Bullets : 5 ways to spend less on groceries....

...and still eat well balanced meals.

• Spread the wealth:   Shop at two chain stores a week and buy the sale items that you can make meals from.   Put on blinders and stick to basics.   
• Waste not, want not....find ways to use up things in the fridge and leftovers before they develop hair prettier than yours.   Google an ingredient in a recipe finder ap that you need to use to get ideas. 
• Use every trick that is available to you to get better prices on the things you use on a regular basis.   Ibotta, coupons, sales that are really sales, bulk items when that makes sense.  
• Stock the key items you use for scratch cooking.   Buy them in bulk when they ar at their lowest price (RBP) .   Things like catsup, mustard, bbq sauce are cheapest and have the most generous coupons near picnic holiday times:   Memorial Day to Labor Day.  
• Plan.    Make a plan or plan to fail.   Make meal plans and plan your grocery trip if you are really short on money or you have a basket coupon.   At bare minimum, use the ads to determine what your rotation protein should be and check the fridge for your stock of dairy and produce.   Check pantry for any shelf stable staple that is on sale for need.   

Note:  rotation protein is a tool to buy bulk protein on a rotation basis when it is a so called loss leader.   Stick to a few basic cuts of meat and buy bulk when they are on sale.  If you rotate at a four to six week interval, you will have variety and pay the lowest possible price for your protein.  Protein is the most expensive element of a balanced diet.   When a protein is at a RBP, by enough to last you four to six weeks of meals.  In other words, if you eat hamburger twice a week, buy enough to fix eight meals and break bulk packaging into eight meal sized portions.   I cook and d-fat ground meat before freezing.  Its a real time saver.   Besides ground meat, I buy chicken breast, and pork loin .  Choose versitle cuts of meat to afford variety in your meals.   

QFC last basket coupon. 10.00 off 40.

I spent 40.08

Also included is 4 packs of flavored sparkling water. 

Kleenex .99 nets .74

Diced tomatoes .49 nets .37

Top ramen .29 nets .22

Cake mixes , BC .79 nets .40

Land of lakes butter 2.49 nets 1.87

Folders coffee .6.00 nets 4.50

Eggs ..78 nets .58

Sparkling water drinks 2.00 nets 1.50

Peanut butter 1.99 nets 1.49

Bread 1.25 nets .94

Coffee, paper products  and sparkling water are not part of the grocery budget net is 18.00 off 

Net is 12.08.

Chain store ads.

QFC:  buy 10 save 5.    This only works if the price are a RBP.   Our qfc also has a 10.00 off of 40.00 basket coupon.   That takes another 25 percent off if you stick to the 40.00.

Eggs .78
Draper valley chicken whole .79


Buy 10, save 5

Folgers 5.99
Diced tomatoes .49
Campbells soups -chicken, cream of mushroom .75 - use coupons
BC cake mixes .79
160 ct Kleenex .99
Butter 2.49
Sparkling water 1.99

Peanut butter 1.99
Bread 1.25


Alberways

Satsumas 2.77 limit 2
Chicken thighs or quarter .77
Cheese 2 lbs 4.97 limit 2
Bacon 2.99@@

Salad .99
Coffee 8.49.  NOTE difference in price from qfc.   An example of why you shop 2 stores.
Pork loin 1.99 -  the top of the RBP
Hamburger -7 percent fat......3.99

Barilla pasta .99@@
Cream cheese 1.29@@

Note @@ means that there is an in ad coupon for the item.  

Happy Halloween : Insta Pot chili

Halloween brings back memories of chilli on the stove  when we got home from school.   There wasn't microwaves or insta pots those days.   There was a deep well cooker on the stove.

Insta Pot Chili

1.5 cups dry pinto beans
Water

2 T olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped bell pepper
2 T garlic

1.5 lbs ground meat, cooked

5T taco seasoning
2T cocoa powder ( not hot cocoa mix )
Salt, pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne

4 cups beef broth
2 cups crushed tomatoes ( diced tomatoes can be zapped in the blender.


Rinse and drain the beans.   Place in insta pot with enough water to be 1 inch over the beans.   Process 5 minutes.  Use a natural release.

Drain beans.

Switch to sauté mode.   Sauté vegetables in olive oil.   Add seasonings.

Switch sauté mode off.  Add drained beans, cooked meat, broth and tomatoes.   Process on manual setting 20 minutes.   Allow for a natural release.

Serve with cheese, tortilla chips, avacado, sour cream.....

Kitchen Management - October 30th 2017

Kitchen management is a tool that saves time and energy with dinners in mind.   Meal prep in advance and a rotation of deep cleaning chores help keep you on top of things.

• Turn on snappy music....you work faster.LOL. 
• Disinfect counter tops, sinks, and drains. 
• Wash kitchen floor. 
• Clean out refrigerator and note things to be incorporated into meals.  
• Wash veggies you are going to use this week with vinegar and a dedicated brush if appropriate. 
• Precook anything that can be precooked.   Cook rotation meat if appropriate.
• Wash the stove and put the filter through the dishwasher.   (1st of the month) 
• Straighten the pantry.   
• Bake something.   
• 
  
• 
  

Fred Meyer Haul

Fred Meyer and the buy 10, save 5

This only works if the end cost is at or lower than your RBP.

Swiss Miss cocoa packets 1.00

2 avacadoes at .88. (Chicken Burrito Bowls )

2 spaghetti ( charity) .50

1 mission low carb tortillas

Grapes

Kleenex - 160 ct tissue .99

Bag cranberries 3.00

Butter 3.00

Parmesean cheese 3.59

Meal plans

Meal plans take a couple of mnutes , but make life a whole lot easier.  Its the answer to “What’s for Dinner and goes a long way towards making your meals for efficient.  It aids in the concept of using everything up out of the fridge and avoiding waste.

• Sloppy Joes, oven fries, veggie platter 
• Chilli ....traditional Halloween fare.  
• Chicken stir fry 
• Salmon cakes, rice, broccolli (make rice once, eat twice) 
• Chicken burrito bowls 
• Pork Pot Pie.  Fruit salad 
• Breakfast for Dinner 

Notes : 

1. We have buns to use up.   
2. Chili  is easily made in the insta pot, or its on sale at Alberways this week.  Its a traditional Halloween fare.   Warm the children’s tummy before they go out in the cold. LOL 
3. Chicken stir fry and the burrito bowls are stair step menus.  Cook once, eat twice. Ditto the rice. 
4. Breakfast for dinner is a mainstay here.  Its a family affair and everyone does something. Granddaughter a few years ago got the job of buttering the bread.   She got half way through and announced, “I cant believe I get to do this!”

Stair stepping ingredients is another way to save time in the kitchen.   

Spending more time planning and shopping, and less time cooking scratch is to your benefit. 

You don't get paid to cook, but spending some planning and research on the shopping end can save a lot of money.   It can very well cut your food bill in half or more without sacrificing good nutrition.  

My aim is for balanced meals: protein, starch, fruit or veggies and avoiding too much salt, sugar, trans fats, hydrogenated oils, and HFCS.  

 

Fred Meyer Sunday ad

Halloween sale :   3 days = doesn’t say what days....assuming SMT

Apple juice .99
Hebrew National Hot dogs. 2.99
Ground turkey 2/5

Foster Farms boneless chicken breasts 1.97
Avocados .88

Yogurt : tillamook or yoplait 10/5 **

Buy 10, save 5
Net costs
Land of lakes butter 2.99
Chilli or progresso soup .99 $$
Milk .99
Campbells cr/mushroom or chicken noodle .75**
Cocoa mix .99
Sparkling cider 1.99
Tide 5.49
Kleenex tissue  -160 count .99


Canned corn or green beans 2/1 -RBP
Peanut butter 1.49
 Strawberries blackberries 2/5


** soup usually has a coupon
** yoplait is a better price because there are coupons for a dime off each carton.

I got canned veggies for .39 , but that was with a basket coupon.  My RBP is 50 cents for diced tomatoes, beans, and veggies.  

Bullets: soups in the insta pot

It was dark at 7:30 this morning....time for hot hearty soups and a chunk of bread for dinner . These soups can be made in the insta pot in minutes, or can be made in a slow cooker early in the day and make the house smell divine all day.   

• Ham and bean soup 
• Vegetable bean soup with or without sausage 
• Potato soup/ potato cheese soup, clam chowder
• Pumpkin or butternut squash soup 
• Chilli 
• Lentil stew 
• Minestrone

Recipes on request 

Basket coupon qfc and costco haul

So here goes....I was .04 over!

Treat bags .30
Ice cream 2.77
Beef patties 7.99X2
Sargento cheese 3.50X2 less 1.00 coupon
Dishwashing tabs 5.00
Paper towels 5.00
Chicken dunking lunchable 1.00
Pumpkin pie 3.99

Net 30.04


Costco

Bananas 1.39
Bacon 16.99
Blue cheese 7.63
Parm 10.49

Planning for a basket coupon

Making the best use of a basket coupon means you need to keep your basket total to as close as you can to the amount of the coupon’s basket dollars.   In other words , if the coupon is for 10.00 off of a forty dollar basket, you are going to get 25 percent off if you stick to forty dollars worth of merchandise.   It is also helpful if you only buy the things that are on a real sale and use coupons if you can.   I have got as much as 78 percent off using basket coupon, regular coupons and sale prices. It pays to plan.   We have more time than we do money.   We are retired.  If you dont have time, enlist help.   Children at early ages are computer savy.   A pre teen can click take items on a coupon web site for the things that they know you buy on a regular basis.  

QFC master plan 10 dollars off of forty

• 1 lunchable 1.00
• 2 pkg. hamburgers 7.99
• 1 pkg bounty paper towels 2/10
• 1 pkg cascade dishwashing detergent 
• 1 pumpkin pie 3.99
• 2 sargento sliced cheese 2/7 -use coupon 
• 1 Tillamook   ice cream 2.77 

40.74 less .55 coupon is 40.19

Chain store ads

Alberways

Fresh whole chicken .77 ( Mystery brand name)
Gala apples, or Bartlett pears .67
Top or bottom round roast 2.77 ***
Nalley’s chilli .88@@

Coleslaw and garden salad .99
Cucumbers .69

Friday only
Avocados 5/5
Foster farms breaded chicken 5.00


QFC
Honeycrisp apples 1.49
Tillamook ice cream 2.77
Avocados 2/3

** at 2.77 for roast, it would be a good time to grind your own hamburger.   Less price, low fat because you control the fat.  

Lists .. for emergencies.

My goal for Groceries on the Cheap is to maintain a small stock of the basic foods we iuse to cook .
By shopping your pantry instead of going to the store an buying 1 weeks worth of garoceries you can cut your food bill because you are never paying full price for your food.   Top dollar was my mother’s buzz word.   The trick is to assess what you use on a regular basis, design meal plans to work with a minimum of proteins, and decide how far out you can buy food.   Usually four to six weeks will afford you the luxury of finding another sale.   Buying too much that can go stale dated is not in your best interest.  

One key to make life easy is to make an informed decision on a limited variety of meat.   We stick to chicken breast, hamburger , pork loin and sausage.   I can get all of these.except good hamburger, for 2.00 or less a pound.   All of these are versitle cuts of meat.   The internet and Pinterest are full of recipes.  This affords enough variety of meals so we don’t get bored.  

I’m not going to pretend that this doesn’t take work to get set up.  Once you have set yourself up, itnactually takes less time than trying to remember if you have all the ingredients to make something for dinner.    Stick to basics.  

We are going to have a harsh winter, according to the weather people.   Its a good time to stock because stocking reduces the stress of having to embrace the weather to go out shopping.   Stocking assures you the luxury of never being out of food.  

Things to stock in case of emergency.  

• Dry milk:  you can get dry milk that has fat in it.   It’s a lot better tasting than the non fat version that we had as children.  It is more expensive than regular milk, but it is a good thing in a pinch.   There are also shelf stable milks these days.  I don't drink them, but my daughter does.
• Yeast:   Storage in freezer prolongs its life.   It is a staple here, so we use it up.   There are recipes for easy breads.   The most economical way to buy it is in a bulk block at Costco. —like three dollars or so.   
• Flour:   Another staple here, we buy it in the 25 lb bag.   
• Eggs.   A few dehydrated eggs are a good thing. 
• Water - especially if you rely on a well for your water.   

With those shelf stable ingredients, and canned goods you can survive without going to the store for some time and still maintain a regular diet.   

Bleep storms happen to everybody sometimes.   We have had emergency surgeries, the snow plow dump the snow in front of our driveway that turned to a big ice mound, any number of things can happen.   Having basic ingredients that are usually purchased fresh goes a long way to reducing your stress.   We have power outages here because of storms and trees.  We keep logs and a power box charged and oil lamps and battery powered candles.   

Cutting your food bill in half or less affords you the opportunity even on a small budget to prepare for emergencies—small or large.   

No spend October meals

1. Hamburgers, french fries, salad 
2. Soup, beer bread
3. Pizza 
4. Hamburgers, oven fries, salad 
5. Stuffed baked potato bar. 
6. Tuna casserole, peas and carrots, apple dump cake 
7. Hamburgers, french fries, veggie sticks 
8. Pumpkin pancakes, turkey bacon, fruit 
9. Sausage and cheese quiche, broccoli
10. Potato soup with bacon , rolls 
11. Night out 
12. Pizza
13. Spaghetti with meatballs  
14. Fish and chips 
15. Egg mc muffins, strawberries 
16. Soup, bread
17. Sausage patties, hash browns, fruit 
18. Pot roast soup 
19. Sausage., eggs, fruit 
20. Salmon, rice medley, broccolli, blackberries
21. Potato cheese soup, peasant breads
22. Quiche, fruit cup 
23. Chicken and noodles 
24. Pizza
25. Tacos
26. Pizza
27. 
    

Monday Kitchen Managemenat

Kitchen Management is a tool you can use to save time and some of the stress of dinner time and rotation  chores for deep cleaning.

Review of meal plans:

1. Pork stew, w potatoes and carrots, bread 
2. Pizza
3. Chicken and noodles, carrots and peas r
4. Enfrijoladas 
5. Chicken parm 
6. Salmon cakes, rice medley, broccoli 
7. Breakfast for dinner 

• Wash and disinfect kitchen counters and sinks and drains. 
• Wash kitchen floor. 
• Wax east side cabinets. 
• Clean drip pans 
• Clean out fridge and incorporate anything that needs to be eaten soon in your meals. 
• Wash potatoes and carrots.  
• Make refried beans if necessary . 
• Check mixes and make any that are low. 
• Bake hard cooked eggs with the remainder of the last batch of eggs. Place an egg in each muffin cup of a muffin pan , bake at 350 for 30 minutes.   Immediately , dumps eggs into a bowl of ice water.   
• Bulk cook any rotating meat if necessary.  Ours is sausage that needs to be fried and de-fatted.   
• Wash fruit .   
• Precook dinner if appropriate.   

Mini Hauls

Yesterday we went to Winco  and Dollar Tree.    At Dollar Tree i purchased a lined , white board that had the capital and lower case letters on it.  It is so granddaughter can practice her letters.

I also got :
4 cans pumpkin
1 package chocolate covered graham crackers
(Because everyone needs chocolate!)
1 package pepperoni -didnt have a coupon.

At winco we just bought a bag of potatoes.

Planning to get blackberries and eggs at Fred Meyers.

Meal Plans

A note on perspective —we have a ton of carrots to use up because we had a vegetable try last week . Some meals didnt happen last week, we had alternatives so they are reappearing on the meal plan.   Pizza and breakfast for dinner are staples in this house.  

1. Pork stew , with carrots, potatoes, celery.   Bread 
2. Pizza
3. Chicken and noodles in the insta pot.  Add carrots and peas 
4. Enfrijoladas. Greens, tomatoes, salsa,sour cream
5. Chicken parm, speghetti, greens, bread
6. Salmon patties, rice medley, broccolli 
7. Breakfast 4 dinner. 

Notes: 

1. pork stew meat comes from the end of a pork loin.  Pork loin is 2.00 this week.   A little higher than I like to pay, I have some in the freezer that I got for 1.79.  Using up carrots.   
2. Pizza costs 1.04....a little cheaper now that we got cheese for 2.05 a lb.   
3. trying chicken and noodles in the insta pot—four minutes.   
4. Enfrijoladas are a new to me Tex mex dish from Betty Crocker.  
5. Chicken parm is a good go to when you dont have a lot of time.   Pasta was purchased on sale for .72 and sauce for .59.   
6. Salmon patties from canned salmon from costco bought on sale for 3.00 off a ‘case” .  Aka stack.  
7. Breakfast for dinner.  Eggs are .78 at FM (kroger) .   

Getting virtually everything on sale at as close to 1/2 price as I can and limiting the diversity of products is how I feed us on about 40 percent of the USDA stats for “poor” people.   They call it thrifty.   We eat well.  We eat balanced.  There is always fresh fruit in the house of some kind.  This week it’s will probably be bananas, apples, blackberries, blueberries, and grapes.   I make our own bread sometimes.   I also have been getting orowheat bread , double fiber, for a dollar at the DT.   

I limit my meat purchases to split chicken breast (foster farms). Whole pork loin that I butcher myself, and extra lean (7-10 percent ) ground sirloin and we eat meatless about 2 times a week.   

Fred Meyer Sunday ad

Ground sirloin (10%) fat 3.77

Apples 1.49

Eggs .79

Blackberries .99

Sour cream 2/4

Red Barron 2.88. $$

Hebrew National hot dogs 3.49

Pumpkin pie 3.99

Half Pork Loi. 1.99 (top of my target list price )



My vote for the best place to shop this week would be Alberways .   Safeways has a just for you basket coupon for 5 off of 25.  If you stay close to 25, thats 20 percent.

They have diced tomatoes , greenbeans and corn for .49. Which with a basket coupon.makes them .39.   A good time to stock up for the winter.   Diced tomatoes are the most versatile of the tomato products and I saw BPA free cans at Safeways.

Don’t underestimate the close out bin at qfc.   I got pasta sauce for .79.   Our QFC had a 25 percent basket coupon that made it .59.   Add sale Barilla pasta, some parm cheese, and a can of green beans and a loaf of peasant bread and you have a meal for four at a cost of 2.30. TOTAL. Not per plate.
You can still use coupons on the closeout baskets.   One time I got low sodium beans for free.

Using every available means of discounting food is a way to cut your grocery bill dramatically.  We are averaging less than 55.00 a week for the first three quarters of the year/.  Last year it was 72.00.   Since then, I bought a  insta pot and that allowed me to scratch cook rice and beans and make scratch cooking easier.   I spend an hour to an hour and a half on Mondays doing kitchen management . But, I rarely spend more than twenty minutes at dinner time making dinner.  The  55.00 includes maintaining a small stock.

Peasant Bread

3 cups flour
1-3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp yeast
1-1/2 cups warm water. 105-110 degrees

Mix ingredients.  Cover.   Let rest on counter 12-24 hours

Turn onto floured counter.  Fold on itself to shape into a round or loaf

Heat oven safe Dutch oven in 450 degree oven until oven comes up to temp.

With very good oven mitts, remove lid from pan in oven .  Place bread dough in pan.  Cover an bake covered for 30 minutes.   Again, with very good oven mitt, remove lid and cook an additional 10-20 minutes or until bread is 200 degrees.

Extremely easy recipe.  The hardest part is to be every careful and use proper oven mitts so you don’t burn yourself.   Always have a designated safe place to set hot pans.   It’s helps to make a sling out of parchment paper to drop the dough into the pan,

What to do with what you got.

Leftovers in refrigerator

Part of a veggie tray:

Broccolli

Baby carrots 

Grape tomatoes 

Celery sticks 

Some grapes 

Strawberries 🍓 looking a little old. 

Lettuce, designer and regular 

Cucumbers 

Cooked turkey bacon 

Cooked sausage including patties 

Refried beans 

1. Sausage and potatoe stew with carrots 
2. Penne with chicken and broccolin. Uses the broccoli in the veggie tray  
3. Salad , with cucumbers, tomato
4. Dry strawberries 
5. Pizza with grape tomatoes, sausage
6. Taco pie uses the leftover refried beans 
7. Bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches