5 principals of groceries on the cheap

Ok, continuing with the five  series. .....five principles of groceries on the cheap.

In order to stay on a very frugal budget and not feel deprived or run out of food before the end of the month....

1. Never pay full price for anything.    Identify the things that you use on a regular basis for your main dishes.   Find the RBP for these "target" items and buy in quantity when they are on sale.....just enough to last you until you can find that price again.  Set a stock number.    I use three months on some things.  I keep one of other things.   Just enough to not have to run to the store in the middle of cooking.
2. Plan meals to avoid the " take out demons." .  Develop your matrix to make meal planning quick and easy.   
3. Buy one loss leader protein a week.  Buy enough to last you for that kind of meal for a month rotation in bulk.   Batch cook, or portion control soon after you get home from the store.  This gives you the best prices and saves a lot of time when things can get hectic around dinner time. When everyone hits the door after school, or daycare and work, things can just be crazy.   
4. Plan your grocery trips .  Being hungry without a plan and going to the grocery store is a recipe for disaster.    Because you already have the basics in stock at home, you are only looking to replace any short supply of your basic stock items that are a RBP, , a so called loss leader protein to rotate, and the produce in season and dairy you will need to finish your meals.    Make a list and stick to it.   Check the flyers of the stores that have them, check favado or the store web sites of the ones that don't. Make your list  and check to see if there are coupons to match up.   Pick your 2 best stores that will fulfill your needs.   
5. Plan to go to 2 stores.   This gives you the best prices of two stores and the best produce selections,   Last week, I checked Safeways and Winco and both of them had rotten grapes in their bags.    Usually, however, you can find good between two stores.    This gives you the availability of two stores sales.  

KNOW YOUR PRICES.   I have saved the most important for last.   You don't have to know every price of everything in the store-- just the things on your target list.    My mother used to say...." Some people wouldn't know a bargain if it came up and bit them in the butt."   Don't be that person,  

Dollar tree

We went to Bothell today.   I stopped at the dollar tree and the grocery outlet.    Grocery outlet always has good sliced cheese in a variety of flavors for 2.39.   I also found beer brats for 1.50.

Dollar store has a bunch of name brands.   I got Barilla pasta for a dollar and used a .55 off coupon,   I also got puff facial tissue for a dollar with a .25 coupon, and Hormel pepperoni for .50 with a coupon. You can use up to four coupons any given day per household.   Items can't be free unless you have a BOGO coupon.

You could , conceptually, find a dinner for five   bucks.   Barilla speghetti is .45 with a coupon for pronto, or 100 for regular.   Hunts pasta sauce is a dollar, as well as brown and serve hard rolls.  Parmesean  cheese product is a dollar as well as a can of green beans for .79.    Total 4.79.   Now, that being said. I personally would not buy parm cheese product.  I want the real thing.    The green beans are Libby's and I'm not sure about the bread.   In a pinch, you could do it.  

They have mayo, brand name tuna,pickles  and  bread.   They have oatmeal and fruit cups and peanut butter and jelly.  

Conceptually, you could feed a family for easily 14.00 dollars : breakfast, lunch, and dinner in a pinch.

1. Oatmeal, almond milk. Fruit cup.   
2. Tuna salad sandwich with pickles, potato chips ( or equivalent) 
3. Spaghett with red sauce. Green beans, sour dough hard rolls, parmesan
4. Peanut butter toast for a snack 

4 times 4 is 16.   

Some things are cheaper at the dollar store; some are not.   Some are good or better quality than a regular grocery store, some are not.   This is an answer to you are stuck and need to eat.   It has happened to is before.   If I had a dollar store and a elementary kitchen, we would have been in good shape.   

List : 

1. Oatmeal 
2. Almond or regular milk 
3. Box of fruit cups 
4. Tuna 
5. Pickles 
6. Mayo
7. Bread 
8. Potato chips 
9. Speghetti
10. Pasta Sauce 
11. Parmesean product 
12. Green beans (.79) 
13. Sour dough rolls or baguettes.  
14. Peanut butter 

5 things that make for a pick up meal.

We have all  had those days.   Things just don't go as planned.  If you have a stock, you can wing it for dinner and come up with better than cold cereal.   We eat very little cold cereal.   It's expensive by the time you add milk.    That's how some families  go through gallons and gallons of milk.    Not necessary.   Milk does not build bones like they use to think.  

I digress....five easy dinners

1. Tacos, refried beans, and rice.  : my taco meat is already made in the freezer from my batch cooking.  Best the bag on the counter a couple of times and place it on a glass bowl with a couple of tablespoons of water to thaw and reheat.   Meanwhile, open a can of refried beans, place it on a small casserole, and top with a layer of cheese.   Put a small batch of rice in the rice cooker and turn it on.  Get out three bowls and chop tomatoes, lettuce and add cheese to one.   Your cheese should be already grated in a lock and lock.   This takes avoit 15  minutes . 
2. Spaghetti with meatballs, salad .  Put spaghetti on to cook.   Heat pasta sauce and defrost the already cooked meatballs you got out of the freezer.   Add a bagged salad and the karma cheese you already grated in the fridge.      
3. Hot dogs, French fries and fruit salad .  All cooks in record time.  Put the French fries in the oven....minutes, hit dogs took almost no time after the potatoes are almost done.  Wash and put any fruit you have in a bowl.  We have been working in a bowl of salad all week.  I just keep adding to it. 
4. BBQ chicken thighs and drumsticks, oven roasted root veggies. Salad.   The chicken parts Re already cooked from your batch coming and on the freezer.   Place the sealed bag in the sink and run cold water over it while you are cutting up carrots, potatoes and any veggie you can add.  Place them on a baking sheet with sides and toss with olive oil and salt and pepper.   Sometimes I add Rosemary. Put the chicken pieces on another own and spread BBQ sauce with a pastry brush on top.   Bake until the vegetables are done at about 375-400 degrees.   Our oven has only a top element, so I out the chicken on the bottom rack and switch midstream.   About 20 minutes. 
5. Tomato soup with some milk or cream, basil, and blue cheese or Romano ( parm) . English muffins topped with grated cheese and put on the oven to melt. Or French bread with butter or olive oil and parm broiled until the bitter melts and the cheese is toasted lightly.    I get tomato soup on a box at Costco.   It is tomato and roasted red pepper.   Costco also has a sour dough baguette that is about a dollar for a half a loaf.   English muffins are always 1.67 a dozen at Fred Meyers.    Another option would be cheese quesedeas. 

All these things I have in my stock except maybe the hot dogs that I don't buy often.   Both Hebrew national and Nathan's were on sale this week.  I opted for Nathan's because 1) Hebrew national does not have the same amount of hotdogs as a standard package of buns. And, 2) Hebrew national has soy protein and Nathan's has corn protein.   Corn was the least ofmthemevils because my granddaughters Doctor does not want her to have soy.   

After trying every method of cooking rice that I could find-- the microwave, the pressure cooker,mthe large rice cooker, the stove and having no luck getting the textile I wanted. I bought a 16 dollar black and decker rice cooker.....success!   

Radishes are wonderful added to oven roasted root veggies.  

That's about all......anyone have an idea of what dive list they want to see next? 

5 things not to buy.

Trying to start a five things theme.  

Five things not to buy at the grocery store  to save money.

1. Potato chips and other bagged snacks.   High in salt and higher on prices.  Do the math.    A good rule of thumb is to only buy things with good food value in them.   Opt for air popped pop corn.  The difference in price well pays for an air popper.    
2. Individual wrapped snacks. You  are paying for a lot of packaging and then paying  again to put  them in the recycle.  
3. Sugar drink packets.     My dad wouldn't let us have them on the house,   Smart dad. He didn't allow pop either.    Neither are good for you and they see full or sugar or the alternative which is just as bad.   Opt for herbal teas iced or water. 
4. Fruit juices.   Too much sugar.   A nutritionist told me that feeding the child an apple was better than giving them the juice.   
5. Gum and candy bars.  That nasty s word --sugar again and they are bad for the budget too.  

The Food Pyramid....again

 The USDA  has made a food pyramid for as many years as I can remember.  My mother always made a protein, a starch, and a vegetable or fruit for dinner.    I can't see any real reason to deviate from the tried and true.   Some years ago , the USDA altered it to adjust for the fact that we are eating too much fat, sugar, and salt (sodium) in our diets.
Along came the alternative generation.    From the amount of advertising I am seeing and the amount of coupons that are appearing out there, I am sure it is a multi- million dollar business.   It is a trend that I'm not buying into.   Just my personal opinion.

Your body is a fine tuned entity.    It needs balance.   It needs a group of nutrients to feed your organs to run efficiently.   Kinda like a car.  A car needs gas, and oil, and transmission fluid, windshield wiper fluid.   Take some of that away and it doesn't run right.  I'm some cases, it doesn't run at all......

My take, eat a wide variety of foods. Eat in moderation.    Eat from the food pyramid.  Avoid too much salt, sugar, and fat.   If you feel the need to avoid a food group. Consult your MD doctor about it and get a nutritionist to help you put  your body back in balance,    You are playing with fire if you do it in your own.  You only have one body to last you the rest of your life.  You can replace your car, you can't replace your body.

The food pyramid.

The USDA  has made a food pyramid for as many years as I can remember.  My mother always made a protein, a starch, and a vegetable or fruit for dinner.    I can't see any real reason to deviate from the tried and true.   Some years ago , the USDA altered it to adjust for the fact that we are eating too much fat, sugar, and salt (sodium) in our diets.  

Along came the alternative generation.    From the amount of advertising I am seeing and the amount of coupons that are appearing out there, I am sure it is a multi- million dollar business.   It is a trend that I'm not buying into.   Just my personal opinion.

Your body is a fine tuned entity.    It needs balance.   It needs a group of nutrients to feed your organs to run efficiently.   Kinda like a car.  A car needs gas, and oil, and transmission fluid, windshield wiper fluid.   Take some of that away and it doesn't run right.  I'm some cases, it doesn't run at all......

My take, eat a wide variety of foods. Eat in moderation.    Eat from the food pyramid.  Avoid too much salt, sugar, and fat.   If you feel the need to avoid a food group. Consult your MD doctor about it and get a nutritionist to help you put  your body back in balance,    You are playing with fire if you do it in your own.  You only have one body to last you the rest of your life.  You can replace your car, you can't replace your body.  

Sunday notes

Yesterday, we went to the Bog Lots sale.   Ot only happens a few days a year and extends threw today.   Everything in the store is 20 percent off.   I was interested in buying feminine heigene products especially.   They are already the cheapest-- and twenty percent sweetens the deal.   I also bought two jars of Lindsay peppers , two packages of ice cream cookies, and a five pack of top ramen.   All were a buck, so they cost .80.    

We went to the dollar store because it is close by,   I got another stacking crate , some small bowls with lids ( 5/$1.) , 160 count tissue and a corn cookbook and an elf eye cream.   All would have been more money elsewhere.   I see a trend at the dollar tree to replace name brands with their brands.   Consequently, I am buying less and less food there.  I want to buy brands that I am familiar with .  

On another note, I was talking to a woman that told me she puts veggies in everything to get her children to eat veggies.    That brought up a lot ofmquetionin my mind,   What happens when they go to a friends hide and they don't have beets in their pancakes?   I think it is better to introduce  the one tiny bite program instead,  kids change their taste.   I never liked green peppers as a kid. I eat it now.   

We eat first with our eyes.   If something doesn't look appetizing, it's not likely you will want to try it.   

Some children don't like strong tastes,   I suspect that because our grandmothers cooked  veggies to death, some people don't like them and are too rigid to change their  minds.  Raw broccoli is a lot better tasting to some people than cooked does.     

I'm done shopping for the week.   We need coffee soon, because I didn't realize that we opened the back up.  It is  5. 99 for folders at Fred Meyers.    I didn't buy strawberries at Winco because they didn't look good , but we have other fruit so we are good and enough coffe for two weeks, so it'll wait until next week. 

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.    

Meal plans

Monday's meal plans on Sunday,      

I plan meals based on a matrix . It makes meal planning a snap.   Lately I have been not only using my protein based matrix, but adding a couple of theme based  ones too.   Basically because I want to eat down the stock in a couple of areas.   Some people just use theme based meal plans.    Like.,..

1. Soup and sandwich 
2. Breakfast for dinner 
3. Tex-mex 
4. Crock pot 
5. Pasta 
6. Soup
7. Vegetarian 

Our meals are based on 

2 vegetarian 

1 beef

3 chicken or pork

1 fish 

Meals 

1. Breakfast for dinner ( use up eggs) 
2. Pizza ( pizzas bought for 2.44) 
3. Pork, rice, beans ( Mexican pork BC) 
4. Hot dogs, suddenly salad 
5. Chicken pot pie 
6. Shrimp stirfry w frozen stirfry and ramen noodles 
7. Chicken enchiladas (green) in slow cooker.   BC

BC means the recipe is in the Betty Crocker  on line cookbook.   I have been trying to introduce something new every week,   I am also trying to learn to cook scratch things that I previously bought ready made to save more, broaden my knowledge and keep growing, and lessen our intake of hydrogenated oils.   

I bought canola oil this week.    I have some vegetable oil to use up as well as some things like Bisquick .   Canola, safflower, amd olive oil are the oils that are not hydrogenated ( so omhavembeen reading ) I bought low hydrogenated oil peanut butter when I needed to replace it.    It's a slow process, but it will happen.   Patience is a virtue!    

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.    

Tomorrows Fred Meyers ad

Strawberries 2/4
Pork 1/2 loin 1.79
Broccoli .99
Milk .99@@
Folders 5.99
Red Barton/ tombstone pizza 3/10@@$$
Bottom round roast 3.99


That's about it.

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.    

Shopping trip

I went to Winco first.   Good plan because th things I was going to have to go to a third store for were cheaper at Winco.  

I got

1. High fiber bread 
2. Nathan's hot dogs 
3. Lean ground beef  3.18 a pound 
4. Hot dog buns ( .88) 
5. Taquitos (5.41) 
6. Apples (.98) 
7. Ham and chicken lunch meat ( 1.98) 

31.83

Safeways 

1. Milk 
2. Canola oil
3. Barilla pasta ( veggie) 
4. Lettuce.    

13.24?

Total food purchased 45.07 

Shopping without stocking.

This  is the day  new coupons come out on coupons .com.    It's you snooze, you loose.   Get while the getting is good.  There are pepperoni, yoplait , and General Mills cereal ones as usual.

I thought I would virtual shop like I didn't have a stock and see if I could make meals from what's on sale this week.  


Winco
Shredded cheese 1.38 - 8 ounces
Strawberries 1.98
Asparagus 1.48
Yoplait .50
Diced chillies .88
Cilantro .47
Roma's .98
Celery .98
Oranges .58
Apples .98
Eggs 1.98
Pork chops 1.78$
Butter 2 99
Grapes 1.98
Yeast .96-  3 pack
Pepperoni 3.5 ounces 1.69
Hot dog buns .98$
Canned tomatoes .58
Blues 4.98$
Armour meatballs  1.98
Chicken thighs 1.28
Dark chocolate brownie mix .98
London broil 2.98$
Canned veggies .58 $
Mashed potatoes .85$
These prices are from favado, they aren't always accurate.

Alberways
Friday only
COD filets - 1 lb $
Foster farms chicken, frozen 2 lbs
Barilla pasta 5/5
Nalleys chilli 5/5


Nathan's 4.99
Shrimp 3.99 frozen @@
Ground turkey 2.99
Potatoes 2/1$
Pizza 3/10@@$
QFC

Hebrew national 3.49$
Berries 2/4 @@$
chicken breast I BOGO nets 4.00 a pound.
Di Giorgio 4.99


Dollar store
Jenne-0 turkey bacon $
Pancake mix $


Dinners

1. Hot dogs, buns , suddenly salad     5.77
2. Turkey bacon, eggs, pancakes , oranges and blueberroes 4.25
3. Pork chops , baked potatoes , green beans  3.36 
4. Pizza 3.33 
5. Speghetti with meatballs , green beans   ( grind London broil, pasta of a buck at Safeways amd the dollar tree.    Speghetti Sauce is always 100 or mixer at Winco)    4.08 
6. COD. Scalloped potatoes. Fruit cup - 7.50
7. Chicken thighs w BBQ sauce. , mashed potatoes , Corn 3.71 

This assumes you have the basics of floor , oil,etc.   it has too many processed foods to my liking. And a lot of it would be cheaper if you bought it in bulk.  I marked the ingredients used with a $.  This would also take you to four stores and cost more in some instances than stocking. 

I paid .75 for suddenly salad . I make it with olive oil.    , chicken thighs are .68 at times at Winco.   Binkess chicken breasts are 4.00 a pound at QFC on sale BOGO for wa grown.   I paid a buck at Freddie's last week. ( sale still on til Saturday) .  Scalloped potatoes I got for .60 .   Sometimes if the
dollar store has Betty Crocker they are free with coupons.  Potatoes were 1.00 for ten pounds at Winco last week.   

Total dinners 32.00 divided by 7 equals  4.57 each.

Things to buy at the dollar store.

The  best smelling hand soap.

Organizing baskets - when all of one thing is in a basket, it's easier to find and things are neat.  

A dust pan with a handle saves your back....

Bowl covers.   Easiest way to solve the problem of putting a bowl in the fridge you can't find a cover for. Or that has no cover.  It doesn't touch the food.  

Why pay big money for tissue you are going to throw away.   Sometimes they have counts of 200 per box.  This was 175.  They have puffs too.  

Gift bags, tissue, gift boxes 

Best cookies that sell for upwards of four dollars elsewhere.    

U

Canvas cubes that sell for five dollars elsewhere.   We are using them to sort clean c,others ready for the chest of drawers downstairs.  

What's in your refrigerator?

Wednesday is usually clean the fridge day.   Life in the kitchen is a lot easier if you have zones in your refrigerator.   If  categories of food are placed in the same zone, it is easier to tell if you have enough if a particular product , or even where it is.  

Top shelf - condiments. That is where you will find the pickles. Jelly, mayonaise, etc.
next shelf. bread those products and eggs .    Tortillas. Baguettes. Eggs
Next : dairy.   Leftovers,  yogurt, sour cream cottage cheese
Bottom shelf.   Cheese in lock n locks, fruit in green boxes.

Drawers.  Meat, vegetables, cheese.
Door. Milk, small bottles of condiments, syrups etc.

On cleaning day, wash any spills.
I go threw the fridge top to bottom.   This week, I baked another dozen eggs.  I had a surplus because of Easter specials.  
Next stop, check expiration dates on dairy.  What needs to be used up soon.   Can you incorporate leftovers into lunch!
Fill the cheese boxes if,needed from cheese in the freezer.    Check the fruit and veggie for freshness.

Meat drawer.  Check dates.   Use up oldest first.  
Vegetable drawer, change the paper towel in the bottom of the drawer. Check freshness and not what needs to be used  soon.
Cheese drawer.  Check stock . Grate cheese if needed.  

Post what you have and star  anything that needs to be used up soon to meal plan work sheet.

This only takes a few minutes, but saves a lot of time and money,    You know what you need and what you have before you shop so you aren't duplicating anything.   You also use up what you have before it is food for the garbage disposal.  

No food can do you any good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.  

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.    

Easy Peasy artisan bread

I am on a mission to replace the things I buy ready made win easy , quick homemade equivalents.   To save money and have more control of what goes into our food.  But, I also am not all about spending all day in  the kitchen.   If you spend more time on the planning and the shopping and less in cooking, your budget will be better off and you will have more, healthier food as a bonus.

Artisan bread.   This is a far different concept than I have ever used to bake bread,   I can bake bread in the bread baker in a very short time......like maybe five minutes non passive cooking.   But, this bread is more artisan than what comes from the bread baker.   

This calls for bread flour.  One of thei-tubes  I watched said that all purpose flour works too.   

In a large bowl, mix.  

3.5 cups flour 

2 tsp table salt 

1/2 tsp bread baker yeast 

Add 14 ounces of cool water.   

Stor dry ingredients to incorporate the salt and yeast. Add water and stir until dough forms a ball.   Cover with plastic wrap and set out on a counter for 8-24 hours.   

(My dough looked untouched after 10 hours.  It  was a sponge at 23.  It might have been sooner, but I went to bed and looked at ot on the morning,    )

Flour your counter or a board and dump the batter out .  Flour the mass and using a dough scraper, form it onto a loaf.  Dough will be sticky  and soft.    Turn it into a greased loaf pan.   

Cover and let proof for 1-1/2 hours in a warm place.   Meanwhile place the oven rack in the middle of the oven.   15 minutes before your 1-1/2 hours so up. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  After the 1-1/2 hours loaf should be over the top of the pan,    Bake 45 minutes.    Total non- passive cooking about 15 minutes.    

Dry ingredients 

Sponge after 23 hours 

Proofing , taken before it was done.   

Done after 45 min.  

The ads

The ads came,  

Alberways,


Ground turkey 2.99
Grapes 1.99
Yoplait 10/5 - same price at fm
Milk 1.99
Nathan's 4.99


Five dollar Friday
Barilla 5/5
Chilli, nalleys  5/5

QFC
Berries 2/4
7 percent ground beef 4.99
Hebrew national 3.99***
Mission tortillas 2/4

Terrific Tuesday

It's Tuesday , the ads come out today.   I will post them , but I really don't have to go shopping.  Mthe fridge and pantry are full.  

Yesterday. I made cranberry chicken in the crockpot.   I de-boned four other chicken 1/2 breasts.   The weighed a little more than a pound each.   I put the bones into a stockpot and added some herbs.  
I now have some chicken left over from last nights dinner, soup stock and a tub of chicken pieces, and four more de-boned  chicken breasts.   Cost of last night's  meat was about .50.   Even if we use the entire breast, it  would be a dollar.    That goes a long way to balance  with a salmon dinner and still stay within a five  dollar dinner.   I will use the chicken from the bones for chicken enchiladas later in the week.   I will freeze the chicken stock after I defat it and I take the salmon out of our baby freezer.
That means I will get seven meals from  5.50 worth of chicken.    That's  .79 a meal.  


The dollar store has them stale brothers cookbook.  It has a variety of surprisingly sophisticated dishes in it.   Just saying..

I have been watching a lot of food hauls on u tube.   Most of them are for two hundred dollars and up.   Most of them either have copious snack food, or  are real heavy with alternative foods.   I try to hit the middle of the road. . . I don't buy expensive alternative food, nor do we buy four bags of chips every week.    I buy tortilla chips sometimes.    Sometimes we have nachos for dinner,  or we have them with chilli or taco soup.   They don't seem to be lady with salt.    Sometimes I buy hummus when I can get it on sale and we dip veggies in it.   Popcorn and an air popper make for a good snack.  You can control the salt and the butter, and there is no garbage in it like microwave popcorn has.  

Buying junk food will surely  derail your food train and besides, those foods are not good for you.  

The next step

now that I have nailed the under four dollars a day and built and maintained a stockpile of food, I am going to go one step further.   I always want to learn new things.   It's what keeps us young and our brains working.   I checked the February 2016 stats    from the USDA  and  we are sitting at less than 1/2 of the family stats and that is for food eaten at home, that does not include a pantry.

Now, I am on a mission to reduce the amount of hydrogenated oil we consume.  Hydrogenated oil is in everything.   By all accounts, it is bad for you.    Somethings   have different viewpoints, but not hydrogenated oils.   They are in everything.  - a lot of manufacturers are attempting to offer alternatives.   You can buy mayo with part olive oil.   There is peanut butter with a reduced amount in it.   Read the labels.   The ingredients are listed in order of volume.    It's a given that potato chips and other chip type snack foods are loaded with it.   But, on a thrifty budget, you can't afford them anyway.   Making something from  scratch lets you control what kind of oil you use.

Therefore, my next mission is to learn efficient ways to cook some of the few  thngs that we buy ready made.  My criteria is how much hydrogenated oil does it have in it and is it cheaper to buy it ready made, or can I control the oil better without slaving over a stove for hours.   The other option is to see if we can reduce our usage or eliminate it altogether from our diet.

I found a recipe for a simple bread dough and pizza dough that takes little non-passive cooking time.   Baguettes cost a dollar at best.   The thing that will hold me up is that it takes a pizza stone for the oven.   That's not on my budget yet.

I do have a bread baker.

I am trying rice on the pressure cooker.   It actually takes less time than instant.


Wish me luck !,, LOL.

Meal plans

Meal plans for this week.

I am trying to use up what we have.   This months foo was at 67.00 a week; first quarter food is at 70.99 a week.   USDA stats for our daily is 149.40.    We are at less than half.   That figure is the cost of food eaten,    We have a stock built and maintained.   

Meals - I dont necessarily assign a meal to a particular day of the week except if I want an exceptionally easy meal because of a busy day etc.   

1. Cranberry chicken breast, a gratin potatoes, broccoli.   ( chicken breast was a dollar a pound again  at fm.   Boneless chicken breast was 2.49 a pound.  It takes about ten minutes to debone half breasts of chicken.   I need to use cranberry sauce from the pantry.   A gratin potatoes were less than .70 and broccoli is left over from a veggie tray for Easter.   The recipe is BC ( bettymcrocker) 
2. Pizza ( DiGiorno was 2.44 super bowl weekend with sales and coupons. ) 
3. Chicken enchiladas.   ( I got tortillas for .25 with a coupon,  I use more expensive 6 carb ones for myself .  Chicken is from the dollar a pound chicken and I am going to try a new recipe for enchilada sauce from scratch, ) cheese is always aboutm200 a pound grated.   The best price on a block I have found is 2.50 a pound.   
4. Breakfast for dinner.   ( using eggs I got for 2.00 for 18.   - th best data I can find is that an egg a day is still in healthy eating guidelines.   We only eat eggs when we have breakfast for dinner except if I use them in baking.   
5. Speghetti with red sauce/ hambirger.   Bread, salad.   ( the bread was on sale at Costco nets a little less than a buck for 1/2 a loaf.    Hambirger was 318 a pound for 7 percent and I defatted it and froze the cooked meat.   Speghetti I got Barilla from the dollar store.    ) 
6. Salmon and gnocchi . Mixed veggies ( carrots, cauli, carrots.) this was touted as a dollar store dinner.    The gnocchi is at the dollar store  and is from Italy.    Our salmon is from Costco.   The veggies are from Easter veggie tray,   
7. Chicken club pie.   , broccoli.    ( chicken is a buck a pound, ham is some cubes I got at Winco for 2.38. Cents and we will use part of the bag.   Broccoli , you guessed it, is from the Easter veggie tray,   ) the recipe is Betty Crocker.    

All of these meals with the exception of the salmon one is less than five  dollars a meal.   Because the pizza and the chicken enchiladas are less than five dollars, it should average out.   

I can't reprint Betty Crocker recipes, but if you google them, they should be there.   I dos veered that enchilada sauce is basically a two cup thin white sauce recipe with the fo,losing substitutions : start with a fat to flour ration of 1 to 1. - two tablespoons flour to 2 tablespoons olive oil or another fat of choice.  Cook for a minute or so to get rid of the flour taste.  Add taco seasonings and blend in two cups of veggie stock or chicken stock.   The color comes from paprika and chilli powder.    

I found the recipe on Pinterest.   It's a real money saver since enchilada sauce is about a buck a can.   

Fred Meyers ad

Got the ad for Fred Meyers today,    My hubby went to the dollar tree and bought the paper and another pair of dress sox for granddaughter.   Seems she has lost one of her dress sox.   It was either buy another pair or let her do the bunny  hop! !   !  

The ad

Foster farms split chicken breast. .99.  

This is a really good price and it is easier to debone them when they are split.   I debone them and save the bones  for soup stock.   Buying soup stock in a box or can is another good way to derail your meal train.   I get low sodium chicken granulas or  better than Boullion.   I prefer better than boullion, but the dry granulas work for mixes.  

Grapes 1.88
Tillamook cheese 5.49@@.  Cheaper at Safeways,  

Hillshire farms smoked sausage 2/5@@

Berries 2/5

Chick roast 3.99

Kroger pasta 100.    Nite the dollar store has Barilla for a buck .  






That's about it.  

Eggs --so what Else would we talk about the day before Easter?

LOL.   ...

Two weeks ago, eggs were 18 for 2.00 at Fred Meyers.    It's another reason why you strike when the iron is hot.   If you wait  until the day before a holiday, often the prices go up.   They are banking on the fact that some people will wait until the last minute and taking advantage of that.

It still goes back to know your prices.   You don't have to know the prices of everything in the store, just the things that you use on a regular basis.    Have a target price and stick to it I less it is something you just can't live without....milk?

I digress.     Eggs

I hard cooked eggs on the oven this time.    It was really easy and a great way to get a lot of eggs done at one time.   No eggs cracked and it is really easy.  

Preheat oven to 325.   Place eggs , one each in muffin cups.  Bake for 30 minutes.   Meanwhile, make a ice water bath.  I put a big plastic bowl in the sink.  When the eggs were done take them  out of the oven  and use a hot pad  to remove the eggs to the ice water.   Cool 10 minutes and remove from the bath.    I placed them on a folded kitchen towel to dry.   Refrigerate after .   They are really easy to peel.   If you overlook hard cooked eggs, they will have a gray tinge around the edge.  They are still good to eat, just overlooked.  

Adding a hard cooked egg to your breakfast helps you to stay full until lunch.

Breakfast for dinner is a way I get another vegetarian meal in the meal plan and it's inexpensive.  
There are a lot of good quiche, breakfast casseroles. Omlettes. Waffles, pancakes. Muffins.
A Cobb salad is always good in the summer for a cool dinner.

At .11 a piece, it's a good way to stretch your dinner dollar amd leaves you open to have a more expensive cut of meat to average your costs.  

Contrary to what the rumors were in the past, now the guidelines for protein are so ounces of protein a day and some of that should be from eggs.

We don't eat eggs every day.   Moderation is the key again.  

What do you do with the hard cooked eggs after Easter?  
You can comment below.