Holy cow!

I posted on the wrong channel.  

Please use the link.   www.janegrocerysavy.blogspot.com

Ranch dressing mix / one pot pasta

Mix together the following ingredient.  Store in a jar with a tight fitting lid.
Mix with a combination of mayonaise and sour ceam and milk to the desired consistency.

5T onion flakes
2 tsp garlic powder
4 tsp salt
2T dry buttermilk
1T dill
5T parsley

One pan penne pasta


In a large skillet:
Sauté until browned
14 ounces rope sausage , sliced into coins
2T olive oil

Now:
Add:
1 -15.5 ounce can tomatoes
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 can diced green chillies, drained.

Bring to boil.
Then add:

1/2 lb ry, uncooked penne
Reduce heat and simmer 10 mnutes or until pasta is tender

Stir in:
4 ounces of cream cheese
Salt and pepper

This is a good basic recipe that you could substitute just about any meat, or pasta and use some milk or sour cream instead of the cream cheese.   Basically, use what you have.   One pot, less dishes and you can serve it right out of the pan.

Add a salad and you have a balanced meal.    Start with veggie sticks if a salad doesn't work for your child's preferences.  

Meal Plans for week of September 25

Note:  I'm still at 35.00 a week and I even bought a three pound package of good hamburger.   What I failed at was to deplete our stock suffeciently.   So we are going to push on with another month.   Most meals are based on five dollars for a proverbial family of four:  two adults and two school aged children.

Meals

1. Orange Pork with rice and carrots 
2. Pizza
3. Chicken nuggets and oven fries , veggie sticks 
4. Enchaladas, beans or rice, fruit for drsrrt 
5. Split pea soup, beer bread 
6. Salmon patties, baked potatoes, salad 
7. Breakfast for dinner.   

Notes; 

I have a form that I made for meal planning.   It has two columns for listing a master list of perishables, and a column for notes of items needed.   It also has boxes for meal plans and the extra box is for our matrix.   it makes meal planning quick and easy..   Proteins are not listed because we always have the same proteins, just sometimes more than others.   

This was done in excel. 

Breakfast for dinner and pizza are real winners at our house and we eat  a variety of them each week. 

Chicken nuggets are homemade as well as oven fries.   They are more healthy and dont take much time.   Enchaladas are made with homemade enchalada sauce an hamburger and cheese.  We also have chicken enchaladas with a sour cream and chili pepper sauce.   Split pea soup is scratch , cheap, and cooks in the slow cooker.  Beer bread is easy...4 ingredients.   Some of us are not fond of corn bread and this is an alternative.   Salmon patties can be purchased at winco , or made from scratch.   I purchased romaine and head lettuce, so we will be using it throughout the week.   

Dollar Tree and Grocery Outlet haul

Don't have business on the east side anymore, but we did go to Kenmore yesterday.   Its just fun, like a treasure hunt.   

Dollar Tree had two books, one on style that I thought I might get some inspiration from, and one called From Scratch....inside the Food Network.   

I finally found dehydrated peaches.   But, food wise, that was about it.  

Grocery Outlet netted 

• 2 pkg cheese slices 
• 1 package barown and serve baguettes. Very large, one would feed us twice and they were 6.00 for four in the package. 
• Chocolate cookie mix nets three batches and it was 5.00.   At the cost of the chocolate, I thought it was a good buy.  
• Betty crocker sugar cookie mix was .50.   A good rainy day project for granddaughter.  

5 easy concepts.

I now have new readers.  For a little background, I have always been frugal.   In the 70s I was a single parent that lived through double digit inflation , no raises, no child support.   Enough said.   I started making it my mission to learn more than my mother taught me to s t r e t c h the food budget. Five years ago, my daughter came to me.   She has been teaching children of low income families for years.    The mothers were lamenting that they were running out of grocery money before they ran out of month.   My daughter said, Oh, my mom knows how to fix that.     I started a blog with the help and encouragement of my children.  

Five years later.....

Five basic concepts....  this won't happen overnight.    It has taken me 50 years and I am still evolving.   I got my education .piecemeal.  This is more concise.   One step at a time.  

• The gambling concept.  If you are buying your groceries at one store and buying just what you need for a weeks worth of meal plans, you are going to loose.   Like when one goes to a casino, the odds are against you.    The house always wins in the end.   No one store has the best prices on everything.   Picking two stores and buying the best of both stores, affords you the best opportunity for low prices and freshest produce.   
• My mother used to say that some people could have a bargain get up and bite them in the butt and they wouldn't see it.   Don't be that person.  Know what your core products are and what the rock bottom price (target price or buy price ) is for those items.   Make a list of the meals you cook on a regular basis.  Most people have a list of 10 or so.  Now list the staple ingredients.   We use a lot of diced tomatoes, pasta, pasta sauce, green beans, .....find the lowest sale price on those items in your area.   Try not to buy those things unless they are at your target price.   When thy are, buy enough to last until they go on sale again.   Usually that is a four to six week cycle.  Things like bbq sauce, pumpkin, catsup, cream of mushroom soup, are seasonal an it's best to get a years supply.   The difference is remarkable.   With coupons, I got bbq sauce for .56 instead of 2.56.   I just got salad dressing for .50 instead of 2.50.  Those savings add up quickly.  
• Waste not, want not.  Try to buy perishables in quantities that you know you will use up before they go bad.   Note that expiration dates on dairy usually mean that you have some time past that date to use it up.  Let your nose be your guide.   Still, when in doubt, throw it out.   Before that happens, keep track and find recipes that will use it up.   Google it.  I often use sour cream in place of yogurt in some recipes.   Can you dehydrate it?  Freeze it?   Eggs can be dehydrated for future use.   
• BULK.  Grocery stores have "loss leaders" usually on the front page of the ad.   Some of our grocery stores don't have ads or have ads that you can get on line or in the newspaper.   Protein sales stagger.   If you plan your meals using a set list of meats that are flexible, you will save a bundle.   Rotate your purchases and buy enough of a particular meat for a month to six weeks of that meal.   If you have something with hamburger in it twice a week, you need 8-12 portion controlled meals.   Example: We buy 7 percent fat hamburger, whole pork loin, split chicken breasts, and bulk sausage.   We buy bulk cheese from Costco usually, and dried beans.   Buy one bulk meat a week, portion control it, and cook it if it makes sense to.   I don't cook pork and chicken, but I bulk cook and de-fat hamburger and sausage.  The hamburger is portion controlled in quart bags, then the batch is put into a gallon bag that I mark and date.   I use cheaper quart bags and a more expensive gallon one.   Sausage is in a gallon. Bag.  It makes it easier to pull just a bit for a pizza or to use in a quiche.  Bulk beans I keep in popcorn canisters that I get at Costco. Air popped popcorn is a great healthy cheap  treat.  
• Use a different concept of grocery shopping.   Instead of going to the grocery store and buying just what you need for a few days or a week worth of food, you buy to replenish your stock.   This affords you the opportunity to only buy most things at a discounted rate.   You are going to buy a rotation protein perishables in season, an what's on sale you need to replentish.  You cook off your stock.   This takes some time to build, but with patience it does happen.   You can do this piecemeal, one week at a time buying double portions of things that are1/2 price. Or you can take a tax return and start a stash.   It will pay you off in the long run in savings.   We eat for 45.00 a week for three of us.   Granted, we are old and not as active as some families.   But, that figure is 40 percent  of the USDA stats for thrifty people.   We eat well, but this concept makes us have most of our food for 1/2 price.   

• 
  

Thursday: bullets : 5 dollar meals

• pancakes or waffles:  turkey bacon 
• Speghetti w pasta sauce - homemade french bread 
• Vegetable bean soup - cheese biscuits 
• Hot dogs ( nathans ) buns ( Winco) and vegetable sticks, oven fries 
• Egg omlettes, fruit compote:  apple and blueberry 
• Sausage quiche , fruit in season 
• Chicken pot pie 
• Tomato soup, Cheese biscuits 
• Beef and bean burritos 
• Pizza, green salad 
• Southern chicken and sausage speghetti dinner 
• Tuna cassarole. Peas and carrots

Winco and Safeways haul

Needless to say, I went over budget.  

Winco

Romaine 1.98
Meatballs 1,98
Winter frozen veggies .98
Orange pepper .88
Chicken noodle soup .88 less coupon .78
Apples 1.88
Lettuce .98

Total 15.16

Safeways

Pasta sauce 1.25
Shredded cheese .99
Hamburger 12.59 ( 3.77) a pound
Grapes .97 lb

Total 22.25

Total 37.41

No Spendtember.dinners

1. Toasted ham and cheese sandiwiches , fruit plate 
2. Pork roast, mashed sweet potatoes, mixed veggies, sourdough bread 
3. Hot dogs, pasta salad 
4. Pizza bread
5. Tacos, Spanish rice 
6. Fish and chips 
7. Pulled pork samndwiches, fries, fruit 
8. Chicken pronto pasta , green beans 
9. Leftovers 
10. BBQ ribs, potatoes, green salad 
11. Potato soup, cheezy biscuits 
12. Pizza 
13. Salmon, broccoli, rice mix. 
14. Vegetable bean soup, beer bread 
15. Chicken parm, salad
16. Leftovers 
17. Vegetable omlettes, fruit compote.   
18. Out
19. Chicken tacos 
20. Stuffed chicken breasts with bacon and feta, rice, broccoli 
21. Tuna cassarole, mixed veggies. 
22. Hamburgers, french fries 
23. Tacos, refried bean 
24. Sausage and pepper quiche sliced tomatoes 
25. Chicken nuggets and oven fries 🍟,vegetable sticks 
26. Shrimp and salad
27. Pizza
28. Split pea soup, beer bread
29. Sausage and oven roasted root veggies 
30. Salmon patties, rice, brocolli and cauli 

Chain store ads

qfc was a two week ad.    4 for 4 sale.   By 4, sale 4 .  Fred Meyers has the same idea and you can clean up if you can pair the sales with coupons.    I got salad dressing for .50 instead of 2.50. Getting the best price is all about choices.   Vinegretate is easy and cheap to make.   We picked blue cheese because we like it and its a lot more expensive to make.    The same thing holds true of chunky soups if you buy them.   Beef is more expensive to scratch cook.   You are better off buying beef soup and making the chicken.  


Alberways

Grapes .99

Extra lean ground beef 3.77

Eggs .78@@

Cheese .99@@

Pasta sauce 4/5.
Note:  I have no idea what the quality is .  Has anyone used it before ?

Jiff 40 ounces 5.00

Make dough when you got no dough

I saw a post on the Facebook buy and sell for our area.   Its is days to payday and the cupboards are bare.    A kind person posted where the food bank was, and when the person said he had to work and didn't get off until 3 o'clock, he posted another that was open in the evening.   That's a quick fix.   But, the answer here is to figure out how to not make it happen again.    Smart choices.   I'm sure there are people that just don't have an option.   But, there are also people that can with some education, find a way to s t r e t c h their money to make it through.   For those people, I write this blog.    I have been writing this blog for over five years.   I would like to think I have helped someone.

Besides helping people spend less and eat better, I post recipes, some old ones that have been remade to be a bit more healthy.   Also, techniques to scratch cook efficiently.   No one these days, especially working parents wants to set out and cook a meal that takes over an hour to prepare after they have worked all day and suffered the ordeal of a long commute.  

I feed three of us on 45.00 a week.   We eat well.   Granted, we are seniors and a small child, but it is indicative of what you can do with a little money.

To answer the person or one like him, here is a list of things at the dollar tree that will take you through a few days for ten bucks.

• 1 dozen eggs 
• 1 package pinto beans 
• 1 package white rice 
• 1 package pasta 
• 1 can pasta sauce 
• 1 carton oatmeal 
• Pizza crust 
• cheese
• Bread 
• Peanut butter 

Another ten would buy seasonal veggies and fruit.   

This is by no means a steady diet.   Its just keep your tummy happy until payday when you can replenish your food supply with healthy choices.    

Kitchen Management

Meal Plan recap :

• Chicken stuffed with bacon and feta 
• Pizza 
• Pork roast, sweet potatoes, zucchini and tomatoes 
• Tacos. Refried beans 
• Pork sandwiches (bbq) oven fries, veggie sticks 
• Salmon casserole , peas 
• Breakfast for dinner 

1. Mark meal pans to remind for thawing roast and chicken 
2. Wash kitchen floor 
3. Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀 and note things to be used soon
4. Clean and disinfect counters, sinks and drains. 
5. Wash potatoes and veggies
6. Cut sticks 
7. Put up some zucchini and eggs. 

Fred meyers haul.

Buy 4, save 4

Folgers coffee 6.25
3 ea kens dressing @ 50 - coupons

Foster Farms chicken breast -frozen 4.99
Mayo 1.99
2 nabisco crackers @ 1.79. Less .75 coupon.  

Sour cream 2.00


Total 24.75

Safeways milk 1.79 w coupon

I'm still at 35.00 a week.  

One pot dinners

 Pot dinners save time and energy.

https://youtu.be/YTZGPCCB2FU

Meal Plans 9/18/17

Meal Plans for week of September 18

Meal plans are a tool that keeps us organized and on track for meals that stave off the "What's for dinner demons.  

1. Feta cheese and bacon stuffed chicken breasts, rice, salad 
2. Pizza
3. Pork Roast, sweet potatoes, zucchini and tomatoes 
4. Tacos, refried beans 
5. BBQ Pork sandwiches, Oven fries veggie sticks 
6. Salmon cassarole. Peas 
7. Breakfast for dinner 

Notes:   This is for mind techniques --to show how to use mindset to prepare meal plans.  We prep meal plans based on our stock.   We don't plan, then  shop, but rather, shop the sales to replentish a set      Of standard Grocery items. 

An inventory of the fridge netted a carton of feta purchased at a discount at Costco. The pizza and the chicken will help to use it up. 

Our neighbor brought us tomatoes zucchini and garlic out of their garden,   

We will make use of a pork roast in the freezer for two meals:  roast will reinvent itself into BBQ Pork sandwiches.   

Salmon was on sale at Costco for three dollars off a case.....like getting more than a entire can free.   Free is a very good word when you are on a tight budget.   

Sweet potatoes were purchased for .33 at grocery outlet.   

Last years weekly grocery haul was 72.00 average.   Since I started making more scratch food, it is 52.00 and that includes maintaining a small stock.   

At last calculations, that is 40 percent of the USDA stats for poor people.   

Fred Meyer ad for Sunday

First of all, the six quart insta pot is on sale for 79.99.   Just saying .....

Strawberries 3/5

Grapes 1.99

Beans or vegetables .3/2 (66)

Barilla 1.00

BUY FOUR, SAVE  FOUR.
YOU MUST BUY FOUR, MIX OR MATCH
NET PRICES

Nabisco snack crackers 1.79
Kellogg's cereal 1.99$$
Tide 3,99
Daves Killer bread 3.49
Mayo 1.99
FF chicken patties 4.99
Folgers coffee 6.49
Kens salad dressing 1.49 $$


$$. Means there are coupons out there for these items.

Recipe Friday : vegetable bean soup

Years ago I used to make a hamburger soup.   Years ago, the whole family went to Europe for Christmas so we were alone.   We had Grama and Grampa for Christmas Day Dinner with all the trimmings, but we had hamburger soup and a mix of salads our children brought home from Mc Donald's because they worked Christmas Eve and there was leftovers at closing.

My new version of Hamburger Soup has morfed into Vegetable Bean Soup.

• 4 cups beans ( scratch cooked, or 2 different cans of beans) 
• 2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained - with italian seasoning if possible 
• 4 carrots, chopped 
• 2 celer ribs, chopped 
• 4 cups vegetable or chicken stock 
• Italian seasoning, garlic, onion powder 

1. Cook the beans in the insta pot or open the cans 
2. Sauté the carrots and celery in a little olive oil until the celery is limp. 
3. Add beans, tomatoes, stock, vegetables and seasoning to the slow cooker. 
4. Cook on low for 6-10 hours.   ( however long you have until dinner time ) 
5. Garish with a choice of sour cream, parmesean, croutons, 

Serve with a bread

QFC haul: 4 off of 4 sale - 51 percent off

Of all the grocery stores we have at our disposal, QFC and Safeways are the highest priced
That being said, we did save 51 percent .    Using a sale and coupons, saves more money.  

•  2 bags of dried snap peas 
• 1 case chunky yogurt 
• 1 box crackers
• 2 Sargento sharp cheese w coupon 
• 1 pkg turkey bacon 
• Folgers coffee 
• Lunch meat 

20.00 budget, spent 20.82 

CHAIN STORE ADS

QFC   Note:  this is a two week ad

Buy 4, save 4 - prices are net.  

Daves Killer Bread 2,99
Folgers coffee 6.49
Turkey bacon 1.99
Jiff 1.99
2 pack cream cheese 2.99
Cheerios 2.49 $$
Harvest snaps .99
Freshetta pizza 4.99
2 lbs beef patties 7.99
******
Keurig cups BOGO
Oscar Mayer deli lunch meat 2/6$$

Safeways 1 week ad

Milk 1.79@@
Barilla .99
Pace salsa 2/5

Five dollar Friday

FF chicken patties 5.00

Tuesday: concepts

The word scratch cooking conjures up all kinds of memories and scares some people.   I've heard I cant do it from many.   You can do.it.   One  s t e p at a time.  

The internet and Pinterest are full of easy scratch recipes.   Even some of the recipes that are not scratch can be made pretty much scratch by making your own mixes and substitutions.   

Dump cake is really popular.  Cake mixes are as low as .88 when they are on sale.   The thing that bumps up the price is when they use a can of pie filling.  Pie filling is only water, cornstarch, sugar, and the fruit .    Cut the fruit if necessary, add water and corn starch to thicken a sauce and sugar to taste.   Mix water and cornstarch so it looks like thin milk. Add to the fruit and sugar in a saucepan.   Cook just until thickened.   Remember, you are going to cook it again  when you bake the cake.  

Bread is easy with the advent of no knead breads.  The only problem you can run into is making sure the water is warm enough, but not too warm. And sometimes its hard to get it to rise if it is cold in the kitchen.   I solve the problem by turning on the oven for two minutes on 250 degrees.   Turn the oven off and set your dough in the oven.   Do not cover with plastic.   A wet towel works.  Refrigerater bread is on the King Arthur Flour web site. 

Muffins are one of the quickest , easiest things to make--no need for a mix.   There are mix recipes out there, but really, they are easy.   Mix the dry ingredients, mix the wet ingredients and fold the two together.   Don't over mix or your muffins will be tough.   No problem, they are still edible.  

The invent of the insta pot makes cooking savory sooo much easier.   Beans are a snap!  No more soaking, rinsing and cooking for hours.    Beans and rice have a very short refrigerator life.   They are one of the things that spoils the fastest.   Beans don't freeze well.  They loose their consistency.   The insta pot cooks them with almost no hands on time.   Measure, sort to make sure there is not rocks, etc in them, rinse in a strainer, dump in the insta pot and cover with water up to your second knuckle. Water should more than cover the beans.  Close the lid, put the lever to seal and push the bean button. 

Walk away.   The new pressure cookers are a lot more safe and have safety features that our great grandmother's didn't have.   The second best method is using the slow cooker.  

There are recipes abound for ez efficient cooking of main dishes.   We explore them everyday here.  I want cheap, easy, and nutritious.   I want it all.   And, most of the time, we succeed.   LOL.  I don't have the stamina anymore to stand in front of a stove for hours.   When I did have the stamina, I had sometimes two or three jobs and a home and children to take care of.   Learning how to cook the things your family likes to eat efficiently, is a deal maker.     Picking meats /proteins that are versatile and limiting the cuts of meats simplify the shopping routine and allow you to make bulk purchases and save money and time.    

Monday kitchen. Management

Kitchen management takes an hour or so and saves a lot of time during the hectic dinner hour.   You can enjoy your dinner a whole lot more if you arent racing around the kitchen to put  food on the table.   After all, isn't that the reason why one goes out for dinner?

Reminder of meal plans:

• Chicken Parm, salad 
• Pizza
• Chicken nuggets, oven fries, salad or veggie sticks 
• Ham and Potato soup, toasted cheese, 
• Tacos, insta pot refried beans, 
• Salmon, baked.  Rice medley, broccoli 
• Breakfast for dinner :   Waffles 

• Go over the meals and note what has to be prepped.   
• Wash kitchen floor.
• Disinfect countertops, sinks, and drains. 
• Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead and pull what is on the edge or needs to be used soon.   
• Wax the north side of the cupboards 
• Make muffins 
• Thaw chicken breast , make breading 
• Wash potatoes 🥔.
• Check rice mix .
• Straighten the pantry.