Perogie and sausage. - 35.00 challenge

Yesterday I tried a recipe for perogie and sausage in the slow cooker.    I'm nit sure if I would try it again.    It cost five dollars and the cream cheese didn't melt, it was like curdled - in specks throuout the dish.   It tasted ok, but I didn't like the texture.    Trying new things is a crap shoot-- but it defies boredom in meal plans.   We , granddaughter and I, made a small batch of sugar cookies.   I picked up a bettymcrocker pouch at the dollar store, and it makes one pan of about one and a half inch cookies.   Not so much to load up on sugar-- a little treat .

 Yesterday I met a lady that had $35 to spend for five people. I don't know how long that food had to last.     But, I thought I would give it a shot. I just want to go through the thought process to see how far $35 would go  and take you along for the ride.  I'm going to assume she has the basics at home.

1.  Let's start with protein since it is the most expensive.   Pork loin is 138 a pound . 
2. Hamburger was 10.00 and change for 5 pounds.   

I don't know how many pounds the poke is.   You can cut 3/4 inch pork chops from it and leave enough for a roast.  Slice so,e ofmthemcooked roast thin and add BBQ sauce for sandwiches.   

Or 

Fry the hambirger to make crumbles.   It's fatty, so drain it in a colander placed on a pan.   Put the colander in the sink and pour boiling water over it.   Drain.   Place in containers of about a cup each.   

Five pounds of hambirger will net you five meals- stretching.    

1. Sloppy joes and tater tots.  ( buns are .88 and tater tots are 2 lbs for 1.28.   ) 1/2 pkg tater tots.  

1. Hot dogs w buns and the rest of the tater tots . ( Nathan's are on a coupon for BOGO net 1.91 and .88 for buns.
2.   Use this meal twice, second time add a suddenly salad. 
3. Speghetti w meat sauce.   : Barilla pasta 1.08  , salad 1.00. 
4. Tacos , taco shells  1.28 which includes a coupon on the box for taco seasoning  add lettuce from yesterday and tomatoes 1. Refried beans .88. Cheese 138. 
5. Stuffed potatoes ( broccoli, hambirger, cheese, chilli ) 
6. Hambirger pizza ( Bisquick crust, cheese, hamburger, black olives 

10.35. - 5 lbs hamburger
3.18 - 2 pkg hot dogs, Nathan's BOGO coupon (newspaper)
2.64 buns (3)
2.74 bread (3)
1.28 2 lbs tater tots
1.81 -2 suddenly salad (coupon) .55
.88 refried beans
4.14 3 pkg cheese at 138
1.00 tomato
100 head of lettuce
198 10 lbs potatoes
.98 1 pound broccoli
.90 Hormel chilli (coupon)
148 peanut butter
.70 black olives
1.64 -18 eggs

Total 36.00

Peanut butter toast. Or egg quiche for breakfast.   There is no fruit there.
Marchand bowls 08 with coupons.  

A week for 35.00 is a tall stretch without stockpiling.   Snap is 140.00 a week.

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the Put Dinner On The Table meal train from a different

 pro sypective.  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.    

Winco , Alberways, and qfc

I had to take granddaughter to summer school orientation,   So I went to Winco to pick up a few things we ate before they got to the meal plan day,  

Cucumbers were .38

They were having a pork sale, flyers are on the entry way,   Along with coupons for johnsonville  grillers.....save your money, out family didn't like them.  lol pork loin for 1.38 is a bargain,   

Suddenly salad was 1.18 and I had a .55 coupon on 2. 

 Yoplait yogurt was .50 and I had a coupon for .50 on five.   Grandpa bought a frozen yogurt for granddaughter in Edmonds,  it was a yoplait yogurt they had put on the freezer for 2.50.    I believe in origins , but who needs 600 percent!   

Tater tots were two pounds for 128.   

Beans are .48.   

Alberways 

Five dollar Friday's 

Freschetta 

Ritz crackers 3/5$$

.80 when you buy 10

Pasta sauce 

Manwich

Refried beans 

Catsup

Coupons 

Ragu. 1.29@@

Red Barron 3/10@@

QFC

Draper valley whole chickens .99

Tomatoes .99

Zucchini .99

Buns 4/5 - cheaper at Winco

About it.   

This weeks rotation would be draper valley chicken, ( WA grown, but nit as desireabke as Foster farms)  or pork loin for 1.38 at Winco.   

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the Put Dinner On The Table meal train from a different

 pro sypective.  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.    

Wicked Wednesday,

Wednesday is cooking day,  and clean out the fridge day.   Since Sunday when we deep cleaned the freezer and fridge, it should be easy,    I promised granddaughter that we would make cookies, amd a perogie dish in the crockpot is on the agenda.    

Watching other people's videos, I saw a apple fritter cake.   I love apple fritters and it's another recipe that doesn't take exotic ingredients-- just things I always have in the pantry. Having a list of recipes that don't take any special imgredients  helps keep the budget on track and still afford treats that aren't laden with preservatives and you control the fat.  

1. Sugar cookies 
2. Apple fritter cake 
3. Banana bread 
4. Snickerdoodles 
5. Brownies 

Watching other people's videos, gives you a perspective of what tondo and not to do.    Value based large families tend to have a no wholes bared approach-- just good food.    On a tight budget, the six bags of chips and 3 cases of pop amd bottled juice, just doesn't work.   Besides not being healthy, it's costly.    

Buying in bulk at RBP, using coupons, and not wasting food are principals that will save your grocery budget.    

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the Put Dinner On The Table meal train from a different

 pro sypective.  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.    

Couponing , not what you think

Couponing  doesn't take a long time....unless your printer refuses to work!   LOL.   They can be for a lot of things that are not processed, junk food.   For the most part we don't buy a lot of junk food,  It's a sure way to jack up your food bill.  
On coupons. com today I found :

.55 of soft tortilla
.50 off butter
.50 off butter with canola oil
.55 off two pronto Barilla pasta (2) -
.50 off rove yoplait yogurt.
2.00 off of a pork tenderloin

On blue  bunny, I got 2 - .75 off coupons

None of  that I consider junk, highly processed food.

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the Put Dinner On The Table meal train from a different

 pro sypective.  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.    

Staying on target

Staying on your target budget is not hard if you stick to the premise that you are not buying junk foods and have set target prices for items.    If an item is more than my target price and it's not absolutely imperative that I have it, I walk away.    Most things have an alternative.   That's where going to more than one store and buying the best of that store is key to feeding your family well on a small budget.

Even finding one or two things really cheap can snowball.   Barilla pasta is running 1.49.   Four boxes , then should be six  dollars, rounding.    I paid three and I got a coupon for 1.50 off three more.  I saved three dollars.   If I use  that three dollars to buy something  else that is an extreme bargain, it snowballs my savings.    That's how you pay for stocking without spending more than your normal budget on food.    Pretty soon you are spending less, because your stock is built and you are only buying the things at RBP.   

10 percent ground round was 2.77 instead of six dollars a pound,   I bought five pounds.    I saved rounding, 15.00 .   Today I will cook crumbles, and taco meat.    

Last night we had scrambled  eggs with cheese, a fruit compote with cantaloupe, grapes, and strawberries, and an apple, cinnamon  muffin.  ( I was making the basic muffin from Betty Crocker.   Granddaughter was helping.   She was mixing the dry ingredients while I was mixing the wet.  She decided that cinnamon would be a good addition to the dry ingredients, so I gave her some to add.   Then, I figured grating an apple onto the wet ingredients would be a good fit.  -and the rest , as they say, was history.    

Meal plans happen tomorrow.    We go for out last nit picking, and I'm working in my studio,  and batch cook five pounds of hamburger.   Hopefully all will work as planned.    

Back later.

I stopped at grocery outlet on the way home from what my DDG calls the hair Doctor.    I found 33 ounce tomato sauce in a bag for .50.    Romano cheese was 3.99 a wedge.    And onions were 1.50 a bag.  

On to meal plans

1. Hambirgers , French fries, salad 
2. Speghetti and meatballs , salad 
3. Baked potato bar 
4. Pizza 
5. Hot dogs. Suddenly salad 
6. Breakfast for dinner 
7. Perogie chicken casserole.    

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the Put Dinner On The Table meal train from a different

 pro sypective.  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.    

Fred Meyers haul

Today, as predicted, we went to Fred Meyers.   I'm done for the week.   I also went to dollar tree and to TJ Maxx.    I found a darling designer  outfit for ban for six bucks.   Dollar store had six for 6/1 again.   I was out of Gallo bags, so I picked up 14 for a buck until we get to Costco.  

Fred Meyer.    

5 pounds of 10 percent lean hambirger at 2.77 price was six dollars.  
2 stoffers Mac and cheese cups 2.00 ( baby's lunch)
12 English muffins 1.67
two Barilla pasta ( veggie) for 1.00 ea
two pronto Barilla pasta for .50 each with a coupon.  
2 -10 packs mission tortillas 1.00 ea
3 -8 ounce cans tomato sauce 1.00



Red grapes 1.48 a pound
2 cantaloupe - 1.00 ea
Blackberries 299

Total 33.34,

Total week 64.35


Yesterdays s and w beans were .43 net.   Net after Ibotta is 64.10.  

Sunday notes

4, + 1= 5 -- four people, one meal, five bucks.    Better , cheaper, faster.

Last night we had what I call a pick  up meal. We had cleaned and organized the freezer. There were two part packages of ground beef, cooked.   I put them in a pan to thaw on warm  heat.   I also found three partial bags of French fries --some crinkle cut, some not .   My husband dumped them all together.  When we went to Winco I saw a display of sloppy joe mix for a buck a can.  A light bulb went off in my head.   We had sloppy joes, French fries , amd broccoli salad for dinner.    It worked, amd I didn't have to.    ( we had thoroughly scribed the stove and refer greater, drip pans, coils. Fan, and all, took inventory and organized the freezer.) along with regular Saturday work.   I can't say that I like the canned stuff better than my own sloppy joe recipe; it was just easier and cheaper than take out.  Tonight we will have breakfast for dinner.  The cost of eggs has gone down and we have two and a half dozen with various pull dates.

It's meal plan day tomorrow and I plan to go to Fred Meyers today.   It would have been cheaper to go to Safeways for  milk, but  goimg to a store for one thing wasn't very cost effective.   We wouldn't have had time when we went to the dollar store  for bleach and disinfectant wipes.   The car seats had to be disinfected before we went home from ' lice meeting you'.  

Four plus one is five.    Most of our dinners are five dollars or less.   The trick is to average two dollars for protein.   That has been my figure for about fifty years now.    Fofty ears ago, the quality of meat we were eating was a drastic difference from what we eat now.    The types of proteins haven't changed, except we eat vegetarian twice a week.   As food prices have gone up, we have adapted.   There , also. Is three adults and one child in the family; fifty years ago, there were two adults and one child.    At one point in time, there were two adults and two teenagers.   At that point in time, I was written up in the Women's Day for feeding is on fifty  dollars a week.    I have dime that with a stand up freezer, and without.   You can still buy rotation meat with a regular freezer in the fridge.  Store the packages as flat as you can and precook your meat if appropriate.

This month I have found

1. Whole  chicken amd chicken thighs for .87 
2. Pork loin for 1.69 
3. Hamburger for 2.77
4. Eggs for .88

That's an easy rotation for our matrix of 3 chicken or pork. 2 vegetarian, 1 fish, and 1 beef.   

The trick is portion control and a lot of the time, meat is served in pieces,rather than  a whole hunk.   We still have pork roast slices and whole chicken thighs.   Occasionally, we splurge and have a piece of steak.    We still bet more than the FDA of protein usually.    

Another trick is to almost never pay full price.   I have a good idea of what I am going to buy before I ever walk into the store.   If not actual things, groups of things.   I knew I wanted fruit and veggies at Winco.   I bought the ones that were a good price.  I know that grapes are cheap at Freddie's today, so I passed.   Bananas were two cents a pound more than Costco.   I bought a few.   Cucumbers were .58.  English ones were a Buck.   It all goes back to knowing your prices.    

Winco had pork sirloin for 1.38.   I passed because after cleaning out the freezer, I know that I have enough.   Pork carnitas are 1.99 as well.   

Knowing your prices and always buying at RBP is key to a low food bill.

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.    

Winco run

Today, I deep cleaned the fridge and took inventory.   I used a sharpee to label the bins in the freezer.   We'll see how long they stay labeled.    
Then, I went and got the haircut I tried to get a week ago,   At least I could get it 1/2 price and then go to Winco.  

Winco has pork loin for 1.38.

I got bread
Bananas
Milk
2 Johnsonville sausage
Blue bunny ice cream
Nathan's Frank's
Hunts manwich
S and W black beans .69-Ibotta
Naval o ranges
Cucumbers
 California veggie fresh bag
Yoplait yogurt
 broccoli slaw

5.81 cents in coupons , an Ibotta on the beans, and total was 31.01.

The Fred Meyer ads - a good one

Fred Meyers has a really good ad for TOMMORROW,

Lean ground beef - 10 percent 2.97
Half loin. 1.77
Grapes 1.48
Barilla 1.00
Flour tortillas 1.99$$
Zucchini .99
Cantaloupe .99 each

That's about all.

The cheese is not a bargain.   Buy five pounds at Costco and freeze what you are not using.

 My pick  for rotation would be the beef hambirger - defat it.  and the pork loin of you didn't get it last time.  

Just when you think......

Yesterday's schedule just didn't happen.   I know, €><~. Happens as the saying goes.  The plan was to work on my studio and do kitchen management and shopping,   Best laid plans.......another good reason why having a stock and a plan gets you through the hard times.

Dear darling granddaughter brought home more than her wonderful purple construction paper "w" complete with craft eyes and other embellishments,   I wasn't impressed.    After two days of disinfecting everything and shampoo sing with this product that had the consistency of snot and having no good results. My daughter found " Lice meeting You ".

So, yesterday, we all went to a place in Seattle underground complete with primary colored walls and televisions streaming the latest Disney movies.   The line outside the door had to be at least four entire families waiting to get in.   Soon there were a dozen of us in shower caps with gunky  oil stuff sprayed on our heads.    There's something very disconcerting about the thought that there is creepy crawlers on your head.   Spiders on the wall creep me out.  LOL.

Hours and more money spent  than a months worth of groceries, we came out of there deloused, complete with an appointment for a follow up and instructions to disinfect yet again and quarantine for 24 hours.   My thoughts wained  to the "louse" that brought their child to daycare with head lice and the bigger "louse " that refused to believe that's where it came from.    The forensic person knew exactly where it came from.   Needless to say, we are homeschooling for the summer.   It was a day I won't forget soon.   None of us in our collective 184 years, have  ever had that experience.

On to tomorrow,   Another day.   I plan to do kitchen management,   We had hot  dogs and oven fries and fruit salad instead of the pasta salad I had planned.  We survived.    And I plan to get down the hall to my studio.

I digress , I have two more meals to pull from this weeks meal plans, amd will take inventory and do new meal plans.    Since I will have dear granddaughter, I can prep in the morning; she loves to help in the kitchen.

Involving children on the process of meals, and kitchen management teaches them valuable lessons.  Anything from fractions when measuring for a recipe, to grouping like things in the pantry or fridge/ freezer.   They also figure out that life isn't just playing and watching videos.   I also plan to find the beach this summer.

I did get to the dollar store for disinfectant wipes and bleach.   They have pronto speghetti as well as some boxes of Barilla.   They are also a dollar at QFC, but usually pronto and gluten free cost more.

5 ways to maximize your grocery dollar

To continue the 5 series....

Five ways to maximize your grocery dollar.

1. Make best use of coupons and rebate sites for the things that you buy regularly.  It is possible to use coupons without being extreme and still cut dollars off your grocery bill.   Ibotta gives you money on a gift card for buying things like veggies, milk. Etc.   
2. Just say no to the snack food isle and the bottled drink isle.  You will save a ton of money making  lemonade, herbal ice tea and water.    Potato chips are one of the most expensive items per pound in the grocery store,   Opt for pop corn.   - air popped.    
3. Portion control meat.    Serving a hunk of meat costs a lot more than putting pieces of meat on a dish,   It is cheaper to make sloppy joes than it is to make hamburgers.   Portion controlling meat assures proper protein without over-eating.   We only need six ounces of protein a day.   
4. Do a  kitchen management inventory check mid week and factor in perishables that need to be eaten soon. Waste not, want not. Soup, vegetable stock. Stir fry?    
5. Plan your meals.   Those that fail to plan, plan to fail.   Planning your meals allows you to feed your family a variety of foods and efficiently use what is in your pantry.    

See ongoing dinners updates.

This weeks ads

QFC is a one week ad.  

Broccoli is .99
Kroger cheese is not a bargain...that is for 8 ounces, that's 4.00 a pound.  
Barilla pasta 10/10....you don't have to buy 10
Annie's Mac and cheese has more fat than Kraft.  - I'm not found of the processed.  
Raspberries and blackberries 2/5

Alberways

Pork loin 1/2 1.79
Grapes 1.99
Milk 1.99@@
CANNED VEGGIES ..50



Five dollar Friday
Shrimp
Strawberries


Not much there.  

My pick for the rotation would be the 1/2 pork loin,   You can make chops from some of it  and use some for a roast.  Slice roast leftovers for BBQ pork sandwiches.

Barilla pasta is a good buy.  It's been running 150.   There are coupons for specialty varieties" but I don't know of that price covers

them.  

Reading Pinterest.

Everything in Pinterest is in  the eyes of the beholder.    Several old economy measures are no longer true.    It , sometomes, is a case of supply and demand.    There are a few convenience foods that are actually cheaper than homemade.    Of you like the taste, you are better off buying the ready made.   Idahoan mashed potatoes with sales and coupons are par with scratch, Hunts   speghetti sauce is cheaper to buy  than make.    As people get on the homemade, no processed food wagon, these prices will go down.   Now, beware, there are still a lot of processed foods that are full of preservatives and salt, fat, and sugar.   I wouldn't make a steady diet of them.  

Another misinformation is that  grated cheese is more expensive than blocks.   This is not so.   The cheapest block cheese I can find is 250 a pound,  I can get grated cheese for 200  a pound.    When we grated our own, we used twice as much.   Grating cheese at home is a courser grate and you use more.   The fine grate of ready made melts faster.  

The other idea is that Costco's deli chicken is a great buy,   Compared to other deli chickens, it is.   Costco's chickens in Seattle are draper valley.   I know because I asked, and asked, and asked, until I found someone  that would tell me.   They are three pounds.   Now, if you buy a three pound chicken, you are getting about 1.5 pounds of meat. You cost is about 3.34 a pound for meat.

Foster Farms chickens go on sale for .88 a pound often .  A 5.5 pound chicken is 4.84.   You will yield about 4 pounds of chicken from a 5.5 pound chicken or 1.21 a pound.    - a 64 percent savings.  

I can get a chicken on to cook in about 5-10 minutes depending on how I cook it and sometimes I get the added bonus of chicken stock included in my cooking,  

Of you are n a tight budget every savings is an important savings.  

Ongoing dinners through Thursday.

Tonight we are having a ham and pineapple pizza.    I am using the last of the ham from Sunday's ham and macaroni and cheese dish.   I added some pineapple from the dollar store ( name brand) and will add the rest of the can to a fruit salad with salmon patties.     I put a jar of pizza sauce into a ice cube tray and froze them.   I could pull two out and defrost them and still have a few more pizzas .  I used  a pizza crust I got from the dollar store.    Total cost 3.00.  add a salad  4.00.


Next up vegetable bean soup.   Some of us are planning to go to dinner, I will make a batch of vegetable bean  soup and we can have leftovers tomorrow.  

Vegetable bean soup

2 cans of diced tomatoes
2 cans  of beans ( I use two different kinds of  beans )
4 cups stock, vegetable or chicken
1-1/2 cups diced vegetables , sauté if appropriate.  
1 T Italian seasoning.  

Dump in the crock pot and cook on low 8-10 hours.

While I was dumping everything and sautéing the vegetables. I was cooking the chicken cubes for Thursday's dinner.   We are having baked chicken chimichangas.   Simple, baked dish.   Like a five imgredient dish.

Wednesday, we had chicken chimichanga and green salad.   The chimichangas were easy and I prepped  the salad earlier in the day,  

Thursday, we or emoted the mark plan becaus we had a lot of leftovers.    We had the bulk of the vegetable soup over rice.     An easy dinner .


.

Who, where!

Someone texted me.  It came across my screen, but I don't know where it came from.......

I make :

Ranch dressing mix
Chocolate pudding mix
Biscuit mix
Cream  soup mix,  
Taco seasoning mix
Dry rib mix.

It makes life easier, faster, amd I am not paying. If moneymaker stuff in an envelope to out on the trash.

Meal plans

after a disaster yesterday......I made mixes. But didn't discover that my cornstarch was stay date....a lot.   So, I traded cornstarch with my daughter who bought it to make deodorant-- she doesn't need her deodorant to thicken! LOL.  And, I started over.     New chocolate pudding mix and new cream soup base.    Fortunately, they both are fairly inexpensive.  

I needed dill weed for ranch dressing mix.  I bought it in bulk.  1 scoop was .02 pounds and it cost .22.   I don't have set it enough to warrant buying a big jar.  

Meals
My matrix is now 3 chicken or pork, 2 vegetarian, 1 beef, amd 1 fish.  

1. Salmon patties, oven roasted root veggies 
2. Speghetti and meatballs, green salad 
3. Baked chicken chimichangas , rice, beans 
4. Breakfast for dinner 
5. Vegetable bean soup ( use the half can or corn left over from taco meatloaf. ) 
6. Pizza ( buffalo chicken) 
7. Sausage and saurkraut with apples 

Salmon party recipe is on " Jenny can cook" u tube
Meatballs are already on the freezer, speghetti was .25 at the dollar tree.  
Chicken chimichangas are baked and I found the recipe on line.   I bought cream cheese for a dollar.  
Breakfast for dinner - strawberry waffles, eggs.
Vegetable bean soup is a mainstay here,,,easy and everybody eats it,   Add a cheezy bread or......
Buffalo chicken with scratch crust, ranch dressing for a base with hot sauce infused chicken, blue cheese, amd red peppers,  diced.   Top worth mottz cheese.  
Apples cut the tartness of the saurkraut.    Serve with a biscuit or sourdough bread

Sunday.

Tomorrow is meal plan day.    This week we were D along with a bunch of.   ..... Meals didn't go as planned.  We survived, but the meal plan didn't.    You always  need a plan, but it doesn't  always work out to follow it.   I found an interesting quote.  The author wasn't revealed.

Those to  fail to plan, plan to fail.

I'm am all about getting out of the kitchen fast at dinner time.    It's late, we have a four year old that's busy busy busy and everyone hits the door hungry. Hey, wheel of fortune is on!    LOL

Cooking ahead of time  works very well, as well as the crock pot.   Some working people cook dinner after dinner for the next day.    Of teen kids get home first, they can put it in the oven when it's the proper  time, amd dinner is done when you get home.   Whatever works.

I have a variety if mixes that I make ahead if time.  They are fractions of the cost of buying the mixes and it's just one less thing you have to plan for and buy at the store.   The least amount of specific things you need at the stores the easier it is not to forget something.

1. Chocolate pudding mix : better than ready made...yuk, and cheaper than the box of mix.   You are laying a lot for sugar, chocolate and thickening agent     
2. Ranch dressing mix - control the fat so you aren't getting hydrogenated oil and many recipes call for it.   
3. Taco seasoning - you control the heat!   
4. Salt and pepper mix - easy to grab 
5. White sauce mix ( instead of cream of XX soup) a lot healthier.   
6. Bisquit mix ( healthier) - no hydrogenated oil.    

I bought a bag of salt some years ago.   I will not have to buy salt the rest if my life.   It doesn't go bad.  It is on a cupboard we dont use a lot and I fill the  salt box when I need to.  Grocery outlet has large cartons of slices that are smaller than Costco, but bigger than the grocery store at a reasonable cost.    

It only takes a few minutes to make up a mix.   Try to do them a little at a time,   It's good for childre to help.   .   Use fractions and count.    I write  the directions on the top of the jar so I always have them at my ready,   

Granddaughter loves to "do a recipe".   It's good for her.  We have quality time, she's learning something, and I am getting my cooking done, not wondering if she is off trying to polish her nails or something worse!   LOL.   Isn't that the age where they decide their bangs are too long?      LOL.  My mother used to say that involving children  in what you are doing is easier than cleaning up the mess they make while you are working. 

I'm batch cooking the hamburger I bought yesterday.   Granddaughter has requested speghetti and meatballs for dinner.    

Tomorrows Fred Meyers ad - notes

Surprisingly  , there are not many items of food in this ad.   What's there are some really good prices

1. Strawberries , 2 lbs -299
2. Petite sirloin steaks 3.97
3. Milk , chocolate milk, OJ .99@@
4. Foster farms chicken, .87
5. Barilla pasta 1.00
6. Cross rib roast 3.99

That's about it for bargains,  my rotation protein his week would be the chicken and the twenty percent off hambirger I got yesterday.    That would make up for a week that I didn't get anything.   You can cook both at the same time , so your prep time would be less.    

As for the coupon book that comes with the paper, glade has a coupon for 100 off of any two products. There is some glade at the dollar store , but they may or  may not match,   .   .50 off any Colgate 3 ounces or larger.   That can be found at the dollar store sometimes,  just read the label carefully. Sometimes toothpaste at the dollar store was made for the Mexican market and they have a lot of fluoride in them.   I always read labels.   In any store you can find food that comes from China,  the FDA tells me that they monitor the factories in China and spot check the food  that  comes into the country for contaminates or quality.   

I only buy Foster Farms or Draper valley chicken.   I prefer Foster farms.    --all I am saying. 

I am careful what I buy.   We can only buy things that are at our target prices.   I want to average two dollars a pound for protein and a dollar  a pound for fruits and veggies.   Sometimes  that doesn't happen with fruits and veggies.    I always have a variety of fruit in the house.   It is a mainstay of a healthy diet.    What I do buy of inexpensive sources of protein is the best  quality I can find.    Finding the RBP on these items affords us good food on a tight budget. 

  Buying in season works too.  

Stocking on a product that typically goes on sale in conjunction with a holiday cuts your cost dramatically.  Check pull dates and buy what you will need for the year.   I'm talking things like pumpkin, catsup, turkeys.  Pizzas are cheapest super bowl weekend with coupons.   Unfortunately, you cant buy a years worth.  Pizza is cheaper of you can make it from scratch.  I don't always have the time or stamina, and it is our go to if no one wants to cook.    I am better off prepping early on the day so that dinner is a ten to twenty minute non- passive event.   

I , personally, am not convinced that organic food is better nutrition than regular food.   I peel and wash my veggies when it is appropriate.  My experience with organic produce is that it goes bad almost instantly.   

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

That also is true of portion control and not overbuying perishables.   Kitchen management and freezing or incorporating food before it goes bad onto you meals is important too.    It's only a bargain if you use it. 

The Internet and Pinterest is full of ideas on how to use up bits and pieces; it's also full of examples of what not to buy if you are feeding your family on a tight budget and trying to be as health as possible on it.   

5 easy snack foods that go together in a snap.

its always nice to have a little something in the house to snack on.   My mother always had the idea that if we are our meals, we didn't need to snack, we needed to give our stomaches  a rest.   We did learn to make cookies and bars at an early age.   

I see a lot of grocery hauls with five and six bags of potato those chips etc.    ....it's a good way to derail the food train.   They are expensive and if you figure the cost over pound, you will be very surprised.   Certain,y, you can get a lot better nutrition for that amount of money per pound,   

Besides the usual carrot and celery sticks, peanut butter and apple slices , veggies and hummus , and air popped popcorn, there are a few things you can make on a hurry that are good snacks. 

1. Although, full of sugar, rice crispy treats are quick and easy.    
2. Granola bars - another sugar loaded, but peanut butter and oats are good.  
3. Oatmeal, blueberry banana bread is quick and full of good nutrition 
4. Berries with a little yogurt on top
5. I'm the summer, we make pop cycles from yogurt or a fruity herbal tea.   I bought forms on clearance at Fred Meyers, but we use dollar store ones too.