Monday Kitchen Management

Kitchen management is a tool that preps dinner ingredients, does the weekly baking.and tackles the deep cleaning of the kitchen on a rotation basis.   Its an efficient way to make your kitchen always clean and have dinner on the table with little effort during the hectic dinner hour.  

• Wash the kitchen floor. 
• Clean and sanitize the sinks, counters, and sink drains. 
• Wash the inside of the refrigerator and note thing that need to be used up soon and dump anything you missed that is a science experiment.   Hopefully that won’t be much. 
• Wash veggies with vinegar water.   
• Use your meal plan as a guide to chop anything you will need during the week. 
• Make breakfast muffins.  This week I am making cheerio cereal bars .  They are better than rice crispy treats. Instead of marashmellows, they have peanut butter and honey.    Added nuts. We got chocolate cheerios for free. 
• Scrub carrots 🥕 and potatoes 🥔.  Run some carrots through the food processor, cut some for lunches, and leave some for the stew.   
• Wash an cut celery sticks. 
• Make hard cooked eggs in the oven.   350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Put in a muffin pan.   When done, dump into ice water to stop the cooking.   
• Make pizza dough and put in fridge for tonight.  

The basics, one step at a time.....

In this series, we will take one step at a time. Baby steps. Habits.   For many people making a drastic change that takes a lot of time, doesn't work because it isn't sustainable.   We eat for a small amount of money and have asmall stock for emergencies.  It didn't happen in a day; rather, it's been an ongoing mantra for fifty years.  I just kept perfecting the concept  and adjusting to fluctuating  prices and new revelations of foods that can effect your health .   Baby steps.   They all save. One year and your savings will grow.

• Write down and gather recipes if you need to for 10-14 meals your family likes to eat.  These meals should be made from low cost sources of protein.  
• In our house that would be 1) pork loin that can become chops, roast, or stew cubes; home butchered boneless, skinless, chicken breast; 7 percent hamburger, or home ground  low fat hamburger; cheese, beans, and some tuna, shrimp, or salmon. 
• Now, find two stores in your area that consistently  have the lowest prices.
•  Research the prices in your area for those sources of protein.  You are looking for the RBP ( rock bottom price ) .  In the PNW, I can get split chicken breast , locally grown, for  1.50 a pound. This turns into boneless, skinless, chicken  breast and chicken stock and loose meat. Pork loin is 149-1.69 a pound,  this turns out to be roast, chops, and stew meat. Hamburger is 3.77 a pound for 7 percent fat,   If a roast or steak is cheaper and has little fat, we will grind our own. Cheese can be purchased for 2.35 a pound or less, and sausage with coupons or at Costco in a chub is around  3.50 dollars a  pound.  I just got rope sausage for two dollars a pound, fry it and de-fat it, and freeze it. 
• Protein is probably the most expensive group of foods you buy, starting with it gives you more return on your time,   
• Next : what to go with the protein  .   Remember, baby steps,    

Meal Plans - November 13

Meal Plans are a tool that saves time and frustration.  Our form was made in excell.   There are forms tto buy out there.   We have a matrix of 1 beef, 1 fish or shellfish 3 chicken or pork, an 2 vegetarian.   This is to be balanced and make everyone happy.   LOL.

• Pork chops , cranberry/apple stuffing, green beans 

•  Pizza 

•  Tacos, (tomato, lettuce, cheese) homemade refried beans  

•  Chicken Pot Pie  

•  Lemon glazed salmon, rice medley, broccoli  

•  Pork stew, bread  

•  Breakfast for dinner 

Notes:

1.  Pork chops are cut from a whole pork loin.   (Center cut)  .  The difference is between paying 1.50 an 3.50 a pound.  Brown pork chops.  Make bread stuffing with cranberries (dried) and apple.  Put browned pork chops on top of stuffing in a baking pan an bake off until the chops 
2. are done and the stuffing is warm.  
3. Pizza from scratch.   Ez pizza dough .   Cheese is low fat and the last we paid for it was 1.82 a pound.   On sale with a basket coupon.  The cost of a cheese pizza 🍕 with 2.39 a lb cheese is 1.04 . 
4. Taco shells we paid .66 for on  sale with coupons at safeways.   We buy 10 percent ground sirloin  when its on sale in bulk and precook it and freeze in portion  controlled packages.   Just take it out an add taco seasoning in a small skillet and warm through with a little water. 
5. Chicken pot pie uses cubed cooked chicken, mixed veggies or peas and whole carrots, sliced and a batch of cream soup base.  Either a pie crust top crust or biscuit crust.  Chicken is split chicken breast that is on sale for less than 1.50 a lb.   Cut off the ribs , cook for extra meat and chicken stock, and portion control breasts and freeze. 
6. Salmon is purchased from costco.   Rice medley is a homemade mix with herbs and chicken 
7. base.   Broccoli is frozen . 
8. Pork stew if from the ends of the pork loin.  A beer bread, or peasant bread is a good thing. 
9. Breakfast for dinner is a mainstay here .  The whole family cooks .   Granddaughter is in charge of setting the table or buttering English muffins or toast.   

On first glance, this sounds lik a lot of work.   Efficient scratch cooking is key.   Buying bulk meat on sale an buying enough to get you through a month to six weeks.  Rotate using the sales as guidelines. The price is lower. The food is portion controlled so there is little waste, By limiting the costs to a few versatile cuts of meat, you simplify and can make best use of your protein Dollars.   

FM haul - charity

12 spaghetti.49.    
Candy @1.50


Butter R 3.48.     Paid 2.50
Progresso soup R 1.68.  Paid .75 w coupon
Cr/mushroom soup. R 1.25 Paid .49
Ragu pasta sauce R 2.50 paid 1.29 less 1.25 coupon for one, 1.29 for the other.


 Savings 49 percent

Fred Meyer Sunday Ad

Food for thought: When one goes to the store ,one day at a time and buys something for three dollars that can be bought for a dollar, they are throwing 2.00 out the window.  That might be two dollars that  would feed someone that doesn’t have any food.   Waste not, want not.   Your waste might be someone elses need.   Just a thought.....

• Turkey .47 a lb:   With 50.00 purchase and one per customer/  
• Broccolli .99
• 5 lbs satsumas 4.99
• Butter 2/5 
• Ground sirloin , 10 percent 3.77
• Brats 2.99
• Sausag 3.00
• Sour cream 4/5  u dont have to buy 4
• Grapes 1.99
• Berries 2/5 
• Sweet potatoes .99
• Celery .99

Bullets: 5 go to dinners

Having a small stock and a plan is especially helpful when you have a bleep storm day and the question of what’s for dinner doesn’t rare its ugly head until 5 o’clock.   LOL.
Planning one or two pantry dinners can save you from the take out demons.  

• Spaghetti and meatballs. Buy pasta when you find it on sale and have coupons. I even found Ready pasta for .70 using a coupon .   You can make meatballs using a portion scoop and baking them o a baking rack over a sheet pan or you can buy them cheaper than the cost of the meat.   Either way, spaghetti and meatballs is a quick dinner.  I have found pasta sauce as low as .04 lately using a coupon.  
• Chicken parm.    The speedy chicken parm is spaghetti, Foster Farms breaded chicken patties , and pasta sauce.  Add parmesan to the top.   Another 15 minute meal . 
• Tacos:   By batch cooking your ground meat and freezing it, you have a head start on tacos.  Taco shells, bring out the frozen portion controlled meat, place it in a small skillet an add taco seasoning and a little water.   While its cooking, chop lettuce, tomato,and pull the grated cheese out of the fridge. 
• Toasted cheese, or cheese and ham, and tomato soup.   We buy roasted red pepper and tomato soup in a box from costco and add a little milk, blue cheese, and basil. 
• Meat ball subs.   Having brown and serve rolls on hand is the key here.   Add a salad.   Buy bbq sauce on sale with coupons during the summer holidays.   It will be its lowest price.  
• Impossible chicken pie.  Chicken can be cooked from frozen in the insta pot.  

Make it your own.

Tortilla soup

I found a tortilla soup recipe on facebook yesterday.    Having family members that are pricky eaters, I adapted it to satisfy all.  


1 T minced garlic
2 T olive oil
1 can corn, drained
1 can diced tomatoes, not drained.
3 cups cooked black beans
6 cups vegetable stock

1 large chicken breast, cooked and shredded.

Avacado , jack cheese, tortilla chips

• Cook the chicken in the insta pot.  ( 2 cups water, chicken on rack, 8-12 minutes depending o size from frozen.   Check for doneness. Shred chicken 
• Cook the beans in insta pot.   Wash and pick beans, place in pot, cover with water up to your second knuckle. Set the lid and gauge.  Push the bean button.   When de pressurized, dozen an drain beans. 
• In stock pot. Cook garlic in olive oil a few seconds.   Add corn,  tomatoes, beans and stock.   Bring to a boil and simmer for an hour on low heat.  

To eat: 

Place shredded chicken in bottom of bowl.  Add soup, top with with tortillas, cheese and avocado.  

Chain store ads

QFC is the same as last week.   Honestly, FM (also Kroger ) is better in some ways.   Also note that veterans get 10 percent off on friday at safeways.

Satsumas 5 lbs 4.99
Grapes 1.49

Buy 10, save 5
Milk .99
Water , sparkling. 1.99
Land of Lakes butter 2.49
Cake mix .79
Kleenex 160ct .99
Coffee 5.99
Diced tomatoes .49
Kroger cresent rolls .99
BBQ sauce .79

*****
Berries 2/5
Apples 1.99
Pineapple 2/5

Note over charged :
Ground turkey 4.49
Pork chops 3.99

Alberways 

Free turkey with purchase of 100 dollars

Milk 1.77
10 lbs potatoes .97
Ham 1.39
Apples .99
Cranberries 2/5

5 dollar Friday
Sausage links 2/5
Avacados 5/5
Strawberries 2/5
Cranberry sauce 4/5

NOTE overcharged
Dinner brea 2.99.   The cost of a large loaf of bread is .30

Waste not, want not.

I recently saw a u tube post where a mother of seven fed their family for a month with what they had in the house.  Now, its true that they had a very large productive garden and a 1/2 a cow in the freezer, but still, I think that was remarkable.  

Yesterday, I made blueberry muffins.   I used blueberries that needed to be used up and some sour cream that was about next to its pull date.   Having recipes that are economical and use the last of things in the fridge are a good way to  s-t-r-e-t-c-h your food budget.  

These recipes are from Taste of Home and probably can be googled.   I cant post them here legally.  There are cookbook programs that are free on the Internet that allow you to plug in an ingredient and will provide recipes that use a specific ingredient.   Betty Crocker is one.  

• Strawberry watermelon slush.
• Dandelion salad 
• Taco avocado wraps.( vegetarian ) 
• Creamy carrot and tomato soup 
• Apple chicken quesadilla 
• Fried rice 
• Apple slaw burgers 
• Creole corn bread ( uses leftover rice ) 
• Apple and banana bread -uses over ripe bananas and chopped apple 
• Lemon blueberry muffins.  (Uses lemon peel , not necessary for the muffins if you dont have any) 
• Smoothies 
• Vanilla french toast 
• 
  
•  

Kitchen Management

Kitchen management along with meal plans take little time and afford you the piece of mind that dinner is under control and your kitchen is being deep cleaned as you go.   A long time ago, I went to management school for work.   When it came to time management, one of the concepts for tackling a big project was called the Swiss cheese treatment.   Basically, write down the steps you need to accomplish the task, and proceed to poke holes in it until you have seen your project to finish.   Sometimes a task is hard to even start if it seems so overwhelming.  

• Wash kitchen floor 
• Clean refrigerator and dump anything with hair prettier than yours, and note things that need to be used up .
• Clean and disinfect the counters, sinks, and drains. 
• Wash the stove and clean any dirty drip trays.
• Make taco cassarole from rice and beans that need to be used up. 
• Make meal plan for the day chicken needs to be thawed. 
• Make muffins 

Coupons worth the time?

Dinner for Four.  .92 cents total.   

Sausage FREE

Green beans w coupon .39

Pasta .49

Pasta sauce 1.29 less 1.25 coupon nets .04 

Meal Plans

Meal plans take but a few minutes and make meals easier to happen during the hectic dinner hour.

I generally use a matrix of : 1 beef, 1 fish or seafood, 3 chicken or pork and 2 non meat.

• Potato and cheese soup, beer bread 
• Pizza 
• Curried squash and sausage (free sausage ) save some for pizza 
• Chicken nuggets (homemade) oven fries, veggie sticks 
• Salmon, rice, broccolli 
• Taco cassarole w lettuce, tomato, sour cream 
• Breakfast for dinner. 

By alternating some really inexpensive meals with some more expensive ones, you ave variety and dont feel deprived.   You can still maintain a five dollar dinner budget.    Pizza 🍕 with cheese cost 1.04 .  Ours is a little cheaper because we got cheese on sale with the added bonus of a basket coupon.   

The squash is still over a dollar, but our sausage was free. 

Homemade chicken nuggets from 1.49 a lb chicken breast.  Fries are cut from potatoes purchased at winco.   (The cheapest price ) . 

Salmon is a more expensive meal.   Balance with rice that is cheap and a frozen bag of broccolli. 

Taco cassarole is rice (cook once, eat twice ) , beans, taco meat from already cooked ground meat, cheese , and tomato.   

Breakfast for dinner is always a good choice.   Eggs were .79 a lb.  berries are 2/3 at FM.   Add hash browns, toast ( orowheat bread is .45 with a coupon at DT.) 

Fred Meyer buy 10, save 5

buy xx, save, xx 😘 sales can be a useful tool to get the RBP on things you will use.  This time it coincides with upcoming holidays.   Its time as well to look for baking items .  They will be the lowest prices of the year.  

2 - 5.5 ounce pepperoni @ 2.99 less 1.00 coupon nets.   4.98 or 2.49 

1 hillshire farms smoked sausage 2.49

4 cream of mushroom soups (reg 1.29). .49 less .40/4 coupon.   Nets .39 each or a ninety cent or can discount. 

2 ragu pasta sauce.  1.29 ea less 1.25 coupon makes one almost free.  Nets 1.33 for TWO....67         

1 spaghetti .49 

Del monte veggies 2/1 less .40 coupon on four makes them .40.   Just in time for green bean casserole. 

Fred Meyer ad for Sunday

Sunday’s ad

BlackBerry, blueberry , raspberries 2/3
Avacados .88
Del monte veggies. 2/1

Grapes 1.99


Buy 10, save 5
Mix and match

Milk .99

Land of lakes butter 2.49

Cream of mushroom soup ,49 ck for coupons stock for holidays

Smoked sausage 2.49

Pepperoni 2.99$$

Ragu 1.29

Chilli, progresso soup .99$$

Pasta .49

Best haul ever

qfc

Ready rice
1 lb Jimmy dean sausage
Chocolate cheerios
Loaf of white bread

Total cost 1.25

Total retail 11.93   About 90 percent off.  

Burrito bowls

Simple meal that is easy to prepare.  

Taco meat
Beans
Rice
Green chilies
Salsa
Sliced black olives

Gather ingredients and let everyone make their own.  

Notes :

• Taco meat is made from cooked ground meat or cooked chicken that has been warmed with taco seasoning.   We cook ground meat in bulk and de-fat it.   
• Beans can be precooked or use canned 
• Rice is cooked with tomato boullion.  
• Green chillis are cheapest at winco.   Salsa and black olives are purchased.  
• You can serve with chopped lettuce, tomato, sour cream, avacados, for garnish.   Your choice. 

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.....