Meal plans for week of August 21

We are sitting at 29.67 a week this month.   That doesn't include the few things that I bought that are stock items.

Meal plans are usually done with a matrix.   My focus this month is to use some of the oldest stock.   Ideally rotating meats means you will maintain enough for a month of rotations.   This will work better if you have a family larger than 2.5 meat eaters.    LOL.  

• Breakfast for Dinner
• Pizza 
• Chicken enchaladas 
• Pork roast 
• BBQ pork sandwiches. 
• Split pea soup 
• Taco bean cassarole 

Nots : 

1. Breakfast for dinner is a mainstay here.  It can be inexpensive, it can be vegetarian , and its multi generational participation .(everybody cooks) 
2. Pizza is a winner.  A cheese and pepperoni pizza costs 1.01.   Doesn't get much cheaper than that.   
3. Chicken enchaladas are made from the chicken gleamed from the rib bones when de bring chicken breasts.  Green, sour cream enchalada sauce is homemade.   
4. Pork roast is the last of the last batch of pork loin.   BBQ pork sandwiches are a 'planned over" to quote my 8th grade homeec teacher. 
5. Split pea soup is a easy on the cook recipe.    Just a note, dont make it in the insta pot on pressure mode.....slow cook mode works best.    Just ask me how I know.   LOL 
6. Taco bean cassarole is a skillet meal and will appear this week on the "Dinner: Better, cheaper, faster" channel.   Www.janefraugalfood.blogspot.com 

Dinner:Better, cheaper, faster

Costco haul

cheese, cheap, yah!

I have ample cheese for a while.  It freezes.  

7 lb Pork loin at 1.79 a pound made;
2 pork roasts
2 pkg pork chops
3 pkg (1/2 lb ) pork cubes
1 pkg pork sausage

10 meals easy at 1.24 a meal.   3 people

Pizza cheese at 2.49
Cheddar cheese at 2.39 lb

5 lbs honey at 11,99

Bananas 1.39

Honey is the only perfect food.  It never spoils.   I used the last of my honey I bought wholesale when  I worked for a food distributor.   In 2002,  

Buying a whole pork loin. And spending a few minutes butchering it yourself saves a lot of money.

Your protein is the biggest part of your meal.   Buying good meat in bulk and cutting it yourself is a way to really stretch your budget.   Rotate your bulk meats so you are spending about the same every week.   By simplifying your cuts and buying bulk, you can still have variety and keep your protein cost low.  

Rotate , (assuming your family's eats all of these)

• Whole pork loin
• Cheese, beans
• Hamburger 
• Chicken split breasts. 
• Fish , and or canned tuna or salmon, 

Let the market ( RBP or what some people call loss leaders) dictate which protein you buy which 

week.    

Here, Fred Meyers (Kroger) puts local chicken on sale about once a month.  It was. .88, but now they want 1.49.   

I can always get beans (pinto) at the Dollar Tree in a l.5 pound bag 

Cheese is sometimes on sale, but usually I can get the best price in a five pound bag at Costco.  I want less than 2.50. 

Pork Loin I have found at winco and costco.   By target price is 1.79.  1.69 of course is better.  

I want 7 -10 percent fat hamburger.   I was getting it at 3.28 a lb at winco.  I haven't bought it for a while because it hasn't been that low.    I paid 3.99 at Fred Meyers last week.  


We have a matrix for meals.   1 beef, 1 fish or shellfish, 2 vegetarian, and 3 pork or chicken.   How much of any one protein that i buy depends on how much we already have and how much we will need for a month to six weeks.  

Easiest whole chicken recipe ever......

Chickens are .87 a pound at Fred Meyers tomorrow.    About as cheap as you can get.  Ever buy a chicken, rotisserie or otherwise under three pounds.

Easy slow cooker whole chicken

1. Peel and cut one large onion in quarters, or two small onions in halves.   This is important ,you cant substitute any other veggie. You are not eating it, so no matter if you dont like onions. Dump it in the bottom of your slow cooker.  
2. Open package of chicken.  Dry it with. Paper towel.   Wear gloves or wash your hands frequently as well as your counters.  
3. Spread the chicken with a dry rub or seasoned salt type mix.  
4. Put the lid on the slow cooker.  Make sure you plug it in and turn it on high for one hour PER pound of chicken.  
5. Walk away.

On Dinner : Better, Faster, Cheaper

I am constantly in my spare time, or down-time scouring the web and cookbooks for easy, economical , nutritious recipes.  I post recipes that I find that I can make my own by making them better because they have healthier ingredients, faster because we are all looking for scratch cooking that is efficient.  And cheaper because the COL is high and we are all trying to s t r e t c h a buck.

Www.janefrugalfood.blogspot.com.

On food prices

Whenever I go to a store, i am always checking food prices for the things that are on my target list.   At Costco, I noticed that cheese has taken a hike to 3.09 a pound.  The mozzarella was still 2.19, but the other cheese was 3.09.  My target price is less than 2.50.    It was running 2.39.   We have the USDA to thank for that because they bought out millions of dollars worth of cheese to bail out the dairy farmers.    I knew it was coming, but that doesn't help by budget.  

I have seen a trend of rising prices.i used to be able to get chicken for 87 ( split chicken breast) .  Last time it was 1.49. Its 1.49 again.   The whole chicken is still a lot cheaper than deli chicken, but we are not fans of dark meat.

Diced tomatoes and canned beans have a 50 cent target price.   I have been seeing 68 cents for them as well as canned veggies.    I can still get frozen for a buck or less a pound.   Usually in the fall, the new pack of vegetables come into the caners and the prices of the older pack go on sale.  I will be waiting.......

I am still seeing pork loins for under two dollars a pound. 1.79 at winco last week.   Ground beef has taken a hike and I had to pay four dollars last time.    I haven't checked costco business.   The chubs at costco business are not a good texture.   Its more like ground chicken.   We used it, but it isn't my favorite.

I'm still getting pasta for under a dollar, but not finding the .38 prices these days.

I was behind a young fellow in line at Winco .   It was all I could do to not let the Grandmother in me whap him upside the head and tell him he had done it all wrong.!  LOL.  Honestly, he could have spent half of what he spent and not left the store.

He did buy frozen veggies in large bags, but the rest of the cart was full of seasoning packets, deli chicken and Junk food.   Poster boy for How not to save money on food.   LOL.

Watching the prices of what you buy on a regular basis and knowing a target price (RBP) are key in aging money at the grocery store.  Key in no junk food and making as much as you can from scratch and you have a eat winner.

Winco and costco haul. -food only

Note:  I am supposed to be on no spend.   So the hauls are small.  

Winco:

2 cans pasta sauce .95 (charity)

Nathan's franks 3.30
Peach tea 2.28
Winco olives .68

Total 8.04.  Less 1.90 is 6.14

Costco :

Vinegar 4.29
Tuna 9.79. Case :   3.00 off
14.08



Note : vinegar is for multiple uses.   I use it for cleaning vegetables, and household cleaning and for killing weeds.  

Fred Meyer ad for Sunday.

Fred meyers for tomorrow.  Please note that there is a five dollars off of five sale going on.  This usually works with coupons. You do have to pick and choose. A lot of it is junk food.  

Foster Farms whole chicken .87
Foster Farms split chicken breast 1.49.  ***

Also thighs and legs 

Mango or avacodo .77

Cantaloupe 2/3 

Cheese 2.99 a pound 

Zucchini .99

Cottage cheese, sour cream 2/4 large 

Freshetta pizza.     4.99. Coupon in Sunday paper for 1.50 off of two.

Cucumbers, radishes 59

Oranges .99

Buy five, save, five.

Note : ** means there is a coupon somewhere.     Or a good chance there is .

Nature valley bars 1.99
Ritz crackers 1.79**
Gold fish .99
Tide 4.99**
Cheerios, Frosted Flakes 1.79**
Kens salad dressing 1.49.
Jiff peanut butter is 2.99 for the large jar.  


The English muffins are not a bargain. The regular price for English muffins at FM is 1.67 for a veery large bag...i think a dozen.   They are in a basket by the eggs at shoreline.

Smashed potatoes

A good side dish for a potluck.

8 medium sized russet  potatoes
1-1/2 cup homemade ranch dressing
1/2 lb shredded Mexican blend cheese
Salt , peppers
Bacon bits

1. Bake potatoes.  Peel.
2. Place in a mixing bowl. 
3. Smash potatoes ( leave a bit chunky) 
4. Add remaining ingredients 
5. Pour into greased 9X13 pan 
6. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes 
7. Garnish with green onion and bacon

What can you do with cottage cheese

Cottage cheese continues to be a bargain.   Fred meyers has it for a dollar a small carton frequently.
It's a good source of protein and calcium and can be 'hidden" in all kinds of dishes.   Lately, I have been finding all kinds of recipes that you would never dream you could add cottage cheese to.

1. Cottage cheese and fruit salad was a mainstay for us growing up. 
2. Cottage cheese biscuits.   
3. Cottage cheese and rice in hamburger for meatloaf or to stuff peppers, or hamburgers.   
4. Cottage cheese pancakes 

What can you do with cottage cheese?  


Biscuits

1 cup flour
2 tsp sugar
1-1/8 tsp baling powder
1/4 tsp soda
1/8 tsp salt
2T COLD BUTTER
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1egg
3T MILK

IN MEDIUM BOWL, measure dry ingredients.
Mix.   Cut in cold butter.

In separate bowl, beat cottage cheese for 2 minutes until smooth.  Ad egg and milk jutnuntil blended.  Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients.

Turn out onto flour covered board.   Knead 8-10 times.   Pat out to 1/2 inch thickness and cut with biscuit cutter.

Bake at 450 8-12 minutes.                                                                        

Chain store ad for the week

QFC was a two week ad last week

Alberways

Kellogg's cereals 1.88. Buy 3

Milk 1.79@
Just for u digital coupons

Suddenly salad .88
Kens salad dressing 1.79

Sayings

How many quirk sayings are in your childhood?  Everybody grew up wth some.  A lot of them had some insight into life.   Some were just funk.

1. I'm not as green as I am cabbage looking.   :   Lesson:  retailers have studied the phycology of shopping.   They know how to trick you into spending more at their store.   Bigger carts.  Displays of junk food might be one of the first things you see when you walk in the door.  This is to get you so start putting high priced junk in your large cart.  There is much more.  There is a separate post on the subject. To be informed is your best defense.   
2. It's a new one.   Alternative facts.  Almost every food you can name has an opinion associated with it.   This is good, or not so good.   I think you have to look at the source and use your common sense. Someone (MSN) just said that the dollar tree was a good source for food.   Try and not so true.   Not all the food is cheapter than the discount grocery stores.   Not all the packages are as big.   Some things are made in China.   Some things are a bargain and some things are what's left from a test market and are outstanding buys.   Like free is good.   
3. No food will do your family any good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.  Kale can be good for you, but if your family won't  eat it , it's not a bargain at any price.   If your high priced organic food rots before you can eat it , its not a bargain.    
4. He who poops his britches accuses other chap of smelling of it.   Just food for thought.   
5. Some people would not see a bargain if it got up and bit them in the butt.   Don't be that person.   Knowledge is power.  Know your prices.   Know who has the best price on certain foods.  No one store has the best prices on everything.   If you don't have a clue, ask a lot of people--especially someone with a lot of children to feed.   Get the ads and make it a point to study them for the prices of the things that you buy on a regular basis.   Doing it for a few weeks wil give you a good idea. There are apps like favado, but they aren't always accurate.    

MONDAY KITCHEN MANAGEMENT

When you are retired, or not, it helps to have a schedule.   Otherwise, I could putts the whole day and accomplish, but it surely wouldn't look like it.....a little thing here and a little thing there.  

Kitchen management is a task that takes about an hour or an hour and a half , but saves a lot more time and stress when it is time for making dinner.

Recap meal plans :

• Pizza 
• Breakfast for dinner 
• Chicken strips, french fries, veggies
• Sausage and peppers
• Mac and cheese
• Tuna casserole 
• Beef vegetable soup

Management tasks 

1. Disinfect the counters, sinks, and drains. 
2. Load the dishwasher.
3. Clean the fridge and organize.  Dump everything dead.   Revitalize anything on the edge. 
4. Make bread 
5. Cook and de fat hamburger I bought yesterday. 
6. Wash potatoes , carrots, celery.  Save tops for soup 
7. Wash and cut peppers , freeze 
8. Sub mac and cheese for cheeseburger macaroni. 
9. Wax north side cabinets/island 
10. Wash kitchen  floor. 

Fred Meyer and winco hauls

Well, so much for no spend.   The meat buys were too good to pass up.   I did pass up a whole pork loin for 1.79 a pound at Winco.    The freezer is supposed to be purging, not filling LOL.  

Fred Meyers

Barrilla pasta -veggie speghetti ( for charity)
Milk 1.99
2 packages popcorn shrimp ( over a pound) 7.99
2 cans silver label solid albacore tuna.  1.09 ( clearance table)
Grapes .99
Zucchini .99
Cucumber -English .99
Peanut butter 1.49
2 pkg ribs 11.99
3 pkg organic, grass fed, 10 percent fat hamburger @ 3,99 a pound
2 strawberries at 1.25


Most of this haul was protein that is stock :  it will last us more than a week.  

Winco
Yoplait  8/2,98 with coupon
Hamburger buns .75
Hot dog buns .75
Zucchini .89
Corn .33
Peppers .88

Bag refund.   .06



Lots of protein.   Perishables are minimal.  
I deviated From the menu plan today and made vegetable soup to go with our cheddar bread and rice pudding.  

Last weeks fruit that we had leftover is in the dehydrator.   Head start for tomorrow morning kitchen management.    

Meal Plans for week of 8/14/17

Its a no spend month this month.   I didn't grocery shop this week.   Last week we bought a bunch of veggies and fruit and I picked up a couple of lunch box items for granddaughter and a box of tomato bouillon.because it's was at the overstock store for a quarter of the Costco price and we were almost out.

• PIZZA 
• Breakfast for dinner. 
• Chicken strips, french fries, veggie or fruit 
• Sausage and peppers 
• Mac and cheese, peas and carrots. 
• Tuna casserole, carrot coins with honey ginger sauce 
• Beef vegetable soup with cheese bread 

Notes for economy 

1. Breakfast for dinner is a good family activity.   Eggs continue to be less than  a dollar a dozen.   That makes the protein about .12 a serving.  If you are short on eggs, you can put almost any leftover meat and veggie in a pie plate and add a two egg, 1/2 cup bisquick an 1 cup of milk mixture to it and have a quick meal.   (Impossible pie) 
2. Pizza is a no brainier.    Granddaughter loves to make them and the cost for a pizza is 1.01 . Win , win.  Happy family, happy budget.   
3. Chicken strips are homemade.  Chicken tenders gleamed from the butchering of the split chicken breasts, breading of homemade breadcrumbs, parm, and walnuts.   French fries are still cheapest at Winco.   
4. Sausage continues to be cheap (2.00 here ) when its on sale an you can use a coupon.   Peppers are usually cheaper at winco.   I freeze them when I can get them for under a dollar.   Green peppers are cheaper, but not a hit with the family.   Oven roasted is good, but you can also just use a skillet.    
5. Mac and cheese is scratch and starts with cream soup base.   Cheese was 2.19 a pound at Costco.   
6. Tuna casserole is an inexpensive meal.  Using cream soup base and tuna makes it inexpensive. I usually buy costco tuna, but tuna goes on sale for as low as fifty cents.   A topping of homemade breadcrumbs (free) and some parm and parsley makes it more appealing.   
7. Beef vegetable soup is a no brainier and easy too .   Anything you can dump in the slow cooker or insta pot and walk away from is a 😊 meal.   Cheese bread is on a blog at www.janefrugalfood.blogspot,com.  --a resource for recipes, some old remade to be better, cheaper, and/or faster.   

All of these recipes are well under a five dollar dinner for the proverbial family of four-- two adults and two school aged children.   Five dollars is a benchmark for eating on four dollars a day.   

My mantra is that if  someone can shop and cook good meals on a sparse budget, it is  not hard to spend more.   LOL.   Avoid too much salt, sugar, trans fats, hydrogenated oil,HFCS aka natural sugars, and fake anything.   

Fred Meyer Sunday ad

The ad for Sunday.  

Grapes .99
Lean ground beef (10%) 3.97
Milk -reg or chocolate 1.99
Strawberries 4/5
Barrilla pasta .88
Sour cream / cottage cheese small 4/5

Zucchini .99
Blues 4.99
English cucumbers .99

Some meats are bogo, but without the basic prices, its hard to tell if they are a good buy.  
Its worth checking out though.   Know your RBP.  

Heritage farm chicken is southern grown.  
It's my opinion that Draper Valley is good chicken but leaves a lot desired in the butchering department.  
My personal opinion is that Foster Farms is washington , California and Oregon grown and it is processed in the state it is grown.    And, a lot cleaner.    I butcher our split chicken breasts and dont care to be grossed out.  

Friday recipe : better, faster, cheaper

Sweet and Sour Pork 

1 can pineapple chunks, reserve juice.  

3/4 pound  pork cubes **

1T olive oil 

1/2 cup water 

1/3 cup vinegar 

1/4 cup brown sugar 

1T soy sauce 

2T corn starch 

1/2 cup water 

Green and red peppers, cut into cubes 

2 stalk celery 

Hot cooked rice. 

• Drain pineapple, reserving juice 
• Sauté pork cubes in a little olive oil until browned
• Add reserved juice, water, vinegar, brown sugar and soy sauce to skillet. 
• Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes
• Add vegetables and pineapple  and simmer an additional 2 minutes 
• Make a slurry of cornstarch and water.   Add to skillet and stir until liquids are thickened. 
• Serve over rice.   

Notes: 

Pineapple comes in low sugar syrup. 

Cut top and bottom off of peppers and reserve for garnish or to top a pizza.   Cut the remaining pepper into wide strips and cross cut into inch long pieces. 

You can add fresh green beans instead of some of the peppers. 

Pork cubes is what happens when you butcher a whole pork loin and cut the tapered ends off an cube the meat.  Cut two pork roasts , one off each end, and cut center loin chops from the center of the loin.    5 meals for four people out of a pork loin that should cost less than ten dollars.   

Total cost about 4.00.    

Thursday bullets: Meals in a hurry list

It's always a good idea to have a few meals you can do that are easy and in a hurry from things you keep on hand in the pantry or freezer.   You never know when life gives you a s);)t storm day,   Meals should consist of a protein, starch and veggie or fruit.

• Scrambled eggs, hash browns, fruit .   
• Quiche ( impossible pie ) fruit 
• Waffles. Fruit,  bacon or sausage 
• Tacos, Mexican rice, lettuce , tomato, cheese, ( rice in insta pot or microwave, frozen, batch cooked  taco meat ,  in freezer ) 
• Roast chicken , oven roasted veggies.   ( veggies are pre-washed  chicken precooked ) 
• Chicken parm , ( use chicken patties when they are on sale ) 
• Spaghetti and meatballs ( meatballs frozen homemade or store bought ) Armour 
• Nachos 
• Slow cooker vegetable bean soup.   

Wednesday chain store ads

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.  

It's all a state of mind.......

Ten easy hacks to save  little bits,

1. 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.   
2. 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.
3. Save the heels of your bread for bread crumbs,  why pay someone else for their dry bread. 
4. 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. .   
5. 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,        
6. 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.   
7. 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.   
8. You can also freeze herbs or small amounts of lemon or lime juice too. 
9. You can dehydrate almost anything that is not going to get eaten before it goes bad.   Eggs, potatoes, carrots, parsley, berries.   
10. Leftover tomato paste can be used for pizza sauce, or watered down and used anywhere you would  use diced tomatoes or tomato sauce.     

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)