Meal Plans -Jan 29

First of all, I am under budget so far this year.   Seattle is the 6th highest COL in the United States.   Our grocery budget was 55.05 a week all last year for three of us.   It is less so far this year.   I did buy a case of chicken breasts and a case of ground beef.  It isn’t here yet, but I have deducted the cost of the meat to make our budget 44.00 a week.   The cost of the meat was a dollar a pound cheaper than my cheapest price and it is fresher because it comes directly from the farmer.  But, because we already had a somewhat full freezer, we will be eating down the freezer for a couple of months to make room.           .

1. Pizza 
2. Breakfast for Dinner 
3. Meatball subs and salad 
4. Spicy Pork tacos, refried beans. Homemade 
5. Chicken with apples and onions , rice, peas 
6. Orange chicken , rice, green beans 
7. Bacon wrapped shrimp, oven fried potatoes , glazed carrots.  

Notes :   

1. Pizza is a family favorite.   Cost of a pizza crust is .19.   We use part of a jar of pizza sauce from the DT and freeze the rest in ice cube trays.   The last cheese I bought was two dollars a pound.   Totals .89 for a cheese pizza.   Add leftover meats and veggies for a fuller pizza.   Pepperoni , sausage, peppers, olives, chicken, green chilies all are candidates.  Adding a few still keeps the meal less than five dollars for four people. 
2. Breakfast for dinner can cost less than five dollars too. 
3. Rolls for meatball subs can be made or purchased at the DT for a dollar.   
4. Chicken breast cost 1.77 a lb last time.   New batch is .99 a lb.   Apples are between a dollar an a dollar an a half a lb.
5. Orange chicken uses a orange and oranges were .57 a lb in recent weeks.  
6. We purchased bacon for 3.00 a package and shrimp are in the freezer.   This is more than a five dollar meal, but the pizza and breakfast for dinner balance the budget out.   
7. Spicy pork tacos are from meat bought for 1.69 a lb and ground ourselves .   The taco shells were .48 for 12 and adding cheese, lettuce and tomato adds another few cents.

Its not what you buy as much as when and where you buy it.   Buying almost everything you need on sale and using coupons can reduce your food bill by 50-60 percent.   That, for most families, is a chunk of change over a year.   

Winco Food Haul

Winco Food Haul
—some good buys here

Total 27.24

Holiday almonds @ .99
Parm cheese 1.96
Large eggs .98
Yellow cake mix .88
Taco shells .98 -buy two, uses coupon on display (in diary department)
For 1.00 off nets 2/ .96 for 12 packs

Apples .98 lb
Canned green chilies .66
Bar s bacon 2.98
Cucumber .48
Better than boullion , beef 3.48
2 grape tomatoes 1.28 ea
Lettuce .98
Black olives, sliced .68

Fred Meyers ad for Sunday, 3 day Alberways sale

Alberways 3 day sale.

Mushrooms 2/4
Ground turkey 2/5
Pasta sauce .99 limit 4
StarKist tu a .58

BOGO
Cheerios 
Progresso 

There are coupons that would match with this.


Fred Meyers

Strawberries 1.97
Avocados .97
Sirloin steak 2.97
Hebrew National Franks 2/7

Buy 6, save 3
Tillamook ice cream 2.99
Freshetta pizza 4.49
Hidden valley ranch 2.49



Cheerios 1.79 $$
Kroger Brats 2.99
Cream cheese 1.00
Grapes 2.49

Friday Notes

Zaycon has boneless, skinless chicken breast for .99 a lb through today with the promo code WELCOME99. Forty pound lots.   I bought one lot and it will be here mid march.   Tat gives me time to clean out the freezer and save up the forty dollars out of the grocery budget.  I am already below budget, so it shouldn’t be hard.   What that does do for us, is provide enough chicken breast for the rest of the year at a cost of less than a dollar a week.   We usually have chicken two times a week and pork one times week and alternate with pork twice, chicken once.   This gives me the opportunity to cook once, eat twice.

Using every trick available to you can lower your food bill dramatically.  Closing your mind to available tools that can reduce your grocery bill does not help you.   If you try something and it doesn’t work for you, then don't do it.  I can see where , if you don't have someone to pick up a syringe order for you and you work, it could be a loser.   You prepay for the meat, so it might be possible for you to get a gramps or someone to pick it up for you and share a few pieces of meat.
The good part of ts is that your meat s coming straight fro the farmer and it is coming from your state so its fresher than the eat you generally get from your  grocery store.

Stairstepping to cut costs

Stair stepping is a name I gave the concept of morphing a batch of food to cover two or more meals.
This blog is related to the last blog on Dollar Tree (DT) meals.   This cuts waste and money.   However, the concept can be used for any budget regardless of where you buy your food.   We buy our rice, flour and oatmeal in.bulk at costco.

1. Chicken stir fry :  Cook 1/2 cup raw rice .  .25; 1 package of stir fry veggies, 1 packsage of chicken -raw or canned.   2.25 (oil and soy sauce) 
2. Beans and rice :   1/2 cup rice .25, 1 cup of beans .33 ( reserve 1 cup for tomrrow._ add a can of diced tomatoes and spices..    1.83. Note:  tomatoes are cheaper at other stores.   DT has had them for 50 and they were organic. 

Nachos:   1 pkg. tortilla chips, 1 cup beans from yesterday, 1 pouch of cheese sauce, 1 pkg diced tomatoes, drained, black olives, chopped or sliced.


Total cost :   Nine dollars and you have leftover raw rice and beans.  It would be less if yu got your tomatoes on sale cheaper or if your DT still has organic tomatoes 2/1.


Senecio no. 2

1 package of pasta -extra volume if they have it.
1 package of frozen veggies:  broccoli /or mixed California blend

1 package of cheese sauce
1 can of pasta sauce

Makes :
Mac and cheese and veggies
Pasta sauce and pasta with veggies

4.00/ 2 meals

Add 1.00 for diced tomatoes and have a second rice and beans.

Total now 14.00

Pizza crust, some sauce from pasta dish, cheese, cost 2.00

Sixtee dollars total for seven meals or .57 a meal.

Yes, you could eat from the DT.

Yes, you could eat from the DT.   I did see a gal on a vlog that actually bought organic and healthy food from the DT.   She got her weeks food for 22.00.    Now, I am not suggesting that you buy all your food from the DT.   Some of it is nasty, some is over priced.  ( veggies are .79 a can when you can get them for .39).  But, just for entertainment sake, I took on the challenge of seeing how many meals you could get from the DT.   No, I didn't buy all this stuff.   I guess what you could take from this is how to make dollar tree food work in a pinch.

  Actually, we went to the beach off season for our anniversary one year. The lodging was really inexpensive.  When we got there, we found out why. There was virtually no food.   One place  was open that had fish and chips and fish and chips and 2 cheap drinks was 40.00.   I had brought food -some snacks like I always do, but we were pretty much on our own.   The one grocery store was dirty, and had almost no food that you could cook with a microwave.  A dollar tree would have been a pleasant site.  LOL.  I googled subway and we found a gas station 4 miles away that had a subway and that is what we ate for two days along with the yogurt and fruit I had brought from home.

Dollar tree meals - note the frozen veggies are mostly from China..

• Meatball subs, green beans 
• Pizza , pepperoni 
• Chili and cornbread 
• Tuna noodle casserole , peas 
• Mac and cheese
• Turkey bacon, eggs, toast, fruit 
• Creamed tuna on toast 
• Rice and beans 
• Uncle Ben’s rice, ham and vegetable 
• Pasta and pasta sauce 
• Chili cheese fries 
• Nachos 
• Greek pizza 
• Potato dumplings with tomato and spinach. 
• Tiki masala 
• Meatballs and gravy over noodles 
• Chicken tacos , rice, beans 
• Chicken and noodles 
• Oatmeal, fruit.   
• Smoothies , muffins 
• Peanut butter sandwiches 
• Chicken stir fry and mandarin oranges 
• Egg omelettes 
• Ham, scalloped potatoes 

Chain store ads

Chain store ads 

Alberways 

Petite sirloin steak or 

Cross rib roast 2.88

Blues 3.88

Tuna .58@@

There are some bogo’s , but without the regular price, it is hard to know if they are a bargain or not. 

QFC 

Buy 6,, save 3 sale;   Net prices 

Milk .99

Marie C or  healthy choice dinners 1.79

Dreyers ice cream 2.99

Bacon 3.99

Mayonaise 2.49

Campbells chunky soup .99

Goldfish .99

———-

Mandarins 2.99

Fruit pie 2.99

Yoplait 10/5.00 $$

Pears .99

Grocery Outlet and dollar tree hauls

We made a Kenmore run today.   

Grocery Outlet 

A lot of GO lately is food from Mars....there are, however, still some good buys 

Sliced ripe olives .69

Relish 1.29

Thin mint cupcakes (Girl Scouts) .99

`low carb tortillas 2.99

Pizza crust .99

Beer cheese 2.30

Total 11.23

Dollar Tree

Orowheat bread wth flaxseed .45

Buns 1.00

Total. 1.45 

5 life change to cut your grocery bill in half

Its January.   Our yearly goals this year is to de clutter the house and pay off debt.   If your year goals is to cut your grocery spending and eat more healthy, this blog is for you.


5 things to change in your life to cut your grocery bill in half.

Whenever I find myself stuck in bed for a while, I tend to watch others peoples grocery hauls.   Its an eye opener . While, I never comment on their mistakes, I certainly note them to myself.

I digress....5 things

1. If you go to one grocery store, buy just what you need for a week or a day, you are setting yourself up to fail.  The odds are against you, the same as if you go to the casino.   The HOUSE is going to win.   No one store has the cheapest price on everything.   Pick the two cheapest stores and buy what’s on sale that you need.   If there is a good sale at a particular store, plan your trip.
2. 50 percent of the average grocery cart is drinks and salty snacks.   Stick to coffee and tea and skip the rest.   NO-ONE NEEDS POP.  And NO-ONE NEEDS POTATO CHIPS.  Your diet will love you.   Fruit juice is not good for you or your teeth.   You are better off eating the fruit.  
3. Pick a few basic cuts of meat that are versatile—like pork loin, chicken breast, and hamburger. Rotate buying them in bulk— enough for the number of meals you will be eating that particular cut in a month to six weeks.  This will depend on the size of your family.   There is less waste and you are buying the meat at its lowest possible price. 
4. Learn to cook scratch food when it makes sense.  Not all premade items in the grocery store are more expensive than homemade.   Pasta sauce and tortillas come to mind.   But, there are a lot of things that you can efficiently make homemade that take little more time than opening that box or bag.   You can make bread for as little as a quarter.   The same bread is three dollars.   
5. Don’t overlook non traditional stores for food.   Sometimes there are good buys.   They don't have a wide variety of foods but what they do have can be a good price.   Know what the RBP is on the things you buy on a regular basis. My mother used to say ‘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.  
6. A bonus:    No food will do your family good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.   

Kitchen Management Monday

Kitchen management is a tool that maintains the deep cleaning of the kitchen and provides a head start for dinners during the week.   This helps make the hectic dinner hour a bit easier.

Refresh dinner meals

• Vegetable beef soup, bread 
• Pizza
• Meatballs and spaghetti 
• Pasta with sausage and spinach 
• Chix nuggets and oven fries, veggie tray 
• Baked potato bar 
• Breakfast for dinner 

1. Wash kitchen floor 
2. Wash and disinfect counters and clean sinks and drains 
3. Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead.  Wash inside the refrigerator.
4. Wash carrots and potatoes ( soup, oven fries, baked potatoes ) we have parts of 3 bags of potatoes. My regular and red potatoes and a bag my daughter brought me. 
5. Mark meal plan to thaw chicken the day before chicken nuggets. 
6. Empty toaster crumb tray

Week 4 FM haul

Week 4 FM Haul

Total 15.72

The Nalleys chili was substituted with Hormel.   I had .55 on two coupons.  

4 hormel chili
1 strawberry
Kraft mayo
1 ice cream
1 split peas
1 blue cheese

Tips and tricks

These are tips and tricks that save time and/or money anyone can use.

1. If you are using blueberries for cooking, check the price of frozen vs fresh.   When blueberries arent. Season, froze can work as well as fresh.   If making muffins , try dusting the berries with some of the dry batter first.   
2. Making your own bread crumbs is a lot cheaper than buying them and throwing away your crusts.  
3. Breadcrumbs , chopped nuts, and parmesan makes a good breading for chicken cubes / chicken nuggets.   Air frying or baking in a convection oven is more healthy.   
4. When using nuts for baking, try buying broken nuts in the bulk isle (winco) saves time and money.  
5. Buying small amounts of spices that you don't use on a regular basis are best purchased in the bulk isle.   The cost difference between that 1 inch square ‘jar’ and the bulk price is remarkable.  When I bought enough dill to fill the once inch bottle it was .17.   The bottle cost over six dollars.  
6. If you are new to bread baking and don’t want the investment of a three plus package of yeast at cosco, you can buy small amounts of yeast in the bulk isle. 
7. Anything you eat on a regular basis that doesn’t spoil quickly is a good candidate for bulk.   We buy flour, rice and real oatmeal at Costco in bulk.   The beans are not a good choice for us.   We don’t use enough.  Sometimes it makes sense if you have a group of people that would split a bag of something.   
8. Prepping for dinners in a marathon hour session can make dinner time a lot less hectic.  Those of us that wake up early can be wasted by dinner.   LOL
9. Scratch cooking most things is a great budget stretcher.   Tortillas, pasta sauce, and mayonnaise is not a good candidate for scratch.   Either they are too labor intensive or expensive.   
10. You can preserve lemons with kosher salt (not course ) and lemons in a jar with a tight fitting lid.   You can also dehydrate eggs when they are cheap and plentiful.  It beats paying over two dollars a dozen.  Drying the plentiful zucchini  is also a great money saver.  Most of us can get it free from friends and neighbours.   Dried parsley is sooo much fresher than what you buy in a jar.   Save jars.   

Week 4 meal plans : Jan 22.

Meal Plans are a neesssary tool to cut food costs and be organized.   We use a matrix (outline) to do meal plans . It saves time and money.   This week I am concentrating on using up hanging around food and food we have an excess of. 

• Monday Soup:   A good meal when people are eating on different schedules.   Hamburger vegetable soup. - 3.00, bread .30 equals 3.30 with bread leftover. 
• Pizza - 1.05 ea 
• Meatballs and spaghetti.  : Pasta sauce 1.00; pasta .75; meatballs 1.50#.   3.25 plus .39 green beans equals 3,64 
• Breakfast 4 dinner:  eggs .80, English muffins .64 , fried potatoes .40, fruit 1.00.  2.84 
• Pasta with sausage and spinach .  Spinach is on sale and i can make sausage from the groundpork I made last week.   Sausage 1.69, 1/2 pkg pasta .50; spinach 1/2 .50, leftover cream  cheese.   2.69 plus carrots .50 equals 3.19
• Homemade chicken nuggets, 1.77. Oven fries .50, veggie sticks .50.   3.77 
• Baked potato bar. : Potatoes 1.00. Chili .69, sour cream .35, broccolli .50, cheese.50.  3.04

Total 21.88 or .78 a plate 

This does not include things that are part of a basic kitchen like olive oil, spices, boullion etc.   

Fred Meyer for tomorrow, and a 3 day at Alberways

Fred Meyers

FF Chicken, whole .97
California mandarins 2.99 - 3 lbs
Milk .99

Ground beef 7 percent 3.49 ****

Berries 2/4

Sour cream/ cottage cheese 1.25

Spinach .99

Cabbage .49

Oranges .88


Buy 6, save 3 —not the best mega event -net prices

Dreyers ice cream 2.99

Campbells chunky soup .99

Dave killer  3.49

Nalleys chili .89 - there is a .40/2 coupon out there makin g it .69



ALBERWAYS

GARDEN SALADS .79

Lean ground beef 2.77 =20 percent fat *****

Tortillas, 30 count .99

Signature select ice cream 1.99@@@

Remember case lot sale

****

Comparing hamburgers

Fred meyers hamburger is 7 percent for 3.49 or translates to 3.49 X 1.07 equals 3.73 a lb

Alberways is 2.77 a b and 20 percent fat.  Or translates to 3.22

I prefer the less fat, but at 3.22 you can defat the hamburger.   Defeating hamburgerlooses u to 17 percent of the fat.  

You can also watch for a sirloin sale and grind yours ow.   The last time I did that it was a net of 2.40 a lb and it was almost no fat visible.  

11 things NEVER to buy at the grocery store.

There are just some things that are not a friend of your budget and /or your heath

• Snack salty foods:  its no accident that the first thing that you see when you walk into some stores is the chips, and other salty snacks.   There are whole isles dedicated to them.   They are also some of the most expensive things per pound in the store.  If you want a ‘salty snack” you are much better off having a homemade air popped real popcorn.   A huge canister is a good price at Costco and it lasts forever.   I use the container for storage of dry goods.  
• Baked goods.   We all buy a loaf of bread.   The cheapest price these days is at Dollar Tree (orowheat) and there are coupons in inserts that net it out at .45 a loaf.  This includes double fiber and whole wheat, and some rolls.   It is extremely cheaper to make your bread and it can take a matter of minutes and about a quarter or so to make a rustic loaf of bread or french bread.   For a bit of a 6.00 bag of flour and a 3.oo plus change bag of yeast, you can have many many loaves of bread.   Artisan bread can cost 3.00 a loaf.   Muffins can have healthy additive and can cost as little as 50 cents a dozen.   A few minutes of your time can make a .50 investment make as much as what cost 6.00
• Rotisserie chicken .   Another case where a ten minute investment of time can save a lot of money. 
• Fruit juices.   Yippee cups of fruit juice are not good for children’s teeth.   A nutritionist told me that my children were much better off eating the apple instead of a cup of juice. 
• Bread crumbs.  Why pay upwards of 2.40 cents a pound for someone elses dry bread and tosss yours out.?   
• Pizza sauce.   Pizza sauce is very expensive at the regular grocery stores.   The dollar tree has name brand sauce for a dollar.   Use what you need and put the rest in an ice cube tray and freeze it.   When it is frozen, dump the cubes into a zip lock.   Or, use part of a jar of pasta sauce you are using for another meal or a part of a 8 ounce can of tomato sauce you have purchased for less than .33.   Freeze any leftovers.
• Cans or jars of broth.   Again you are paying for someone elses garbage.   A lot for someone else’s garbage.   Debone chicken breasts and put the bones in your slow cooker with some water and vegetable scraps (celery and carrot, onion) before you go to bed.   When you get up, you will have chicken broth.   Ditto vegetable broth, or buy reduced sodium boullion.   
• Croutons.   I usually just skip them.  But, they, too, can be made from your dry bread.   
• Pizza crust costs less than 20 cents and takes about five mnutes to make if you are slow.  Pizza purchased even at the grocery store is at least 3.00 .   The cost of a cheese pizza is 1.05.  You can do wonders with a little pepperoni purchased at the dollar store or leftover meat and veggies.    Save a few pieces of cooked meat or fresh veggies every time you chop something that you could put on a pizza.  Keep a few bags in the freezer door.   
• Hamburger Meal Boxes.   Very little product for a lot of money....even at a dollar at the DT.  The one my daughter and I dissected had a little more than 4 ounces of pasta and an envelope of sauce mix full of things I couldn’t pronounce.                          

Pesto Pasta

Pesto

1 bunch basil
1/4 cups walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup parm
4 cloves garlic

Mix together in food processer or blender.


Pesto Pizza Dish

8 ounces bow tie pasta , cooked
2 cups broccolli or cauliflower or combo of both , blanched
2 cups leftover chicken or turkey, cubed
1 can diced tomatoes wtth italian seasonings , not drained
1/4 cup pesto

Toss all ingredients.   Top with parm or Romano cheese.
Bake at 350 deg for 30 minutes or until heated through

Thursday Bullets: Morphing meals

There is just something about the word leftover that sends some husband’s screaming from the building.   It is still a good idea to be able to cook once and eat twice.   Its more efficient .  So, instead of reheating the same dinner, you can reinvent the ingredients and morph the meal.   It helps to space the leftover (morphed) meal in between another meal.  

• Pork roast can become pork sliders with bbq sauce. 
• Meatballs and speghetti can become meatball subs. 
• Cooked chicken breast can become chicken broccoli salad , or chicken pot pie , Thai noodles 
• Leftover cooked chicken or pork can become stuffing for a calzone
• Shredded chicken can become tortilla soup 
• Leftover beef can become beef and blue cheese pizza
• Leftover beef can become sliders
• Leftover beef can become bbq beef pizza 
• Leftover just about any meat can become a coconut  curry noodle bowl
• Shredded meat can be a meat for tacos. 
• Leftover cooked meat can go into a Denver  potato casserole 
• Ham can morph into seasoning for split pea soup 
• Leftover chicken can become a chicken Alfredo pizza or 
• A buffalo chicken pizza
• Meatloaf one day can become meatballs on noodles another.   (Just cube the meatloaf) 

Chili or a vegetable soup can be served over rice another day.

• Leftover taco meat can become a burrito bowl another day 
• The black beans you cooked for a Mexican dish can become black bean cakes . 
• Meatball stew  

• 
  

Chain stores ads

Ok. QFC had a two week ad last week and there was not a lot in it.  

Alberways

Signature Farms chicken breast or thighs.....1.67
Note:   We dont now where these come from and thighs are .99 for FF at FM.

Grapes 1.97

My or match Kellogg’s cereal 3/5....thats 1.67 each and FM is a better buy even without coupons, but way better with.   Coupons.com

Progresso 2/3....FM is .99 when you buy 8; use 1.00 off four coupons


3 days only FSS.

Butter 1.97
Avacados 77

*****
FRIDAY only -5 dollar Friday

18 ounces raspberries or blueberries
40 ounces skippy peanut butter
******

Sour cream/ cottage cheese 4/5

STOCK UP SALE -THE BEST PART OF THE AD
THERE IS A 5 DOLLARS OFF OF 50 COUPON FSS ONLY
THESE ARE ALL STORE BRANDS AND USUALLY CASE LOTS. (12)

CREAM SOUPS .49 NET WITH COUPON .44
PASTA SAUCE .99 NET .90
PASTA .59 NET .53
REFRIED BEANS .59 NET .53
BEANS .49 NET .45
CANNED VEGGIES .59 NET .53
TOMATOES .49 NET .44

No money: dollar tree purchases

Its hard to believe that you could actually find a meal at the DT.   But, it is possible and it can be food made in the USA.

Not all food at DT is a good price canned veggies are more money than ou can get at other stores and , frankly, some of it is nasty.   There is some cheese there, but you need to read the labels carefully some of it is cheese product.   They have chicken , but you dont know where it came from.  I just got chicken thighs from Washington for .99 a lb.  

1. Orowheat bread is 1.00 and there are coupons out there (inserts) for .55 off. 
2. Tortillas are a dollar . 
3. Pizza sauce is a dollar and a good brand.  A lot cheaper than regular grocer stores. 
4. The pizza crust is really really thin and you can make it a lot cheaper (.19) .
5. Chili is a dollar.   Don’t know about the brand, have been  seeing it a lot on u tube blogs.  
6. Pepperoni is a dollar for a good brand.  You can’t use coupons anymore because they have a minimum of size of box.   
7. Feta cheese is a bargain. 
8. Barilla pasta can be found and you can use the coupons if you find them. 
9. The spices are all a dollar. 
10. Marie Callender’s biscuit type mixes are a reasonable price.   
11. Rice and beans are reasonable.   The beans (pinto) are .67 a lb-the cheapest price I have found.  
12. Tea is a reasonable price.   

1. 
   

Fred Meyers: week 3

Week three total spent 50.72.  4.98 under budget



FF Thighs. .99 lb 4.62
Progresso soup 8@.99 less .50 coupon

Kellogg’s fruit loops (2)
Kelloggs Frosted Flakes (2)
1 gallon milk 2.60 (FREE)
Less coupons 2.00 - MAKES THE CEREAL .85 EACH


SARGENTO CHEESE BOGO.   2.00 EACH

TOTAL SPENT 22.03