The basics :portion control

Portion control is important for several reasons, namely maintaining a good body weight and keeping a budget.    This information is from the best source on the internet I could find,  nothing can take the place of an consultation of your own nutritionist.    These are basic guidelines and should be taken as such.  I'm am not a nutritionist and you have to make your own decisions  regarding your nutrition.

Dairy : 2-3 servings a day ( some of this doubles for protein )
A serving of dairy is
8 ounces of milk for an adult, six for  a child
1cup  yogurt
2 cups of cottage  cheese
1/2 cup  non fat milk
1 cup frozen yogurt

Vegetables - 5 servings a day

Protein
The basic guideline are for .08 grams per kilograms of weight.   In American language, that's .65 grams per pound of body weight.
Average is 56-91 grams for a male, depending in activity levels.
Average for a woman is 46-75 grams depending on activity level.   The 75 is if you are an athlete or do heavy manual labor at work.

Animal protein provides all essential amino acids for the right ratio for us to make full use of them.    This only makes sense because animal fossils are like our own.   

In obese men, protein at 25 percent of total calories makes you feel full and helps you to loose weight,  

Beef has 7 grams per ounce of protein
Chicken has 21 grams in three ounces of cooked chicken breast
Chicken thighs have 10 grams in a average thigh,
Eggs have 6 grams - and good fat
Yogurt has 5 grams per serving average. . Greek yogurt has more.   Check the label.  
Note  bread and peanut butter.  - 15 grams of protein

My daughters nutritionalist when she was a toddler said nontinfeed her juices.   She was better off eating the fruit.  Fruit juice from concentrate has more sugar than pop.

Sugar, beer, and too much meat will cause your kidneys to go bad a I just read that and have some doctors info to assume it is true.

It goes without saying, if you let your kid fill up on snack garbage, they won't have room for good food, especially if they are picky or light eaters.

Personally, we stick to three to four ounces per person for meat for a dinner,   By the time we add breakfast, dairy, and lunch, we have more than enough to meet the RDA for seniors.   Obviously, a teen age boy in skirts needs more calories and more meat,   They don't , however, need to eat a whole 2'  pound roast.    Lol.

Monday : kitchen management

Kitchen management is a tool to use once a week ; the results are efficient cooking and a less hectic dinner hour.

A few hour set aside will save many hours later.   It is more efficient prep for dinners.

Based on this week's meal plans. :
Hamburgers, oven fries , fruit
Pizza
Pork chops, sweet potatoes
Speghetti with meat sauce, bread, salad
Tuna cassarole , peas and carrots
Tacos, Spanish rice
Breakfast for dinner.

1. Wash potatoes and fruit 
2. Mark pork chops to be thawed.  
3. Make bread dough 
4. Clean fridge 
5. Take inventory based on your list 
6. Wash floor 
7. Clean counters, sinks and disinfect drains. 
8. Straighten pantry 
9. Clean oven 

Breakfast for dinner

Breakfast for dinner is a real hit in our family. Because it is much a short order type meal ( where everything gets cooked  at the same time, everyone pitches in. Granddaughter is really good at buttering English muffins or setting tables.  

It isn't always the cheapest menu on the week's menus , it depend on what you choose for protein.  

• Bacon, pumpkin pancakes, real maple syrup , blueberries 
• Quiche with sausage and cheese 
• Eggs,  fruit, English muffins 
• Waffles , eggs, fruit 
• Breakfast burrito 
• Vegetable omelets 
• Eggs, toast, yogurt parfaits ( yogurt, berries, granola layered, )
• Sausage and apple puff pancake 
• Ham and feta omelette 
• Veggie strata 
• French toast, bacon or sausage, or ham, fruit 
• Oatmeal pancakes, fruit 

Meal Plans

Meal Plans for week of July 24, 2017

Meal plans are a real help to facilitate easy meals.
Planning meals and some weekly prep work makes it easy to get the dinner on the table without consulting the pizza delivery demons.   LOL.

• Hamburgers , oven fries fruit salad 
• Pizza
• Pork chops, sweet potatoes, salad 
• Speghetti with meat sauce , salad , bread 
• Tuna cassarole , peas and carrots 
• Tacos , Spanish rice 
• Breakfast for dinner

Winco haul

I did some kitchen management today.   Noticed that I was running low on some staples.   Some I had already put on a list.  

Strawberries .98
Blueberries large 1.98
Lean ground beef was just at 3.00 for 15 percent
Suddenly salads were .98 and u had a coupon for a dollar on four
5 lbs cornmeal.  3.07
Canola oil 1.98
Olive oil 8.48


Total  29.54

Pork sirloin was 1.69 if i remember right.   Well under two dollars.  

Fred meyer Sunday ad

Fred Meyers ad for Sunday (kroger)

Broccoli .99
Cherries 1.47
Petite sirloin steaks 2.97 - cheaper than good hamburger (grind)
Ground beef - 20 percent fat 3.49.
Milk 1.79
Sour cream/ cottage cheese 1.00
Strawberries 2/5
Zucchini .99


Note:   Costco business has pork loin for 179

BETTER, CHEAPER, FASTER ; rice mix

Better, cheaper, faster is a series of posts that address the issue of old recipes .  I try to remake them to be better, cheaper and /or faster.   This is about efficient cooking because with a busy schedule, making the best use of your time is essential and spending more time planning meals and shopping trips and less time in the kitchen gives you good food with more bang for your buck.

Our average for this year is 53.00 a week for three of us.   We live in a high COL part of the country.  Our COL is 121 as apposed to 98 for Colorado, and 90 for Idaho.   Twenty% more.  

Anytime you can make a mix in a few minutes instead of buying a  single serving box , you are saving money and ingredients you cannot pronounce..   the time expended is minimal.

Rice mix

6 cups white rice
1/2 cup dried parsley
3 tbls chicken granules **
1 Tbls onion powder
1-1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp thyme

Mix .  To cook use two cups water with 1 cup mix.  UNLESS you are using the insta pot ..  then use equal parts and cover, seal, and push the rice button.

**. You can also add broken pieces of speghetti.
** chicken granules are found in the  spice or bulk food isle.  You can sub vegetable or beef for the chicken .  You can also find low sodium options.  

Chicken BOWL

1 lb cooked chicken in cubes or shredded.
Season with garlic and paprika

Cook 1 cup mix with appropriate water.

Add chicken, cooked rice, and peas, chopped onion, black olives and chopped tomato.

The basics : Coupons, are they worth it?

Coupons these days are for bigger amounts than they were in our mothers days,    There are a lot of dollar coupons , so it doesn't take a lot to add up.  We don't buy a lot of ready made things and I can still save three to six dollars a week usually.  

 Coupons can be found in inserts that come in the mail and in the Sunday paper.    You can also print coupons on coupons.com.   You can print 2 of each,   Of course, if your printer messes up, you are out of luck.    That's what happened this month! Lol

Coupons are on a first come first served basis.  There are limits as to how many coupons can be printed,   Be kind and don't print  any coupons you know you aren't gong to use.

Example,:  I saw a package of sliced sargento cheese that retails for 3.50 an 8 ounce package.   That's 7.00 a pound and over my target price.    But, it was on sale for 2.50 and I had  .55 coupon.  Now it is 1.95.   Now, I got a .50 Ibotta on it and now it is 1.45.  

I keep my coupons in a 3  ring binder in plastic sleeves.    You can also find a coupon envelope at the dollar tree.    Or use a envelope or envelopes from the recycle.

Ibotta is one of the rebate sites.   You sign up, preferably with a friends code, and you can get rebates on many things, sometimes just for buying tomatoes or other generic food.   When you have enough. They will give you a gift card for Amazon or movie tickets or.......

It all adds up.   It only takes a few minutes while you put the food away!

I recently had a Facebook post from years past pop up.   It was on a coupon that I had found.
Rite aid had laundry detergent for 3.99.  I had a three dollar coupon.   That made the  detergent .99.  Now, there was a coupon for a free detergent bottle on the bottle.   The second detergent bottle cost me the price of a stamp.   240 loads of wash for 1.47.    And who says its too time consuming and there are only coupons for stuff you don't need. LOL.

Costco and winco grocery hauls

Costco - business

6 cans chicken 9.99

3# bananas 1.39

Large strawberry. 3.99

Large cornstarch 2.99

18.36

Winco 

Hot dog buns .75

Blue bunny ice scream w coupon 2.75.  Compare to 4.50 at fred Meyer.

Salmon burgers 2.48

 Total 5.92 

Wednesday chain store ads

Alberways,

Johnsonville brats 3.77
Blues 2.77
Extra lean ground beef 3.99
Star kist tuna. .59 @
Walla walla onions .99

Five dollar friday

Corn 10 ea.  - thats fifty cents an ear.  
Salsa 3/5

There are some BOGO things,   But not knowing prices doesn't give me a clue.


QFC

Peppers, English cucumbers .99
Milk 4/5
Cottage cheese, sour cream 4/5
Red cherries 2.99

That's about it.

The basics ,Finding a RBP.

Finding the best prices on food is not such a hard task.   It can be overwhelming, but not of you break it down to a few steps

You have already--

• Identified sources of protein  that you will use in your meal plans.    These should be less than two dollars a pound of you are trying for a four dollar a day budget.   (Snap guidelines ) 
• Identified the items you buy on a regular basis to prepare meals from those protein sources. 
• Now, gather your ads,    Our Winco doesn't have an ad, so you just have to visit the store. Every Winco has different prices because they work  off of a list to provide prices lower than  the competitors.  It's important to note, that no one store can have the best prices on everything,   
• Take a short inventory of your fridge,pantry  and freezer.    This will tell you what you are missing.  
• Now, start circling everything that you need that is a good price.   Check for coupons to  remember what you clipped.   $$.    I usually do that for people on the Seattle area.  There are some sites that work in other areas.   Try favado.   
• Soon, you might start seeing better prices at one store over another in an item.  
• Circle, star, or tag any item you intend to buy,   I put a check mark on anything I might have a coupon for,   The best use of coupons is when you find a good buy and can stack a coupon with it.  You can't stack an electronic coupon with a paper one. Most  all stores take them.   
• I have a meal plan form I made in excell.   It has seven blocks in one side of the landscape sheet and two columns on the other,   In one column I have listed the things we buy on a regular basis that are perishable to fill in meals,    The second column is blank so I can either mark how many we have or note that we need it.   This  makes doing an inventory a couple of minutes. 
• Now, decide who has the RBP  on what you need.   Here, it is usually Fred Meyers and Winco,    Occasionally, we find a good sale with coupons at Safeways or QFC.   Costco is always go to to for bulk Purchases.    I continue to check prices, but unless something is in a huge sale, you can't beat the few things I get from Costco,   Not everything is a bargain at Costco.   Look for a rotation meat.    My standby if I can't find pork loin cheap is to look at Costco business.    It's in the next town, so I don't go unless I'm out of a few things that they have that regular Costco doesn't carry.  Costco has grains that were not part of our vocabulary in the fifties, and seaweed.   But, they don't carry corn starch, or large canisters of broth granules or some spices.    I bought a larger than large sack of salt and soda.   I will never have to buy them again! Lol.  They were cheap.    They can be used for cleaning as well as food.    
• Having a target figure ( nothing to do with the store with the red balls ) for your basics list is Germaine in knowing if something is a stick up price.  Try to never lay full price  for your basic needs list.    Canned veggies should be less than fifty cents,   Ditto diced tomatoes, beans of you buy canned.   I want 149-1.69 a pound for pork loins,   I want .88-1.00 a pound for Foster Farms chicken,    (Locally grown ) hamburger  3.28 or less for 7 percent fat.   I want pasta sauce in glass for close to a dollar.   In cans for under a dollar, pasta ( Barilla) should be under a  dollar...preferably .50-.75 cents.    It is always a dollar at the DT. ( dollar tree) as is canned pasta sauce and they take coupons- up to four a  day, and some won't take two  coupoms for two   of the same thing.    That's not the written coupon policy, but best not to argue.  They have the last word.   I want frozen v goes for under a dollar a POUND.   Many vegetables are in 12 ounce pkg.  Cheese  should be less than 2.35 a pound.  Different states have different prices.   
• If you live where there isn't a variety of stores, you probably have higher prices,because there is no competition.  Consider scoping out the next big town and finding the best priced stores.   You can sometimes get the store to send you the ad, or find it on line.  Or get a family member or friend to take a snapshot of other and Facebook it to you.  Find the best sake week and go once a month,   if it isn't  near other errands you,need to do, consider carpooling with a friend or neighbor.  Split the gas bill, or take turns.    We used to drive ten mikes to Winco once a month before we got one in our town.   I hear Aldi is expanding to almost double stores.  Think outside the box.    
• The best prices you can get with coupons is when you can find something on a mark down table and have a coupon. ( I got two cans of s and w beans for .08  total.    ) or you have a buy XX things, save XX dollar sale .  Our Kroger has those often,    You have to make your choices carefully, a lot of junk food here sometimes, but with careful planning, you can match coupons and make out.  I saved 78 percent one time.   
• You can a,so make out with a basket coupon ,   That's where they give you  XX number of dollars off a XX dollar basket of food.   Do the math,    Find the percentage of discount,    A five dollar off of fifty dollar basket is only ten percent,   If the prices are already high, it doesn't  pay.  This is another time when buying what's on sale with a coupon and adding the basket coupon can make you really clean up.   IF.  You stick to buying the maximum of the blanket or basket coupon.  Any amount over will lower your percentage off.   

Why bother, my time is worth more than that!  Is the most heard excuse about coupons and target shopping.    Let's break that down.     The average family our size spends 7800 a year on food.   We are at a pace to spend 2700 dollars his year and maintain a small emergency stock.    That's five THOUSAND dollars.    That's one nice trip to Disneyland or Hawaii.    Or covers the cable and the heat bill.   Or makes a car payment.     

Its a matter of thinking

Saving money and trying not to waste is a  matter of thinking. Its a frame of mind.  
Little things add up.   One attitude leads to another.  

Ideas

1. Cut the ends  off a pepper first.  Then slice peppers from the inside out.   It will make slicing easier.   This works for tomatoes too.   Save the ends to chop for cassarole, salads, or pizza.   
2. Save the ends of your bread (heels) .   Why pay upwards of 2.40 cents a pound for someone elses dry bread?   Use it for meatballs, breading, toppings for mac and cheese or other cassaroles.   
3. Buy diced tomatoes with seasonings.   Buy the seasonings according to what your family likes. Our family likes to eat italian and Tex mex.   So chillis and italian herbs work.  
4. If you know you are going to make a recipe with jalapeño in it. Try buying the jalapeño cheese instead of regular.   I added a 1.25 bag of cheese to my order at Safeways because i needed to come up with a 20 dollar market basket to get a 15 percent discount.   I used the cheese in my cornbread instead of adding jalapeños.   That saved me a 66 can of chillies.   It also kept our cost down to the proverbial five dollar dinner.   
5. When chopping celery for soup or stews, use the top an bottom of the ribs.   Leave the middle for celery sticks.  
6. Baby carrots are just the culls of the carrots that are cut down and bleached.  It cost a dollar for a pound of carrots.   Five pounds of carrots are less than three dollars.   
7. Ends of carrots an celery can be used for chicken stock.  
8. Butchering you own split chicken breast to make boneless , skinless , chicken breast saves about seven dollars a pound.    Throw the rib bones in your slow cooker with water, the ends of carrot and celery and cook on low until the meat falls off the bones.    Pick the meat and freeze the stock.   Now you have not only saved a lot per pound on your chicken, but you have free chicken stock that costs over two dollars a quart.    
9. Use the bits of chicken that you pick off the bone for taco meat, cassarole, chicken soup, chicken and dumplings. Burritos, chicken chimichangas, chicken salad. Pulled chicken sandwiches. Etc.   
10. A few meat dripping can make gravy.   No need to buy an expensive gravy mix.   All gravy is is the meat drippings, some flour, and water.    Some cheap flour and the dripping you throw away.    Heat the drippings in a frying pan. While the drippings are on low, shake some flour into the drippings to absorb the fat.   Gradually add water and stir with a wisk until the right consistency.    Add salt to taste.   

Grocery haul 7/16/17

I did the kitchen management today so we could work in the yard later.    Went shopping after we cleaned out the fridge.

Fortunately, we threw very little out.   

A 48 cent cucumber did not get eaten.   

Fred meyers:   Not everything on my list was a good price at Freddies.    There were no bags of real carrots.   The trick is to get the best of to stores.    

Fred Meyers

2 dozen eggs. .89

Cottage cheese 1.25 

Apples 2.80

Tomatoes 1.43

Total 7.25

Winco 

Pizza snacks 2.18

2 lbs FRIES. .....99

2 LBS SEASONED FRIES 1.68

Milk 2.28

Grape tomatoes 1.78

Mild green chilies 66

Carrots 2.28 - five pounds 

Celery 2 heads 1.96

Lettuce .98

Watermelon 3.97

Total 19.42

Monday: kitchen management

kitchen management is a tool that saves a lot of time during the hectic dinner hour.   Prep work done in mass is a lot more efficient than doing it piecemeal.  

Based on yesterday's meal plans.  

Pizza is a no brainer.  I just have to make the crust the morning of and put it in the fridge.   We already have grated cheese, pepperoni if we want it, peppers are always chopped in the freezer because I save the ends of the peppers for pizza topping.   Ditto any little extras that happen to be hanging around the freezer or fridge.

Mark the meal plan for the day before we have chicken nuggets so the chicken is defrosted.  
The dredging is done the day of.  It can be done in the morning and put in the fridge so that the breading sticks better.  

Wash the potatoes for the nugget meal and the corn chowder, and oven  tries  and dry.   Put in colander to store.  

Wash and cut veggie sticks

Cook chicken in the insta pot from frozen. Dice.

Clean out the fridge , noting anything that neeeds to be used soon and adjust meals accordingly.

Wash the kitchen floor and disinfect the sinks, counters, and drains.

Rotate the chores of cleaning the stove filter, icemakaer drip tray, waxing a side of the kitchen cabinets and washing the outside of the fridge (air vent )

Straighten the pantry.  Note low quantities .  

Ham and Corn Chowder

Taking old recipes and making them better, cheaper, and/or faster.

Ham and Corn Chowder

 Two medium potatoes , peeled and diced
1/2 of 16 ounce bag of frozen corn
2 cups ham cubes,diced small.
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/2  TSP EACH of garlic and onion powder
Salt, pepper
3 cups chicken broth - homemade and defatted.

Place ingredients into a six quart stock  pot and cook on medium heat until the potatoes are tender.
Make a slurry of 2 T cornstarch , 2 cups milk
Add to the pot and stir.  Simmer for an additional 10 minutes.

Add
1 cup cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
Parsley
Stir unti the cheese is melted.

Insta Pot.
Place all ingredients down to the chicken broth in the pot.   Cover and process 4 minutes.  Quick release.   Check potatoes for doneness.

Turn off the pressure cooker and switch to sauté mode.   If your potatoes weren't soft, cook until they are soft before you make  your slurry .   Add slurry to pot and stir unti soup has thickened.   Add cheese mixture and stir until the cheese has melted.

Sunday meal plans

1. just a note:  Sunday meal plans will continue to be on this blog.  They will also be on my new blog "Dinner:  Better, Cheaper,Fasster.    The second bog will have content that is strictly related to recipes.   Recipes that are adapted to be cooked in the insta pot and recipes that have been family favorites , but they are adapted to be a bit more healthy .   Less saturated fat, salt, sugar, preservatives, hydroginated oil, transfats, and hfcs and still with less money and efficient cooking.   

Meal plans : 1 beef, 1 fish or seafood, 2 vegeartian, 3 Pork or chicken,

• Pizza 
• Breakafast for dinner 
• Ham corn chowder , loaded cornbread 
• Nachos loaded 
• Salmon patties, oven fried potatoes, fruit 
• Chicken burrito bowl 
• Chicken nuggets, oven fried french fries, veggie sticks 

Notes : 

Pizza is scratch.   Cost is a little more than a dollar for a 14 inch pizza.   

The last of the pumpkin pancakes, maple syrup, fruit cup, eggs 

Ham corn chowder adapted for the insta pot 

Nachos:  taco meat, tomatoes, black olives,  green chillis , cheese, chips from Costco . 

( 3 lbs for 3 dollars and change and they dont shout grease!)

Salmon patties can be made from a can of salmon or purchased from winco quite inexpensively.   

Cut potatoes in wedges an toss in olive oil and sea salt or garlic pepper.   

Chicken burrito bowl is on the dinner site.   Delish.   

Chicken nuggets are homemade, along with the fries.  New topping will appear on dinners sometime this week.  

Spending more time planning a. Shopping trip and planning your meals and less time in the kitchen is a way to eat well and cut food costs.   

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.