Sunday : meal plans for week of 4/24

Meal plans,  

Rotation proteins to work from:

Eggs
Cheese
Beans
Chicken breast
Sausage
Pork loin chops, roast
Hamburger
Ham chunks
Turkey sliced

1. Pizza - ham and pineapple 
2. Breakfast 4 dinner (ham ) 
3. Toasted turkey and cheese sandwiches, tomato and roasted red pepper soup.    
4. Tuna cakes, oven roasted veggies . 
5. Speghetti with meatballs , salad . French bread 
6. Mac n cheese, broccoli 
7. Vegetable soup , rolls or bread sticks 

Notes : working on the 3 pork or chicken, 2 vegetarian, 1 beef and 1 fish or shellfish matrix.   

Eggs are reaching their pull date.    I got tomatoes this week for .38 a can and we have turkey with a may pull date.    We have already had five meals off a eight dollar ham  and I have at least five meals more : we will freeze some.   

1) pizza crust costs less than .20.   Add pineapple, cheese, ham ,and part of a dollar pizza sauce.   Total 1.90

2)  eggs .39, ham .80, hash browns .78 and strawberries 100.    3 .00

3) soup 1. 00, sandwich 2.67 total of 3.67 

4) tuna 2.00, egg .06, bread crumbs free, veggies .60 total 2.66

5) speghetti, .75, meatballs  1.00. Sauce, .68. Salad 100.    3.41 

6) Mac n cheese 2.35 

7) soup 1.72, bread sticks .20.    1.92 

Total 18.91.  

Snarky editorial.

I got a post from an unknown person.   Because I don't have a clue who this person  is, but I suspect some people are thinking the same things, I thought I would answer it,  

The gist of the letter, not directed at me. Was stop shaming  poor  people for not eating well.   First of all I don't shame people.   I tell people ways to  stretch their dollar so that you can eat well on a limited budget.    I can suggest and tell people what I do , it's up to them to take the information or leave it,    It's their life.

Grocery haul : 32.00

6 ounce box of raspberries,
2 bags of green grapes
1 pineapple
2 snack  peanut packages
1 soda

This person didn't say where they were from.    But, we live on one of the highest COL states in the continental US.    Shopping wisely, you can eat well on a limited budget.

For 13.93 - less than half of her basket , I got

2 poumds of French fries
1 pound of green beans

1 pound of strawberries
1bag  of baby tomatoes
18 eggs
1 can of green chilies
And 6.75 worth of petite sirloin at 2.69 a pound

All good food.   None of it out of season or expensive this time of year.  

Considering I had 18 dollars left of her budget , I could have easily purchased
Romaine
stir fry veggies
Rice
Potatoes
Oatmeal
2 poumds apples
2 pounds carrots
1 bag noodles
1 package celery
1/2 gallon milk
5 pounds chicken breast


You can be poor and Eat well. .  

 

Winco haul with prices - meat alert

quick small Winco haul 

Good prices 

2 pounds frozen fries.98

Frozen green beans .97

Strawberries 1.98

Mini tomatoes .98

18 count eggs 159

Green chillis can .58

Petite sirloin 2.69 a pound 6.75 

I couldn't pass up good beef that had little fat for 2.69 a pound,   We can have a stir fry and I can cut it up for stew.   Time to adjust the meal plans.    Groceries on the cheap works best of you are flexible and tak advantage of a good buy when you see it.   

You can always change aplan, but you need a plan to begin with.   

FRED MEYERS AD FOR SUNDAY

Rotation alert : Foster Farms split chicken breast .87 

Peppers, avocados .77 

Milk .99

Cantaloupe 2/3 

Barilla pasta .88

Kroger frozen potatoes 179

Strawberries 2/5

 Boneless Pork Loin Chop 399 - note this is why it's such a good buy to purchase  a whole loin and take ten minutes to cut your own. Usually you can get pork loin for less than half that price.    

Friday recipe : fast taco soup

There is something about a steaming hot bowl of soup that seems so inviting and comforting,    The best part is when you can out it in a slow cooker and have the wonderful smell occupy the house all day,   Dinner is done the mess is cleaned up and dinner is a snap.  

Taco Soup - revisited - less cans 

2/3 cup pinto beans , dry

2/3 cup kidney beans, dry

1-1/2 cup frozen corn 

1 can diced tomatoes with jalapeños (or not) 

1-small can of enchalada sauce 

1 quart chicken stock - homemade or from low sodium granules 

1/2 lb cooked hamburger 

1 T scratch taco seasoning,    

Directions. 

1. Cook the beans in a pressure cooker according to directions.   Drain.  
2. Add all ingredientd  to slow cooker.
3. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours,or on  low for 8-10 hours.   
4. Garnish with any of the following : tortilla chips, cheese, sour cream, avacado.  

My cost 3.08 without garnish 

Thursday : take it up a notch : Bullet day

Last year our average weekly food bill was 72.00 a week.    That's less than 25.00 each,   This year I set out to lower the bills.  Because we haven't had a raise in several years, and  another raise doesn't seem like it's gonna happen any time soon.   And, because it's a challenge!     I still read and try to learn new things.

This year, so far we are sitting at 55.00 a week.   17.00 or not quite 25 percent less.   I'm still working on it but so far I have made changes ;

• We learned how  to make easy breads.   I started with peasants  bread,  then went to refrigerator bread and sweet rolls.   The cost of a good bread 🍞 in the bakery department is  upwards of three dollars.     It cost less than thirty cents .    That's a big difference and some recipes are really easy and not time  consuming.    
• I've made it a point to use up small amounts of leftovers or dehydrate them and put in jars.   
• Finding recipes that turn leftovers into another different dish has been a help.   Hubby does not like to eat warmed overs.    But if I can make a new meal it works.   
• After cooking for a large family, it's hard to downsize.   I started making 1/2 batches of things,   Using a 8X 8  pan instead of a 9 X 13.   Less waste.  You don't have to cook a whole box of pasta,  measure it and cook 1/2 a box,   
• Cooking more from scratch means that I can cook little bits  instead of opening a can of something and not using it all.   
• Freezing bits of anything that can go on a pizza and keeping them in the freezer door so that  they don't get buried in the back of the freezer helps too. 
• I went from buying all cans of beans to having some cans for emergencies and making my own re-fried beans and cooking dry beans.  The deal breaker here was getting a insta pot.   
• Adding a vegetarian meal to the meal plan sometimes isn't even noticeable,   Eggs and cheese are relatively cheap and can make a good  meal.   Or add a little meat to eggs and cheese.   

Costco haul

so far : Fred Meyers 9.45

Costco

Pizza cheese  5 lbs 10.99
Tortilla chips 3.59
Tuna 12.79
Bananas 1.39

Total 28.76
Week total 38.21


The ads
Alberways.

Milk 1.79@@
Diced tomatoes .38@@limit 4
Apples 1.00 (same as Winco )
Salad 1.00
Corn 4/1 fresh


QFC
Tomatoes , fresh .88
Peppers .88

Slow week.   Diced tomatoes is a good target price for stock pantry,  

Cost of staples

hey, I did the math so you don't have to.    LOL.

BEANS

Dry beans at 1.00 per pound
White, kidney and pinto beans are 2 cups per pound
1 cup dry beans are .50
1 cup dry beans yields 3 cups cooked beans or 6 servings
Or .08 serving

Dry pintos at .67 a pound at DT
Dry beans are 2 cups per pound
1 cup costs .34
1 cup  yields 3 cups or 6 servings
Or .06 serving


RICE

Rice is 25 pounds for 8.49 at Costco
Or .0339 a pound,   Round to .04
1 pound is 2 dry cups
1 cup  is .02
1 cup dry equals 3 cooked cups.
Cost os less than a penny a 1/2 cup serving,  

ALL  PURPOSE FLOUR

6.39 for 25 pounds at Costco
81.5 cups in a bag
Or a rounded .08 a cup

Tuesdays thoughts

A random act of kindness is always a good thing : but it is especially nice in a negative environment that we have had since November.  

There are ways to brighten ones day without spending any money.  It's nice to pay forward in the coffee line, but not everybody has that kind of money. 

One day I was on Winco.   I saw a middle aged guy buying his groceries .  It was clear to me that he was counting his purchases to be sure he had enough money.    Been there, dome that.    I saw that he had two cans of progresso soup right off the top.   I asked him how many cans he had.   He said two.   I had a coupon that made it so that for the same amount of money, he could have three.   I gave it to hm.  No big deal.  He said thank you, I said you're welcome and went on,   He ran onto me in the other part of the store and thanked me again,  I made his day,    It made me feel good and I'm sure that an extra meal for him didn't hurt.   

I do that often, sometimes someone will look at me like I have rocks in my head, but the majority of the time  they thank me.  Why wouldn't anyone appreciate getting a buck off something they were going to buy anyway,   

One time years ago, I had all three kids at home,  I was buying groceries at Albertsons,   A lady stopped me and handed me a coupon for a free milk if you spent fifty dollars.  She said she wasn't going to spend that much, but it looked like I was based on the size of my Cart!    That was over two bucks!   Made my Day! 

You can offer to return a cart when someone was through with it and you were going towards the store.  

Or tell someone if they had a flat tire  or left their lights on.   

We take our good clean brown paper bags to the food bank.   

We take our ragged towels to the animal rescue. 

It's just a state of mind.  Random acts of kindness help both parties studies show.    

Monday : motivational kitchen mgmt,

First: Fred Meyer small haul :

Milk
Cucumbers
Radishes
Blue cheese ( Easter dinner )
Yogurt. ( 5 with coupon )

Total  9.45 and used 1.30 coupons -10 percent


Rewritten meal plan to compensate for food that needs to be used up and our schedules .

• Taco soup ( from the sloppy joes Friday night)  bread 
• Pizza : ham and pineapple 
• Potato soup with ham 
• Fish packets 
• Roast chicken breast, oven roasted veggies ( potato, carrot, radishes ) 
• Homemade chicken nuggets , oven fries, and veggie plate 
• Breakfast 4 dinner (ham ) 

Kitchen management list 

• Clean veggies with vinegar,   potatoes for soup and oven roasted X2 , radishes. Carrots , veggie plate.   
• Chop ham, freeze what isn't going to be used.   
• Make note on calendar to  thaw chicken for two meals , and fish for packets ,   
• Wash and wax kitchen floor 
• Clean fridge. 
• Straighten pantry, 
• Make bread dough 
• Make bread 
• Wash fruit for deserts and breakfasts. 
• Start taco soup  in the slow cooker
•   Make beans 

First, put list in  order to maximize time,   Things that take longest first.   What can be doing itself while you are doing the next  thing on the list.    I will make bread dough so it can be rising and cook the beans in the pressure cooker.   Clean the veggies  and chop the ham  while the beans are cooking and finish the soup when the beans are done.   

Clean up last.    

Having a list helps especially of you have a tendency to get off track or spend too much time on one chore. If you keep moving, you'll be some on no time and dinners at dinner time will be a snap.    

I listed my hip too far this week, so some of my work will be done sitting on a bar stool.   Whatever works.    

I

Sunday's meal plans 4/16

meal plans for week of 4/17 /17

My protein rotation would be the hamburger that Winco has for 3.28.    I already bought a ham last week,  

1. Potato soup with ham , bread 
2. Pizza: ham and pineapple 
3. Chilli , nacho chips 
4. Fish packets 
5. Roast chicken breast, oven roasted vegetables : potatoes, carrots, radish, broccoli 
6. homemade chicken nuggets, oven fries , veggie platter 
7. breakfast 4   dinner . : ham quiche , salad 

Tomorrow's Fred Meyer ad

 As usual, there are no coupons in the paper because it's a holiday weekend. There are a few buys  well it's not a great week. 

• Foster Farms chicken breast, boneless 1.77'
• Mandarines 3 pounds 2.99
• Milk .99
• Cheerios 3/5 
• Yoplait 10/5. $$ 
• Blackberries 2/4 
• Cucumbers , radishes, green onions 2/99
• Pears .99

Themchicken is not a bad buy.  It's cheaper to de bone split breasts and I prefer to have the opportunity of making broth without buying the whole chicken.  Most of our family doesn't like the dark meat,   

Milk is good and yoplait can be .40 each with a coupon and multiples.   

Radishes and cucumbers are a great price

.    

Winco haul.

Last Winco haul for the week.   Lots of this haul was for stock items.  So far this year, our total food at home including stocking is sitting at 43 percent of the amount that would be out SNAP allotment if we had one.   I think the point I am making is that you can eat and not run out of budget before  you run out of month and still  eat well.    It's easy to spend more, so if you can make a small budget work, you have the skills to deal with less if you have to.

Winco haul :  does not include entertainment budget.

Ground beef 7 percent - 9.87
Salami 2.28
Diced potatoes .58
Granny Smith apples .98
Chicken granules 1.31
Hash browns, frozen .78
Pink lady 🍎  .98

Total 25.25
 Week total 75.34

Friday recipe : cheeseburger macaroni

Better, cheaper. Faster.    Than in a box.    You still have to add the good stuff when you buy the box. Honestly, the box probably cost more than the ingredients.   My daughter and I dissected a box once.   It had 4.1 ounces of macaroni ( .25 at top dollar prices ) and 1.57 ounces including tare weight of a cheese sauce mix without any cheese.    You are better off making it yourself.

Homemade Cheeseburger  Macaroni

• 1/2 pound cooked ground meat 
• 1/2 lb of pasta of choice
• Vegetables of choice cut small : carrot, celery, onion ( food processor or manual  chopper works well ) .  
• 2  T olive oil ( or less of you have a non stick pan )
• 1 can tomato sauce (8 oz) 
• 1 can diced tomatoes ( 15.5 oz) 
• Add 1/2 tsp garlic powder. 1 tsp dried parsley
• 4 ounces of grated cheese : we use Mexican blend, (1cup) 

Directions:

• Put macaroni to cook following the directions on the package,   When cooked, drain.   
• Sauté the chopped vegetables in a little olive oil.   
• Add cooked hamburger.   
• Add the tomatoes and tomato sauce.  
• Add spices and simmer while pasta is cooking.  If the sauce s too thick, add water or pasta water to desired consistency,   It should have some liquid, but,NOT resemble soup.     
• Add the pasta let simmer five minutes. 
• Top with cheese  and cover with lid and remove from heat. 
• When cheese has melted, stir and  serve.   

Cost 3.29.   Makes a meal for four people.   

You can use tomatoes with spices and omit the spices.   

Or add black olives sliced for Italian 

Or green chilies and sauté onions instead of the  veggies. 

Better : because it has no preservatives and adds veggies and has more macaroni.

Cheaper because at 3.29 for 4 servings, it cost little more  than the cost of one box and with the box you still have to add meat and other ingredients: scratch you have more real food .

Faster because you cook the pasta while the  other is simmering.  It can simmer on a very low heat and doesn't have to be babysat or you can make the sauce part in an insta pot or slow cooker and  add the pasta and cheese . 

In the insta pot : 

Sauté the veggies on the sauté setting,   When the veggies were soft, switch to the slow cooker setting and add the cooked hamburger, and sauce ingredients,   At dinner time I would cook the pasta the microwave so it didn't  have to be babysat , drain it when it was done and add the cheese and unplug the machine and add the cheese.  Stir.

Bullet Day : Thursday

Bukketnday : ten things to do with  ham

1. Ham and scalloped potatoes 
2. Ham amd cheese quiche 
3. Marco cristo sandwiches, 
4. Cobb salad 
5. White bean soup. 
6. Ham and eggs
7. Ham and pineapple pizza
8. Ham balls and noodles 
9.  Ham and noodles - fettuccini 
10. Toasted ham and cheese sandwiches
11. loaded baked potatoes 🥔  
12. 
    

Safeways haul

Note for those not in the PNW.   We had a big shake up in the grocery chains a year or so ago.  Albertsons and Safeway merged, were sold and sold again.  Albertsons kept both stores and each kept its own brand, but the prices and ads  are identical. Not to be redundant, I personally merged  the name to be Alberways and only post the ad once.

Safeways is the store closest to us and there is a dollar tree 

Sauerkraut .79

kens salad  dressing  BOGO 1.99

Butter  1.49

2 Jimmy Dean sausage regular price 5.79 at QFC.   Used coupons net 2.24 

1 lbs strawberries 2.88 

Total 15.12 

Savings 57 percent 

The ads

We got no ads yesterday.    These are from the internet.  

Alberways
April 12-18

Ham shank 98
Sporalmcut ham 137
Strawberries 2.88 for 2 pounds
Bitter 149@@
Cantaloupe 2/5




QFC
Strawberries 🍓 299-2 pound
Tillamook cheese 499 block
Sweet potatoes .99 pound

Buy six save three

Note : there are coupons for some of this on coupons,com

Ritz crackers 199. Coupon is for .75 on two
crescent rolls 1.69 - coupon for multiples
Milk .99

Colgate toothpaste 100 - look formcoupons theynare almost always in the p and G

SOUR  PATCH  CANDY 7.2 ounces Friday FREE
Note: if you don't eat candy or have children around consider giving it to the food  bank.  Some stores have barrels to go to the food bank.    Our food bank is at the Methodist church.  




.  

Couponing - not extreme

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

Tuesday bites

Tuesday is the day that I leave free for chats.   It's our  errand day. Today I thought we would go back to basics.    Groceries on the cheap as it is now has been evolving for fifty years.   Even the last five years that I have been writing this blog everyday, prices have risen  and I have been on a mission to get to easy and the least amount we can eat on and still have good, nutritious balanced meals.   It's a game, it's because social security hasn't gone up in three years as we can tell.  They gave us a dinky raise and took it back in medical.  They aren't planning on giving us any raises forever and still insurances and taxes are still rising.    We can't be the only ones that are dealing with this, so I am still growing and learning.  I hear it's the best thing to do on your old age, or keeps your brain functioning,

I've had the lowest price on food part of the matrix nailed for some years.   I have always cooked some scratch, but I started branching out to things that I haven't tackled before.    Bread?   Bread is one thing that you can make better than the store with almost no effort and up to ninety percent  less than store bought,   Soups are another thing that you can cut the cost of by ninety percent  and not slave in the kitchen.  LOL.

There is something about a bowl of steaming homemade soup and hot crusty  bread out of the oven that is satisfying,

Basics.   Groceries on the cheap takes a different abroad to buying your food.   It's nothing new, our great grandmothers put food up for the winter on the farm.   They didn't have the freezers that we have today, so thy canned and I suspect dried food.  

The concept is the same.    Instead of buying what you need for a week, trying to remember



everything you need to cook the meals on your plan, you buy a core group of foods at the lowest price you can find and buy enough to last you until the food goes on sale again.    This takes knowing the BEST prices on the core foods you use,   Everyone has a set group of foods that they cook dinners with.    The average house rotates the same 7-10 entrees .    Identify the ingredients you use to make your meals and find the best place to buy those foods.   Make a list.    Years ago they called that a price list.   It tracked the cost of a certain group of foods and soon you found a pattern of when  it was the cheapest.    That's when you stock,    This isn't hoarding,  you set a specific amount you are going timhike and when your stock is depleatimg , you start looking for a good sale.    In our house that would be :

• Diced tomatoes,   - I can still find them for.50 
• Canned beans .50
• Pasta sauce : .88 .for canned and   1.00 in jars. 
• Dry beans - 1.5 pounds of pinto beans are a dollar at dollar tree.   I want less than a dollar a pound,    You can get them cheaper in bulk, but beans do get old and we don't use enough.
• Flour - it varies between six and seven dollars at Costco for 25 pounds,   
• Sugar - two dollars for four pounds,   
• Canned green beans and corn .50 
•  Frozen veggies are 100 a pound - cheapest in five pound bags at Costco or sometimes better at Winco,
• Frozen potatoes are cheapest at Winco.   I get two pounds for a bit more than a dollar.   They are not always perfectly shaped or like tater tots equivalent are round, but not as high.   
• Cheese target price is two to two fifty a pound
• A few cake mixes, I want less than a dollar,   Usually at Winco.   
• Green diced mild chilies are .58 Winco.   Saves up to a dollar a can,   
• 
  

Don't get discouraged.  My mother had them in her head.  I used to call her and ask what the lowest price was.   Now they are in my head and I get calls from people all the time! LOL.   

Meat is bought bulk on a rotation basis.   Every week, someone has a meat on a good price. Decide meats that fall into a average of two dollars a pound and buy on a rotation basis enough for the amount of meals you will eat in a month,   When you get home from the store, cook the meats that are appropriate  to cook ( ground meats and de-fat) and portion control the rest .   And freeze.   We buy :

Pork loin : roast, chops, stew (150 at Costco wholesale was the last I got ) 

Split chicken breast: chicken breast can be 8.00 a pound.   Split chicken breast is between 100 and 1.50 a pound.  It only takes a few minutes to cut off the ribs and cook them with water and veggies for stock and the added bonus is the meat from the bones can make another meal,   

Hamburger -7 percent fat,    Cook, de-fat and portion control for dinners,   A pound serves four to five.  You can bake off meatballs or make meat loaf and taco meat if your family is large enough to buy ten pound quantities.    I make meatballs, use a portion scoop and bake them the size of ping pong balls on a rack with a sheet pan underneath,   The meatballs don't sit on their fat and it's more healthy and easier to cook in bulk,    

Sausage is usually cheaper at Costco on a three pound chub. (800) sometimes I can get it cheaper  with coupons,    Cook de-fat and freeze.    

Finding the RBP or target price ( nothing to do with the store with the red balls ) is the biggest part of cutting your food bill.    You want to get to the point where you can pay 1/2 price. Protein is a big part of your grocery bill.   Start there.   

Portion control. Portion control,   Portion control. 

Have set prices for things,  if they are too much, don't buy them unless it's something you just have to have.   You don't HAVE TO HAVE steak or ice cream!  LOL.  

You want GOOD food cheap : not CHEAP food.   

Winco haul. For this week

Winco haul

Apples .98 pound
Bananas .48 pound
Soft taco shells - low carb 4.38
White beans - 2 pound- 1.75
Green chillis .58
Hamburger buns .88
 Total 34.97