Winco haul

It's always pleasant to find a real bargain .   Winco saves money by not publishing a advertisement.   You never know what you are going to find price wise.  Some things are always cheaperc and you can just about bet they will be in stock.  As apposed to grocery outlet, where pretty much it's a crap shoot- a treasure hunt,  

It pays to be flexible,   I walked onto Winco yesterday and chuck roast was 1.98 a pound,    I haven't seen those prices in a terribly long time,     I bought one and immediately got it on the slow cooker before I even put away all the groceries.  

Total 50. 71
Pumpkin pie 3.48
Eggs .98
Butter 2.00
Cake mix .88
English cucumber .78


And, I'm still under budget.  

Thursday, December 22 , 2016

Almost Christmas.  

We always have Christmas breakfast.    It's a tradition.  

Sparkling cider
Belgian waffles with berries and whip cream or your choice of syrup
Fruit
Bacon

The table is set with a blue tablecloth with snowflakes on it,    There are mirrors down the center with gkass trees ( a collection from years bought from k mart , one tree at a time ) and tiny battery operated lights.   A winter wonderland,  

A few things, even from the dime store ( now the dollar store) or collected from the goodwill make the difference between a meal being special or just another day,  

My Mother  always made it special.   I remember hunting for alphabet macaroni and painting it with fingernail polish to glue names for place favors one year.    Trees from construction paper attached to a round of toilet paper tubes work.   Kids can paint or color paper from the junk mail.   It doesn't have to cost a lot, just use your imagination.   My daughter took plastic ornaments from thendollar store, had children color paper, cut it on strips and curled it and stuffed  it in the ornament.   Melted wax works too for older kids.    Set them on a toilet paper ring.   Pinterest always has ideas.  


The best part of Christmas for me was trying to find that perfect gift for someone that they either really wanted or really needed.  That has  been ruined for me in years of late.    The best Christmas in recent years was the one where my daughter happened on to a family that had been homeless for a year,  they just got housing, but living in your car for a year with three children doesn't leave you much room for household belongings.    My friends and I set to work and made Christmas for the family and found extras around our houses to at least make them have enough to get buy.    It just made my Christmas!    

Making Christmas special is all about creating memories.  I have some sad and some not so sad.    My life has not been a bed of roses.    But, there are always people that have it worse.   You just have to be thankful for what you have and make the best of it.    

Merry Christmas!  

Alberways ad

For some reason  I did not get a - QFC ad.  

Alberways

Potatoes 10 lbs .99
Spiral ham 1.68'

Eggs .99@@
Butter 1.99@@
Pork loin 1.99
Halos 2.88$$
Turkey .99
Tillamook ice cream 2/6
Digiorno 2/5$$

No time to bake for Christmas?

Chocolate or white chocolate covered pretzels are an easy fast desert .  

Use chocolate almond bark or candy melts.

Dip pretzels in chocolate.  Sorinklemwith nuts or sprinkles.

Put on parchment paper or wax paper to set up.  

Monday madness

It's  kitchen  management day.    A few minutes ofmbulk chopping and cooking makes way to a lot shorter time in the kitchen at the hectic dinner hour.  Even if you are tired or sick, when dinner is 1/2 cooked, you have more incentive to finish dinner.

Granddaughter is taking hot cocoa kits to her friends at school today for a special treat.  This year I skipped the snowman soup poem and granddaughter helped to  make the kits.   I think it is important to give children the sense of community.  

There is a grass roots faction out there to have no spend January.  We could very well do that and pare down the pantry.  I have been trying to skip a few doses of my expensive  med, but am to the point where making it to the eom is not too practical.   We, however have managed to pay for the other meds with grocery money,   My average this month so far is sixty dollars.    The budget is seventy five.  

I ran onto a U- tuber the other day that had a different approach to grocery shopping.  She doesn't stock per say.  She buys a bit more of something if it a really good buy.   She hits at least three stores with a ore designated plan as to what she is going to get at each store and how much her bisget for that store is.   After each store, she does the math and adjusts accordingly her budget.   Starts off with a meat market, then two discount type grocery stores.    She does  this after she unloads a truck at Target at four in the morning.  Remarkable feat on my book!  LOL.
I'm not that organized, bit rarely do I go over budget.  

The thing I am seeing is that people with large families especially are more diligent about buying real food instead of a lot of snack type foods.   Expensive cuts of meat and snack foods will de rail your budget quickly.   The other off the track thing would we not staying on top of the fridge and using leftovers or veggies before they go bad.    Simple recipes really help to make things quick and easy and are more efficient when the days get crazy.  

Impossible pie, or poor mans quiche ,is a recipe that can be put together on ten minutes or less and is full, of protein with inexpensive ingredients.   Add a salad or fruit.

1/2 cup bisquick - .25
Two eggs - .20
Ham ( 1.40 a huge slice ) .70
Milk .12
Cheese .50

Total 1.77
Serves 4.  

Add a green salad with fruit,   Or a mixed berry compote .  You are still we'll below five dollars .









.

Meal plans

Christmas week

Monday : moms night out - soup and bread

Tuesday : pizza , salad

Wednesday : Mac and cheese peas and carrots

Thursday: chicken pot pie

Friday : cowboy soeghetti , salad

Saturday : Christmas Eve

Sunday : Christmas Day -  Santa breakfast :  fruit, Belgian waffles. Sparkling cider.

Fred Meyer ad for TOMORROW

Broccoli or green beans .99
Spiral ham 149
 Butter 2/5

Nabisco snack crackers 3/5@@$$
Tillamook ice cream 2:6@@
Campbell's cream of mushroom soup 2/1@@


Barilla 1.00
Marsh mellows, cool whip, jello 1.00
Crescent or cinnamon rolls 2/4$$
Blues or black berries 2/4
Romas .99

About it,  

Note @@ means on ad coupon.
$$ means there is a coupon out there that will stack.  

Very short hauls

Yesteday , I had to go to another town for business.    I stopped at dollar tree and grocery outlet.   I always stop, sometimes I can mak up the gas with savings.  

Not a lot, but I did find a stocking stuffer juicing book, pizza sauce at dikkardollar t fee.  We was looking for one glass I had last year and somehow, it must have been broken.

Grocery outlet was a buy more productive.   Name brand sausage without the sulohiyrs was 1.50 for 6 ounces.   Krustez belgian waffles were a dollar.   And, a full taco kit with two kinds of shells, sauce and seasoning was a dollar.   Old El Paso.  

I usually make taco seasoning from scratch, but when I can get the whole kit for the price ofmcheao taco shells. It's hardly worth it.  

Filling in  with little things helps down the road.   Thinking ahead is key to feeding your family on the cheap.  

Homemade chilli and beer bread

Hey , it's cold outside!   We had homemade chilli  and beer bread last night.  we aren't fond of cornbread.

Beer bread is four ingredients.  The fewer the ingredients, the faster and easier the recipe is to make,  
Bisquick, sugar, beer.   After baking, you melt butter on the top of the loaf pan and remove the bread from the pan about ten minutes after cooling on a rack.   Easy!  

Chilli was made in the pressure cooker,    I cooked pinto beans after rinsing and picking them.  Two cups of beans, raw and dry with enough water to cover about two inches . ( second buckle) .  Cook 30 minutes.   Drain beans,    Add :,

• cooked hamburger (1/2 pound: I used   some my husband ground from a piece of steak.   
• A can of diced tomatoes, not drained,  
• A can of beer 
• 2 cups of beef broth
• 2 T taco seasoning (homemade) 
• 1 -10 ounce can of enchalada sauce.   You could use a 8 ounce can of tomato sauce, but I got enchalada sauces really cheap.    
• 1 small can of green chillis 

Cook in pressure cooker on manual for 30 minutes.   

Done,   You can make the bread and assemble the ingredients for the rest of the chillis hike the beans are cooking,   

Cost 

Hamburger 1.50

Beans .12 

Diced tomatoes .50

Beef broth .15 

Taco seasoning n/a

Enchilada sauce .33 ( old El Paso, dollar tree) 

Green chillis .58 ( Winco) 

Total 3.18 for 4 quarts.   Two meals.   Or 1.59 a meal.   

Note : taco seasoning  is homemade.   You can make homemade bisquit mix that hasmno hydrogenated oils.    I found enchalada  sauce for less than I could make it from scratch.   You could use a can of tomato sauce.  8 ounce cans are as low as .28 sometimes at Alberways or Fred Meyers.  

Green chillis are by far the cheapest at Winco.   You could put any fresh chilies you like in instead,   I like the fact that milk green chilies are predictable heat.   

Fred Meyer haul

fred Meyers had gloves for .79.    I bought three pair for themhmless shelter.    

Blueberries 4.99

Crescent rolls 3/5 less 100 coupon   1.33 ea 

Raspberries, blackberries 2/4 

Butter 2/5

Sour cream 2.00

Grape tomatoes 100

Milk 1.00

Total 32.02.   

Essay on the critics

I think I need to address  this issue once a year.   The biggest criticism I get is that regular food , three squares and portion controls are not "healthy food " .

The basis of this blog is to teach people how to put three good square meals in the table for four dollars a day or less.   There are a lot of food fads out there.   There are a lot of fanatics out there that believe that everything you eat is bad for you.   You need to be special and eat food that someone has said is the new cure  all and there is dirty food.   Wash your food, it's not dirty.

After living seventy years, I have seen food fads come and go,   I have seen study after study that has said that this food is good for you , and then the reversal.

I stick with the tried and true.   There is a lot of information out there. And a lot of it is tainted.  It's someone who has a agenda and wants you to buy or not buy something.

The latest is just plain hysterical.   Coffee will shrink your boobs,   Yah, right,  my mother had big boobs.  She drank coffee every morning,   Lots of coffee.  As a stay at home mother of three children that didn't drive part of our childhood. She would keep her sanity by drinking coffee every morning and talking for  an  hour at a time to her girl friends.   Her boobs didn't shrink.   Coffee, however, according to my doctor that has done studies at the u of w, slows down the deterioration of the liver.  

Healthy food is relative.   I have heard of all kinds of stories of people on snap.  Eating potato chips and top ramen for three meals a day, eating a hamburger meal box and individual packaged
 fruit boxes with 16-20 carbs each.   Or meals with no form of veggie in sight.






We all know, by a preponderance of evidence  that too much salt, sugar, trans fat, hydrogenated oils. HFCS is bad for you.  Trying to buy good food and stay on a four dollar  a day budget and still buy good  food is not easy without some tricks.  And, I can guarantee you that you can't do it buying your food from the whole paycheck food stores.   Can't happen.  It's just reality.

You can, however, with careful shopping, and learning to cook scratch efficiently, cook good food and still avoid the elements of food that are really bad for you.   Salt, sugar, HFCS, hydrogenated oils, trans fats.

Buying eight dollars worth of food for four dollars is a great help.   Portion controlling and eating more of what is good for you helps too.   The RDA on protein is six ounces.   No one needs breakfast, lunch protein portions and a eight ounce streak.   One lady corrected me, her hubby was a body builder.   I have yet to meet a body builder in our group of friends,   LOL

Before you jump on a fad bandwagon, STOP .and give it the logic test.   Is it believable how much data is on it.   What is the percentage of people that have been hurt by it.   Who is writing the information and how may reliable sources are repeating it,   All of what is on the internet is true,   Supposedly, Ms Clinton was running a child  sex ring out of a restaurant s basement.  Not too logical for someone that has been a champion for families. And besides, the restrauant doesn't have a basement!   LOL.

Good balanced meals.   Buy quality food , buy basic food.   Buy food that's on sale.use a coupon, use an Ibotta.   Buy food in bulk.   Buy local and food in season.    It's no secret that baking supplies are cheapest this time of the year.  Picnic supplies are cheapest about summer holiday time,    Make a conservative estimate of what you will use.   Buy as much as you can without sacrificing other foods.

Keep a stock of the things you use on a regular basis bought at the RBP.  Many little things add up to great savings.   That's how you eat healthy, three square meals a day,



Protein, starch, veggie or fruit.
Fad diets are. Fads.   Remember the let rock.   Nordstrom has a rock for 85.00.  You gonna buy onto that too?

By the way, all the cocoanut oil fad?   Read the label.   It has more saturated fat than a steak.fir 2 T.


Haoiy eating
Hope this clears up a few things.

Analysis of the ads

Fred Meyers.   Goes until saturday night.  

Ham 1.49
Mandarines 2.99
Milk ,99
Cool whip, jello, or marshmallows .89@@
Sausage 2:5@@

Crescent rolls 3/5@@$$
Pie crust 2/4
Sour cream 2/4
Cream cheese .99
Berries 2/4
Grapes 1.49

QFC
Ham 1.49
Broccoli .99
Butter 2/5
Cake mix 10/10

Buy 3, save 3
Ziltch

Alberways
Ham 1.68?
Halos 2.88$$

Ritz 2/3@@
Tillamook 2.49@@
Libby veggies 2/1@@
Broccoli .99
Butter 1.99@@
Cake mix .99@@
Flour 1.88@@


Grocery outlet
Belgian waffle mix BOGO
Hash browns 1.99

That's about it.  

Terrific Tuesday

This blog is going to be about low cost dinners.    On a four dollar a day budget, for the proverbial family of two adults and two children. You have 16.00 a day to spend,    Some of your  grocery miney has to go for staples  like flour, sugar, spices, olive oil, and stock.    That leaves .50 for breakfast, 1.50  for lunch and 1.50 for dinner.    I usually concentrate on dinner,   Pretty much breakfast ( oatmeal and fruit ) and lunch ( cheese, crackers and fruit, or leftovers, or a BLT  and fruit ) takes care of its self.   Dinner needs to be less than five bucks.  Thus : 4+1=5.   Four people , one meal, five bucks.   

1. Pork chops  over  bread stuffing with apples and cranberries, green beans.   Use dry bread cubes , or a dollar box of stove top.   Stove top was two for 88 at target last week.   Add cubed apples ( 100 or less a pound ) and dried cranberries.  Add chicken stock if you  are making scratch and herbs of choice.   Brown Pork chops. Out on top of stiffing in bakingmdish and bakemoff on a 375 degree oven until Pork chops test done.   I got Pork chops for 1.50 a pound at FM, or you can slice your own from a pork loin at about 1.79 a pound,   Green beans are .50 a can or less.   
2. Quiche, with sausage and cheese,( Betty Crocker bisquick  cb )  mixed field green salad with mandarin oranges.  
3. Chilli, with cheese, sour cream, nacho chips for garnish.  Beer bread or corn bread .  
4.  Pizza - a family favorite.   Scratch pizza crust ( easy and fast and cheap) pizza sauce (dollar tree ) and cheese ( Costco) or sale.   Add  hopped veggies  and /or sausage and/or pepperoni. Pepperoni is .50 at dollar tree with a coupon at coupons,com.   I never pay more than  two dollars a pound for sausage--a little bit goes a long way.  Veggies can be chopped and saved during the week as you make other meals.   A cheese pizza can be made for a buck.  
5. Mexican sloppy joes.    Buns are .88 at Winco. You can make your own cheaper, or find them at the bakery outlet.    I got marked down for .78 at FM one time,   Use a pound of hamburger (300) and a can of enchalada sauce (.33) and a small can of tomato sauce, taco seasoning.  Cook in slow cooker. Fresh veggie sticks.    

 

Monday madness

Monday is our day to do kitchen management.   It sets us up for a week of pretty much stress less meals.   I have been watching some grocery hauls  and meal plan videos.   It gives me perspective of what other people eat and what prices are in other parts of the country,   Many parts of the country are  represented on U tube,   Almost all of them manage to find a store where prices are low and there is markdown bins.  I don't find many markdown bins, when I do, the markdown is still too high.   I'm still not going to pay five dollars for a  small piece  meat. Don't look at the price per  pound,  look at the volume of meat 🍖 and calculate on your head how many meals you can make.  Portion control.   If you out out five servings for four people, someone  will eat the second portion.   If you don't, they just might eat their vegetables. LOL.  That extra pork chop can be in a stir fry essentially the start of a  new meal.

Food cannot do anyone good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.   

Planning meals and taking a fridge inventory a couple times a week greatly helps the garbage demons.    
Make soup. Make salad, stumped?   Go into Betty Crocker on line cook book or another source  and google the ingredient.   Be flexible.   You need a meal plan. Or you plan to fail.   But that doesn't mean you can't improvise if necessary.  I make meal plans, but don't necessarily eat Mondays dinner  on Monday.   

I guess the bottom line is anyone can feed their family on four dollars  a day per person if they put forth the effort.   

Almost every metropolitan area has a Costco or a Sams club.   If you don't have a membership, you can almost always get someone to take you in.   Our membership is free because we get a percentage back on the things we buy.   If you only have one store in town, consider carpooling with a friend or other family member to another bigger town.   Get the ads off the Internet for those stores or get them to mail you a flyer.  Go when it's a good sale week to make the trip worth your while.  Buy quantities of the food  you will use that doesn't  expire soon.  

When we lived out on the country and it was eight miles to the nearest real chain store, I would shop on the way home from work. Or go in on a Saturday and combine errands.   I got my meat from the little store that was closer because they had cheap meat in a freezer.   There are bargains  if you  look for them.  It's a state of mind.  

Grocery outlet haul

Grocery outlet haul

kippers  .99

Bittersweet chocolate .99

Chocolate pudding mix 3/1 

Taco kit 1.00

Blue cheese and Italian dressings .99

Sliced cheeses 2.39

Greek yogurt 2/1 

Regular yogurt 3/1 

Savings 27.91 

Meal plans for week of December 12-18

Monday

1. Porcupine meatballs ,
2. Rice
3. Green beans 
4. Salad

Tuesday 

1. Pizza 
2. Salad 

Wednesday 

1. Macaroni and cheese (scratch) 
2. Mixed vegetables ( broccoli, carrots, cauli 

Thursday 

1. Chilli 
2. Beer bread 

Friday

1. Stuffed green peppers. 
2. Rolls 

Saturday 

Family party 

Sunday 

1. Pork chops 
2. Stuffing with cranberries and apples 
3. Vegetable salad 

Notes :   

The most prevelant  question I get is do  you eat fresh fruits and veggies.    

The obvious answer is yes.   Do we eat food from mars!   Not quite.   Food from mars is anything that we didn't have in our tables in the 60s.   Ok, we do eat hummus.   We just eat plain good food.   Getting exotic  is a good way to bump your food bill up drastically.    Stay down to earth.   

Right now , we have apples, oranges, bananas, cranberries, blackberries and raspberries.   Peaches in jars,

We have cucumbers, romaine, tomatoes, carrots, celery, potatoes. Onions, broccoli, and radishes. 

We eat well.   We eat normal foods.   I try to watch our salt, sugar, trans fats, hydrogenated oils, hfcs, and a lot of preservatives.   I cook scratch often,  

We don't eat expensive foods.   Beef is limited to about once a week.   We eat vegetarian twice a week.   Processed meats are limited to once a week, or less.    

I use every available means to legally buy food for 1/2 price or less.   Coupons, ibotta, free downloads, sales. Combining  sakes and coupons,   

And, that's how you eat well on 4.00 a day,   Almost every town, or nearby town has discount stores or bulk stores,   You just have to find where they are around your town .   Seattle does not have the cheapest prices.   I watch a lot of food hauls on u tube for research,   There are websites that tell you what prices are  in your area at different stores.   Favado is one of them.    Ask someone that has a lot of kids.   Step out of your comfort zone and look.    You might just be surprised.   

Fred Meyers ad for TOMORROW -not!

There was no ad his week at my source.   I checked my other siurces and they aren't there either.   Sorry.  

We did go to Winco yesterday,  
we spent 46.69 which included a taco rack for two dollars.  

Parm cheese 2.68 less 1.00  coupon 1.68 for a 2 cup container.  
Sparkling coders 1.38 ( Christmas breakfast treat )
Gouda cheese 2.68 pound
Naval oranges .58
English cucumber .88
Green peppers  .48
Apples .78
M and M chips ( Christmas baking) 1.40
Taco shells 1.00
Mini marshmallows. .96 ( Christmas baking )
Belgian waffle mix ( Christmas ) 1.88
Olive oil 8.98
Chicken granules 1.32
Large bottle salsa 4.44
Potatoes 1.98

Notes
A lot of this was Christmas cooking I usually don't buy,   Inalso replentished  the olive oil because I filled the counter bottle with the last of my stock.  Olive oil can't be held too far into the future.  
I also replaced our salsa supply and chicken granules for mixes.  

Last night we had homemade refried beans, Spanish rice, and tacos with hard shells.  

Homemade refried beans can be cooked in a slow cooker, but I like using the pressure cooker better.  
Pinto beans, salsa. Onion, mild  chilies. Taco seasoning , and water or stock (vegetable or meat ) .
When cooked, remove beans from the bowl using a slotted spoon or spider and place on food processor and process until the consistency you desire.  We like our a little lumpy.  Add bean juice as needed.   You can also use a potato masher if you don't have a food processor.  

We

Suddenly Saturday

We wanted to make a couple of Photo calendars for Christmas presents.  I started a week ago and got it all loaded onto the computer and sent to Walgreens.   The code fir the week was for 1/2 price.   I got a phone call.   The printer was  down and they were waiting for the part.  I got a second call. The part  was shipped to the wrong address.    Their  computer  dumped the file.   So, a week later in the middle of the night, I imput another calendar.  Within a few hours of the store opening, ingot an email telling me it was done.  By this time, the 1/2 price codes were gone.   My husband asked if we could still have the 1/2 price code because it wasn't our fault the printer was down.   They gave him 2/3 off. It pays to ask.   This is a learned attitude.    Before we were married, he didn't know what a garage sale was, or there was  was such a thing as a otc generic medicine.   

It never hurts to ask-- nicely helps.    

You can greatly improve your quality of life, if you buy your needs at the RBP.   Consider buying some thing used.   That vase on the dining room table doesn't look any better of you buy it at the goodwill than it would have of you bought it  at home goods. One note, you are buying as is,   Check things very carefully.  

Thanks for stopping by.

Freddies ad next .  

5 reasons to stock.

It snowed today.  Not bad, it won't last long.   We still could get around.   But, sometimes  it isn't  that easy on this part of the country.  We live pretty much  at sea level.   To go anywhere, you have to go up hills.  It snows so seldom, that unless you have amoeroemsktu to ski or family the othermsode of the mountains,  You don't necessarily prepare to drive in snow.  

Five reasons to stock.  

1. If I don't want to drive in weather, be it rain or snow, I don't have to go to the store. Or, if I  have a sick child or am sick myself, I can just stay home.   
2. It saves a lot of money to assess what your needs are and buy the things you eat on a regular basis on sale or on bulk at the lowest possible price.   
3. Instead of making meal plans and hoping you remember everything you need to put on the grocery list, and forgetting the grocery list on the computer stand, you know well before you go to the store, what you are going to buy.  - a protein if it is a RBP, fruits and vegetable in season, any stock item you are low on, and  dairy.   If you don't need canned goods, you can shop the perimeter of the store.   Fast in   and fast out.   
4.  Driving to the store every day or so is exoensive on  wear and tear in your car and gas.   You are better off soending that time scratch cooking and saving more money and eating more healthy avoiding preservatives.   
5. There is a certain amount of satisfaction knowing you aren't gong to starve anytime soon.  It gives you a sense of security and self sufficiency.  There's nothing quite as stress relieving as knowing you can feed your family no matter what happens.   

Alberways

We finally got Alberways ad.    QFC is the same as last week.  

Naval oranges .59
Eggs .99 @@ - note there is a digital coupon for QFC to make them .79
Kellogg cereals 1.99@@$$
Classico 1.79 $$

About it.   Not many bargains.