Winco haul

wimco haul with prices


Hamburger and hot dog buns .75
Ic cream 300
Blueberries 4.98
Strawberries 1.58
Raspberries 2.98
Granny Smith apples 398
Cucumbers .48
Hot sauce , salsa 1.58
Tortilla chips 1.68

Total 23.90
Prev  17.00
Total  40.90

Meal plans -week of 619/17

Meal  plans for the week that is taking advantage of the bulk purchases I got at grocery outlet .

• Pizza 🍕- granddaughters favorite because she can make it.    LOL 
• Breakfast 4 dinner 
• Hot dogs , oven fries, veggie sticks 
• Pork chops, sweet potatoes. Peas and carrots 
• Chicken, baked potatoes. Chopped broccoli 
•  Speghetti and meatballs , salad 
• Tacos. Spanish rice 

Notes 

•  pizza cost 1.30 
• Eggs were .78 and are still .79 at FM this week,     Total quiche and fruit 3.19 
• Hot dogs are Nathan's that I got for 2/5 so a 1/2 a package is 1.25 bums are cheapest at winco, 2.75
• Pork chops were from 1.49 pork loin.   Sweet potatoes are .33 at grocery outlet, and green beans were .33.  ( 1.12, .33, .33) 1.78 /3 =.59 
• Chicken was free. Potatoes are cheapest at Winco, chopped  broccoli was .89. Total .77 w chicken 1.65 
• Tacos: taco kit was a dollar at grocery outlet. Taco meat was from 3.28 a pound 1/4 lb.   add cheese, lettuce and tomato.    Rice is almost free- .03 per serving.    2.67
• spaghetti and meatballs: spaghetti .44, meatballs 1.00. Lettuce .75, tomato 🍅.50.  Total 2.69

Total.   16.03 or .76 a serving.   Now, we are seniors and a small child and I plate the normal RDA for protein .   I also do not add pantry items such as flour, sugar, oil for cooking  etc in my calculations.  

Bullets - kitchen hacks

Just a few kitchen hacks

• When cutting vegetables, olives , etc for a salad, hold a little back of anything that can go on a pizza.   Stick it on a quart bag and out in the freezer door.    I also get pizza sauce at the Dollar Tree and freeze it on ice cubes.   It takes two or theee cubes for a 14 inch pizza of younsoread it with a pastry brush,  ( silicone ) we call this almost free pizza.    Any bots of meats like the end of the sausage or a couple of tablespoons of ham cubes go on the door shelf too.    
• Don't store coffee, hot pepper sauce, onions, tomatoes, garlic in the fridge. 
• You can cut the top part of onions, green onions, lettuce, celery, and put them in water,   Then plant them.    Green onions just keep growing and you can cit parts off as you need hem,    
• Always start the thing that takes the longest to cook when prepping a meal.    You can fit in the rest while the first thing is cooking.    Cook the pasta for a pasta salad, while the pasta is cooking , you can chop veggies and make the dressing, for example. 
• One of the best timesavers for dinner prep so to cook all the bulk ground meat including sausage at a time,    De- fat it to reduce your trans fats by up to 17 percent,    This is especially important for sausage or more than 7 percent fat content ground meat,   Portion control on quart bags the ground beef and place the quart bags in a gallon bag.   Date the gallon bag and label.    Dinner is amsnap when the meat is already cooked and you will find that you are more likely to de-fat a batch at your leisure than you would of you are doing it on the fly,   
• Always buy multiples of anything that won't spoil and you use on a regular basis of it's a steal of a price.    It's just more bang for your buck.   Some people think they need to be minimalist, but you can be a minimalist so,where else in your life. There is a line between hoarder and being prepared and cutting your food bill.     You don't have to have a coat closet full of sodas. Lol.   But six cans instead of one can of green beans when you are paying .33 instead of .58 really helps you bottom line,   Just buy something else on sale the next week in place of,the beans , buy the corn or diced  tomatoes.    It all comes out on the end, but the end result is that you paid 1/2 or less for your food.    So,emfor this week, so,e for next if ):);  happens  in your life.    A job loss. The streets flood so trucks can't get to the stores. the kids get sick.    Any number of reasons 

Fred Meyer ad for Sunday

Cherries 199

Chick roast 2.97 

Eggs .79

Peppers, 99

 English cucumbers .99

Note : this is a good example why you buy things ahead of time and when the orice is low.   The retailers know you are likely to buy at any cost when their is a  holiday.  Sweet baby rays is 4/5.  That's 1.25 each.   A few weeks back, they were 1.00 and with the coupon , they were .65.   That's half price.   

Buns are 3/5.   That's 1.67.   They are .88 or less at Winco,    That's half price again.  

Johmsonville  sausage 2/5 

Kroger ice cream 2/5 

Nathan's franks 7.99/ 2 lbs. 

strawberries 2/5 

Zucchini .99

Radishes 2/.99

Tortinos paety pizza 100$$ for 1.00 off 4 

Foster Farms split chicken breast 1.69. A few weeks ago they were .87.  (give or take  a penny ) again , that's half price.    

The insert with the Sunday paper has coupons for hummus and blue bunny ice cream .    

Who says there isn't coupons for real food.   LOL.  

Protein.

Protein is the highest priced group of foods.   That means to save on protein it is imperative  to save on your grocery bill and cut your grocery expense in  half.   Duh!
Most of us eat far more protein than we need.

The RDA for protein is .08 grams for killagram of your weight.  That's far to technical for me to fathom.   The bottom line is about 46 grams for women and 56 for men.  

To put thing in perspective there is 61 grams in 8 ounces of chicken breast,   A woman would need six ounces of chicken breast and 1 egg ( 6 grams) .

Consider that protein is in a lot of incidental foods.   There was 5 grams in our tomato soup and that was before I added some blue cheese.   We also had cheese in cheesy garlic biscuits and milk in our chocolate desert.

I think what I am saying, is that no one needs to eat the best part of a two pound roast.

Eating realistic amounts of protein can drastically cut yournfood budget.   Almost always serving a slice or whole chicken breast is eating too much protein and increasing  your cost.   Americans eat far more protein than any other nation.    A whole piece of meat shouldn't cover more than the palm of your hand,  your plate should be a quarter meat, a quarter starch, and a half vegetable to be healthy.

I find that easier in the summer where you can eat more salads.  Lettuce this week was two dollars a head at QFC.  The darker the green, the more food value it has.   Romaine is better than head lettuce.

Again, NO food is going to do your family good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.
There was a joke om Facebook about kale and cocoanit oil .  Cocoanit oil has MORE saturated fat than a four ounce piece of sirloin   steak.   It's a fad.   Fads might as well start with a Dollar sign surrounding them.   Learn to differentiate between a trend to be more healthy and a trend to separate you from  your money.   I think some trends  are marketing ploys to get you to spend more money at places like Trader Joe's and PCC, and Whole Foods.

Case in point ....I bought a carton of strawberries 🍓 at QFC.  They put the organic strawberries in woth the regular ones.  The organic ones were five dollars, the regular ones were a dollar and eighty eight cents or more than double the price.    In two days they were rotten.  Again. No food will do your family any good if you are  feeding it to the garbage disposal. I had the same thing Halle to carrots at Costco.

Organic doesn't mean that your food has no pesticides.   They can still grow organic in a field that has been pesticide free for three years.   HEY people, some  pesticides live  longer than three years in soil that has been full of pesticides for years. Wash your produce in vinegar water, peel it if appropriate.   Never buy organic bananas.  Themskin id too thick for anything to penetrate and you are paying more for nothing.   I'm not convinced that organic is better.   This is my opinion, take it or leave it.

Thursday bullets- emergency recipes

Five things you can make yourself in a pinch

1. Soda crackers 
2. Cheese from dry milk 
3. Sour cream from dry milk 
4. Buttermilk 
5. Sweetened condensed milk 

Recipe - low sodium, low fat white sauce mix

This  is a low salt, low fat version of a cream soup mix .    Also used  for white sauce or cheese sauce.

2 cups dry milk powder
1-1/2 cups cornstarch
1/2 cup low sodium chicken granules.

You can substitute vegetable broth granules .
This is stored in the cabinet, but you do have to adhere to the sell by date on the cornstarch.

Recipe : 1/3 cup  mix to 1-1/4 cups water.    Stir together in saucepan over medium heat until,

Makes equivalent to 18 cans of soup.

To make: place ingredient together in saucepan and stir  with wisk  over medium heat until thickened.
For cheese sauce, add cheese of choice.

Thursday Bullets : so you forgot to thaw the meat!

Ten quick dinners for when a ;););) storm happens, or you just forgot to prep  dinner.

1. Nachos,   Remember the ground meat bulk hack 
2. Tacos 
3. Sausage, peppers, corn on the cob and red potatoes 
4. Mac and cheese 
5. Pancakes and bacon or sausage 
6. Chicken parm ( use FF chicken patties from the freezer section, 
7. Hot dogs 
8. Hamburgers 
9. Speghetti and meatballs ( freezer or bulk made) 
10. Baked potato bar  ( leftovers or cheese, broccoli, sour cream, canned chilli, bacon.   

DInner

The sausage is separated from the veggies because my daughter is vegan,    Potatoes, red peppers, and onion was oven roasted.    Tossed with olive oil and sorinkked with garlic pepper and pink sea salt.  

Thursday bullets : poverty

There are a lot of stats and proven theories that stem around poverty.   Many can be corrected even if you have a strict budget.

1. People that are on a position to wonder where the next meal is coming from have stress and it has been proven that the stress reduces your life expectancy.    
2. People that wonder where the next meal is coming from tend to over eat to compensate . 
3. Not knowing how to  s t r e t c h your dollar forces people to buy garbage food or on other words, cheap food that has little nutrition, but makes the tummy happy.    
4. This purchasing of junk food tends to make people obese, which in turn, also reduces their life expectancy.   
5. This is exactly why I wrote this blog.    I have and am still developing ideas that make it possible to eat well on a strict budget.   

If you are r easing this and,not on a strict budget you can still save  money and be more efficient on the kitchen while making scratch dinners.    And, you might consider sharing the web site with someone that is having trouble.   Thanks, 

No spend week Winco haul

The freezer and pantry are full.    It's time for a no soend week.   Of course, no soend never means absolutely no spend .   There are always fresh fruits and veggies needed to  fill-in.  

Mustard. .78
Blue bunny ice cream 2.78
4 lbs carrots @ .96 -1.96
Potatoes, 10 lbs 1.78
Strawberries, lrg 1.78
Frozen French fries , 2 lbs .98

Total 10.00.


Fresh food  and the mustard we were out of and  who can live without ice cream!  😂
I realized we had some hash browns, but no French  fries, and sometimes it's just easier to make frozen,    Window fries are not perfect, all the fries aren't all the same size.    They all eat the same and the fiidmvakue is the same, they are half the price of other fries.    One time, I got ore ida at the dollar tree and when I can get regular ones with coupons , I do that.   Being flexible helps you stay on a strict budget.  

Chain store ads 6/14-17

Alberways,

Grapes .88
Cheerios 3/5$$
Hamburger and hot dog buns 2/100@@
Sweet baby rays - .49 limit 2 @@. Digital only


QFC

Cantaloupe .49 lb
Berries 1.88
Eggs .99
Dijiorno 2/9

????    GM cereals 4/8 with free milk. ?????

10-10
Popcycles
Cream cheese
Sour cream / cottage cheesec



About it.  

Reading,,,,,an awakening

I have been reading a lot lately on a quest for more knowledge.   I'm on a mission to learn all there is to learn about feeding a family when one may have small reserves.    Hopefully my quest I'll help someone somewhere.

I heard a lady say that she has come to the realization that if she learned how to make bread and soup her family would never go hungry.  Soup and bread is one of my family's favorite meals.   I especially    Like or because a few minutes in the morning and dinner is well  on its way to being , well, dinner.  
Some drop cheezy biscuits or a loaf of quick artisan bread and dinner is done.   Hands on time , maybe twenty minutes.

I am  not found of freezer meals, I went to a freezer meal class years ago.  My main objection is that they take up valuable freezer space with your meat and vegetables etc that don't necessarily need to take up space.   I need my space for protein and vegetables --oh, and ice cream!  LOL.  The other reason, is that I have health issues and before retirement I had time constraints.  A lot of the time I held two jobs and a family to take care of.   a busy mom's best  defense is multi tasking.   Efficient cooking leaves  more time to plan meals and shopping trips and you can take that to the bank.

I have been dehydrating some foods lately and can see where a few pint jars of a soup mix might be a real benefit if I'm otherwise occupied.  Dumping a jar and adding two jars of water to a slow cooker or soup pot is a activity most people in this household can muster.   Lol.

Refrigerator no knead bread dough is a recipe that is a lifesaver.   Anytime that two ten minute blocks of time can produce a loaf of bread 🥖 that is one tenth of the cost of store bought is nothing short of a miracle.

Most soups can be made for less than two dollars and when you add .30 for a loaf of bread, you still have a really cheap meal.  

Kitchen management , June 12

kitchen management is taking a block of time and prepping for the weekly meals,  or saves a lot of time during the hectic dinner hour and I'd more efficient because you are more likely to use your appliances effectively when you are focused.

• Make pasta salad, - add cut tomatoes, seeded, sliced olives, radishes. 
• Open pizza sauce and freeze on ice cube tray. 
• Mark calendar to thaw chicken and pork chops. 
• Wash carrots and potatoes 
• Wax east wall cabinets 
• Wash floor
• Clean refrigerator, note exploration dates.    
• Straighten pantry,   Seal glass jars.   
• 
  

The ugly truth

I have been watching a lot of grocery hauls.  Mainly, I watch to see what people are buying and how much things cost in other parts of he country.   It is dramatically true that we in the PNW have high prices compared to the Midwest  and South.  I surmise that our wages are higher too, however, that's doesn't hold true if you are  retired.   Still, it's more telling of what's in their cart, not necessarily what price they are paying.  The term 1/2 price is relative.  

Basically, half of the average cart 🛒 is drinks and snack foods.    Growing up, we had water, tea, An
and occasional milk.   I always had a allergy problem, and it was thought milk creates mucus.   It has been reported lately that three glasses of milk a day is not recommended for girls because it increases your chance of breast cancer.    Calcium can come from all kinds of dairy, milk doesn't have to be the only source.  

I digress.  

Too much of many carts are pop, sports drinks and kool aid types.   If you stick  to water, coffee and tea, your bottom line will be better off.  If you are concerned about tea with children, use herbal. Some of the fruit  based ones are really good.    Fruit juice has more sugar than pop.    A nutritionist years ago told me I was better off giving my daughter the apple instead of the apple juice.   Apple juice in tippy cups  is really bad for a child's teeth.

Snack foods!    Stop and figure out how much per pound you are paying for things like potato chips or veggie sticks.    Holly ;);)()!    Air popped popcorn is really cheap.   A 12 dollar carton at Costco will last a long time.  Air popping doesn't ad any oil.   The flavoring that they add to microwave popcorn is nasty.  It has made the factory workers that make that stuff sick.    You are much better off health wise and money wise to use an air popper.    We do buy tortilla chips. I watch formthe kind with the least amount of oil.   Some of them just shout oil in the package.   They are cheapest  at Costco.    Salsa is a good alternative to other dips.  

Cutting the drink and snack budget down to a minimum is the first step on lowering your grocery bill-- one step, a lot of gain both for you waistline and your budget.    Sugar free drinks are not the best for you,   I have read that the body doesn't recognize the fake sugar and attaches itself to your fat cells making them fatter!    Ironic.

Next step: finding your protein at the lowest price!   Find your RBP on the cuts of meat that you buy, minimize the cuts you buy.   It just makes life easier.    Less prices to remember, easier storage.   I have a side by side fridge.    I marked the drawers with a meat category: beef, chicken, Pork, and fish and veggies. It makes life simple.  Start with one at a time.  Find the lowest price, buy bulk and butcher it if necessary.   I put each chicken breast in a quart bag and then out the batch in a gallon bag and label with the meat and the date.   I can get quart bags cheap at the dollar tree and use better quality gallon bags .  You can place a chicken breast in the insta pot without ever touching the raw meat.

Now, the biggie. Scratch cooking.   There are appliances these days that cut the work dramatically.   There are also recipes all over the Internet that make cooking from scratch efficient.   You can basically make a dish from scratch just about as fast as buying the mix or meal bag.   Get yourself a binder from the dollar store or goodwill, plastic sleeves for the most used recipes and start a binder.  

One of the ways you can make a big difference is to make a list of mixes you can make yourself and stop buying the pouches.  A taco seasoning pouch can cost a dollar.   There was a coupon on our eggs for a dollar off of four gravy packets.   The packets were 1.25.    How can you spell rip off.   Gravy is flour or cornstarch, meat or other fat,  and water!   The mix calls for you to add the liquid.    A roux is a basic cooking skill.    It's easy!    If you don't have drippings, get better than bouillon or dried boullion.    Baking mix, muffin mix, pancake mix, white sauce mix are all better than the store bought and not very time  consuming.   Teach a older child.    It's a learning experience and frees up your time.  My mother didn't like to bake.   She taught is from about nine years old to bake.   My 5 yo can make a pizza totally from scratch with supervision, of I make the dough.  She loves it.    What a confidence builder.  Wash their hands , don't let them deal with raw meat  until they are old enough to disinfect. No sharp, no hot until they are older.

Mixes make life easier because you are making them in bulk when life isn't as hectic and using them when it is more hectic.   It saves money and you aren't eating things you can't pronounce.

I can tel, you how to cut your food costs to a minimum and still eat well.   I can't tell you that it will be effortless and that food will magically appear on the table.    Hey, if  I could do that on a meager budget, I'd sell the idea and be rich!   LOL.

Meal plans - 6/12/17

meal plans for week of June 12 , 2017

We have some multiples of things that need to be used up over the summer.   Things I got dirt cheap . Buying multiple of a few things that you know can be used up on a short time is a good way  to feed your family good food for cheap money,    The object is to have good  food cheap, not cheap food.

I purchased a Pork  loin from Costco and QFC both for 1.49 a pound.   My last chicken was free.    Usually I pay any  where from .88 to 1.28 for boneless, skinless chicken feast  because I butcher  them myself.   Hamburger is 3.28 a pound frequently at Winco for 7 percent fat.    If I can find a roast cheaper than that, we grind it ourselves.    A little labor can cut your meat bill dramatically,and still have good nutrition.  I always buy fresh fruit and veggies based on seasonal produce supplemented with frozen and some canned.

I think the big thing is portion control.    We eat far too much protein and starch in this country.   I just read where too much coffee, sugar, and meat can ruin your kidneys.  It always comes back to moderation and balance.  

My matrix :  1 beef, 1 shellfish or fish, 2 vegetarian, 3 Pork or chicken.   We have a five  yo in the house, so most of our menses are kid friendly.  

• Hot dogs, corn on the cob, (1/2 ears) pasta salad. 
• Pork chops. Mashed sweet potatoes. Green beans 
• Home made chicken nuggets, oven fries, fruit salad 
• Mac and cheese (scratch) , peas and carrots. 
• Pizza 
• Shrimp stir fry, rice, mandarin oranges, 
• Belgian waffles. Strawberries or blueberries. Bacon

Fred Meyer ad for tomorrow.

Ok, let's just say it's a bust.  Last week was good.  Veggies all over the place at .99.    Some of it was a three daynsake, but if I wanted veggies, I would go today.  

This week is Father's Day themed and when they think it's a holiday, they think you'll spend whatever!  

Cherries 299 lb.  - not great, bit cherries have a shirt window .
Milk .99
Sour cream/cottage cheese.   4/5
Pie 3.49.      Based on blueberries at four ninty nine, you can't  make it for that.

That's about it.   Winco and grocery outlet had better buys.

Winco haul with prices

corn .33 each
Grapes 1.78 lb
Coffee 5.94
Green chillis .58
Diced ham 238
Olives, sliced .68
Suddenly salad .74  coupon
Total 17.35

What to do with what you got

I purchased eleven pouches of sweet potatoes at grocery outlet.    They were 25 percent more product for .33 instead of over a dollar.  That's enough for us to have one a week all summer before the expiration date.    I think they would be good longer than that, but it's a good benchmark.   So, this weeks pork chops will have sweet potatoes subbed for the starch.  When something is dirt cheap at a overstock store, always check the expiration date. Many ones it is on a special package, or a test market product and many times the reason why it didn't fly was because of price.    When the price is discounted, you are the winner.    

Chocolate pudding is a no brainier with a 5yo in the house.    

Suddenly salad is a bargain with coupons and summer means salads.     Some of them have bacon and take mayo, and some take olive oil or veggie oil.  

Getting diced tomatoes for .39 was wonderful.  I can use them for a lot of things and you can make salsa, tomato sauce or even put them  on nachos in  a pinch.   

So, how does a few cents  here and a few cents there add up to savings!    When you consistently get a good price on ingredients you can use to make balanced meals, your food bill goes down dramatically.    When you can scratch cook efficiently, your time is not much more, sometimes less, than cooking from packages, and you can control the preservatives, salt, sugar, and fat.  

• Pork chops, mashed sweet potatoes, peas, salad   Cost ;   Pork chops were 1.49  per pound , sweet potatoes .33, peas 1/2 package .50.   Salad .50 .   Total. 2.46.   That's about 1/2 of what the breakdown of a meal for four dollars a day per person.    
• Pizza : total cost of a scratch cheese and pepperoni pizza 🍕 when purchased at RBP is 1.30 total cost of a take out pizza is at least 5.99 and can be 20.00 from a delivery.   
• 4 cans of vegetable soup can be upwards of four dollars.   The same amount of scratch soup with .39 diced tomatoes cost 1.50
• Summer : hot dogs, buns, suddenly salad . Veggie sticks- raw.    Hot dogs are 2/5 ,   suddenly salad s .75 , add carrot and celery sticks at .50.  Total 2.94 
• Veggie egg omelets, cantaloupe.    Eggs are .78.   Tomatoes, zucchini chopped .94. Cantaloupe 1/2 .50 total for three people 1.83 

Total for five meals / three people 10.03 .  Granted, I would add fresh bread with the soup and maybe toast with the omelettes.   A loaf of homemade bread is another .30.   10.33 divided by 15 meals is .69 a meal.   

All this is predicated on buying your groceries in bulk, on sale, and rotating bulk protein monthly or on a six week interval. 

 

Buying your food at one store and one week at a time, just what you need for one week is rigged against you.  Just like gambling at a casino, the payout is rigged for the house.    Their house, not yours.   

You can buy 1 packet of potatoes for 1.29 , or you can buy  4 packages for 1.33.  One  time , you eat one meal. The other way, you eat four meals.  

Friday recipe - remake

Today's recipe is a remake of a box of tomato 🍅 roasted red 🌶 pepper  soup .   The soup is expensive everywhere unless you find it at Costco,   Then it is about two dollars a box.   Considering it feeds three of us with enough left over  for a lunch, it is not  bad.


1 box of tomato soup.
Add :

Milk or cream
Blue cheese or parm
Basil

Serve with cheesy biscuits or bread sticks, or artisan bread .