Fred MEYER AD FOR SUNDAY

THE THRIFT GODS ARE AGAINST ME THIS WEEK I GUESS, MY PRINTER ATE THE PRINTABLE COUPONS.  MY SIL PRINTER ATE ANOTHER BATCH, THERE ARE NO INSERTS IN THE NEWSPAPER THIS WEEK. AND I LOSST TWO RETAILERS IN ONE WEEK.   DISCOURAGING, BUT I TRUDGE ON.....

FRED MEYER AD 

Blues 377

Peppers 88

Eggs 89

Washington cherries 299 **

Jazz apples 99

Ground turkey 350

Tomatoes 99

Sour cream 125

Frozen potatoes 179 - 2 lbs

Butter 2/5 **

Notes i think it interesting that Washington cherries 🍒 are cheaper in other part of the ountry.   

Frozen potatoes are cheaper at winco, but they arent uniform in size.   

Butter is cheaper at Safeways this week nad even cheaper if you have a just for u basket digital coupon.   

The gal at Safeways loaded the just for you to my phone that will make it a lot easier to use th just for you and you can google an article and see if there is a digita coupon for it and instant add.   

I dont think that turkey is a good buy, it is a buck in other parts of the country.    Just a note.    

Eggs are remarkable.   If I have an abundance i dry them for when they arent as cheap or if we canat get out for some reason.  

Crayons 49 

Recipe ; better, cheaper, faster

Chicken Tetrazzini - serves 4

8 ounces spaghetti, broken
1 frozen chicken breast - at least 6-8-ounces
2 recipes cream soup base **
2 slices red pepper, chopped
1 cup frozen peas
2 ounces parm cheese for topping

1. Place frozen chicken breast in insta pot on rack.  Add 2 cups water or chicken broth.   Seal the pot. ( close lid and make sure the vent is on seal) and push the poultry button.   
2. Cook and drain the spaghetti.   
3. Make a double batch of cream of ....soup base.   
4. Grease a two quart cassarole and add the cream soup base, chopped red pepper, peas, and cooked spaghetti .  
5. When chicken is done with its cycle, finish de-pressuring and remove chicken from pot. 
6. With two forks, shred the chicken and add to the baking dish.   
7. Stir gently.       
8. Cover the dish, bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  Uncover and add cheese and bake an additional 10 minutes or until the dish is bubbly on the sides.

Your chicken, spaghetti and cream sauce can cook all at the same time.   I cook thespaghetti in the microwave, so the spaghetti and chicken are self cooking.   All I have to watch closely, stir, is the cream  soup base.   

Toss all ingredients in a covered, greased cassarole and bake in the oven and you are free to make a salad and set the table.    

Thursday bullets - cookbook review.

Taste of home - make and take

A complete book of all kinds of summer recipes from appetizers to deserts and everything in between.

• Chicken parm sliders  
• Cheddar veggie appetizer torte-- surprise crust and enough protein  to be a main dish. 
• Mini BLT - stuffed tomatoes 
• Texas taco dip platter 
• Swiss cheese bread 

• Hawaiian Pork roast (butt) 
• Beef  and cheese tortilla pie 
• Greek pasta and beef 
• Monitire meat pies
• Sauerkraut cassarole 
• Beef and veggie sloppy joes 
• Meatball subs
•  brocolli slaw 
• Layered picnic loaves. 
• Chicken chilli with  black beans  
• Double butterscotch cookies 
• Raspberry white chocolate bars. **
• Berry white ice pops ***

** white chocolate chips are on the bulk isle at  Winco.    Buying just what you need sometimes saves money. 

*** popcicle molds are at the Dollar Tree this time of year.     A lot more healthy than  sugar water.    

 ,

dinner take along.

Made new recipe of bread dough.

King Arthur refrigerater bread makes two loaves. 

The last batch 2nd half is above.   Take it out of the canister, knead it a couple of times on a flour covered  board and set it on parchment paper in a Dutch oven to rise in a warm oven, turned off.   

Parchment paper is cheapest at the dollar treee. 

Meanwhile, I cooked a cup of mixed beans in the insta pot with 8 cups of water. Seal, and push the bean button.   Walk away!  When it was done, I released the pressure, (use a towel and a wooden spoon) and drained the bean juice.    Turned the insta pot off.   

I opened two cans of non bpa lined diced tomatoes I paid 39 and 50 cents respectfully, and a handful 

of dried carrots and celery.   The pic is an old pic because i took pics but forgot to G plus them. We added sausage to that one.     I added 2 quarts of tomato stock and Italian spices.   Put the pressure cooker on slow cook for 8 hours. 

Meantime, i swept the kitchen floor and filled the 5 gallon bucket with flour and put  my dishes to soak.   

After the bread doubles in size, I will bake it for 35 minutes, covered, and another three uncovered so it browns on top at 450 degrees.   

The new bread dough will rise on the counter unti double in size.   It is 2 liters now and will be at the four liter mark when i place it covered in the fridge.   Now, it is partially covered to let the gasses out.

Total time, a little mor than an hour.   That's cooking beans from scratch and taking pictures even though they are lost in cyberspace.      

Ill post them on facebook for anyone on my Facebook.   

In depth ~. Scratch cooking

Scratch cooking...the art of spending all day slaving over a hot stove to produce dinner.   ~~ not any more.   The old days left with the invent of frozen premade meals and components.  Now, the tides have turned and to save money and avoid preservatives, we are going back to scratch cooking.  Everything old is new again, but with a twist.

The invent of countertop appliances and the ingenuity of five ingredient or less cooking. Scratch can be just as efficient and a lot cheaper than using something out of a box or bag.    Buying basic ingredients in bulk is a lot cheaper than buying individual boxes of food.

A box of bread mix is almost three dollars.   A loaf of artisan bread is three dollars at winco.   A loaf of bread made from bulk flour and bulk yeast cost.  Thirty cents and takes ten minutes.  And thee ten minutes doesn't t have to be in the same block of time.   It can be that ten minutes while you wait for something else to be done.   I like to pay a game:  what can I get done before the  microwave finishes.
I can get the floor swept, unload the dishwasher sans the silverware, or throw the ingredients for pizza dough in the food processer.

When a pizza costs less than driving to little Cesar's, the cost of a food processer just became manageable.   It cost 1.40 with pepperoni and peppers.   A loaf of bread cost between .22 and .30 cents.   That five dollar bag of cooled chicken breast pieces costs about .66 . And takes about four minutes to cook and chop in an insta pot.   You are cooking with steam, no fat.

Before I went to almost all scratch cooking, my weekly average was 72.00 ; after it is about 53.00.   That more than pays for a insta pot and a food processer.   Honestly, I have a kitchenaid mixer, but i don't use it as much as i do the food processer and the insta pot.   I use the meat grinder and the  slicer attachment more.   At twenty dollars a week, it doesn't take long to pay for an insta pot.

When food is going to be wasted because we didn't eat it fast enough, i have been slicing it and dehydrating it.   That 1.39 bag of bananas got ripe too quickly.   I sliced them and dehydrated them.   My granddaughter ate them in two days.  She would not have eaten the bananas that quickly.    We paid 69.00 for the dehydrator and have used it twenty years.  Beef jerky, eggs, carrots, potatoes, fruit. That 40 cents worth of dried bananas would be well over a dollar and took me very few minutes.   My husband opens the banana and leaves  section of skin on it.   Then he can slice it really fast and dump the slices.

No, I'm not getting paid to promote the insta pot,  I just love mine.   Its three appliance in one, does all of them well.  Saves time and money.    Beans don't freeze well.   They don't hold well.  Their refrigerater life is short.   Beans and rice spoil fast and I don't take chances on food poisoning.    Before the insta pot where I can cook beans in a matte of a few ~ like maybe two minutes , we used canned beans,   The difference in sodium and cost is remarkable.   Retail on beans is a dollar a can.  I can usually find them for 50 cents.  The cost of scratch is about 16 cents.

Efficient scratch cooking can save time and money.  Invest in appliances that make sense and are workhorses in the kitchen.   Develop a binder of five ingredients or less recipes that your family will gladly eat.   Take the time to make your own mixes and spice blends.   Even at 50 cents taco seasoning is a rip off.   Cream of xxx soup is more of a rip off.    That hour you spend on a rainy Saturday can save tons of money.  

The average family spends 5000 a year more than we spend and probably don't eat any more nutritious.   .

Thursday bullets : small kitchen tools that save time and/or money

Ten kitchen tools that save time /money that are cheap.

1. Rubber spatula , get the last bit of product out of a bowl or jar.   Betty Crocker ones are at the DT, buy the best you can afford.   
2. A potato masher,    Besides mashing potatoes, you can break up hamburger while frying it.  There is a special tool for that, it was over 20.00.    
3. Jar opener,   I have one from the 1920s that is the best, but there are good ones on the current market too,    
4. A food thermometer,     Test bread water, the doneness of meat, and baked products (200 degrees) 
5. A food scale ,   Break down packages like for pasta.   It you cook the whole package and you don't have a large family, the leftovers will go into the fridge and get shoved to the back until it has hair prettier than yours in a typical family.    Portioning out a box of pasta saves a lot of waste.    Saving the landfill also saves money,    
6. Portion scoops.   Very inexpensive at Costco business, a restraint supply or on Amazon.    Great for making meatballs or cookies uniform size so they all cook at the same time,   Great portion control.    Filling cupcakes or muffin liners.   
7. Cupcake lines in silicone , They wash and you aren't replacing them over and over. I paid five dollars.    
8. A non metal wisk.  Saves scratches on pans and bowls.    
9. Silicone bowl covers save money not buying all that plastic wrap.  
10. Parchment paper is cheapest at DT especially for smaller jobs.    

Safeways haul.

Again, we went to take care of another errand, and stopped at Safeways.   I'm still under budget for the week, but I did well with a 3 dollars off of 20 electronic coupon.   The gal there also loaded the Safeway app to my phone for me.   It's a lot easier to post your coupons,


I went for as close to twenty dollars as I could.    Our ending balance was 16.69

Large coffee
Oreo wanta be
2 -12 packs sparkling water
8 oumces shred  cheese
1 lbs butter
I carton ice cream
Grapes

Chain store ads

There is no QFC ad this week, it was a two week ad last week.  

Alberways

Butter 199@@
Ice cream 2/5
Grapes 1.28
Radishes .79
Cantaloupe 2/5
Kraft Singles 1.99@@

Iceberg lettuce each .99

Walla walla onions, .99 lb
Tomatoes .99 lb

Grocery outlet haul

Had to go to a few towns over for the last time for business.    Stopped at dollar tree and grocery outlet   on the way home.  

Chocolate chip cookies l lunchbox size 4/1.00
Hot salsa .99
Kashi bars .98
Designer sausage 2.99

Total 5.96

What tools do you use?

There is a lot of discussion out there about not using a warehouse club and not using coupons to save money on groceries.  

Guaranteed, if you order your groceries on line and pay for delivery, you are going to spend a lot more than of you do
 the work yourself.   I certainly get it that there are disabled people that have no choice because they just can't go to the store, let alone several stores.    It's a convenience, and sometimes necessity to order your food, and yes, you are paying for it just like any other time you pay for convenience.  I wrote in the 80 s that the word convenience starts with $$$$.  

It just makes sense to me that if you use every available tool at your disposal to save money on groceries, you will save more.  The caviat here is to do it in a manner that makes sense.     The business world has an expression, " return on your investment.  

If you use coupons, you can save money,   I average about 300.00 a year.  Your savings is based on how much you spend on food and how many coupons for real food you can find.   If you were to spend 40   hours a week clipping coupons , you would not get much return for your money.  Another way to look at it, is saving 300.00 and spending 160 hours to do it nets you 1.88 an hour.  Not enough in my book.   Spending six hours would mean  I am making  50.00 an hour.  A bit more rewarding,

Warehouse stores,:   First of all, we have a business membership.   It costs 120.00.   Whooo..... we get 2 percent back on our purchases,    Which pays for half if we don't have a major purchase like a television.   Gas is anywhere from .30-.50 a gallon cheaper.   If we use 200 gallons of gas a year, it


pays for the  membership.    That's four gallons a week.





Not everything at Costco is a bargain,    Not all bulk foods make sense to all families.   If you throw away a lot of why you buy, you aren't saving money.   The best way to make your membership work is to buy the things that you use frequently and avoid the marketing blitz.   Buy what is cheaper than anywhere else.   We buy flour, beer, cheese, yeast. Rice, tortilla chips, bananas, bacon, blue cheese, spices and over the counter meds that my doctor has ordered.  The meds save a lot of money,  for the cost of one copay for us, I can have 1/2 a years meds of a particular medication.    As any store, put on blinders for anything you don't have on your list. Get in and get out.    Pick your time to go so you aren't waiting too long in line.  

Shopping two stores saves a lot of money.   You can get your return on your money by using the planning. ,Blinders , in and out theory and planning your trip to maximize your gas,   If your two stores aren't close together, plan to shop in conjunction with other errands.   If you have to go far, plan your trip , do it monthly, and make it worth your while-- stock non perishable foods you use in a
regular basis.   When we had to go ten miles one way to Winco, I would plan what I knew was cheaper, gather coupons, and I always have cooler bags in the trunk.

Ibotta is a rebate site,   It takes a few minutes to download to your phone or tablet one time,   If you go from a referral. You get money and the referral gets money,    Sometimes ten  dollars.  You scroll threw the store you shopped at, click in the thingsmyou bought, "look" at the 30 second video .  Take a snapshot of your receipt and money drops on your account,   You can get credit at Amazon, movie tickets and more credits.   How much you get depends on how much you buy.   It can be anything from tomatoes to wine,    Obviously, the wine has a larger rebate.

One thing that came to mind while writing this , is that children are tech savy at early ages.   A preteen to teenager can "earn his spending money by printing coupons  for what they onowmyou buy and doing the Ibotta thing.  They are learning to save money and you aren't giving them an allowance.   Just a thought.

Scratch cooking,.   This is where I use the return in your money 💰 comcept the most.   If it takes too long time to make, it's not going to happen.   Do the math.   If I'm making .60 an hour unless there is a h u g e health  benefit, I'm not going there. Making mixes saves time and money, and has health benefits.   Making bread is a ten hands on minute chore and saves 90  percent of the cost.   And bread hot out of the oven is sooo good.  If it takes ten minutes and I save 2.70 I am making 16.20 an hour.   Or 32.40  for two loaves that wouldn't take any longer.   No preservatives control the fat. ( there is no fat)

Use time wisely.   We save 5000.00 a year over the average grocery bill .   Being efficient and spending less time cooking, and more time planning and shopping trips makes it happen while eating home made scratch cooking meals.

The basics,:buying in bulk.

We covered protein, the most expensive part of your food budget.  To recap, picking bulk meats that are  versatile are your best bet in reducing the cost of protein.  Eating a vegetarian meal once or twice a week helps greatly too.    Buy bulk meat enough to rotate that meal for a month.  In other words, if you want to eat Pork for two nights a week, you will need enough for 8 meals.   Portions should be around four ounces.   The RDA for protein is 45 grams for women and 55 for men, minimum, for low activity people.     There are 61 in a 8 ounce boneless, skinless chicken  breast.

 Knowing the RBP of rotation meats is key,   Chicken breasts should be no more than a dollar a pound.   In most places, you can get them for that.  Seattle is one of the most costly places to live and I can get chicken breasts with ribs for .88 and cut the ribs off for stock, pick the bones for more meals.   Pork loins are between 1.50 and 1.79.   Good (7 percent ) hamburger is 3.28 here.   Ground turkey a dollar  a pound chub  in other parts of the country, frozen,

Buying other things in bulk only Makes sense if you use it regularity,   There are three of us basically.    I can still buy certain things in bulk.  Rice is one.   Rice has a long shelf life.   It is 8.47 for 25 lbs at Costco.   That makes a rice serving pennies.

Oatmeal is close to 8.50 at Costco for ten pounds,   We eat oatmeal everyday for breakfast and I use it for oatmeal, blueberry, banana bread and oarmeal cookies.

Flour is  6.39 for 25 pounds.  25 pounds lasts us about three months,  I make our own  baking mix, cream soup base, muffin mix and bread.   Bread cost about .25-30 cents a loaf.  It takes about ten hands on minutes.    Making your own mixes means you can control the fats and avoid hydroginated  oils and too much sugar.    Cream soup base is a lot less than opening a can of cream of....soup and takes not much more time.

Bulk yeast is a good investment if you are going to make bread.    For little more  the cost of one packet you can have enough for dozens of loaves.

I don't buy pinto beans on bulk because we don't eat enough to use them up before they are hard to cook.     The cost difference is ten cents a pound.  I can  get 1.5 pounds at the dollar tree for a buck and they are non gmo and grown on the USA.

Our Winco has a bulk food isle and some things are cheaper. .   It is especially good for anyone that wants to try something or need just a little bit  - yeast comes to  mind if you just want to try bread baking.  Don't give up, it may take a few loaves to get the hang of it.  
We like the chocolate and white chocolate chips. Dry milk, and spices.    Look on your area forma bulk isle.   Our Kroger has one, but the prices are a lot higher.

Cold cereal in bags are a lot cheaper than in the boxes.   We don't eat a lot of cold cereal.  I buy chocolate rice crispies for rice crispy treats.   Store them in a sealed canister.  

Contrary to some opinions out there, bulk buying can be a money saver.   You need to exercise caution and buy the things that you use a lot of on a regular basis.  One pound  of rice at the dollar  tree is a buck. Twenty five poumds of rice cost 8.47.   For the cost of  8.5 poumds, you can have 25 poumds,    That's a remarkable difference,    That's almost three times as much.

It just makes sense.

Winco haul

Sitting at 45.00 a week this week not including the Costco run of long term bulk.   That total is 59.00.

Winco

Foster Farms chicken patties 3.99
Blue bunny ice cream 3.50
Jalapeño poppers 1.78
Cucumbers 2/96
Potato salad 298
Hit dog buns .75
Green chillis 2/132
Black sliced olives 2/188

Total 18.51

Monday kitchen management - July 10, 17

Kitchen management is when you take a block of time once a week and clean and prep for the week's meals.   This hour to two hours saves a lot of time during the hectic dinner hour.  

Start with your meal plans,   Make notes on them the night before you need to defrost meat,  

Recap :

Spareribs, roasted veggies
Pizza
Salmon ( cook from frozen )
Tacos l Spanish rice
Chicken pot pie
Pork chops, oven roasted root veggies
Breakfast 4 dinner

•  Straighten pantry 
• Sweep and wash floor 
• Make something sweet - muffins and/or peppermint pie.   
• Clean fridge 
• Wash veggies to be ised this week with vinegar and water
• Defrost spareribs for tomorrow 
• Cook chicken for pot pie tonight 
• Clean counter under coffee station
• Post Winco haul and check ibotta .   

Cleaning out the recipe dump.

I'm not alone !   We all have that binder or box somewhere where we out recipes that we need ormthat we are going to try someday,    Someday may never come,    I just went through mine and dumped 1/2 of them in the recycle.  I did find tue recipes for my  moxes  all on scraps of paper.  
The thought came to me to put them on a vkogmtomsharemandnto out them in my oldest personal cookbook   from the 70's that  has the rest  of my mix recipes.  

Pancake mix.
To make pancakes : Water and mix equal parts.    Add fruit?  
12 cups flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 cups powdered milk
5 Tbls baking powder
1 Tbls salt

Mix and store in airtight container.  

Ranch dressing mix 
1 Tbls EACH
Dill
Garlic
Onion powder

1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp pepper

Baking mix 
3 cups flour
1-1/2 Tbls baking powder
3/4 tsp salt.
3 T oil

Mix and stir in container with tight fitting lid

Self rising flour 

1 cup flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt


Onion soup mix
3/4 cup  minced onions
1/3cup beef bouillon granules
4 tsp onion  powder
1/4 tsp sugar

5 T equals a 1-1/4 ounce package

Sunday : meal plans

Meal plans based on fruits and veggies in season and a inventory of what's in the pantry and  freezer,   We often purchase  in a small bulk buy, things that are nearing their pull date.   Often , depending on the product, they will be good for months to come.  Still, using them in or beforemthe pull date makes sense.   Case in point, I bought 11 packages of mashed sweet potatoes.   They were .33 instead of 1.25 each.  We have until mid September to use them up.    I plan to have pork chops ormxhixken and sweet potatoes once a week through the summer.    Buying not yet expired foods that are not typical of the season is a way to cut your food bill dramatically,   The food is as good as any other food, it's just not eaten in a traditional way,   I also got a desert mix that has a chocolate Oreo type crust and a peppermint filling-- no doubt for Christmas -- it cost.....wait for it........50.    The Oreo cookies would cost that much.  

Meal plans.   I'm going to be taking you through my mindset, nitmbecaise anyine has to follow me. But, rather, to let you see how I reach my decisions.  

I got country ribs for 1/2 price yesterday.    I will divide the mega pack in three that will allow us three big ribs for two of us.   I doubt that granddaughter will like them.  I will give her a taste of mine so she experiences the taste.   Introducing taste is a way to let children become accustomed to different tastes.    

Our matrix for meals is  1 fish or seafood,  1 beef,  3 chicken or pork,and 2 vegetarian 

• Spareribs , roasted potatoes and carrots.  
• Pizza ( homemade crust ) 
• Breakfast 4 dinner - pumpkin pancakes, bacon, fruit ( the last of the pumpkin bread mix ) 
• Salmon, Sweet potatoes, broccoli ( mashed sweet potatoes and broccoli got for .78) use 1/2 
• Tacos. Spanish rice
• Chicken pot pie ( biscuits were on sale for a dollar. ) - peppermint desert 
• Pork chops. Oven roasted veggies ( I have large radishs from last week and just bought a bag of potatoes). 

Using the insta pot, none of these meals will take more than 15-20 hands on time to prepare.   

The basics :meal plans

We have covered the two little things that you can do to cut  your food bill and contribute to better health too.   We have found ways to get your protein at the RBP and start the journey to build a stock for emergencies,    Emergencies can be as little as a snow storm, a sick  child, or the flooding of the main  road so the grocery stores can't get their restock.    Yes that did happen , and it was Christmas to boot.  

Let's talk about meal plans.   Meal plans save you from the pizza delivery demons. Being organized reduces stress.   If things are set up, almost anyone on the family can finish dinner even if you are otherwise occupied.  

Have a plan or plan to fail.    There are no magic surprises if you have  a basic stock of food on hand that you can make meals from .   Having a few aces in your hole doesn't hurt either.  Always have a few easy, cheap meals in your pantry or freezer.   I buy Foster Farms chicken patties when I find them
on sale,   If you have pasta and pasta sauce, you have chicken parm.

We always have ground beef already cooked and in portion controlled bags in the freezer.    It's a versatile base for any number of meals.

The basis for a lot of this organization is making a list of ten to fourteen meals your family will eat. At least, most of your family will eat, there is always that one holdout.    We didn't have that when we were kids,  you ate  or you waited for the next meal,  no snacks there.    I digress

After your list is  complete and you have analyzed it for budget breakers......this list should be economical meats and sides.    A lot of things like asparagus, and water chestnuts are  out of reach for a super economy meal. Stick to basics.

Ideas

Spaghetti and meatballs
Mac n cheese
Pork chops and dressing
Nachos
Tacos
Enchaladas
Chilli
Vegetable bean soup
Chicken roasted with garlic bread and oven roasted root veggies
Chicken soup
Chicken pot pie - one crust or Biscuit topping
Chicken stir fry
Breakfast for dinner
Quiche - impossible pie
Sloppy  joes
Chicken chimichangas

Now, make a list of ingredients that you need to make these dishes.   Note the things that you can buy in bulk and use for several dishes.

In our house that would be diced tomatoes. Other than tomato paste, i don't buy a lot of tomato products. Simplifying your grocery list for things that are versatile makes life and budgets a lot easier.   

Pasta sauce and pasta are items you can find coupons for and are often on stock up sales.   Being able to match a good sale with coupons, doubles your savings.   Planning a buy 5 save 5 type sale can take some time, but it can make remarkable purchases.   One time I saved 78 percent.    So much for not wanting to use coupons to save .25 cents.    Lol.

Potatoes, celery and carrots are a staple here.
I keep one ahead of things like catsup, mustard, and mayo.
Canned green beans, beans ( some) and corn 🌽.
I get dry beans in bulk, not too many they do go bad.  And also rice and flour.   You can make all kinds of things in a pinch with flour-  anywhere from noodles to crackers, tortillas, biscuits.....

Instant mashed potatoes and dry milk are nice t have on a pinch,
Tortillas are versatile, cheapest usually at dollar tree or Costco.    You can use them for quesadas , enchiladas, chimichangas, tacos, taco chips for nachos.  

It's a lie that shredded cheese is more expensive than  brick. A pound of cheese is a pound of cheese.   Watch those small bags, they can be a budget killer.  If you use a lot of,here's, buy five pound bags at Costco.   It does freeze.without harm.    I pay close to two dollars a pound.   It can be up to seven.  

Diced green mild  chilies and sliced black olives male things special.    Cheapest at Winco here.

All of this is bought at discount, of course, and over time.

Pit groceries for three of us has been less than 55.00 a week.  That is about 45 percent of the usda stats for poor people.    They call it thrifty.    Lol.    We eat well. And we don't eat rice and beans,  
We also don't get our groceries on line and pay full price with a delivery charge,   We don't buy junk food for the most part.   We scratch cook efficiently.   I rarely spend more ham fifteen  minutes hands on time cooking dinner at dinner time.  So,e bulk cooking and the insta pot helps remarkably,

Fred Meyers ad for tomorrow

First, today big lots  has 20 percent off everything,    6 pads and 12 toilet tissue were ten bucks.

Freddies tomorrow

Pork loin 1.99 - that's at the top of my rotation cost.
Cherries 1.77
Tomatoes .88 lb
Berries 3.99
Parsley 2/.99
Green onions / radishes 2/.99

Tillamook ice cream 2/6$$
Milk 1.79 gallon
Yogurt 10/5 $$
Sour cream leg 1.99

Zucchini.99


That's about it.  

Country style ribs in the insta pot.

It ts no secret that I love my insta pot and no, I'm not sponsored.  .   It's just a very versatile appliance that gives you a lot of bang for your buck.  You can slow cook, brown, make rice, and pressure cook, Some of them have yogurt features.

Wednesday, I got country ribs for 1/2 price and then I got another 16 percent off of that aa enough for two of us to have four meals for less than 8.00.   I'm not fond of baby back robs because you are paying for a lot of bone and not much meat.    This blog is all about. S t r e t c h i n g  your dollar.  
Of course, you can do the same recipe in a traditional slow cooker.  

Country ribs in the insta pot.

1) turn on the sauté feature .   Dry the ribs with a paper towel and salt and pepper both sides.   Brown the ribs in olive oil .   Try to keep a single layer of ribs.  
2) turn the Sauté feature off and add 2 cups of broth : chicken or tomato. ( tomato bullion is in a jar- add to water, )!
3) cover, shut vent, process on meat for 30 minutes.
4) de- pressurize naturally. Place ribs on a broiler pan, spread with BBQ sauce and cook at 400 degrees in the oven for 10 minutes or until the sauce has caramelized.

Rice :

Put equal parts of rice and water or broth in the insta pot.    Add a pat of butter  or a drizzle of olive oil.   Stir.    Place lid with the vent on seal and hit the rice button.    Done.  Let it de pressurize naturally.

Costco haul for the month.

Hopefully the last Costco run for the month for food.   Gas is  sooo much cheaper that it pays for the membership.  

25 lbs flour.  6.29

Bananas 1.39

Sour cream 3.99

4 lbs butter 10.99 2.75 lb 

Mozzarella -5 lbs 10.99 - 2.20 lb 

3 lbs tortilla chips 3.59

Blueberries 6.99

Total 44.23

Most of this was bulk that can be split over two weeks to three months.   

Twenty loaves of bread at 3.00  per loaf would be 60.00. 

A sack of flour costs 6.39 

Difference is 53.60

Yeast and salt when bought in bulk are mere pennies.    

The savings on  bread alone would feed us for over a week.   

Hands on time for a loaf of bread is about ten minutes.    

Thursday : basics - little steps

Back to basics.  Groceries on the cheap takes a different  look at traditional grocery shopping.   Instead of going to a store and buying a weeks worth of groceries and coming home and planning meals, you go to two stores and buy :  a rotation protein, what's in sale that you can make meals from, and replentish   dairy and fresh veggies hopefully on sale / and/or in season.

This takes a little time, but the rewards are amazing,   You eat better and have enough to take you through the month,   No one , especially children , should suffer the anxiety, stress, or insecurity of having no food in the house.  

The thought of doing this is a bit overwhelming to some people.    Basically, its not  hard and not impossible ,     You think you don't have enough money to do that,   But, in actuality you have more than you think.    If you buy 1 chicken a week for 1.68 a pound, you get 1 chicken,   If you don't buy one this week, and buy 2 chickens for .88 a pound next week, you have 2 chickens,    If you know how to stretch that chicken, you can have 8 dinners from those 2 chickens.   That's a quarter of the month  covered for dinners.    Do that will all your food, and you have meals plus a stock built to cover you if you can't get to the store for some reason or an  other mishap happens.

In this series, we will take one step at a time. Baby steps. Habits.   For many people making a drastic change that takes a lot of time, doesn't work because it isn't sustainable.   We eat for a small amount of money and have a back up small stock.  It didn't happen in a day; rather, it's been an ongoing mantra for fifty years.  I just kept perfecting the concept  and adjusting to fluctuating  prices and new revelations of foods that can effect your health .   Baby steps.   They all save. One year and your savings will grow.

• Write down and gather recipes if you need to for 10-14 meals your family likes to eat,   These meals should be made from low cost sources of protein.  
• In our house that would be 1) pork loin that can become chops, roast, or stew cubes; home butchered boneless, skinless, chicken breast; 7 percent hamburger, or home ground  low fat hamburger; cheese, beans, and some tuna, shrimp, or salmon. 
• Now, find two stores in your area that consistently  have the lowest prices.
•  Research the prices in your area for those sources of protein.  You are looking for the RBP ( rock bottom price ) .  In the PNW, I can get split chicken breast , locally grown, for .88 a pound. This turns into boneless, skinless, chicken  breast and chicken stick and loose meat. Pork loin is 149-1.69 a pound,  this turns out to be roast, chops, and stew meat. Hamburger is 3.28 a pound for 7 percent fat,   If a roast or steak is cheaper and has little fat, we will grind our own. Cheese can be purchased for 2.35 a pound or less, and sausage with coupons or at Costco in a chub is around two dollars a  pound.  I just got rope sausage for two dollars a pound, fry it and de-fat it, and freeze it. 
• Protein is probably the most expensive group of foods you buy, starting with it gives you more return on your time,   
• Next : what to go with the protein  .   Remember, baby steps,