Winco Haul....Hey, its Christmas !

So much to say. Christmas entertaining is not part of our regular grocery budget.  Its a time where we splurge on things that we don’t normally buy.  


4 boxes tissue at .98
Salmon cakes 2.88
Steak fries 1.68
Barilla pasta .98

Mushrooms 2.86
Cresent rolls 2.56
Celery 1.58
Spinach 1.78
Naval orange .80
Poppers 6.98
Pie crust 2.38
Ham 2.62

Cake mix .88
Cranberries 1.98
Swiss cheese 3.22
Lemon lime soda .48

Total 39.44

Ez dinner rolls

On my hunt for ez dinner rolls.  The first few recipes I found convinced me that my MIL was an angel making them for us numerous times through the years.  

1 cup plus 2T warm water
1/3 cup oil
2 Tbls yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
3.5 cups flour

Heat oven to 400 degrees

In stand mixer, place water, oil, yeast, and sugar.  Let rest 15 minutes
Mix 2 cups of the flour , salt and egg into the wet mixture with the dough hook.
Add remaining flour until dough is no longer sticky .

Remove dough from mixer bowl and shape into balls.  Place in 9x13 pad and let rise 10 minutes.

Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes until the tops of the rolls are brown.  

Thursday : Notes

Sometimes, you just have to do what you gotta do.   We have granddaughter for the week because of winter vacation and Costco is a zoo.   We needed a few things and there was no way I was going to drive around for half an hour looking for a parking place and battling the crowds to get the four things we always buy in bulk   So, I dodged the bullet and ordered on line for the first time.  I was pleasantly surprised .   The food prices were close to the price of instore, there was no shipping g charge, and we got our food in 40 minutes. I ordered bacon, oatmeal, and soap....dishwasher tablets, and soft soap.  

Then we went to QFC and I made up any extra I paid with three dollars worth of coupons.  
That made darigold butter 1.50 and meatballs about 2.00 a pound.  I cant make good meatballs for two dollars a pound.   This was an experiment.   The expensive meatballs are bigger and I think ar more dense than the Armor ones that are about 2.00 a lb normally at Winco.   Both taste fine.   I used the new ones for a meatball sub for dinner.   We split and hollowed out a small baguette, I brushed it with olive oil on both sides and toasted it in the oven for a few minutes.   I heated the meatballs with some bbq sauce in the microwave for four minutes.  Then I filled the hollowed out side of the bread with the meatballs and sauce and topped it with mozzarella.   I put both sides of the bread in. The oven and heated it until the cheese had melted.   The bread was not soggy.   I might put some cheese in the bottom of the bread if I did it again.   I also would make my own baguette, but this time w made cookies and shopped and granddaughter and I had popcorn and snuggled and watched the Lorax.   Like I said, sometimes you just have to do what you gotta do.

Overall, we did’nt break the budget too much and spoiling granddaughter is a right of grandmothers.   Right?  LOL

We met  people at the grocery store.  One of which I shared my extra butter coupon with.  Random acts of kindness don’t have to cost anything, and especially in this political climate, they go a long way to make things better.   I first encounterd a coupon angel one day back when all three kids were home.   A lady stopped me in Albertons at James village.   As usual, my cart was getting full.   She had a coupon for FREE milk if you spent like 50.00.  She said she wasnt going to spend that much but at the looks of my cart, I probably was and gave me the coupon.   It made my day.

One day I was shopping at winco.  I ran across a gentlemen that I could tell was adding up the few things in his cart to see how much he had amassed.   He was buying Progresso soups.   I asked him how many he had.  He said “two”.   I had a coupon for buy three, save......it made the third one free.
I handed him the coupon.   He said thank you and we went on our separate ways.   He ran into us in another part of the store.  He thanked me again.   I got the impression that we had just given him another meal.   Little acts of kindness don't have to cost money, but can really make someone’s day.

QFC haul.

We are still under 55.00 a week this year.  

QFC Haul

Apples , Fuji. 4.11
French baguette 1.99
Meatballs 4.99 less coupon. 3.99 - almost 2 lb.
butter (2) 1.50 ea
Blueberries 2/5


43 percent savings.  
Meal plans are meant to be broken.   We have our grandchild home from school this week and we have been baking christmas cookies all week.  Super no brainer dinner was in order when I got meatballs as cheap as I did.  I cant buy the meat for two dollars a pound.   So we had meatball subs and french fries that were air fried.  

Why it makes sense to do rotation protein .

We all know by now that buying a meat (protein) on sale is a good thing to do.  Buying a bulk quantity of that meat is a better thing.   Buying enough for the family to eat that particular meat for a predisposed amount of meals saves a lot of money when you purchase enough to cover you for four to six weeks.  

Case in point:   Pork loin was .99 a lb this week at our Kroger.   (QFC and Fred Meyers) .  Normally, you could easily spend 2.00 a pound.   I bought two 1/2 loins for a total of 8.5 pounds.   I cut pork chops from most of it. (20) or enough for 10 of our dinners.   I also ground the scraps to provide 1.1/4 pounds of ground pork that was a bit more fatty.  The upshot of that was enough for a stirfry.   Bottom line, I got 11 dinners and enough ground pork to add fat back into two meals of meatballs or meatloaf from 5 percent fat hamburger.   11 meals divided by 8.50 is .77 a meal or 1.54 for 4 people.  Buying pork chops at 3.50 a lb would cost 29.75– twenty dollars more.   They are both from the same cut of meat.  

Boneless skinless chicken breast is as much as 8.00 a lb at the deli and you dont know where it came from.    Breasts can be as low as 1.77 a lb and you can buy local chickens.   The last split chicken breast I purchased was about 1.50 a lb.  It takes a little work, but you get chicken broth and some more small pieces of chicken for soup, or enchaladas , tacos, or casseroles.   Debone the rib portion and cook it in the slow cooker overnight.  Add scraps of veggies—celery, carrot, onion.....pull the meat off the bones and freeze .  Freeze the chicken stock unless you ar going to eat it soon.
The difference between buying a couple of breasts at a everyday low price of 3.49 and paying 1.77 is 1.72 a lb. times 10 pounds is 17.20.   For a family of four, that is ten dinners for 17.70 or 1.77 a meal.  


Hamburger:   The lowest fat is the best quality.   Our price for 10 percent fat hamburger is about four dollars a pound.   I just bought sirloin roasts for 2.40 a pound at safeways with a basket coupon .   By grinding it myself in the food processer, I spent about 1 minute per batch using the pulse button and saved 1.60 a pound.   Ten pounds makes at least ten meals, sometimes more for soup or tacos, or less for meatloaf or hamburgers.   That is 2.40 cents a meal instead of 4.00. Or 16.00 savings.  

Consider 2 meals a week for 5 weeks, your total protein would be 50.40 or 1.68 a meal.   That leaves you 5 meals to fill in with perhaps a vegetarian meal of breakfast for dinner or pizza or mac and cheese.  

Snap guidelines, I just read, are 1.40 per meal, or 5.60 a meal for 4 people.   My meals are based on:  four people, one meal, five bucks.   1.68 leaves you 3.32 for a starch and a vegetable.   Bulk rice is .03 a serving, and vegetable should be less than a dollar a pound.  

Chain store ads

Alberways :

Beef ribeye in a bag.   Use coupon....3.98 lb
Shank ham .99
Spiral ham 1.29
Asparagus 1.88

Butter 1.88@@@
Bacon 12 ounces 2/5@@@]

Turkey .79

Dejiorno pizza 4.99$$

Pillsbury pie crusts and cookie dough 2/5 $$

Cresents and cinnamon rolls 3/6 $$

Note : @@ means that you need to have an in ad coupon
$$ means that there is a coupon out there.  The pillsbury things are both in the coupon inserts and o coupons.com

QFC this ad is between Dec 13 and Dec 24.

Butter 2/5 :Note coupons.com has a dollar off coupo and you can print 2 per computer.  

Tillamook cheese 4.99 limit 2

Blueberries 2/5

Cooked to perfection meatballs 18-26 ounces 4.99- look for coupons

Green beans -fresh. 1.29
turkey breast -frozen ready to cook 7.99
Ritz crackers $$ 2/4
Cream cheese 2/4

Note: it is always a good thing to avoid shopping for holiday food at the last minute.   The pries almost always go up.   The weeks leading up to the holiday have better prices and you can avoid that holiday budget crunch.  

Tuesday Bullets

I just read an article in our local newspaper that said buying organic adds a third more to your grocery  bill.  My experience has been that the food spoils faster than regular food.  No food is going to do your family well if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.   

Ways to save money 💰 on your food. 

• Buy in bulk when it makes sense.   Buying cranberry sauce in bulk when you only eat it at holiday time, would not be a good idea.   Buying a 25 lb bag of rice or flour might be a better Alternative.  Rice is on the does not spoil list and if you make your own mixes and bake your own bread, bulk flour is a good way to go.   We eat oatmeal every day.  Buying it in ten pound boxes makes sense.  Anything you will use up in a three mont period is a good benchmark for the common sense flag. 
• Lower your consumption of protein.   We eat too muck protein in this country.   It has been linked to health issues .  Check the RDA on protein for your family.   No one needs to eat the better part of a two pound roast in one sitting.   I had a lady inform me her husband did because he was a bodybuilder.   Most of us don’t have bodybuilders for roommates.  LOL 
• Avoiding junk food is not a bad idea.  One half of the average shopping cart is drinks and snack foods.   Not letting that happen will greatly reduce your food bill and probably a few waistlines too. 
• Planning a non meat dinner or two a week is a great money saver too.   Pizza when made from scratch and ingredients purchased at RBP make for a buck each meal.   Cheese can be purchased at low costs and frozen ( grated ) .  Mozzarella is made from low fat.  Eggs are still low in cost here at times, and you can dehydrate them with succsss.
• Buying your meat at RBP and buying in bulk on a rotation basis is a cheaper and more efficient way to stock your freezer, one month at a time.   Buy as much of a particular protein item as you will use for a months worth of that meal.   Pick a basic cut of meat that your family likes and that is versatile.  We use hamburger, cheese, pork loin  and chicken breast.   Add beans and eggs to the mix.   Adding beans to dishes boosts protein at a very low cost. 
• Don’t be brand an store loyal.   Shopping several stores gives you more choices and lower prices.   Non traditional stores also sometimes have lower prices on some things.   Because they only carry the things they find at a low price, they are a good resource to check occasionally.   Stores like Big Lots, and the Dollar Tree aka DT. Grocery Outlet 
• No one store has the best prices on everything.   Know your prices.   My mother used to say that some people could have a bargain get up and bite them in the butt and not see it. Don’t be that person.   Buy responsibily.   Set yourself limits as to how much of something you will keep on hand.   That greatly depends on how much of that item you consume on a regular basis.   Reducing the variety of ingredients you use on a regular basis helps keep things in order and efficient.   For example, we only buy diced tomatoes and a few tomato pastes if I find them on sale.   You can manipulate diced tomatoes to do anything you need a tomato for. 
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Monday Kitchen Management

Kitchen management is a tool that allows you to spend an hour of leisure time to save hours time during the hectic dinner hour.  Spending a few minutes on a small deep cleaning task. Saves a lot of time when it comes time to deep clean the kitchen.


Recap meal plan :

1. Oven roasted chicken with root veggies:  potato, carrot, radish 
2. Pizza:  Buffalo chicken 
3. Pork Roast, mashed potatoes, green beans with vinegrete seasoning. 
4. Pork slider, oven fries, vegetable platter 
5. Salmon cakes, rice medley , Peas, rolls 
6. Tacos, refried beans or nachos. 
7. Christmas Eve. Potluck    

Kitchen management 

• Wash kitchen floor
• Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead.
• Wash refrigerator shelves
• Wash kitchen counters and disinfect counters, sinks, and drains. 
• Clean stove drip pans. 
• Wax island cupboards 
• Wash potatoes with vinegar water for oven fries and roasted potatoes. 
• Ditto carrots and radishes
• Pull the roast out to thaw.
• Make some Christmas cookies.   

Note:  because it is christmas week and things are hectic with extra chores and holiday cheer, the meals are purposely stair step meals.   That is, one meal reinvents itself for a different meal another day—meals aren’t necessarily in chronological order.  Slider rolls take on double duty as dinner rolls with the salmon dinner.   

All of these meals are Four plus one is five meals.   Four people, one meal, five bucks.  Provided you are buying your groceries at RBP.   They are also quick to make with hands on time .

Meal Plans

Meal plans are an organizational tool to save time and money.

• Roast chicken breast with oven roasted root veggies:  potato, carrot, radishes. 
• Buffalo chicken pizza
• Pork roast, mashed red potatoes, peas and carrots 
• Pork sliders, Oven roasted french fries, veggie platter 
• Salmon cakes, rice medley, peas 
• Tacos, refried beans or nachos 
• Christmas Eve potluck 

Notes:  a lot of piggy back here.   One meat makes two dinners.   It saves time and energy when its a busy time of the year.   Salmon cakes are either scratch or they are inexpensive at Winco.   

An interesting note, my observation was that Fred Meyer and Wino were the cheapest prices for food in our area.  My friend sent me an article from the local paper.   Their basket research study validated my observations.   

All of these meals would be a four plus one is five meal.  Four people, one meal, five bucks.   

Some would be cheaper.   Salmon is right there with store bought salmon, less with scratch.  

All are easy and quickly put together.   

Did someone say Pork Loin ?

QFC and Fred Meyers (Kroger ) have pork loin today only for .99 a lb.  QFC when they at 11 am had 7 cases.   I bought 2 1/2 loins.   You can buy up to five.   You do need to download a coupon and spend an additional ten dollars.

Pork Loin :  8.5 lbs of pork loin
Blueberries 2/5
Turkey breast 7.99
Bread 1.25

22.82


Cutting the pork Loin is on

Www.janefrugalfood.blogspot.com

Fred Meyer Sunday ad

NOTE:  the .99 pork loin at qfc and Fred Meyers needs you to download a digital coupon.  







Merry Christmas ad


New York Holiday roast 3.77

Kroger turkey .69

Clementines 5 lbs 4.77

Kroger sliced ham 1.27

Kroger bacon 2.99 lb -3 lb package

Ritz , nabisco crackers 3/5

Canned vegetables bogo

Green beans 1.49

Yams .99

Broccoli, cauliflower .99

Bullets: Things that never spoil

This is from research on the internet, there are a few that I am questionable on (????)

1. Honey
2. Salt
3. Water 
4. Clarified butter ????
5. Cornstarch ????
6. Pasta 
7. Rice 
8. Vinegar 
9. Maple syrup
10. Sugar 
11. Alcohol 

Things that are easy in the insta pot.

Things that are easy in the insta pot.   Since I started working harder at getting the lowest possible price for our meals, I started cooking more scratch food.   Basicly, scratch food is cheaper and more healthy because you can control the salt, sugar, trans fats, hydroginated oils and HFCS.   There are no preservatives or anti caking agents.  

I set out to find efficient scratch cooking.  I spend a little more time shopping and planning trips, so I spend less time cooking.    This methodology has to work for working parents too.   The insta pot is a great tool to cook efficiently .   Its efficient in itself :  a slow cooker, rice cooker, and a pressure cooker.   It also sautés and some make yogurt.  

Things to cook in the insta pot.

• Hard cooked eggs:  I also cook them in the oven.   
• Chilli:  you can cook the beans, sauté the meat, and cook the chili all in the same pot. 
• Vegetable bean soup.
• Chicken breast from frozen for casseroles, nachos, chicken pot pie, enchiladas.  
• Beef stew 
• Cumin spiced pork sirloin with avocado salsa.
• Pork shoulder
• No stir risotto
• Bacon, corn and potato chowder 
• Winter squash soup
• Stock
• Roasted rosemary red potatoes 
• Pot roast 
• Shredded chicken tacos 
• Ziti
• Creamy chipotle tomato soup 
• Chicken soup
• Tomato and white bean soup
• Barley mushroom stew 
• White rice
• Tuna casserole 
• An many more.....

Grocery Outlet Haul -

Grocery outlet and DT.

DT has chocolate covered. Graham crackers.

Grocery Outlet:

Colored peppers .50
Old El Paso enchaladas kit.   Seasonings, enchaladas sauce, and tortillas .99
La Victoria salsa. .99
2 very large sugar cookie dough=pillsbury  rolls at bogo 1.99
Sliced cheese 1@ 2.00 and 1 @ 2.39

ROCHER diamond candy box.  7.99

Total 18.33 less candy is 10.34

Weekly chain store ads

Holiday ads are not usually the ones that tout great bargains.   The ads leading up to a holiday usually have better prices on the typical incidental items.  The price of the protein is usually the star. In this state, because liquor is purchased at grocery stores and drug stores, there is usually space taken up with liquor.

Alberways

Spiral ham 1.39
Shank ham .99

Buy 4, save 4
BBQ sauce .99
Marshmallows .99
Puddings, .99

Stove top stuffing 1.25
Coffee 5.99

Bacon 3.99
Cranberries 2/5



QFC
Chuck roast  BOGO
Spiral Ham 1.49
Bone in ham 1.29
Apples 1.49
Butter 2/5
3 lb clementines 2.88
Cheese 2 bs 4.99

Spices BOGO
Duncan Hines cake mix BOGO
Pillsbury rolls 2/4$$

SATURDAY ONLY
WITH ADDITIOAL 10.00 food purchase
Boneless pork 1/2 loin .99 a lb
You can buy up to 5.  

This sale is also at Fred Meyer

Let’s talk freezers.

Freezers can be a messy catchall if you aren’t careful.   Most of the new refrigerators have a large drawer or door above or below the refrigerator section .   I’m afraid that it would become a dark hole things get lost in.   Looking at the new refrigerators, i am not seeing a lot that isn’t stainless steel and the same style.  Surely, there are other styles.   I did see a couple of side by side refrigerators.   I guess its a trade off—the black hole or a refrigerator that you cant get a large tray into.  

My downstairs upright freezer has crates from the dollar store that organizes foods by category.   Its easy to find what you are looking for if people put things away properly.   LOL.  The side by side upstairs has four drawers.   I labeled the drawers :   Chicken, beef, pork , fish.   The fish drawer gets to share with vegetables.   The door has vegetables and pizza 🍕 toppings and sauce.  

Separating meats into drawers makes it easy to check at a glance if I need to replenish our stock.  
Last month I have :

• End of November with the last Safeways twenty percent off basket coupon, I purchased 2.99 sirloin roasts.   That made them 2.40.   I cut some for stew meat and ground the rest for hamburger in my food processer.  It took about 20 seconds a batch.   I put stew meat into 1/2 pound bags (2 lb total) and ground 10 bags of 1 cup each of  hamburger that I cooked.   
• This week, I purchased boneless , skinless chicken breast (foster farms) for 1.77 a lb.  I spent 6.07.   I put the breasts (about 1/2 lb a piece ) in individual bags and put the bags in a gallon bag that I labeled with a date.   I had some split chicken breast from before, or I would have bought a second mega pack.   If split chicken breasts are cheaper, I cut the ribs off, cook the ribs with water in the slow cooker overnight (add a few pieces of onion and carrot, celery) and bag the boneless, skinless chicken breast in quart bags, then a gallon bag.    In the morning , you have chicken stock, and you can pick the bones for more meat—just right for chicken salad, a casserole, or Soup.  
• Next week, (Saturday) pork loins are .99 at Fred Meyers.  I will probably make stew, roasts, and pork chops out of one.   About 7 lbs or so.   
• Sausage , cheese, beans, and fish are other rotation proteins.   Pinto beans are cheapest at the DT- 1.5 lbs or a dollar.  They are non gmo and grown in USA.   
• Sausage has gotten pricey, I have made my own, but you can still get it on sale and there are coupons. 
• Cheese has also been pricey lately—as much as six dollars a lb.   I want to pay closer to two dollars a pound.   I have been able to do that so far.   
• There are always coupons for pepperoni.   

Rotating protein allows you the luxury of purchasing your protein at a RBP and always having food in the house.  Buying bulk and sometimes butchering and/or cooking it in mass saves time and money.   With already cooked hamburger, you can make tacos, or taco salad , or spaghetti w meat sauce in minutes.   The insta pot makes cooking meat from frozen in minutes. 

 

Monday Kitchen Managment and notes

Notes:   I know that often times scratch is better.  Especially when you are a good , experienced scratch cook.   I have been learning how to cook about everything we eat scratch.   The more scratch cooking I do, the more money we save.   Food prices have gone up 45 percent over the past few years, but scratch cooking has reduced our grocery bill by 24 percent.   That being said, if something is cheaper to buy ready made than scratch, I’m going to take advantage of it as long as it is good quality.   Case in point, kroger (Fred Meyer) has buy a Marie Callender Pie and get the ice cream for FREE.  That made out pie 1.00.   I cant make a large pie for a dollar.   Pasta sauce is another thing that is cheaper to buy than make, especially with sales and coupons.    I got sweet potatoes for .33 a package.   Sweet potatoes here are a dollar a pound.   It doesn’t pay .   It is also convenient and we have sweet potatoes with pork or chicken often.  

On to regular stuff.....

Kitchen Management is a tool that takes a hour or so, and saves a lot of time and energy during the hectic dinner hour.    Basically, you prep and rotate deep cleaning chores so that you are more efficient in the kitchen.  

1. Wash kitchen floor. 
2. Wash and disinfect countertops, sinks and drains.   
3. Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead.   
4. Wax south end cupboards. 
5. Wash potatoes in vinegar water for baked potatoes, and oven fries, oven roasted veggies.  
6. Mark meal plan to thaw chicken breast.
7. Wash carrots for oven roasted veggies.   Buy radishes.  
8. Straighten the pantry.   

25.00 Fred Meyer haul

Planning a 25.00 Fred Meyers haul.
The grinch aka Car repair man. Stole christmas......LOL. (We still have a decent food stock)

Chicken Breast (rotation meat) 1.77. Lb - approx 6 lbs.

Milk .99

Blueberries 2/5

Pie and ice cream 4.99

Cranberries or grapes.to fill out

ACTUAL:   21.52

Marie Callender’s Pie.  4.99
Ice cream FREE. Retail 3.99

Cranberries 2/5

Blue berries, l lb 3.99 frozen vs 12 ounces for 5.00

FF chicken breast 6.07

Milk .99

Hamburger buns , dayold dated 12/15  .69

Meal Plans - week of 12/11

Meal plans are a good tool to save time and money .

• Baked Potato Bar 
• Pizza 
• Chicken nuggets, oven fries, veggie sticks 
• Baked chicken , mashed potatoes, salad 
• Tuna cassarole , peas and carrots 
• Sausage with oven roasted veggies 
• Breakfast for dinner 

Notes:   We still have ten pounds of potatoes we got for a dollar.   Baked potato bar, oven fries, and oven roasted veggies should be a good thing.   Pizza is a staple around here....making scratch pizza is a really cheap dinner.   Breakfast for dinner is another staple that is more fun than it is inexpensive.   

A finger food dinner is a good thing around Christmas time with Christmas movies.   

Fred Myers Sunday ad

A lot of space is being taken up with ready made trays and booze.

Boneless pork loin .99 -a lot of hoops to go through:   Spend an additional 10.00, SATURDAY, 16TH ONLY, DOWNLOAD DIGITAL COUPON.

Blueberries 2/5

Celery .99

Kroger turkey .69

Del monte veggies BOGO. This is a bargain if they are a dollar or under.

Marie Callender Pie at 4.99 - get a carton of ice cream free.  The ice cream is 3.99 elsewhere in the ad.   I purchased that ice cream for 2.50 last week.   This is how they manipulate the prices.   That’s why knowing the RBP on things is a good idea.  Still, this is a good buy.  

Pillsbury rolls 2/4 $$

Milk .99

Oranges .67
Butter 2/5
FF boneless, skinless chicken breast 1.77

Sirloin. Steaks 2.77 - cheaper than good ground meat