Just a heads up fred Meyers is better than all this week.
QFC is a two week ad
Personal watermelon 2/4
Milk 4/5
Peaches 1,28
Strawberries 2/5
Alberways
Cherries 1.79
Ice cream 2/5
Lettuce .99
I'm not seeing much. Fred Meyers ad is good til next Sunday, and peaches, strawberries,and cantaloupe are cheaper than either of these stores.
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
It's all a state of mind.......
Ten easy hacks to save little bits,
- Cut the top and bottom off a sweet pepper when slicing for stir fry or another dish, Chop the top and bottom for pizza or salads.
- Bake multiple things in the oven to get the most use of your power. My mother used to make baked potatoes, baked squash and meatloaf together, putting muffins in 1/2 dozen pans instead of full dozen pans makes it more flexible.
- Save the heels of your bread for bread crumbs, why pay someone else for their dry bread.
- If you have no eggs, you can still bake muffins by adding a can of pumpkin to a cake mix and baking muffins at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. .
- Fridge full of bits of leftovers? A quick simple meal is baked potato bar. Bake medium sized potatoes and out out anything in the fridge that would go on a baked potato. Broccoli, cheese, chilli, taco meat, sour cream, bacon,
- Bits of meat and any salad ingredients that go on a pizza can be frozen in a bag to save for pizza night. We call this almost free pizza.
- Freeze the pizza sauce ( Dollar Tree) in ice cube tray and after it is frozen, place it in a zip lock in the freezer door. We get at least four pizzas out of it.
- You can also freeze herbs or small amounts of lemon or lime juice too.
- You can dehydrate almost anything that is not going to get eaten before it goes bad. Eggs, potatoes, carrots, parsley, berries.
- Leftover tomato paste can be used for pizza sauce, or watered down and used anywhere you would use diced tomatoes or tomato sauce.
Monday, August 7, 2017
Fred meyers and grocery outlet haul
We are on no spend, However, I did find a couple of things that I had been looking for and with graocery outlet its you snooze , you loose. Here today, gone tomorrow. Treats are always coming out of a entertainment budget . That way expenses are separate and less is spent.
Fred meyers
Eggs 79
Peaches
Cheese slices 1.99
Cantaloupe .99
Cottage cheese
Sour cream
Strawberries
All perishables. YAY!
Grocery outlet ( AN OVERSTOCK STORE )
Fruit snacks for granddaughter lunch
Tomato stock 3.99 - this is closer to ten dollars at costco,
Split peas
Pudding pops kit....24 servings with the forms 1.29 (granddaughter)
Fred meyers
Eggs 79
Peaches
Cheese slices 1.99
Cantaloupe .99
Cottage cheese
Sour cream
Strawberries
All perishables. YAY!
Grocery outlet ( AN OVERSTOCK STORE )
Fruit snacks for granddaughter lunch
Tomato stock 3.99 - this is closer to ten dollars at costco,
Split peas
Pudding pops kit....24 servings with the forms 1.29 (granddaughter)
Kitchen management
Recap meals
- Cube steaks , baked potatoes 🥔 loaded, and salad
- Pizza
- Chicken in rosemary butter sauce, rice medley, veggie
- Salmon patties, rice, vegetable
- Toasadas
- Sausage quiche
- Breakfast for dinner
- Disinfect counters, sinks, and drains.
- Clean fridge and dump anything dead. LOL
- Note and take action on anything that can be saved. Cook? Dehydrate? Freeze?
- Prep: wash potatoes in. Vinegar water.
- Wash salad greens if necessary an salad ingredients.
- Check to be sure you have enough rice mix. If not, make some.
- Cook and de-fat sausage
- Sweep and wash floor.
Sunday, August 6, 2017
Meal Plans for week of 8/7/17
Meal Plans for week 2 of no spend. Yesterday I bought tomatoes and strawberries. 6.99
- Cube steaks, loaded baked potatoes,salad
- Pizza
- Breakfast for dinner
- Chicken in rosemary butter sauce , rice mix, veggies
- Salmon patties. Rice, veggies
- Tostadas
- Sausage quiche
- Cube steaks were bought on a bogo.
- Pizza continues to be a favorite and is 1.03 to make .
- Breakfast for dinner opens up many possibilities ,
- Chicken breasts were 1.50 last time. Sometimes they are as low as .88
- Salmon -patties from costco canned salmon
- Meat, cheese, tomato,lettuce, olives
- Sausage quiche is a favorite here and the sausage was free. That makes the dish 53 cents.
Averaging a few really cheap dinners with some that are a bit more expensive makes for a variety of meals and means you can have some meals that are a little more pricy.
Our sausage was free with a digital coupon. It took me all of ten seconds to click a box on an e mail. It gave us a 5.79 chub of sausage. I usually only pay around two dollars for sausage. The price went up , but I ave still been able to find sales and coupons to keep my RBP. If it gets to high, we will make our own. With proper equipment , things are easy to make from scratch. It doesn't happen overnight but buying one thing at a time and buying quality pays. My insta pot and food processsr are workhorses in the kitchen.
Saturday, August 5, 2017
Fred Meyers ad for Sunday
Fred Meyers (Kroger ) Sunday ad
Peaches.99
Foster Farms chicken breasts 1.88
Eggs .79
Cantaloupe .99
Fred Meyer sour cream - 2.00 lrg
About it.
Sausage is 2.99 with a digital coupon....i got it for free with a digital coupon at qfc (also Kroger )
Peaches.99
Foster Farms chicken breasts 1.88
Eggs .79
Cantaloupe .99
Fred Meyer sour cream - 2.00 lrg
About it.
Sausage is 2.99 with a digital coupon....i got it for free with a digital coupon at qfc (also Kroger )
Friday, August 4, 2017
Visuals .....making the best use of free.
Celery from the end of the celery stalk..--just add clean water to the bowl daily.
Grated zuccchini draining. Zucchini has a lot of water.
Ready to squeeze the water out and bag for zucchini muffins or bread .
Chocolate, did someone say chocolate.
Our old but still working dehydrator.
Sliced zucchini in the food processer . All the trays ful made 1/2 a quart. I can rehydrate them, or pulse them in the blender and sneak them into sauces.
Good nutrition , no money .
It all ads up.
Thursday, August 3, 2017
Ten pantry dinners
Five pantry dinners for those brain fart days when you didn't thaw anything.
Foods from a basic pantry and fridge
- Tuna potato chowder ( all basic pantry )
- Speghetti and red sauce
- Nachos
- Frittata
- Veggie bean burger
- Vegetable bean soup
- Mac n cheese
- Salmon patties
- Tomato soup and toasted cheese -or cheezy biscuits if you are out of bread
- Omlettes or impossible pie ( takes only 2 eggs.)
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Chain store ad
Last weeks qfc ad was a two week ad.
Milk 1.79
Watermelon. 3.99
Best foods mayo 2.99
Friday only
Ragu pasta sauce 4/5
Pork loin asst chops. 1.99. **
** not my favorite buy. This way you get nasty chops hiding below the good ones a lot of the time no mattter where you get them/.
There may be coupons out there for best foods. I saw a coupon on coupons.com , but my printer was not in a good mood today. LOL. The question would be that this mayo is listed as organic so the coupon might not match up.
Milk 1.79
Watermelon. 3.99
Best foods mayo 2.99
Friday only
Ragu pasta sauce 4/5
Pork loin asst chops. 1.99. **
** not my favorite buy. This way you get nasty chops hiding below the good ones a lot of the time no mattter where you get them/.
There may be coupons out there for best foods. I saw a coupon on coupons.com , but my printer was not in a good mood today. LOL. The question would be that this mayo is listed as organic so the coupon might not match up.
The basics: making riotation work.
The biggest hurdle to get over is the transition between buying your food on a weekly basis at one store and buying rotation at two stores.
If you buy your groceries at one store and you are buying just what you need for a week, the odds are against you , about the same as winning at the casino. One of the easiest change for most people is to investigate which two stores in your area have the best prices. If you only have one store, think about going to a neighbouring town once or twice a month and either getting them to mail you their flyers or finding them on line. If it's too far, group them with other errands or carpool with a neighbor or family member. Buying the real specials that you will eat at two stores cuts your grocery bill a lot. Here, Winco and Fred Meyers have the best prices , but that can change.
The biggest difference you can make is to know your prices.
My mother used to say that some people could have a bargain get up and bite them on the butt and they wouldn't see it. Don't be that person.
You don't have to know the prices of everything in the store, but you need to know the RBP of the things you use in a regular basis. That can of cranberry sauce that you buy once a year won't make much difference in the overall scheme of things, but the can of diced tomatoes you use twice a week will.
Make a list , one item per sheet on a small spiral pad. They are three for a dollar at the dollar tree. Write the prices off the sale ads for those products and the dates. You will soon see a pattern and can predict when things will go on a good sale.
Take little steps. Start with the first thing you find that you use on a regular basis that is on a RBP. Buy two instead of one ( probably no more capital outlay) . Ditch one on the back of the pantry. Keep doing it. Just plug away at it. Soon you will have a stock built and instead of buying a weeks worth at a time, you can only buy what needs to be replanted and you will be shopping your pantry instead of shopping the stores. That six pack of green beans you bought this week, will be replaced by a six pack of corn next week, and so on. This will be easier if you get your budget amount in one lump sum. Buy your basics and set aside a certain amount a week for the perishables. When you buy your food 1/2 price, it doesn't take long to realize the profit.
Being in a position of not having to buy things gives you the upper hand. You can wait until the price is the lowest to buy your food. This won't work for produce. But it will work for a lot of staples. Watch for dairy sales. I can almost always get milk for 2.00 a gallon. Sour cream for a dollar for 8 ounces, butter for 2.50 a pound. And yogurt for .40 or less. I only buy yoplait light because I watch my carbs and they are the lowest I have found.
Stocking is a good thing of you know your limits. Have a good idea and a limit set in your mind of how much you use and how much of a supply you are stocking, I have shelves in my pantry and a certain amount of shelf space is allocated to a particular food. I can tell at a glance when I need to watch for a sale. Moderation is the key. Watching pull dates is key. No one needs a whole closet full of pop, or anything else for that matter.
Two major things you can do to cut your food budget drastically and grow a stock is to
1) don't buy snack foods and drinks, 1/2 the average grocery cart is snacks and drinks, Stick to coffee, tea and milk. Give your children the RDA of milk a day I'm kidding what they get in their cereal and in pudding etc, And, don't buy chips and snack foods, especially the individual packages
We buy tortilla chips in the big sack at Costco. Anything else has to come out of a entertainment
budget,
2) shop two stores and shop the RBP.. Let your meal plans be dictated by the produce in season
And the foods that are on a good sale. It everything listed on the "sale " ad is really on sale.
If you buy your groceries at one store and you are buying just what you need for a week, the odds are against you , about the same as winning at the casino. One of the easiest change for most people is to investigate which two stores in your area have the best prices. If you only have one store, think about going to a neighbouring town once or twice a month and either getting them to mail you their flyers or finding them on line. If it's too far, group them with other errands or carpool with a neighbor or family member. Buying the real specials that you will eat at two stores cuts your grocery bill a lot. Here, Winco and Fred Meyers have the best prices , but that can change.
The biggest difference you can make is to know your prices.
My mother used to say that some people could have a bargain get up and bite them on the butt and they wouldn't see it. Don't be that person.
You don't have to know the prices of everything in the store, but you need to know the RBP of the things you use in a regular basis. That can of cranberry sauce that you buy once a year won't make much difference in the overall scheme of things, but the can of diced tomatoes you use twice a week will.
Make a list , one item per sheet on a small spiral pad. They are three for a dollar at the dollar tree. Write the prices off the sale ads for those products and the dates. You will soon see a pattern and can predict when things will go on a good sale.
Take little steps. Start with the first thing you find that you use on a regular basis that is on a RBP. Buy two instead of one ( probably no more capital outlay) . Ditch one on the back of the pantry. Keep doing it. Just plug away at it. Soon you will have a stock built and instead of buying a weeks worth at a time, you can only buy what needs to be replanted and you will be shopping your pantry instead of shopping the stores. That six pack of green beans you bought this week, will be replaced by a six pack of corn next week, and so on. This will be easier if you get your budget amount in one lump sum. Buy your basics and set aside a certain amount a week for the perishables. When you buy your food 1/2 price, it doesn't take long to realize the profit.
Being in a position of not having to buy things gives you the upper hand. You can wait until the price is the lowest to buy your food. This won't work for produce. But it will work for a lot of staples. Watch for dairy sales. I can almost always get milk for 2.00 a gallon. Sour cream for a dollar for 8 ounces, butter for 2.50 a pound. And yogurt for .40 or less. I only buy yoplait light because I watch my carbs and they are the lowest I have found.
Stocking is a good thing of you know your limits. Have a good idea and a limit set in your mind of how much you use and how much of a supply you are stocking, I have shelves in my pantry and a certain amount of shelf space is allocated to a particular food. I can tell at a glance when I need to watch for a sale. Moderation is the key. Watching pull dates is key. No one needs a whole closet full of pop, or anything else for that matter.
Two major things you can do to cut your food budget drastically and grow a stock is to
1) don't buy snack foods and drinks, 1/2 the average grocery cart is snacks and drinks, Stick to coffee, tea and milk. Give your children the RDA of milk a day I'm kidding what they get in their cereal and in pudding etc, And, don't buy chips and snack foods, especially the individual packages
We buy tortilla chips in the big sack at Costco. Anything else has to come out of a entertainment
budget,
2) shop two stores and shop the RBP.. Let your meal plans be dictated by the produce in season
And the foods that are on a good sale. It everything listed on the "sale " ad is really on sale.
Monday, July 31, 2017
Kitchen management
Yeserday ,I wrote out five weeks of meal plans. I hope to go that long without a major grocery haul--basically just perishables.
Kitchen management is a tool to make your life easier at dinner time. Setting aside an hour or so during the week to prep your meals saves a lot of time during the hectic meal time. Its a good way to stave off the take out gremlins because when you are tired, dinner is less of a chore.
Meal Plans revised
Hot dogs with buns , potato salad, veggie sticks
Pizza
Nachos
Chicken nuggets, corn on the cob, fruit
Chicken parm sliders. Spinach salad
Tuna potato salad, cheese biscuits
Breakfast for dinner
1). Wash potatoes and vegetables with vinegar water.
Kitchen management is a tool to make your life easier at dinner time. Setting aside an hour or so during the week to prep your meals saves a lot of time during the hectic meal time. Its a good way to stave off the take out gremlins because when you are tired, dinner is less of a chore.
Meal Plans revised
Hot dogs with buns , potato salad, veggie sticks
Pizza
Nachos
Chicken nuggets, corn on the cob, fruit
Chicken parm sliders. Spinach salad
Tuna potato salad, cheese biscuits
Breakfast for dinner
1). Wash potatoes and vegetables with vinegar water.
2) clean refrigerator and note anything that needs to be used up.
3) put the stove fan vent screen in the dishwasher.
4) disinfect the sinks and counter top.
5)check recipe for choice parm sliders
6) prepare the coating mix for the chicken nuggets
7) make cream soup base or rice mix if needed
8) make lettuce salad 🥗, store in bag with paper towel
9) straighten pantry.
10) Wash kitchen floor
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Fred Meyers haul
quick haul from fred meyers
1 pkg chicken for 7.50 for five pounds. That's 1.50 a pound. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts at fred meyers was 4.50 a pound. It took me 2 minutes per breast to de bone it. I have the six quart insta pot on slow cook cooking stock and meat.
At 8 minute to de bone the chicken, and a savings of 3.00 a pound I virtually made 112.80 an hour.
And, we get 6 quarts of stock at 2.79 for a quart. 2.79 X 6 is 16.74.
So for 7.50 I got
4 very large chicken breasts
6 quarts of stock for a retail of 16.74.
And chicken pieces.
For a total manual outlay of 8 mnutes.
We also got a large package of English muffins ( equivalent of two packages for 1.67
A gallon of milk for 1.79
1 pkg chicken for 7.50 for five pounds. That's 1.50 a pound. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts at fred meyers was 4.50 a pound. It took me 2 minutes per breast to de bone it. I have the six quart insta pot on slow cook cooking stock and meat.
At 8 minute to de bone the chicken, and a savings of 3.00 a pound I virtually made 112.80 an hour.
And, we get 6 quarts of stock at 2.79 for a quart. 2.79 X 6 is 16.74.
So for 7.50 I got
4 very large chicken breasts
6 quarts of stock for a retail of 16.74.
And chicken pieces.
For a total manual outlay of 8 mnutes.
We also got a large package of English muffins ( equivalent of two packages for 1.67
A gallon of milk for 1.79
Winco Haul with prices
Winco haul with prices
Corn .33
Blueberries lrg 1.98
Grape tomatoes 1.48
Strawberries 1 lb .98
Cake mix .88
Green chillis
Pink ladyaples .98
Bread 1.98
Fries 1.28 2 lbs
Steak fries .99
10 lbs potatoes 1.98
Total 20.37
Corn .33
Blueberries lrg 1.98
Grape tomatoes 1.48
Strawberries 1 lb .98
Cake mix .88
Green chillis
Pink ladyaples .98
Bread 1.98
Fries 1.28 2 lbs
Steak fries .99
10 lbs potatoes 1.98
Total 20.37
List of staples
In anticipation of a no spend month , I took inventory and made note of things we were going to need to buy and what we could use for meals.
List of staple shelf ready items.
Rice
Dry beans
Flour
Yeast
Cornstarch
Cornmeal
Canola oil
Olive oil
Bisquick -real or homemade
Popcorn -raw
Cocoa-raw
Craisens
Brown sugar
Sugar
Oatmeal -raw
Chicken stock granules
Beef stock granules
Vegetable stock graduates
Dry milk
Pantry items
Diced tomatoes
Pasta
Pasta sauce
Pizza sauce
Tomato paste or small cans of tomato sauce
Corn
Green beans
Salsa
Rotation meats
Chicken breasts
Sausage
Pork loins
Ground beef
Pork sirloin in a pinch /ham cubes **
Cheese
Dry beans
** to replace sausage on the rotation if sausage isn't needed. Makes a six week rotation, Most stores will have those on a good sale during a six week period.
List of staple shelf ready items.
Rice
Dry beans
Flour
Yeast
Cornstarch
Cornmeal
Canola oil
Olive oil
Bisquick -real or homemade
Popcorn -raw
Cocoa-raw
Craisens
Brown sugar
Sugar
Oatmeal -raw
Chicken stock granules
Beef stock granules
Vegetable stock graduates
Dry milk
Pantry items
Diced tomatoes
Pasta
Pasta sauce
Pizza sauce
Tomato paste or small cans of tomato sauce
Corn
Green beans
Salsa
Rotation meats
Chicken breasts
Sausage
Pork loins
Ground beef
Pork sirloin in a pinch /ham cubes **
Cheese
Dry beans
** to replace sausage on the rotation if sausage isn't needed. Makes a six week rotation, Most stores will have those on a good sale during a six week period.
Sunday Meal Plan for next week
Using the stock you have on hand is an easy way to meal plan. Also, incorporating what's on sale any particular week helps too.
Sausage and bean soup, bread or biscuits
Pizza
Nachos
Chicken nuggets, oven fries (homemade ) veggie sticks
Chicken parm sliders , salad, ( make slider buns)
Tuna surprise
Breakfast for dinner
Notes: my grocery expenditures have maintained at less tha 55.00 a week for three of us and we have continued to build a stock. I made a concentrataed effort this month to replentish any basic necessities that were running dry. My goal is to go on a no spend August. No spend means we will buy perishables . Anything that is end of the season cheap,I might buy in bulk an dehydrate.
Sausage and bean soup, bread or biscuits
Pizza
Nachos
Chicken nuggets, oven fries (homemade ) veggie sticks
Chicken parm sliders , salad, ( make slider buns)
Tuna surprise
Breakfast for dinner
Notes: my grocery expenditures have maintained at less tha 55.00 a week for three of us and we have continued to build a stock. I made a concentrataed effort this month to replentish any basic necessities that were running dry. My goal is to go on a no spend August. No spend means we will buy perishables . Anything that is end of the season cheap,I might buy in bulk an dehydrate.
- We purachased sausage a 2.50 on sale last week and still have a bag from a bulk purchase in the freezer.
- Pizza is a no brainer. Everyone eats it and its cheap and an easy way to use leftovers.
- Nachos for movie night.
- Chicken nuggets scratch. Use parm, ritz crackers, and walnuts. Walnuts are cheap at winco and they are already chopped.
- Chicken parm sliders need slider buns. A new adventure to made scratch buns.
- Tuna surprise is a recipe I just found. Let me know if you want it shared.
- Breakfast for dinner is another no brainer an usually a Sunday night affair with the entire family participating in the cooking.
Saturday, July 29, 2017
Salad dressings: scratch
Its the time for salads, summer fun and low calories.
Creamy italian dressing
1 cup Mayonnase or low fat sour cream.
2T parmesean cheese
2 T vinegar
1 T grated onion
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp italian herbs
Salt, garlic powder, pepper
Enough milk to thin dressing
Combine ingredients and chill for a couple of hours to develop seasoning.
Basic vinaigrette
2 T vinegar
1/2 tsp dry mustard
Pinch of salt
Ground pepper to taste
6-8 T olive oil
You can add herbs to your liking
Parsley
Italian seasoning
Chives or
Basil.
Creamy italian dressing
1 cup Mayonnase or low fat sour cream.
2T parmesean cheese
2 T vinegar
1 T grated onion
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp italian herbs
Salt, garlic powder, pepper
Enough milk to thin dressing
Combine ingredients and chill for a couple of hours to develop seasoning.
Basic vinaigrette
2 T vinegar
1/2 tsp dry mustard
Pinch of salt
Ground pepper to taste
6-8 T olive oil
You can add herbs to your liking
Parsley
Italian seasoning
Chives or
Basil.
Fred Meyers ad
Not here yet, but I heard a outstanding story on a grocery haul I would like to share. The gentleman shopped at the whole paycheck store. He had a thirty dollar grocery haul. To put things in perspective, our grocery bill for the last three months averaged under 55.00. .
He had a sparse haul, maybe seven items for thirty dollars. His remark was that things were displayed nice. Hey, you cant eat displayed nice.! When you leave the store, the memory is long gone and its not in your tummy. Just a reality check! LOL.
4 day sale SMTW
No bargains
Regular: not much there, all back to school
Grapes .99
Milk 1.79
Leg cottage cheese /sour cream 1.79
Hillshire farm lunch meat 2/6
Frozen potatoes 1.79 2 lbs
Pie 3.49
Foster Farms split chicken breast 1.49
Red onions .99
He had a sparse haul, maybe seven items for thirty dollars. His remark was that things were displayed nice. Hey, you cant eat displayed nice.! When you leave the store, the memory is long gone and its not in your tummy. Just a reality check! LOL.
4 day sale SMTW
No bargains
Regular: not much there, all back to school
Grapes .99
Milk 1.79
Leg cottage cheese /sour cream 1.79
Hillshire farm lunch meat 2/6
Frozen potatoes 1.79 2 lbs
Pie 3.49
Foster Farms split chicken breast 1.49
Red onions .99
Friday, July 28, 2017
Toasted cheese sandiwiches and tomato soup
Who rmemembers toasted cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. A right of childhood along with watermelon, s'mores, licking the beaters , and ice cream cones. LOL
I have long been hunting for a scratch (not canned ) recipe for tomato soup. Till now I have resorted to the box of tomato and roasted red pepper soup from Costco. Its a lot more money at other stores, but you can get it at costco for about two dollars when they have it.
We use it as a base and add cream, basil, and blue cheese. Yum. Blue cheese is a ingredient that either you like or you dot like. You could sub Romano or parm.
I did find a new recipe that can be adapted to work .
Tomato soup with basil
2 cans of diced tomatoes , crushed. ***
1-1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth **
1/2 tsp each of onion powder, garlic powder , sugar
1Tablespoon dried basil,
6 Tablespoons of orzo
1/2 cup cream **
3T parm**
- Crush tomatoes by putting in a blender or using a potato masher or stick blender..
- In a slow cooker or a stock pot. Place tomatoes broth and seasonings. Bring to a boil over med high heat and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer 15 minutes .
- Add cooked orzo and cream.
- Serve with parmesean for garnish.
Notes:
Buying one kind of tomatoes makes your pantry simple and facilitates getting a RBP.
Scratch broth is best but in a pinch, there is granules and better than bouillon
.
Substitute milk if you dont have cream. Whole milk powder is a good substitute and you ca make just what you need.
I buy any hard cheese that is the cheapest when I needn't to buy it. Parmesan cheese in a brick is good, buy Romano or another that comes in a wedge at costco is good too. Its a expense, but will last for a long time.
Substitute cooked rice if you dont have orzo. Good way to use leftovers.
Toasted cheese on www.janefrugalfood.blogspot.com
Thursday, July 27, 2017
Sausage - two ways
Yesterday , i purchased two chubs of sausage for 5 dollars. I froze one. And the other one I fried and de-fatted.
I used 3/4 of the pound in a 'quiche" (impossible pie ). Impossible pie is easy, quick, and almost all protein and dairy. Very little carbs per serving. 1/8 of a cup of flour base. Not really low fat , however. Balance the fat with a no fat vegetable bean soup for another meal. Its all about balances.
Today we are taking the rest of the sausage and making a pizza. Mozzarella cheese is made with part skim milk. That lowers the fat and a quarter pound spread between four servings is reducing the amount of meat without sacrificing then protein grams.
Scratch pizza is a very low cost meal as well as the quiche. Both are well below the five dollar threshold. A cheese pizza is a buck and one cent. My sister made me price the olive oil....it cost four cents, thus the penny. I refuse to price salt. I got five pounds for four dollarsnten years ago. Three generations later we will still probably have salt left. LOL.
Add 62 cents for sausage to the 1.01 cheese pizza and you have 1.63. Salad is a dollar at Safeways this week.
I used 3/4 of the pound in a 'quiche" (impossible pie ). Impossible pie is easy, quick, and almost all protein and dairy. Very little carbs per serving. 1/8 of a cup of flour base. Not really low fat , however. Balance the fat with a no fat vegetable bean soup for another meal. Its all about balances.
Today we are taking the rest of the sausage and making a pizza. Mozzarella cheese is made with part skim milk. That lowers the fat and a quarter pound spread between four servings is reducing the amount of meat without sacrificing then protein grams.
Scratch pizza is a very low cost meal as well as the quiche. Both are well below the five dollar threshold. A cheese pizza is a buck and one cent. My sister made me price the olive oil....it cost four cents, thus the penny. I refuse to price salt. I got five pounds for four dollarsnten years ago. Three generations later we will still probably have salt left. LOL.
Add 62 cents for sausage to the 1.01 cheese pizza and you have 1.63. Salad is a dollar at Safeways this week.
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
The basics ,:scratch cooking
I saved this one for almost the last. It was one of my last hold outs. I got our food budget down to 72.00 a week. The stats were close to 150.00. But, I wanted to challenge myself to see just how low are expense can be and still eat well balanced good food. It was a game by now. My original object if this blog was to help people on low incomes or snap to stretch their food dollars so they could have good food and still build a small emergency stock. I started cooking a lot more things from scratch and I cut our budget to 53.00 a week and we still are building our stock. The USDA stats are based on actual food eaten at home, they don't count school lunches or stock . We are sitting at 45 percent of the USDA stats. We eat well. We eat fresh fruits and veggies, we portion control, none of us are overweight. We try to avoid extra salt, sugar, trans fats, hydrogenated oils. HFCS and fake food.
The words scratch cooking scares some people and they envision spending all day on the kitchen while the laundry stacks up , the house is a mess and you don't get to work. The Lucy bread baking episode comes to mind. LOL . Not so. I set out to scratch cook efficiently, My mantra is that if you spend a little more time planning and shopping wisely, you can spend less time cooking. Of course, with a five yo in the house, the neat house doesn't always happen.
The internet is full of scratch recipes- some efficient, some not so much. Developing your personal cookbook one recipe at a time will take time. It's totally worth it, I have my first one from 1970. I brought a new one up to date with more healthy choices-- times have changed and some things never change. Grandmas recipes have just got a little more healthy,
Spending a block of time to make your own mixes helps greatly, You have the convenience of mixes, but not the cost or preservatives. Engage your children, I have been following some people on u tube. I have learned a lot. There is one family of ten that all work together at maintaining their quality of life. Children as young as 1.5 years are "helping " in the kitchen. Consequently, their 13 yo can cook remarkable dinners. It is a good thing to do at home since the schools don't have the same home ec departments they once had. It is really a necessity if life to learn to cook. My daughter never wanted to, my son wanted to learn to bake. My granddaughter wants to do anything she can. Engage them. Mixes are good for learning fractions, counting, and children love to stir or push the buttons on the food processor. My mother used to say that if children were helping, they weren't making a mess for you to clean up afterwords . How true.
Making your own spice blends and mixes saves a lot of money, You can get small amounts of spices in the bulk isle of some grocery stores pretty cheap. I needed dill one time .ot was sox dollars for a tiny one by one inch bottle. That much dill in the bulk isle was. W a i t. For it........ seventeen cents.
Baking mix, pancake mix, or muffin mix are all cheap especially when you get bulk flour.
Making your own bread can take all day, or you can make easy ones that take ten minutes hand on time, The time that you let something sit on the counter while you grocery shop, or do the laundry , or take the kids to the park doesn't count ! Lol.
Anything you can throw in the slow cooker or insta pot and walk way from is a good thing.
I don't have stock in insta pot, but I wish I Did! Lol. It's one of the most versatile work horses in the kitchen. It's a slow cooker, it's a rice cooker, it is a pressure cooker that is almost fool proof. Remember to put it on seal to pressure cook , and remember to add enough water. That s about it. Don't put more than 1/2 full when cooking anything that expands like pasta or beans. Easy peas! And saves sooo much time! Scratch soups on five minutes, Pork chops in three, Chicken from frozen on 8 minutes.. considering that it is three appliances that all work well in one footprint, it's a real bargain. It also sautés.
Going out on a limb and trying to do all this at once is a deal breaker. Terminal burnout. Take baby steps and build your talent. Every little thing will save money. The snowball effect is a wonderful phenomenon. It works. Give it time.
The words scratch cooking scares some people and they envision spending all day on the kitchen while the laundry stacks up , the house is a mess and you don't get to work. The Lucy bread baking episode comes to mind. LOL . Not so. I set out to scratch cook efficiently, My mantra is that if you spend a little more time planning and shopping wisely, you can spend less time cooking. Of course, with a five yo in the house, the neat house doesn't always happen.
The internet is full of scratch recipes- some efficient, some not so much. Developing your personal cookbook one recipe at a time will take time. It's totally worth it, I have my first one from 1970. I brought a new one up to date with more healthy choices-- times have changed and some things never change. Grandmas recipes have just got a little more healthy,
Spending a block of time to make your own mixes helps greatly, You have the convenience of mixes, but not the cost or preservatives. Engage your children, I have been following some people on u tube. I have learned a lot. There is one family of ten that all work together at maintaining their quality of life. Children as young as 1.5 years are "helping " in the kitchen. Consequently, their 13 yo can cook remarkable dinners. It is a good thing to do at home since the schools don't have the same home ec departments they once had. It is really a necessity if life to learn to cook. My daughter never wanted to, my son wanted to learn to bake. My granddaughter wants to do anything she can. Engage them. Mixes are good for learning fractions, counting, and children love to stir or push the buttons on the food processor. My mother used to say that if children were helping, they weren't making a mess for you to clean up afterwords . How true.
Making your own spice blends and mixes saves a lot of money, You can get small amounts of spices in the bulk isle of some grocery stores pretty cheap. I needed dill one time .ot was sox dollars for a tiny one by one inch bottle. That much dill in the bulk isle was. W a i t. For it........ seventeen cents.
Baking mix, pancake mix, or muffin mix are all cheap especially when you get bulk flour.
Making your own bread can take all day, or you can make easy ones that take ten minutes hand on time, The time that you let something sit on the counter while you grocery shop, or do the laundry , or take the kids to the park doesn't count ! Lol.
Anything you can throw in the slow cooker or insta pot and walk way from is a good thing.
I don't have stock in insta pot, but I wish I Did! Lol. It's one of the most versatile work horses in the kitchen. It's a slow cooker, it's a rice cooker, it is a pressure cooker that is almost fool proof. Remember to put it on seal to pressure cook , and remember to add enough water. That s about it. Don't put more than 1/2 full when cooking anything that expands like pasta or beans. Easy peas! And saves sooo much time! Scratch soups on five minutes, Pork chops in three, Chicken from frozen on 8 minutes.. considering that it is three appliances that all work well in one footprint, it's a real bargain. It also sautés.
Going out on a limb and trying to do all this at once is a deal breaker. Terminal burnout. Take baby steps and build your talent. Every little thing will save money. The snowball effect is a wonderful phenomenon. It works. Give it time.
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