Free or almost free food.

There's no issue,  free dinner is a good thing when you are on a limited budget.  

I shopped two stores.    We hit grocery outlet when I had to go to a neighboring town for business.  
I spent six dollars.  

QFC
Hummus kit  reg 2.38 -  FREE

Eggs - 1.59.  - FREE

2 Jimmy Dean pound sausages @3.00 less coupons 2.00 nets 2.00 each.

Pork sausage links 1.99

Pumpkin pie.  2.99 ( the pumpkin when you can find it is 2.48 a can )

Total 8.98 - calculated savings 16.46

I always consider it a win if I save more than I spend.

Winco

Cucumber .68
La Victoria enchilada  sauce 1.58 ( less Ibotta )
Ground turkey 1.48 with coupon

Chicken patties and nuggets ( Foster farms ) 4.47 and 8.94 less 3.75 coupon.  Makes a chicken patties  package -3 meals - .72.

White beans 2.36

Campbells chicken noodle soup. (8) 6.00. Less 2.40 in coupons or 3.60 or .45 a can.  1.59 a can  at other stores.

Red potatoes -5 lbs.  2.28

Total 23.72

Total spent 32.70. Less 1.00 ibotta. 31.70.

5 ways to save on food.

FOve ways to save on food.   

• Portion control 
• Use every bit of what you have : don't waste 
• Shop sales ( true sales ) and never pay full price. Stock enough to last till the next sale.  
• Use coupons ( especially stacking with sales ) 
• use a rebate site like Ibotta   

Extreme couponing at QFC

QFC s  bundle sale  is a good coupon winner.    That's usually when you can get a good deal-- when you are buying multiples.  

Buy 4/8.00 and get free milk ( Frosted Flakes or Keebler cookies.  )
Pair with buy 5, save three coupon on coupons.com.  

You are paying a total of 10.00 less 3.00 is 7.00 less 2.50  deducted 2.50  for milk total 4.50 for five boxes of cereal.    Or .90 each.  

Your OOP is 7.00 for five boxes of cereal and a gallon of milk.  




Buy 2 Jimmy Dean sausage at 2/6 Get 1 dozen eggs.  
Coupons,com has a dollar off coupon.  
Two jimmy dram sausage 4.00. Less a dozen eggs for 1.00 is 3.00 net or 1.50 for sausage.  

Your OOP is 4.00 for 2 lbs sausage and a dozen eggs.  

Price Lists and organizing the kitchen.

Back in the day......I developed a price list to track prices of the things that I used on a regular basis.  

I got a small spiral bound notebook and topped the sheets with the product and description.

Line items


Date.      Store.           Price.    

9/1/16.       Fred Meyers.              2/1.00           Coupon in ad


That told me when and where the cheapest  price on that particular item was.
If  prices are in a fluctuation mode, that's probably still  a viable tool.

Since we don't buy a big variety of foods, I have been able to keep the prices in my head.   I have target prices ( nothing to do with the red ball store) .   I know I want to pay .50 for beans and veggies and tomatoes,  I want chicken for a dollar a pound or less.   And so it goes.   I try to buy enough to last me until I find it that price again.   This one thing saves a ton of money.    Dried beans are about a dollar a pound,  pintos are cheaper at the dollar tree.   The rest are cheaper at Winco in the bulk isle.   I have started to use the canisters that pop corn comes in from Costco.  I want the same canister in a row in my pantry shelves.    I bought labels from the dollar store.   They can be removed from plastic.

I helped my daughter last night reorganize her kitchen.   She had a shelf in between her cabinets in her pullman kitchen.   It made it so that she locked up two 24 inch cabinets and the kitchen always looked messy and was not efficient.  We took the shelf out to be used to organize shoes or toys.  We made a cupboard just for lunch makings at a lower level so granddaughter can go in a pick her juice box and her snack.   I bought canisters and we labeled them and put the canisters in a cupboard and a drawer.   We purged glasses down to one cupboard for glasses and coffee mugs and out extra glasses for back up incase one was broken in storage.    Appliances she doesn't use often we put in a cupboard and big canisters of bulk items went in a bottom cupboard.   Her counters now have appliances she uses daily and a counter designated for a work surface with a bamboo cutting board.  She still needs an apartment sized fridge.    Having an efficient kitchen helps  enormously.   Scratch cooking is a lot easier.   It doesn't have to be a huge kitchen.  She has a pullman  kitchen.

Finding zones based on activities makes everything you need for a particular project condensed in one place.  You save steps not running all over the kitchen and it eliminates some of  the chaos of doing a task.   If it's more pleasant, you feel more like doing it.

The ads 9/28

QFC

Apples,199
Pears .99
Yoplait 2/88. **



Bundles :   Thrifty or nay!  

Dijorno pizza 2/10 get ice cream free ( Haagen das)
Frosted Flakes 4/8 a free milk gallon
Jimmy Dean sausage 2/6. Free eggs
Wheat thins buy 3 at 199, free 8 oz cheese.  
Buy 2 5.99 k cups free creamer

Most of those don't sound like a great bargain.   I do not know ifmyou can  use a coupon  on the buy ite,s. But I suspect so, since these specials are not on a coupon.     There aremcoupons for frost d Flakes and sausage.  

Pumpkin pie 3.99

Alberways

Beef roast 3.88 lb

Grapes 1.49


Five dollar Friday's
Pork tenderloin
Barilla 5/5
Bread .88@@


That's about it.  


Grocery outlet had
Cheap on
Seasoned whipped cream cheese ( peach)
Cake mixes 2/1 ( use soon,).
Tomato paste was …39


About it.    

Ways to cut your grocery bill.

Simple ways to cut your grocery bill

1. It's hard to believe, but one study says that we spend 1/3 of our grocery bills on drinks.  Cut the pop or soda oit completely.  It's not even good for you.  We should all be drinking water unless you have medical issues.  Put a pitcher of water in the fridge.   It will taste better because it's cold and because the chlorine will dissipate. When my daughter was small, the nutritionist told me to give her an apple instead of apple juice.   Apple juice is especially bad for children in tippie cups.   Iced tea is cheap and there are all kinds of herbal teas out there.   They still cost pennies a bag.   No need to drink kool aid.    Don't be a coffee snob.  Use the cheapest  you can find.   
2. Don't waste food.   Portion control.   Read packages, they are a good source for portions.   A half cup is a portion for cereal.   Oatmeal or cream of wheat is better than cold cereal , especially sugar loaded cold cereal.  Give a child a small portion of something and give them more within reason if they are still hungry.    
3. Eat foods  high in protein.   I learned at diabetic school that foods high in sugar or starch are processed by your body fast, and leave you hungry. Eat protein with your carbs,  the protein is digested more slowly and you are fuller longer.    
4. Fix  plates in the kitchen.   Or cook with portion control in mind,  it takes 20 minutes for your brain to figure out you are full.   If you eat until you are full, you are probably  over eating. Some teen or pre teen boys will make a game out of how much they can eat.   Don't allow it.   It's not good.   Yes, I do know that growing boys , especially active   ones need more calories.  They don't need to eat a two pound roast!   
5. Use all of your food.   Another study says we throw out 1/2 of our food.   Not so in our house.   If you have leftover meat, go to a website ( Betty Crocker on  line  cookbook is one ) and insert the item in the search box,   Recipes using that item will pop up.    Think outside the box.   Leftover chilli can be chilli dogs .   It's important to have a meal plan; and just as important to deviate the meal plan to use up leftovers.   Lunch the next day.   A lot of husbands don't like leftovers.   Our home Ec teacher called them planned overs.   Give the food a new face. 
6. When you do your kitchen management. Take note of what's left.   Incorporate it into the next weeks meals.  Think vegetable soup, or chicken vegetable soup.   
7. Of your kids don't eat the crusts if their sandwich, cut the crusts off and place them on a sheet pan with a rack or in the food processor so they dry out for bread crumbs or croutons.   
8. Use an 8 inch plate.   You can easily get 4 ounces of meat, 4 ounces of a vegetable, and a starch on an 8 inch plate.   We feel that we have to fill our plates just as we feel we need to fill the grocery carts,   That's why grocers have bigger and bigger carts.   Have you really looked at the size of Costco's Carts! That's why you can't get out of there for less than 100.00.   The size of the carts and the size of the packages is the reason.  A lot of things are close to ten dollars.    Same with your plate.   Phycologically , we fill our plates.    Force portion control.   Your waist line will love you, as well as the waste reduction.  
9. Meal plan to use up whatever's in the fridge.  Have a list of go to meals written down.   As well as a list of snacks.   As for snacks, growing up, we didn't get any.  None of us were fat.   
10. Give children a portion controlled healthy snack.  Apple slices, maybe with peanut butter.  Crackers and hummus,  make muffins ( muffins can be really cheaply made) they are huge and cost a dollar a piece at the store often.   Air popped  popcorn is a good, healthy snack and really cheap in the bulk bins at Winco.   ( about fifty cents a pound ) the bulk at Costco , I believe is better, but it's 1.50  a pound. )  Oatmeal in anything is good. 

Easy Peasy

I am making two pots of soup for a gathering,   I cooked beans yesterday and chopped veggies the day before And cooked ground beef, defatted it and froze it.    It was a cinch to out ingredients in a pot and turn it on.   It makes entertaining easy.  

It's stressful if you are cooking at the last minute.

Chilli in I sta pot as slow cooker.

Vegetable soup 

• 
  

What am I going I do, and how am he going to do it.

How many  times have s have  asked  yourself this ?

I'm not ready to put Halloween  up yet, maybe a few leaves.   I got a gift of the hot psds and towels from the dollar tree.   I picked up the placemats that went with them for the breakfast bar.   That spruces the whole kitchen up for six dollars.    It doesn't take much to make the kitchen table festive!  
Dollar tree has stemmed votives.   I had three kids, two of them boys.  You can have steamed votives and nice things,    Kids can learn to act appropriately .

Some turning leaves  from the dollar store,    A bowl of fake apples collected through the years.   I saw some at the goodwill yesterday,    Votives from the dollar store,    A crystal bowl was a gift, but you could use any bowl, there are always interesting bowls and baskets at the goodwill.








Kitchen management day,    I have already oreoed somemthinfs.  We went to Freddies yesterday,  I didn't buy much food, but i replaced  the meat tenderizer that my husband broken trying to break up some ice and my diabetic candy was on sale.     What's not to like about 1/2 price chocolate without any Carbs!  LOL.

• Cottage cheese 
• La croix -not in the food budget - - more healthy substitute for pop,    
• 4 fire roasted diced tomatoes, and dining 2 dices tomatoes with jalapeños,   
• 5 pounds of carrots, 
• Radishes 
• Butter 

Basically, what was on sale and some carrots and radishes.    

I saw a interesting article about what store is the best store to shop at.   There is no best store.  No store has the best prices on everything.  Certain stores are nitmed for certain items that they sell a lot of and therefore, can price really low.    Shopping sales and shopping multiple stores is your best  bet to find 1/2 price or more.    I used to shop on Friday and hit two chain stores, the ones with the best prices for the week of the products I needed.     Now, our selection of stores has dwindled.  We have QFC ( Kroger) and Safeways/Albertsons that have merged and have one set of prices that we get the ad for on Wednesday.   Fred Meyers (Kroger) we get on Sunday,    Winco and Costco we don't get at all.   That makes one shopping day a lot harder to manage.    I usually group my shopping so we use less gas,   We do have a car that gets 50 mpg.

When you go to the store and just buy the things on a good sale, they call it cherry picking.  The grocers don't like it, because they want you to buy a lot of expensive things they make a big prodit  on.  I don't usually just get the sale items,   I don't, however, get the high priced items.   A lot of profit is made from. Using soaps and sundries that are priced  higher than other stores.   It's convenient to buy everything in one place,but conveniences have a price tag.  A lot of everyday things like toothpaste, deodorant, napkins, tissue, are at the dollar tree a lot cheaper.  . Same brand. Less money.   

I have found .50 coupons for puffs.  That makes them 1/2 price at dollar tree.  It makes the, closer to 75 percent off from regular stores.   We see toilet paper when we were kids.  I have sinusitis.   I use a lot of tissue.   I want it all over the house.   I got some for .69 at Fred Meyers. It was a smaller  tissue but there were over a hundred tissues in the box.   I'm thinking we don't need large tissues.   

The mantra is to never pay full price.    If you take care of the pennies, the dollars will take care of themselves.  There is always that person that buys nothing to decorate the house or try to make it festive or fun.  It doesn't have to be expensive, bit it adds  to your quality of life.   A few things, packed away for another year.   

I digress.    This is about food.    Paying 1/2 price or less is the key to eating well on foir dollars a day.  Think  about it, basically you are eating in eight dollars a day.or almost a grand a month for a family of four.   We eat on an  average of  75.00 a week and have for years. Basically, there are three of us.   And, that also stocks a pantry.    It's full at the present because I am expecting a large expense shortly, and we can eat out of the pantry and freezer and balance the budget.  This is the only place that. Can get fifty percent on my money with  relative safety.

Having a stock is not  hoarding.   It's being prepared.    The young people that have never seen the dark side of broke with no safety net don't  see the need.   We had a big snow one year,  the snow plow came down the street and blocked the driveway with a pile of ice. It wasn't safe for us to be walking.    Without food we would have been in a pickle-- no one want to survive on the pickles in the fridge.  LOL.  Stocking gives you a sense of security , you are prepared of there is an emergency and it can be as simple as having a sick child that shouldn't go out.

No child should suffer the insecurity of haveing nothing in the house to eat.  Now, I have known teens that think because there is no chips and pop on the house and they actually have to cook something means there is no food on the house.   LOL.

With a little sleuthing and food buying skills, you can have a lot of food, for little money.   

.

Meal plans

Meal plans for week of September 26

Mac and cheese. Carrots

Chicken tomato salad , rolls

Salmon, rice medley, peas and carrots

Sausage and sourkraut , apples, rolls

Pizza, salad

Breakfast 4 dinner

Meal plan board from the dollar store.     

Winco and meal plans

after the Winco haul , I did some marathon cooking,    I de-boned chicken breast and made chicken stock and picked the vines for some meat-- enough for soup.  

I cooked the six pounds plus pounds of hamburger amd pit some in small packages for taco meat or a casserole or sloppy joes.     The other I put aside for Chilli.  

We had chicken burgers for dinner.    It's best to make something simple after marathon cooking.  

Today I will do the kitchen management and clean out and organize the fridge.  

The pantry is full and so are the freezers ( the fridge freezer is very small) and my husband. Ought a smaller one when we replaced the freezer.  

The do it hike is coming very soon and we will be eating the pantry down.   I'm sitting at 68.00 a week this month.   I hadn't bought a lot of meat until this week.    We had a lot of meat  and I haven't seen a lot of sales.     My pick for this week would be the while chickens of we really liked dark meat.  
I haven't seen chicken breast cheap for two sales rounds now at Fred Meyers.     I broke down and laid 2.28 for split breast.   That's still a lot cheaper than sox dollars a pound and I got stock and chicken pieces.     I'm still averaging 1.25 a meal so I'm not to upset.  

A lot of thing are forecast to go up about 2-4 percent next year.    I see some evidence of that now.  Beef , chicken, eggs, cheese... To name a few.   We can hedge ot a little for a short time,   Stock so,e chicken and cheese and beef.   Eggs will just have to bite the bullet.    There are some substitutes for eggs in the old war time cookbooks.  

Winco haul

Sadly, the pic didn't work.  I'll post it on Facebook for those that are on my Facebook.    Total spent 57.65  Which included our lunch of 4.77  Total 52.88.

1. White bread 
2. Chicken breast 10.97 ( 8 meals ) 1.25 per meal 
3. Yoplait yogurt (8) 3.58 less 100 coupon 2.58 for 8 or .32 
4. Romas (.98) - 1.41 
5. Enchiladas sauce 1.58 times 2 - 3.16 
6. Ground turkey 2.58 less 1.50 coupon nets 1.08 
7. Hamburger Huns .78
8. 2lns salmon 6.98
9. FF chicken patties 4.47 less 1.00 coupon 3.47!
10. Parmesean, real 2.68 
11. Lean ground beef -close to three dollars a pound.    

Note: there is a coupon in the entrance of Winco for 1.50  off ground turkey if you buy la Victoria taco sauce or enchilada sauce.   I had taco sauce and buy it in a 1/2 gallon jug for about 350 with coupons, but enchilada sauce was 1.58 for a 24 ounce can.   Making it from scratch is a bit of a pain.   Not bad, but I'm not going to wink at buying it for 1.58 when I can get meat for a dollar and eight cents a pound.  

Yoplait is 2/88 at Freddies tomorrow, but this was cheaper.    

Chicken patties is a cheap fill in meal when no one want to cook.     

Freddie's ad for tomorrow

o got the paper.....the ad.      

I'm not finding chicken split breasts!  Darn!  
Chicken thighs, drumsticks, and whole fryers.   .87

Butter 2/5

Jiff  peanut butter 4/5@@

Veggies, tomatoes, beans 2/1@@ limit 6

Yoplait 2/88
Sour cream 2/4
Green beans 1.49

Turkey breast 1.99
Hamburger 10 percent 4.99

Roasted chicken.  2 lbs 12 ounces.  9.99 - 3.63 a pound,  
Foster farms chicken .87 a pound

I would only buy a roasted  chicken if I was in a terrible time crunch.   The sky would have to be falling . And then, I wouldn't buy one that was under three pounds.   That's just a rip off.   At least, I would buy a Costco chicken that's three pounds.

1. Three pounds is the break even number for a chicken. At a three pound chicken, you are laying for 1.5 pounds of meat, and 1.5 pounds of bone.   Or 3.33 a pound for the meat.   
2. If you buy a 5 pound whole  raw chicken, you are paying 1.25  a pound for the meat or a 63 percent savings. 
3.  It takes 10 minutes to cook a whole chicken ( non passive time ) .  
4. 5 lbs of rotisserie meat costs 16.65 . 5 lbs of raw  chicken meat costs 6.25.  
5. The difference is 10.40.   If you spend ten minutes putting a chicken in to cook, you are making 62.40 an hour .    

That's the way I figure out if it's worth making something from scratch vs, buying it ready made,    

What's your time worth?    No one ever paid me 62.40  an hour.    The added bonus is that you can get a rich chicken stock that would cost you an additional dollar or so a can.  

Easy whole chicken cooking recipes are on earlier posts.  

The other thing to consider is, my mothers favorite expression, you don't know where that thing has been.  You don't know where that chicken of from.   I do know that Costco chicken is a drawer valley ( PNW grown, ) it took some digging to find that out.  When I asked, I got an I donnno.    Don't hesitate to ask until  you get an answer. You should be able to tell where something is from.  

Freaky Friday.

I think it interesting to note that just because your finances are low, you don't have to be stuck eating unhealthy food or not getting any treats.  

QFC today has free sour patch candy.    There is a coupon in the coupon flyers that came in the paper for a dollar off of Werthers original carmels.  They are at the dollar store, so basically it a BOGO.  

Of course, your doctor  and dentist will tell you to eat sugar in moderation.  

There are a few things that are not  bargain at any cost in my estimation

1. Fake butter : often has hydrogenated oils in it.  Real butter is cheaper and better for you to use in moderation      
2. Corn oil    :  most corn products have GMO.   The jury is still out.  Most scientists say it can't hurt you.   The doctor I read about says to avoid until there is more information out there   
3. Boxed parm cheese.   It's old, rather than fresh,    It has cellulose in it , which is another word for wood pulp.    Buy your own block and grate it or at least buy grated in the deli and  read the contents. A micro plane is worth the investment, yourmcheese is grated really fine and it stretches the cheese.   
4. Chicken that isn't Washington grown,.  Not going into it here, but it's just better.    No chicken in the United States can have hormones.    Don't let the bragging on the oaxkage impress you,   
5. Hydrogenated oils,   A lot of things have hydrogenated oils in them.  To avoid all of them is nearly impossible.    You can start by only buying olive and canola oil to cook with.    Read the labels of the peanut butter and get one that has the least amount,   If they are reducing the amount ifmhydroginated oiks, they'll be shouting it to the rooftops.    
6. Fake sugar .    Fake sugar makes you fat.    It's better for your diabetic numbers but the fake sugar doesn't know where to go because it isn't natural.    So, it attaches to your fat cells and makes them fatter.   Moderation is the key.  
7. Soda pop.    The fizz strips your bones from calcium.  
8. Cocoanut oil.    Two tablespoons of cocoanit oil have more saturated fat than a serving of beef.  
9. Potato chips.   Fat fat fat. Salt salt salt.   No real food value.    Substitute so,thing else for the crunch factor.    
10. Speciality eggs or egg whites.    Scientists have come to realize that while eggs have cholesterol, the cholesterol is the good cholesterol.    You apparently want to boost your good cholesterol and reduce the bad.  Just use regular eggs.    

Shopping day

I made today our shopping day.    Tomorrow is cleaning day, but we already did a lot of that.  

We went to Safeways and the dollar store.    ( next to each other ) and Winco.  

Dollar store netted a jar of pizza sauce.   The same brand  as the other stores,  but a lot less money .
I freeze it in ice cube trays and then put the cubes in a zip lock.   About three pizzas from a dollar jar.
Savings about 33 percent.  


Safeways netted
linguine for .75 ( 1.29)
Fettuccine for .75 (1.29)
2 cake mixes 1.00 ea ( 4.38)
4 -8 ounce pkg. cheese .98 ( 2/7 at FM)
2 butter 1.99 ( 3.69 elsewhere)
1 strawberries 2.99
Apples .99 ( 1.99)

Savings 48 percent.  

Winco
2 lbs frozen peas 1.88
2 cake  mixes .88
PRego pasta sauce 1.57 less coupon.   1.07
Large eggs .90
Lettuce .99
Tomatoes 1.98

Eggs or cheese were basically a buck at Safeways.   I knew that I probably could get eggs at Winco for around that (.90) so I got all cheese.    Cheese is 2/7 at Freddies and eggs were  .90 at Winco.
Knowing prices and adjusting a shopping trip accordingly can save a lot of money.   My target price for frozen veggies is a dollar a pound.  This was under.

I spent about thirty dollars total.  

Dump cake

I made a dump cake for company.  It's a very easy cake.   Some of them say to dump a can of soda over the top of a cake mix.   I haven't tried those.  

Some call for canned or pie filling.   I'm not too fond of that much  sugar.  The recipe calls for a cake mix, that's enough sugar.  

Betty Crocker has a recipe for pound cake.   Three ingredients.   I think you could add some spices .  
It is very easy,    Apples. Yellow cake mix, butter.    I substituted blueberries for the apples.   That recipe called for a little sugar.  

Honestly. five  minutes from scratch to oven.    A little more of you  have to run the apples through
the apple machine.  

Cake mix is a dollar  at the tree. Lately, it  isn't Betty Crocker.  It's always less than a dollar at Winco, sometimes 88.  Butter  is two dollars   at Safeways.  

New ads

Alberways

Broccoli .99
Cauli,.99

Grapes 3/5!!!Friday only
Ice cream , 2/5 Friday only

Butter 1.99@@
Eggs .99@@
Shredded cheese 8 0z .99@@

Quarters
Tillamook yogurt .50


Folders 6.99



QFC

B4S4

Angus beef patties. 2lbs 7.99
Ice cream 2.99
Pound frozen veggies .99
Freschetta 3.99

About it.  

Terrific Tuesday......coupon edition

I gave a program for a group last night on extreme couponing  --not

Couponing notes 

Why

Why Coupon.   The answer is a matter of saving money,   My dad always said that the price of the coupon was factored into the purchase price, so you were loosing money if you didn't  use the coupon.    

The consensus of opinion is that it takes lots of time and most of the coupons are for a quarter and for things that you don't buy anyway.   Not true now.   I spend about a hour a month on couponing and I save as much as fifty dollars a month.   I get coupons for laundry soap, and staples like yogurt, butter, cheese, pork tenderloin.    

The extreme coupon show has given the concept of couponing a bad wrap.   It wasn't real.   Real people don't coupon like that.   No one needs 90 bottles of red pepper sauce.    No one gets paid to buy things. - except at the drug stores with reward points or when you get a reward for changing prescription to a new pharmacy .   And no one on there right mind would neglect housework and  family time to spend forty hours a week clipping numerous coupons for ninty bottles of red pepper sauce.    

There was a nice lady on the today show that was talking about couponing,   Mat lauer asked her what she would say to naysayers.    She said.     I don't think I'll ever forget it.    If you don't understand , you ain't ever been broke enough.   

Where.   

Coupon inserts are booklets about the size of a half sheet of paper.   There are two companies that print them.   Smart source and red plum.   One of them comes in the Sunday paper  , except for on holiday weekends.   The paper is a dollar at the dollar tree starting the Saturday before .   The other insert comes in the mail.    P and g comes on the first Sunday of the month.   

Coupons can also be found in store ads. On merchandise, ( don't take the coupon  off before you get to the checkouts  and  remind the checker  ) , and on line.   

If you particularly like a product.  E mail the manufacturer and tell them.   They will often send you coupons.   

Coupons.com 

Download coupon drivers once 

You can print two coupons per month of any particular product.   

They come out 1st of the month.   Big dollar coupons go fast.  You snooze , you loose.   

Make sure you don't have your printer on double sided.   You can print on a used one every of paper. And you can print in black and white.    

While we are on electronics.   

Favado 

Ibotta 

What to do with them

I glance at inserts and pull anything that gets up and grabs me.....a dollar off blue bunny...oh, yah, I'm all over that one.   

Then , i file the inserts in a file folder by month,   I keep three months back and rotate the last month for the first.    It helps if you,can remember to put the date of the insert in the front of it.    

The printed coupons. I have in a  binder that has photo inserts  and baseball card holders in it.   If you have few, there is a coupon wallet with dividers at the dollar store.  

Once  a month , I clean out the outdated coupons while watching tv.   

Coupon rules.   

Verbage has to be exact.  The picture doesn't , but the words do.   

Dollar tree takes coupons, buy only 4 per day per household and only  two of them can be printed coupons.   

Big lots and grocery outlet don't take coupons.   

Winco will not stack coupons.   

About anywhere else will take coupons and stack them.   

QFC has the most lienient coupon policy.   They will use a basket coupon before you use other coupons.  Pick your checker.    Old men aren't the best for couponing,   

The most bang for your buck.  Is where you can match, a sale, a manufacturers coupon, and a basket coupon.   A basket coupon is where a store will print a coupon for five dollars off of 25.00.  For example.   You get the most bang for your buck if you stick to only spending the 25.00.   Stacking coupons with a sale can save as much as 78 percent.    It's worth a little planning.   

Sign up for the rewards cards for the grocery stores.   QFC gives  you free stuff and coupons to load electronically.   Just download or make a note of what they are for.   You can't forget, they automatically appear on your receipt.    

Miraculous Monday

miraculous?    I suvived the weekend !  

Prime example of why you stock.   Often retailers will pull a trick of having a big sale on a item just before they are considering a price hike,   Their idea is that you will forget the regular price and not notice that they have either lowered the quanity of the item, or raised the price or both,  

Oh, his true,    My husband Kent telling me every time I bought a 1/2 pound bag of cheese, that we already had cheese.   I knew how much cheese we ha, amd the small packages looked like I was buying an enormous amount,   But I just new with thembuyout ofmcheese from the USDA! It was going to skyrocket.   After all, the buyout was to help the farmers make more money.  They had a glut on the market.  

I predicted five dollars a pound.   It was seven dollars a pound at Freddies yesterday.  I who'd love comments on the proce of cheese  on your area.  

Stocking , especially when you catch wind of an event that will effect the cost of a stable product softens the blow of the price hike.    I can freeze gratedmcheese, we eat a lot,   I, nitmstocking a freezer full, but I probably bought ten pounds,    That will probably take is to the first of the year.  

I can soften our cheese blow to the budget.  But, beef, eggs, and chicken are going to take a hike too.   Probably two to four percent. It's not such a blow.   I still haven't found chicken split breasts for a buck lately,  they missed their rotation.   At the dollar plus that they are at Winco, they are still a good buy considering the cost of boneless, skinless chicken breast.  

When a vegetable takes a hike, you can substitute.   When almost every protein takes a hike, and you have already reduced your consumption, you have to just eat it.    We will probably go vegetarian an extra meal and change our meal matrix.    Watch for big sales.   If people don't buy it, there will be a overstock, and the price will go down.  

When coffee prices went up, I just watched for sales.    We aren't coffee snobs, so anymbrand as long as it's not too strong, will do.    We only drink 1 pot a day and my daughter uses the coffee pod you fill.   I have to drink  some coffee Per my doctor,    The coupons so far haven't been useful; & the prices are too large in the first place.  A coupon will do you no good if the price plus the coupon is more than another brand.   Unless , you particularly love that brand and can't do without it.   Not recommended for a very strict budget.    

Particular no not for a very strict budget.    My mother wouldn't allow certain things on the house.   She used the excuse that they were not good for us which was mostly true.  

1. Pop, Soda. Whatever you call it. The fizz supposedly can strip you bones from calcium, and the sugar can lead to obesity.    If you need pop, buy the water that has no sodium and no artificial sweeteners and  no carbs.    And, drink it in moderation.    LA Croix.   
2. Packaged cookies and donuts,    ( sugar, hydroginated oils, oreservatives.
3. Potato chips ( full of salt ) 
4. Gum 
5. Kool aid 
6. Expensive fruits and vegetables.   Fresh pineapple was a rare treat.   When my aunt came to live with us during the summer , she bought us things that were healthy, but mom couldn't afford.    Those days, fresh fruit , except apples, was prohibitive because we weren't as global as we are now.
7. Almost anything that was ready made.

Almost all of that list is either costly, or bad for you.    

Attitude goes a long ways on cutting your food bill.   Eating healthy is not hard on a strict budget.   Eating fad diets or trendy diets , however is hard.   Wait till the trendy diets become regular diets and have proven themselves to be really healthy.    There was a craze a few years ago that low fat was good for you.   Low fat didn't mean no fat.    We switched to fake butter and fake fat.   Now, they have discovered that fake fat made us obese.    And, fake butter has hydrogenated oil and is really bad for us and a contributor to heart disease.    Fake sugar, too, contributes to obesity.  The fake sugar sticks to you fat cells and makes them fatter.    Try to stick to the real thing in moderation.    

According to at least one doctor. Vegan diets are bad for you.   You may be being kind to animals and the environment, but you aren't being kind to yourself.   If you choose to be vegan, the doctor strongly suggests you take supplements to out back what you took out.   He also said not to go on fad diets, just lower your consumption and stay away from sugar.    

Random thoughts.     

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a diferent perspectives. 

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until they goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your 
meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the 
locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen )by
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more isn't hard

Fred Meyers and Winco

we did go to Fred Meyers and Winco today,   I had things to buy for a gathering tomorrow.     I also bought milk and sour cream and cottage cheese,    The cheese I bought for two dollars oj the last weeks, predictably seven dollars a pound.    I guessed five.  

I bought flour and some veggies.   I didn't buy a lot because we didn't need a lot and I did buy some things that aren't food related.   I did get a bucket of dishwasher detergent and some candy,  

I bought bulk popcorn because my daughter was going to Costco for it and I was going to Fred Meyers and meet her at Winco,    She couldnt find the popcorn,    So I picked up some on the bulk isle at Winco,   It was half the cost of the bucket at Costco,   I still want to get the bucket at Costco because I want to store all my beans in the same size and shape of bucket  for uniformity,    Cantaloupe was .39 a pound.    Grapes looked good, the were the same price as Fred Meyers that were not looking good.  

I cut the bottom off the baby romaine and it's growing.    A good lesson for children and you are supposed to get another head of romaine out of it.

Sunday blog meal plans

This is tomorrow's meal plans for next week.    Busy weekend planned.    Meals aren't necessarily in chronological order.  

1. Hot dogs, salad. Veggie sticks 
2. Pizza - scratch 
3. Fish hobo packets 
4. Tacos, refried beans, Spanish rice.   ( homemade - non fried , refried beans ) 
5. Tomato chicken salad w crescent rolls 
6. Acorn squash, baked , chicken thighs, broccoli 
7. Breakfast 4 dinner.