is full of them. I choose Betty Crocker because they are up to date, but down to earth. The recipes are tested and work. Most of the time, they are quick and easy.
I spend more time on the front end of the meal train and less on the back end. By dinner time, my get up and go has got up and went. I want easy. I cook in the morning when I have the energy, I batch cook. It is cheaper to buy in bulk and batch cook; you save money,time, and clean up.
Even if you don't take some thing out if the freezer, you can still put a meal on the table fast.
Thanks for stopping by
Jane
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Eating better for less
Last night we had Mac and cheese and broccoli. The broccoli we got for free. The Mac and cheese breaks down as :
1 package 25 times fiber macaroni. .49
Cream soup base.........to little to cost out.
3cups ( 12 ounces) of grated cheese, ( I used feta I paid 1.20 a pound for, white cheese was 2.35 a pound, amd yellow,cheese was 2.08. ) 1.50
Bread crumbs and Parsley
Parmesean cheese. .25
Total. 2.24 I still have 1/2 the 9x13 pan for today's lunch. Total dinner. 1.12
If you have some really inexpensive meals a few times a week, you can have some more expensive ones and you will still average 5.00 a meal.
Tonight , I am going to make pork chops out of the pork sirloin I got for 1.69 this week at Winco. I found a recipe in the Betty Crocker on line cookbook for a green bean and pork chop dish that you bake in the oven. Planning to cut pork chops off of the pork sirloin and leave enough for a roast that can be sliced thin after a roast dinner and used for BBQ pork sandwiches.
I will buy a chicken at Fred Meyers today as well. When you find two loss leaders in one week, you can concentrate on canned goods or veggies and bulk dairy the next. Or if there are good buys at several stores, bulk up the shopping trip and skip the next week.
Being flexible with the things you buy -- in other words, not buying the same things every week- gives you the luxury of not paying full, price. The bottom line of that is that you eat better for less.
Here's now this plays out :
Mac and cheese dinner 1.12
Pork sirloin. 4.94. - approx 3 pounds
Pork chop dish. 3/4 pound 1.27 , cream soup .40. Green beans 1.00, cheese .50. - 3.17
BBQ pork sandwiches 3/4 pound - 1.27 , .95, ( pork and baguette ) Cesear salad, romaine .68, ( dressing and croutons ) staples .25 parm. 3.15
Pork roast 1.5 pounds 2.54, .60 mashed potatoes, glazed carrots 1/2 pound .24 3.38
4 dinners. 10.82 Or 2.71 a dinner. NOT a plate.
That's for three people. Or .90 a plate .
Now, I would freeze some of the pork and insert other dishes so we didn't eat pork three days on a row. This was for costing out meals. I did not cost anything that was a staple that would be really difficult to cost. Croutons are made from bread scraps.
This is an exercise to show what happens when you shop wisely and buy with coupons or when things are at their rock bottom price.
Betty Crocker on line CB dishes to try ( adapt for expensive mixes if possible ) scratch is sometimes better without preservatives and cheaper )
That s food for thought
Jane
1 package 25 times fiber macaroni. .49
Cream soup base.........to little to cost out.
3cups ( 12 ounces) of grated cheese, ( I used feta I paid 1.20 a pound for, white cheese was 2.35 a pound, amd yellow,cheese was 2.08. ) 1.50
Bread crumbs and Parsley
Parmesean cheese. .25
Total. 2.24 I still have 1/2 the 9x13 pan for today's lunch. Total dinner. 1.12
If you have some really inexpensive meals a few times a week, you can have some more expensive ones and you will still average 5.00 a meal.
Tonight , I am going to make pork chops out of the pork sirloin I got for 1.69 this week at Winco. I found a recipe in the Betty Crocker on line cookbook for a green bean and pork chop dish that you bake in the oven. Planning to cut pork chops off of the pork sirloin and leave enough for a roast that can be sliced thin after a roast dinner and used for BBQ pork sandwiches.
I will buy a chicken at Fred Meyers today as well. When you find two loss leaders in one week, you can concentrate on canned goods or veggies and bulk dairy the next. Or if there are good buys at several stores, bulk up the shopping trip and skip the next week.
Being flexible with the things you buy -- in other words, not buying the same things every week- gives you the luxury of not paying full, price. The bottom line of that is that you eat better for less.
Here's now this plays out :
Mac and cheese dinner 1.12
Pork sirloin. 4.94. - approx 3 pounds
Pork chop dish. 3/4 pound 1.27 , cream soup .40. Green beans 1.00, cheese .50. - 3.17
BBQ pork sandwiches 3/4 pound - 1.27 , .95, ( pork and baguette ) Cesear salad, romaine .68, ( dressing and croutons ) staples .25 parm. 3.15
Pork roast 1.5 pounds 2.54, .60 mashed potatoes, glazed carrots 1/2 pound .24 3.38
4 dinners. 10.82 Or 2.71 a dinner. NOT a plate.
That's for three people. Or .90 a plate .
Now, I would freeze some of the pork and insert other dishes so we didn't eat pork three days on a row. This was for costing out meals. I did not cost anything that was a staple that would be really difficult to cost. Croutons are made from bread scraps.
This is an exercise to show what happens when you shop wisely and buy with coupons or when things are at their rock bottom price.
Betty Crocker on line CB dishes to try ( adapt for expensive mixes if possible ) scratch is sometimes better without preservatives and cheaper )
- Cake mix cinnamon rolls
- Spinach tuna casserole
- Herbed pork and red potatoes
- Pulled pork
- Cheesy chicken and bacon soup
- Chicken enchilada chili
- Bow ties chicken and asparagus
- Berry orange monkey bread
- Chick n taco soup.
- Vegetable minestrone
- Broccoli, cheese, and ham muffins
That s food for thought
Jane
Saturday, February 20, 2016
Tomorrows FM ad
This is going to be short and sweet.
Tomorrow's Fred Meyer ad.
Foster Farms chicken $.87
Butter 1.99@@
Milk .99@@
Bread 3/4@@
Oranges .89
Coffee 4.99
About it.
Tomorrow's Fred Meyer ad.
Foster Farms chicken $.87
Butter 1.99@@
Milk .99@@
Bread 3/4@@
Oranges .89
Coffee 4.99
About it.
Staring at a blank screen
I am tying to write this blog coming from a realistic point of view. People are busy, they have lives, and children and maybe grandchildren.
There is a broad spectrum of people and eating habits out there. Everything from hamburger helper and sugar laden juice boxes to tofu and organic from whole paycheck grocery stores. I am tying to be on middle ground.
Writing from a four dollar a day perspective, neither extremes work. Most of the people I interviewed get closer to three hundred dollars a month on snap . The government has a schedule of what snap is, but deduct what they think you can pay based on your income. They dont care if you have a car payment or other debt. That is not their problem,
The hamburger helper senecio has too much sugar and far too much money. Six dollar a pound hamburger, juice boxes and 16 gram of sugar fruit cups ready-made cost 10.00 . That particular person had a three hundred dollar snap. Obviously, if you spend ten dollars a day on dinner, and there is 30 days in a month, your money is gone and you still need breakfast and lunch.
The tofu and organic greens senecio is the direct opposite, probably more healthy, but the jury is still out on that one. But the same senecio is there. The cost of food for proper nutrition, is more than the four dollars a day, even if you receive four dollars a day. Besides, most people I know wouldn't eat some of the things I am seeing.
For practical purposes. I'm sticking to main stream diets. I'm trying for low fat, low sugar and low salt. Some meals don't cut it, others do. Traditional foods. We have had a lot of fad specialty diets in the last few years. Their popularity has come and gone and came back again. I'm going with the tried and true. I'm trying to balance good nutrition, less of what we know is bad for us (salt, sugar, fat, HFCS, hydrogenated vegetable oils, and sulfites. ) Still prolly not realistic to take all of it out of a diet, nor is it advisable in some instances.
But, moderation is the key. You can still eat a nutritious diet on four dollars or less a day.
I'm not going to tell you that the food fairy is going to make it appear in your pantry and put the cooked food on your table. It takes some effort. Once you get set up, it will probably take less effort than you do now. And, you will probably eat better. No fast food- just good food fast.
An oatmeal and banana breakfast costs .23. Both come from Costco. I buy oatmeal in a ten pound box. It's Quaker Oats. Bananas are 1.39 a bunch. I found ten bananas in my bunch. That's .14 a banana. Oatmeal is .09. Plus a splash of milk. That mearns you can feed four people a nutritious breakfast for a buck. It takes 1.5 minutes to cook a bowl in the microwave.
When you breakdown four dollars a day, you have to consider a budget for things like flour, sugar. Salt, spices, olive oil-- ( pantry items).
I am assuming a five dollar dinner for four people- the proverbial two adults and two school and children. We eat five dollar meals for three adults and one child.
That leaves you eleven dollars for breakfast and lunch. If breakfast is a dollar, you have ten dollars for pantry ( and stock items) and lunch. If you are in snap and your children go to daycare or school, most of their lunches are probably paid for. If not, leftovers or peanut butter and jelly works. Certainly attainable for three dollars .
Seven dollars a day is plenty to purchase dairy, vegetables, and stock items. That doesn't leave any
room for empty calories. Every dollar has to count.
If you use even ten dollars a week for stocking a pantry, you will be in good shape and you can buy your food 1/2 price.
We are stocked, we replenish stock when things are RBP. We spend less than four dollars a day on food eaten at home. We don't go out often. Last,night we had fish and chips that included coleslaw and clam chowder. I have the clam chowder left for lunch today and it cost about 22.00 for four of us. Drinks are the biggest profit for a eating establishment. Drink water.
Eating out is part of an entertainment budget, ot can't happen often for us.
It's doable . we some less than the USDA stats for my husband and I- about 25 percent less. And, we supplement daughter and granddaughter.
5.00 dinner
1.00 breakfast
3.00 lunches
Seven for stocking dairy, produce, staples and stock. Per day.
There is a broad spectrum of people and eating habits out there. Everything from hamburger helper and sugar laden juice boxes to tofu and organic from whole paycheck grocery stores. I am tying to be on middle ground.
Writing from a four dollar a day perspective, neither extremes work. Most of the people I interviewed get closer to three hundred dollars a month on snap . The government has a schedule of what snap is, but deduct what they think you can pay based on your income. They dont care if you have a car payment or other debt. That is not their problem,
The hamburger helper senecio has too much sugar and far too much money. Six dollar a pound hamburger, juice boxes and 16 gram of sugar fruit cups ready-made cost 10.00 . That particular person had a three hundred dollar snap. Obviously, if you spend ten dollars a day on dinner, and there is 30 days in a month, your money is gone and you still need breakfast and lunch.
The tofu and organic greens senecio is the direct opposite, probably more healthy, but the jury is still out on that one. But the same senecio is there. The cost of food for proper nutrition, is more than the four dollars a day, even if you receive four dollars a day. Besides, most people I know wouldn't eat some of the things I am seeing.
For practical purposes. I'm sticking to main stream diets. I'm trying for low fat, low sugar and low salt. Some meals don't cut it, others do. Traditional foods. We have had a lot of fad specialty diets in the last few years. Their popularity has come and gone and came back again. I'm going with the tried and true. I'm trying to balance good nutrition, less of what we know is bad for us (salt, sugar, fat, HFCS, hydrogenated vegetable oils, and sulfites. ) Still prolly not realistic to take all of it out of a diet, nor is it advisable in some instances.
But, moderation is the key. You can still eat a nutritious diet on four dollars or less a day.
I'm not going to tell you that the food fairy is going to make it appear in your pantry and put the cooked food on your table. It takes some effort. Once you get set up, it will probably take less effort than you do now. And, you will probably eat better. No fast food- just good food fast.
An oatmeal and banana breakfast costs .23. Both come from Costco. I buy oatmeal in a ten pound box. It's Quaker Oats. Bananas are 1.39 a bunch. I found ten bananas in my bunch. That's .14 a banana. Oatmeal is .09. Plus a splash of milk. That mearns you can feed four people a nutritious breakfast for a buck. It takes 1.5 minutes to cook a bowl in the microwave.
When you breakdown four dollars a day, you have to consider a budget for things like flour, sugar. Salt, spices, olive oil-- ( pantry items).
I am assuming a five dollar dinner for four people- the proverbial two adults and two school and children. We eat five dollar meals for three adults and one child.
That leaves you eleven dollars for breakfast and lunch. If breakfast is a dollar, you have ten dollars for pantry ( and stock items) and lunch. If you are in snap and your children go to daycare or school, most of their lunches are probably paid for. If not, leftovers or peanut butter and jelly works. Certainly attainable for three dollars .
Seven dollars a day is plenty to purchase dairy, vegetables, and stock items. That doesn't leave any
room for empty calories. Every dollar has to count.
If you use even ten dollars a week for stocking a pantry, you will be in good shape and you can buy your food 1/2 price.
We are stocked, we replenish stock when things are RBP. We spend less than four dollars a day on food eaten at home. We don't go out often. Last,night we had fish and chips that included coleslaw and clam chowder. I have the clam chowder left for lunch today and it cost about 22.00 for four of us. Drinks are the biggest profit for a eating establishment. Drink water.
Eating out is part of an entertainment budget, ot can't happen often for us.
It's doable . we some less than the USDA stats for my husband and I- about 25 percent less. And, we supplement daughter and granddaughter.
5.00 dinner
1.00 breakfast
3.00 lunches
Seven for stocking dairy, produce, staples and stock. Per day.
Friday, February 19, 2016
Winco and dollar tree
I went to Winco and the dollar tree today. Yesterday, I cleaned out the bathroom cupboards and under the sink. I had seen nice baskets on some u tubes and bought a couple to organize the space better. If things are grouped by categorize and contained in baskets, they are easier to find in a hurry.
I have been researching other grocery hauls , and other people's four dollars day meals. I'm not going to bash other people's work. To each his own.
I try to reach a middle ground of healthy,without tons of salt, sugar, and fat. I also try to hit main stream middle class America. I am not assuming that people at going to eat alternative food on a four dollar a day budget. If you pay six dollars a gallon of milk, something else has to suffer. 1 and 1 is 2. Even with the new math, that hasn't changed. lol.
My approach is rather, that you can spend some time shopping and changing the way you shop, so that your family has good nutritious food that they will eat. If your family won't eat it, it's a waste of time and money.
Winco haul.
Pork sirloin is 1.69. Pork tenderloins are a good price too. I went for potatoes and forgot the potatoes. lol. I did get broccoli, apples. Cucumbers, lemons (.25) , romaine, ice cream, black olives were .58 for sliced. I haven't done the math, but it seems like the small cans of sliced olives are a better price than the whole olives because they are packed a lot denser. ( less water) .
I will probably adapt our meal plans yet again some can have a pork chop dinner probably instead of the tenderloin that is in the freezer.
Thanks for stopping by
Jane
I have been researching other grocery hauls , and other people's four dollars day meals. I'm not going to bash other people's work. To each his own.
I try to reach a middle ground of healthy,without tons of salt, sugar, and fat. I also try to hit main stream middle class America. I am not assuming that people at going to eat alternative food on a four dollar a day budget. If you pay six dollars a gallon of milk, something else has to suffer. 1 and 1 is 2. Even with the new math, that hasn't changed. lol.
My approach is rather, that you can spend some time shopping and changing the way you shop, so that your family has good nutritious food that they will eat. If your family won't eat it, it's a waste of time and money.
Winco haul.
Pork sirloin is 1.69. Pork tenderloins are a good price too. I went for potatoes and forgot the potatoes. lol. I did get broccoli, apples. Cucumbers, lemons (.25) , romaine, ice cream, black olives were .58 for sliced. I haven't done the math, but it seems like the small cans of sliced olives are a better price than the whole olives because they are packed a lot denser. ( less water) .
I will probably adapt our meal plans yet again some can have a pork chop dinner probably instead of the tenderloin that is in the freezer.
Thanks for stopping by
Jane
I remember Mama....
Unless you are at least as old as I am, you probably don't remember the radio drama of that name.....
For some reason it popped into my head while I was laying in bed tonight not being able to sleep.
I remember being flat broke busted when my oldest son was three and a half. It was December 1971. I spent 25.00 the month of December of that year on food. It had already been a long, cold winter.
I went to the store and bought liver. Those days, thirty five cents worth of liver was enough to feed cox's army! I fixed it the way my mother always had with a baby can of tomato sauce and onion and green pepper. It was braised In the red sauce. I cut it up into bite sized pieces for my son and called him to dinner.
He sat across the kitchen table from me. He took one look at it and said...."what's this? "
I paused a minute. The mother in me sitting in my right shoulder was saying, you can't lie to the kid. The other side of me was saying "but, what if he has heard about liver from his classmates?"
I looked him straight in the eye and said ......"meat" .
He used his toddler fork to stab a piece and proceed to put it in his mouth and chew it up.
Then, he put down his fork, looked me straight in the eye, and said.....
"Well, it's not hamburger!
That was the start of many weeks of liver once a week. He loved it, it was cheap, and on he 70's it was supposed to be good for you,
Flash forward eighteen years, I had remarried and had another son and daughter. We were building a sizable addition onto the house when my husband's employer let everybody go. I, too was out of work. We had money, but we were reluctant to spend much not knowing how long it was going to be before we saw a paycheck. The living room was stacked to the ceiling with cabinets, and appliances, waiting for my husband to finish the kitchen. We were living in 400 square feet of the basement. My "kitchen " consisted of a one burner hot plate that I kept on our butcher block cart
and a microwave .
One Sunday, I got up early and started a soup bone in a stockpot of water on the hot plate. My youngest was about ten years old . He opens the lid, amd asked, "what's this? "
"Soup ". said. "Well. It doesn't look like soup! ". Was his reply.
" it will by dinner time". Alas, by dinner time I had added tomatoes, cut the ,eat from the bone and added vegetables.
He must have been impressed, because he went to school and told his teacher that him mom had made soup and it wasn't out of a can. She, bless her heart, told him that homemade soup was the best kind of soup.
Flash forward twenty six years. We are retired now, and my granddaughter is almost four. Now, I make soup from scratch and my granddaughter loves it.
Some things never change. Time just marches on. The soups I learned to cook from my mother are still being made for generations.
Soup is a good, nutritious way to stretch a buck and a hit at our house. Tonight we had clam chowder. I had only bought one potato because I didn't want to go to two stores yesterday and the potatoes were too expensive at QFC compared to Winco. Turns out, the potato that I paid .69 cents for instead of getting five pounds for .99, had a lot of bad spots in it. I punted and chopped celery to go with the potato, skipped the bacon to appease my vegetarian daughter, and added two cans of clams and their juice. Salt. Pepper, and onion powder to appease my husband.
And, life goes on..
For some reason it popped into my head while I was laying in bed tonight not being able to sleep.
I remember being flat broke busted when my oldest son was three and a half. It was December 1971. I spent 25.00 the month of December of that year on food. It had already been a long, cold winter.
I went to the store and bought liver. Those days, thirty five cents worth of liver was enough to feed cox's army! I fixed it the way my mother always had with a baby can of tomato sauce and onion and green pepper. It was braised In the red sauce. I cut it up into bite sized pieces for my son and called him to dinner.
He sat across the kitchen table from me. He took one look at it and said...."what's this? "
I paused a minute. The mother in me sitting in my right shoulder was saying, you can't lie to the kid. The other side of me was saying "but, what if he has heard about liver from his classmates?"
I looked him straight in the eye and said ......"meat" .
He used his toddler fork to stab a piece and proceed to put it in his mouth and chew it up.
Then, he put down his fork, looked me straight in the eye, and said.....
"Well, it's not hamburger!
That was the start of many weeks of liver once a week. He loved it, it was cheap, and on he 70's it was supposed to be good for you,
Flash forward eighteen years, I had remarried and had another son and daughter. We were building a sizable addition onto the house when my husband's employer let everybody go. I, too was out of work. We had money, but we were reluctant to spend much not knowing how long it was going to be before we saw a paycheck. The living room was stacked to the ceiling with cabinets, and appliances, waiting for my husband to finish the kitchen. We were living in 400 square feet of the basement. My "kitchen " consisted of a one burner hot plate that I kept on our butcher block cart
and a microwave .
One Sunday, I got up early and started a soup bone in a stockpot of water on the hot plate. My youngest was about ten years old . He opens the lid, amd asked, "what's this? "
"Soup ". said. "Well. It doesn't look like soup! ". Was his reply.
" it will by dinner time". Alas, by dinner time I had added tomatoes, cut the ,eat from the bone and added vegetables.
He must have been impressed, because he went to school and told his teacher that him mom had made soup and it wasn't out of a can. She, bless her heart, told him that homemade soup was the best kind of soup.
Flash forward twenty six years. We are retired now, and my granddaughter is almost four. Now, I make soup from scratch and my granddaughter loves it.
Some things never change. Time just marches on. The soups I learned to cook from my mother are still being made for generations.
Soup is a good, nutritious way to stretch a buck and a hit at our house. Tonight we had clam chowder. I had only bought one potato because I didn't want to go to two stores yesterday and the potatoes were too expensive at QFC compared to Winco. Turns out, the potato that I paid .69 cents for instead of getting five pounds for .99, had a lot of bad spots in it. I punted and chopped celery to go with the potato, skipped the bacon to appease my vegetarian daughter, and added two cans of clams and their juice. Salt. Pepper, and onion powder to appease my husband.
And, life goes on..
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Meals
This month so far o have an average of about 50.00 a week for food. I have had a 75 percent off day and a 48 percent off day. I did notice on a recent grocery haul, the same pasta I just bought for .50 was 1.49.
With the exception of the fish. All of these meals were under five dollars for four people. Certainly,
The average would be less.
- Breakfast for dinner : scrambled eggs, hash browns. Oranges and blueberries, English muffins,
- Pizza ( mom went out to a dinner meeting )
- Left overs : meatloaf and potatoes with green beans or pizza.
- Clam chowder, ( milk, clams, potato, bacon, ) Biscuits
- Fish packets : spinach, rice, white beans, fish, fresh green beans
- Pork tenderloin ,rice medley Broccoli
- Mac and cheese, fruit salad
Notes 1) eggs were 1.50 a dozen at Fred Meyers. Blueberries were cheaper to buy three small than one large. ( always do the math) hash brown cook on the oven and are frozen- cheap at grocery outlet or Winco. About 4.00.
2) pizza was on sale for 2.44
3) leftovers added a free bag of red potatoes and green beans.
4) clams are 2.00, I bought a potato for .69 a pound. The bags of potatoes were 2.99 and the same bag was .99 at Winco. I opted to pay more but loose less because it didn't make sense to drive a mile up the road for one thing, Biscuits were free.
5) fish was purchased at Winco in bulk. I bought green beans for 33 percent off at QFC.
6) pork tenderloin was 2.50 at Winco, rice from last night with peas and shredded carrots. Broccoli was free .
7) Mac and cheese starts with a white sauce base, cheese, and macaroni I got for .49.
Pasta .49, 2 cups cheese, 1.00, blues and oranges on sale.
With the exception of the fish. All of these meals were under five dollars for four people. Certainly,
The average would be less.
No ads, QFC haul.
I hac no ads yet. QFC has a two week ad from last week. Last week I got 75 percent off. This week I got fifty. I didn't buy the same things except .50 pasta that is more than double fiber is a good buy. Double fiber does the same thing as whole wheat for a diabetic and it tastes better. Nothing is a bargain if your family won't eat it.
I got Kleenex tissues with a coupon. Not quite as good as I would have liked, but I was close, the quality might be better and I needed six things.
They also have an electronic coupon that gives you five dollars off of fifteen in the produce department, I bought fruit and veggies, carrots were a good buy in bulk and carrots last a long time.
I bought one potato for clam chowder this week because their five pounds of potatoes were three dollars, Winco 's are .99. I got blueberries. Carrots, green beans , blackberries. and a potato.
A big box of popcorn chicken in the deli is a little over a dollar.
I'm happy with fifty percent.
That I bought was honest good food except for the tissue we needed.
I went to the goodwill because it was senior day. I came out with four small restrauant cups amd a taste of home magazine. Twenty percent made my net purchases 2.00.
I thought the little tea cups would be fun for granddaughter to have a herbal t party!
I got Kleenex tissues with a coupon. Not quite as good as I would have liked, but I was close, the quality might be better and I needed six things.
They also have an electronic coupon that gives you five dollars off of fifteen in the produce department, I bought fruit and veggies, carrots were a good buy in bulk and carrots last a long time.
I bought one potato for clam chowder this week because their five pounds of potatoes were three dollars, Winco 's are .99. I got blueberries. Carrots, green beans , blackberries. and a potato.
A big box of popcorn chicken in the deli is a little over a dollar.
I'm happy with fifty percent.
That I bought was honest good food except for the tissue we needed.
I went to the goodwill because it was senior day. I came out with four small restrauant cups amd a taste of home magazine. Twenty percent made my net purchases 2.00.
I thought the little tea cups would be fun for granddaughter to have a herbal t party!
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Let me introduce myself and give you some background if you don't know me. My name is Jane Ulness. I am 70 years young, ( some days LOL) and I live in a multi- generational house. I take care of my grandchild , design greeting cards, keep house, do some volunteer work, and write a blog.
It came to my attention when my daughter worked several years teaching low income children that many parents were having trouble making the food budget stretch. Many were on SNAP.
I discovered the problem was that none had ever taught them how to shop or cook from scratch- or semi- scratch. My daughter told one lady, "oh my mom knows how. ". I have been doing it for years. I have been published in Taste of Home and Woman's Day.
No, I haven't got a degree- except for the degree of the college of hard knocks, as my mother would have said. I have lived it. In December of 1971, I was left with 5.12 , utility bills, rent and daycare bills looming, and a paycheck that wasn't going to cover zilch. I had to sink or swim, and I was going to swim. I knew quite a lot from watching my mother that budgeted no mater how much my dad made. I started reading everything I could read. I tried a lot of things, fell and got up again and tried more. Those days there wasn't the Internet or a lot of tv. We had a 10 inch black and white with rabbit ears. When it died, we listened to the radio. I still enjoy listening to radio drama.
Even when times got better, I still budgeted and continued to learn everything I could. I made a plan and tweeked it to meet our current needs until I have a good plan that doesn't take a lot of time or effort, but works and puts nutritious meals on the table.
My passion is to do what I can to see that a child doesn't go hungry just because their parents don't know how to shop wisely or cook. They stopped teaching home Ec in schools I hear, and if your parents didnt cook scratch, you probably don't know either.
No child should have to suffer the insecurity of not having food in the pantry. Fiscally, I can't do much. I give to the food bank when I can , and fill food bags for an out reach program when I get a chance. The best I can do is education. I would love to teach. For now, the best I can do is write a blog and hope enough people can read it.
I don't get money for my blog. I write it with the hopes I've helped someone feed their kids a nutritious meal.
It came to my attention when my daughter worked several years teaching low income children that many parents were having trouble making the food budget stretch. Many were on SNAP.
I discovered the problem was that none had ever taught them how to shop or cook from scratch- or semi- scratch. My daughter told one lady, "oh my mom knows how. ". I have been doing it for years. I have been published in Taste of Home and Woman's Day.
No, I haven't got a degree- except for the degree of the college of hard knocks, as my mother would have said. I have lived it. In December of 1971, I was left with 5.12 , utility bills, rent and daycare bills looming, and a paycheck that wasn't going to cover zilch. I had to sink or swim, and I was going to swim. I knew quite a lot from watching my mother that budgeted no mater how much my dad made. I started reading everything I could read. I tried a lot of things, fell and got up again and tried more. Those days there wasn't the Internet or a lot of tv. We had a 10 inch black and white with rabbit ears. When it died, we listened to the radio. I still enjoy listening to radio drama.
Even when times got better, I still budgeted and continued to learn everything I could. I made a plan and tweeked it to meet our current needs until I have a good plan that doesn't take a lot of time or effort, but works and puts nutritious meals on the table.
My passion is to do what I can to see that a child doesn't go hungry just because their parents don't know how to shop wisely or cook. They stopped teaching home Ec in schools I hear, and if your parents didnt cook scratch, you probably don't know either.
No child should have to suffer the insecurity of not having food in the pantry. Fiscally, I can't do much. I give to the food bank when I can , and fill food bags for an out reach program when I get a chance. The best I can do is education. I would love to teach. For now, the best I can do is write a blog and hope enough people can read it.
I don't get money for my blog. I write it with the hopes I've helped someone feed their kids a nutritious meal.
Different take on meal plans.
Meal plans are frivolous to some people. Without a plan, when things are hectic, it is a real temptation to go threw the drive through or order pizza. It's a sure way to bust a budget. If you are on snap, those expenses aren't covered with your money.
There are many ways to meal plan, I read somewhere of a lady that was selling a fifty page meal plan form. That would take to long for me. My object to a months meal plan is that :(;(: happens and it isn't flexible enough, My meals in the summer are a lot different than my meals on the winter.
For a while, my mother would cook the same thing on the same day every week. She had a schedule for wash too. We knew that Thursday she would bake bread and we would have pizza. That was short lived, she must have thought it was too boring,
I usually meal plan by using a form with two columns in the left, one for what we have with the things that need to be used up soon highlighted and one for anything I need to buy to complete a meal. That's usually a fresh thing like green beans for fish bundles. *
The right side consists of seven boxes and a box for my matrix. I mad a matrix as a guide. 2 beef, 2 pork or chicken, 2 vegetarian, and a fish. Is is based on my family's preferences to try to make everyone happy. Yours might be different After I survey the fridge, I write down What I have to be used up about mid week. Then I make the next weeks meal plans on pencil and adjust the rest of the week if necessary to accommodate what we need to use. Waste not, want not. It's a natural way to cut food costs. There is an estimate that we waste thirty percent of our food in this country, I don't think that is the case with us, however finicky eaters waste food. I have taken to giving a child a small amount of everything so that of they don't eat it, a lot isn't wasted. They can always have more.
This takes about ten minutes, then minutes well spent. About that time, the ads are here and I can analyze them and check stock and do some planning. Last weeks planning was a an aboration - hauls like that don't happen often. But, I can consistently get stock items for half price or more.
I always buy protein at the RBP and buy bulk. And I buy dairy and fresh produce at the cheapest price and the produce in season, If something is not on season, it is more money for a fruit or vegetable that is probably not as high a quality as if it was in season.
If there is a week where I don't need anything, I don't shop. We might pick up milk when we are out and about. Preferably where it is the cheapest.
Lately, I have taken inventory and rotated stock per sell by date and bought a lot of pizza because I got 6.77 pizza for as low as 2.44. I also got eggs for 2/3. So, I temporarily changed my matrix to a theme based, rather than protein based plan.
We are having
- Pizza
- Breakfast for dinner
- Fish - salmon or clams
- Pasta
- Sunday dinner
- Leftovers
- Soup
This is based on things I need to use up and have a large stock on.
Whatever works. You don't have to stick hard fast to a plan, just have a plan.
Jane
Monday, February 15, 2016
Beans
beans beans the musical fruit; the more you eat, the more you toot! So says my grandfather, I hear tell. I surmise it was a nice way of saying that beans can give you gas. ..make you fart a lot, LOL
Beans and rice has long been thought of as the perfect pair-- a complete protein. Actually. nutritionists see that beans are more expensive and people are eating more rode than beans, Eating more beans they say, can reduce the chance of diabetes and heart disease. But, the kicker for most vegetarians, is that they aren't in total the best source of protein, you need to eat meat too. Brown rice is better than white.
If you are vegetarian, you need to be mindful of your iron and vitamin b12 levels on your blood. Lack of vitamin B12 can be very serious. If you are vegan, double the concern.
Beans that are not cooked well can make you sick, albeit short lived, not pleasant. Beans shouldn't be left out of the fridge more than two hours. They should be eaten or tossed after two days. They do not freeze well; the freezing changes the texture.
All this makes me believe that they are not worth cooking from scratch unless you cook a small amount and eat it that day or the next. For a small family it hardly seems worth while.
Canned beans are inexpensive on sale. You can and should rinse them and throw out the water that they are packed in. This reduces the salt. Some are concerned about BPA. The FDA says it is harmless in the dices we get as humans.
For everything that exists in the food industry, there is someone that can dream up a reason why it's bad for you. If you took all of those items off your table you wouldn't die from the cancer, heart disease or other toted diseases, you would die from mal- nutrition. I thinI one has to use some common sense. Moderation is the key.
Remember when butter and eggs were terrible! Seems that eggs are supposed to be eaten even daily, and, butter in moderation is better than the fake alternative. The fake alternative has palm oil in it and other vegetable oils that they are saying are processed with metals. Did you know that if you eat too much kale, you can get lead poisoning. I could go on and on, but you get the drift.
Everything has its good and bad.
I read an article about what we shouldn't be eating. Some of it isn't in our diet anyway, I tend to buy only are items with food value in them. Potato chips and soda are not it! I use some sugar free, but use it sparingly. The article says that you can't cut all of out, there would be nothing left to eat.
Salad dressing is a culprit. I guess when ours is eaten, we will use an oil and vinegar with olive oil and make our own ranch and blue cheese. You can get mayo that has olive oil in it. It was the same price as regular. It doesn't cut all of the salad oil, but it cuts down on it.
Baked deserts are also a culprit. That's easy to reduce or cut out of your diet. I've already done that except for occasional special occasions.
Again, I think that moderation is the key. There has to be other factors in these foods making you get a particular disease, or all of us would have all of those diseases.
We do know for sure that our bodies need a certain amount of salt, sugar / carbs and fat. We eat far too much in America. There are easy ways to reduce our intakes.
Ps I did see. Ore research on that article. There is no BPA in canned beans. There is salt and it can. E greatly reduced by rinsing the beans.
Lay off the salty snacks. Rinse anything that is canned. Make a substitute for cream base that has low sodium and fat free ingredients. Steer clear of baked goods and eat fresh fruits on season instead, or yogurt.
For those that have Pinterest, the article I am feeling to is on it.
http://dontwastethecrumbs.com/2016/01/top-5-ingredients-to-avoid-in-food
disclaimer - Many of the products that they say are bad do not have those ingredients in there. I think you have to read your labels.
Thanks, Jane
Beans and rice has long been thought of as the perfect pair-- a complete protein. Actually. nutritionists see that beans are more expensive and people are eating more rode than beans, Eating more beans they say, can reduce the chance of diabetes and heart disease. But, the kicker for most vegetarians, is that they aren't in total the best source of protein, you need to eat meat too. Brown rice is better than white.
If you are vegetarian, you need to be mindful of your iron and vitamin b12 levels on your blood. Lack of vitamin B12 can be very serious. If you are vegan, double the concern.
Beans that are not cooked well can make you sick, albeit short lived, not pleasant. Beans shouldn't be left out of the fridge more than two hours. They should be eaten or tossed after two days. They do not freeze well; the freezing changes the texture.
All this makes me believe that they are not worth cooking from scratch unless you cook a small amount and eat it that day or the next. For a small family it hardly seems worth while.
Canned beans are inexpensive on sale. You can and should rinse them and throw out the water that they are packed in. This reduces the salt. Some are concerned about BPA. The FDA says it is harmless in the dices we get as humans.
For everything that exists in the food industry, there is someone that can dream up a reason why it's bad for you. If you took all of those items off your table you wouldn't die from the cancer, heart disease or other toted diseases, you would die from mal- nutrition. I thinI one has to use some common sense. Moderation is the key.
Remember when butter and eggs were terrible! Seems that eggs are supposed to be eaten even daily, and, butter in moderation is better than the fake alternative. The fake alternative has palm oil in it and other vegetable oils that they are saying are processed with metals. Did you know that if you eat too much kale, you can get lead poisoning. I could go on and on, but you get the drift.
Everything has its good and bad.
I read an article about what we shouldn't be eating. Some of it isn't in our diet anyway, I tend to buy only are items with food value in them. Potato chips and soda are not it! I use some sugar free, but use it sparingly. The article says that you can't cut all of out, there would be nothing left to eat.
Salad dressing is a culprit. I guess when ours is eaten, we will use an oil and vinegar with olive oil and make our own ranch and blue cheese. You can get mayo that has olive oil in it. It was the same price as regular. It doesn't cut all of the salad oil, but it cuts down on it.
Baked deserts are also a culprit. That's easy to reduce or cut out of your diet. I've already done that except for occasional special occasions.
Again, I think that moderation is the key. There has to be other factors in these foods making you get a particular disease, or all of us would have all of those diseases.
We do know for sure that our bodies need a certain amount of salt, sugar / carbs and fat. We eat far too much in America. There are easy ways to reduce our intakes.
Ps I did see. Ore research on that article. There is no BPA in canned beans. There is salt and it can. E greatly reduced by rinsing the beans.
Lay off the salty snacks. Rinse anything that is canned. Make a substitute for cream base that has low sodium and fat free ingredients. Steer clear of baked goods and eat fresh fruits on season instead, or yogurt.
For those that have Pinterest, the article I am feeling to is on it.
http://dontwastethecrumbs.com/2016/01/top-5-ingredients-to-avoid-in-food
disclaimer - Many of the products that they say are bad do not have those ingredients in there. I think you have to read your labels.
Thanks, Jane
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