Fred Meyers for Sunday

Finally, after a dry two weeks, there are some good prices.    This is the  Thursday that there is a ten percent discount for military and veterans.   The insta pot is on sale for 79.99.
There is an additional 70 percent off apparel and shoes.

Corned Beef Brisket 2.49 for point cut , 3.49 for flat cut
Cabbage is .49 a lb

Free milk with 4/8 dollar cereal General Mills.....usually you can find coupons.  2/25 smart source 1.00

Grapes 199
Apples 1.49
Berries 2/5
Avacados .99
Organic blueberries 3.99- .22 an ounce.
Frozen berries 3 lb 6.99- 14.5 cents an ounce

Kroger sausage 2/5
FF boneless, skinless, chicken breast 1.99 ( high)
Farmland bacon 4.49 - look for a coupon smart source 3/4 for .75

Biscuits 10/10 - you dont have to buy 10
Kroger ice cream 2/5
Spaghetti 1.00

Digital coupons

Sunday , march 18 only
Turkey breast .88 lb
———-
Saturday, March 17 only
Cheese 3.99 - thats two dollars a pound....buy price

Thursday, march 15
Nathans 1.99

These take a digital coupon and you can buy 5
It’s rotation time for cheese

GO haul

Grocery Outlet Haul 

Many items were .50 or a 1.00/.  

Salad .50

Syrup 2.00

Cake mixes .99

Cookie mix 48

Pie crust 1.49

Sliced cheese 2.00

Black olives 

Turkey lunch meat 3.00

Berry muffins

2 cups baking mix
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1cup sour cream
1 cup berries

Mix dry ingredients.
Mix eggs and sour cream
Dust berries with a couple of tablespoons of dry ingredient,
Mix wet ingredients with dry ingredients,
Fold in berries

Place in lined muffin cups

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes


A good way to use up sour cream .
I always have some , but we go in spurts and use a lot, and then, not so much.  

Practical Thursday Notes

Rotation Meats

One easy way to cut your protein costs is by adapting your food purchases to a rotation meat .  By simplifying your meat purchases to cuts that are versatile, you keep variety in you meals, and cut costs.   This means that you can buy larger quantities for less money and portion control your meat.  This makes for less waste.  

A pork loin can cost as low as .99 a lb.  Costco business has them for 1.59 with a 2.00 discount on the bag at checkout.  That makes the ten pound pork loin 1.39 a lb.  My top buy price is 1.69.   You can make pork chops, pork roast, pork stew meat, and stir fry from the scraps.   To exemplify, center cut pork chops can be 3.49 a lb.  

Boneless, skinless , chicken breast can be purchased for 1.77 here.   I bought direct from the farmer for .99.   Split chicken breast has the rib portion on it.   If you cut the rib portion off, you can cook it and pull the meat from the bones .  The bonus is chicken stock.   A hack I learned from a utube friend, April, is to set your slow cooker on low before you go to bed.   ( bones, veggie scraps, and a few herbs, water up to within an inch ) in the morning, you hae broth and bones you can pick the meat from.   Picked meat can be tacos, cassarole, soup, nachos, etc.   Chill the stock and defat it before freezing .  Leave head room in your container.  

We put each chicken breast in a separate quart bag (cheap ones at DT) and put the batch in a gallon bag with the date and chicken breast marked on the bag.

Hamburger is a whole lot more efficiently cooked in batches.   Cook it until no longer pink, de-fat it, and bag in portion controlled batches.   Cooked hamburger is easily thawed and is a great time saver at dinner time.  You can also portion off enough for hamburger patties or homemade meatballs.   I have found, however, that meatballs are cheaper bought frozen.   I save the inside wrapper of things like cereal, or baking mix to use in place of wax paper separating beef patties.   It is also good if you are making cutlets, or crushing crackers.  

The other rotation weeks can be used for eggs, cheese, and beans.  

No, Virginia, we don’t just eat beans.    LOL.  

Thursday notes

First:   Flour prices have taken a hike.   That translates to higher prices on pasta and bread.   Another reason why it is a good idea to stock.  It doesn’t make the prices any cheaper, but it pads the way so the shock is a little diminished.   I did discover that delivery flour is 7.59.   Bought at costco it was 6.99.  It was previously 6.39.   It still makes a loaf of bread for .25.  

The bargains the last two weeks have been minimal.   We have basically two corporations that control most of the market.  Kroger owns QFC and Fred Meyer.   Albertsons owns Safeways and. Albertsons.
Then, we have Winco, Costco, and Grocery Outlet.   When we had the debacle of Albertsons selling to Haagen and Haggens going bankrupt and selling back to Albertsons, the prices at Albertsons and safeways took a big hike.   I can imagine that all the legal fees took a toll on profits.   At Kroger, qfc is the more expensive and the more full service store in relationship to Fred Meyers.   Winco is no frills and employee owned.   I do find that if you ask a question at winco, you get an informed answer, or they point you to someone that can accommodate you.    Costco is turning into a food from Mars store.   More and more, I am finding that the basics like oatmeal, yeast, and cornstarch are missing or they are out of and they have plenty of hemp, seaweed, and cage free eggs.

Grocery Outlet is appealing to the ‘special’ crowd as well.   There is some bargains, but a lot of organic.    My experience with organic has been that two days after something hits the door, its growing hair prettier than mine.    No food is going to do your family any good if you are feeding itnto the garbage disposal.   Our farm lands  have been farmed for hundreds of years .   To accept that all those pesticides used for years have completely disapated from the soil is not a logical conclusion for me.   Going organic costs 38 percent more than regular food.   The real truth is that you cannot buy organic on a four dollar a day budget.   It is not practical to go to the store every day and buy just
what you are going to eat that day.

We are not store or brand loyal,  thats how we eat well  on less than four dollars a day.  





















.

Chain store ads

Alberways:   Albertsons and Safeways.

Bread .78@@.  (In ad coupon )
Eggs .98 @@
Yoplait 10/5

Friday only
Classico 3/5 (ibotta)
Ice cream 2/5


QFC

Digital coupons
Ice cream 2/5
Chobani 10/8. Ibotta makes it more than free.
Pasta 1.00

Saturday only digital coupons -up to 5
Bacon 2.99- up to a lb package....watch your weights
———-
Draper valley whole chicken .88
Oranges .67
Strawberries 2/5
Cucumbers .99

This is a two week ad, but there is not much in it.
Winco as well as taken a big hike with anything that has flour in it.   I have not been to regular costco to see if flour has taken a hike there too.   I still see bread at the dollar tree for orowheat.   Sometimes you can get bagels, an other rolls as well.

Eggs today were 1.44 for 18 at winco.
Costco has a special on zip lock bags.

Zaycon has boneless, skinless chicken breasts for 99 again.   Code word CHICKEN99.

Tuesday Notes

In 2017 , we spent 55.05 a week on food.   Part of that went to stock.   USDA figures cost of food at home as actual food eaten; not food ready to eat. There was an article on facebook produced by one of our tv stations about a fellow that eats for 50.00 a week..    not the family, just him.    That’s more than we eat for two of us plus a good part of granddaughter.  She eats at home too, but we eat dairy and meat.

We eat well, we eat regular food.  Meal plans show the same things many families eat.   The difference lies in when and where you buy your food.   Convenience spells $$$.   If you want your groceries delivered, if you want to go to the most convenient store and throw anything you want into a cart and fill the cart, you are going to pay for that privilege.   70 percent of a grocery stores profit is in impulse buys.   If you want to spend less, you have to do a little planning and buy your groceries in a different way.   

I happened on to a unreal realization.  I had a coupon for a free cake mix.   It was Betty Crocker.   Somehow, I hadn’t downloaded the coupon correctly.  It rang up at 2.39.  The same cake mix at Christmas time was 1.79 at another chain store.  I had recently bought the same cake mix at a discount store for .88.  That’s a 1.50 spread. It is not as much what you buy, but when and where you buy it.   

There’s a phenomenon called the snow ball effect.  Basically, if you take the savings you make on one thing and spend it on another money saving thing, your savings grow.   Like starting a small snowball and rolling it in the snow  to make a snowman.

If I was going to do one thing to get started, I would go to my warehouse store and buy a 25 lb bag of flour, a 20 lb bag of rice, and a 10 lb box of oatmeal.   This starts a snowball. 

1/2 cup raw oats makes a bowl of oatmeal.  It is as much nutrition as four of those packs of oatmeal that are ‘instant’ .   One cup of water, 1/2 cup of oatmeal in a bigger than you need bowl for 1.5 minutes makes a bowl of oatmeal.  Not much more time than that envelope.   The envelope costs ten cents.   The 1/2 cup costs .085.   Four times the nutrition for less money.   I add a banana, or put a 1/2 a lunchbox apple cut in small pieces to the oatmeal.   Cinnamon sugar is good too.   You can feed a family of 6 on a dollar.   

Rice purchased in bulk costs .02 a serving.   That ready rice is about .50 a serving.   

Flour is the biggest money saver.   Ten minutes hands on time makes a loaf of peasant bread with almost not expertise.   The hardest part is taking the temperature of the water and using good hot pads to take it out of the oven.    The cost is .25 .   The cost of buying that bread is upwards of 3.00.

It cost pennies to make those waffles or pancakes you buy ready made   in the freezer section.   The
bag of pancakes I checked on was 3.00.    A couple of cups out of that bag makes enough pancakes to almost buy the bag.   Ditto muffins.   There are recipes that take almost no time.   My mother taught his at age 9 to bake.   Enlist help.    There are breakfast muffins that take almost no time and are a good thing to have if you have children that rush out the door before breakfast.  

These three things will free up enough money to start a stock.   Set aside five dollars a week for a small family.   This is the only time consuming pencil to paper ( or computer spread sheet) thing to do  and you only have to do it once.   List 10 meals that your family eats that use inexpensive cuts of meat.   Its probably no secret that you aren't buying much steak 🥩 on four dollar a day budget.   

We buy pork loin, hamburger, and boneless, skinless chicken breast.   We fill in with cheese, beans, and eggs.   These can average two dollars a pound.   Again, its not what you buy, its when and where you buy it.  

After you write the ten meals, make a list of the shelf stable ingredients that you will need to make the meal.   Most families have a list of 10-15.   Track these items for price a few weeks.   It should become clear soon what store and price is a RBP.  The lowest price you can buy this item for.   Me aware of the fact that you cant necessarily be brand loyal.   Store brands are often the name brand with a different label.   Now, when you find that item at its rock bottom price, buy 5 dollars worth and stash it.   You are going for a 4-6 week supply.   That’s because some items have that rotation for sales by the stores.   A four to six week supply means that if you eat spaghetti and meatballs once a week, you will need to stock 4-6 pasta sauces, spaghetti, and meatballs.   We use 1/2 a box of spaghetti, because that is four servings.   I cook 1/2 a box because , otherwise we would waste 1/2 a box.   I recently got spaghetti for .50 a box.   I also got pasta sauce for a dollar in a jar.   I can always get it in a can for a dollar at the dollar tree, but it is less than that at winco.   Meatballs are two dollars at Winco in the freezer section.   I can’t make meatballs for two dollars a pound.   

We only buy ready made when it is cheaper or a lot less time consuming than scratch.   

Now, to recap, you have freed up some of your previous budget with making bulk decisions on basics.   You have identified what meals you cook and what ingredients can be stocked and set aside a minimal amount to start stocking.   

Make a plan, or plan to fail.   Meal plans are a intricate part of slashing you food budget.   It only takes a few minutes .   You don’t have to get crazy.  Just jot down the basic main dish.   Most of us sere the same sides with a particular meal.   How many times have you had spaghetti and meatballs with french bread and a green salad.  LOL.  

Stocking means you will have a short grocery list.   You will get to the point where you are going to the best store and buying dairy, fresh fruits and veggies in season, and restocking anything that is a RBP.   

Next:  rotation. Meat.  An important part of groceries on the cheap . Stay tuned for Thursday.   

Kitchen Management

Kitchen management is a tool that takes away a lot of the stress of cooking dinner during the most hectic hour of the day in some households.   It makes cooking dinner easier and faster.   It can also deep clean the kitchen by rotation and save the project of spring cleaning.  

Reminder of meal plans - for 2

• Pork chops , mashed potatoes, salad 1.87
• Pizza 1.05 
• Tacos , Spanish rice, 1.65
• Chicken parm 2.12 
• Salmon, Spanish rice, mixed veggies 2.99
• Roast chicken, roasted root veggies 1.79
• Breakfast for dinner 2.64
• Average 1.00 a plate.   This more than comes in the perimeters of a 4.00 a day budget.  Its not what you buy as much as when and where you buy it.   

1. Wash kitchen floor
2. Clean out the refrigerator and dump anything dead. 
3. Wash the vegetable bin and line with a clean kitchen rag or paper towel. 
4. Wash salad greens and place in container 
5. Mark day to thaw chicken and pork chops on meal plan .
6. Wash potatoes, carrots and radishes with vinegar water and dedicated veggies brush.
7. Clean toaster tray
8. Put oven vent screen through the dishwasher.   

Meal Plans

We are still trying to eat down the freezer and going to try for a no spend month.   The joy of stocking is that when you are having a month with extra bills, you can float for a month.   We can do this on about half of what other people spend on food.   Welcome to groceries on the cheap.

• Pork chops, mashed potatoes, salad 
• Pizza
• Tacos, Spanish rice, 
• Chicken parm, Cesear salad 
• Salmon, Spanish rice, mixed veggies 
• Roast chicken , roasted root veggies 
• Breakfast for dinner. : Egg muffins, bacon, fruit 

Notes:  

Pork chops were from a pork loin purchased for a dollar a pound.   

Pizza is a good , cheap, everyone likes meal.   Cheese is under 2.50 a lb.  Some of it I got for 1.85 a pound 

Tacos are still a good buy because we made hamburger for 2.40 a lb and we make our own taco seasoning.pre-cooking  and de fatting hamburger makes meal prep a snap.   While the meat is simmering on the stove with a little water and seasoning, you can chop lettuce and tomato.   The cheese is already grated in a lock n lock i the fridge.   Spanish rice does double duty for another meal. 

Chicken parm uses breaded chicken breast bought on sale. (Part of our freezer eat down) add spaghetti bought for 50 cents and pasta sauce.   We got pasta sauce for .59 in a close out bin with a basket coupon .   Otherwise, we pay less than 1.50. 

Salmon is 5.00 a pound at Winco.   Mixed veggies are ones we got on sale for .88.   They have taken a hike and I am watching for a sale or coupons, or both.   

Roast chicken is from 1.77 a lb chicken breast and we will use carrots,potatoes, and radishes if I can find them within reason. Radishes take on a sweet flavor when you roast them 

Breakfast for dinner is everyone’s favorite and a family affair with everyone cooking something.   

Fred Meyers for sunday

Strawberries 16 oz 1.77
Boneless 1/2 loin. BOGO        - there is no regular price listed , buyer beware
Oranges .99
Toothpaste 1.00 - coupons?
Biscuits in a tube 1.00


That’s about it.   Food has taken a hike.   Its harder to find a bargain.  

alberways three day sale :  SMT

7 percent fat hamburger 3.49
Lettuce .79
Cheese 2 lb 4.99.      Note FM wants 4.00 for one pound.
Best foods 2.88@@
C of sea tuna .58@@

Coupons:  clip or click
Pillsbury cake or brownies .99
Pasta .79
Skippy peanut butter 1.99

Friday Recipe : Stir fry

Stir fry sauce: 

1/2 cup soy sauce

2 tbls lemon juice 

1 tbls corn starch 

1 tbls brown sugar 

1 tsp minced garlic 

Pepper

Mix together in a small bowl. 

3/4 lb  stir fry meat ( pork, beef, or chicken.) 

1/2 an onion, sliced thin. 

1 bag of stir fry veggies or equivalent fresh veggies 

Place 1 Tbls olive or vegetable oil in a skillet  and stir fry meat until almost done. About 2-3 minutes.  Remove meat from skillet.    Add veggies and 1/4 cup water.   Cook until veggies are cooked.  About 3 minutes.   Return meat to skillet and add sauce.   Stir.   Cook until the sauce thickens.  About 2 minutes.   Serve with rice.   

Notes:   

Stir fry meat can be cut from the ends of a pork loin, as part of a sirloin roast or steak before you grind it into hamburger, or from a chicken breast.   

Lemon juice is cheapest bought in a bottle.  I have even seen it at the DT.  

My family doesn’t eat onions, I might substitute celery cut on the diagonal.   

Top ramen noodles can be substituted for rice if you are in a hurry. 

Stir fry veggies are about 1.50 at winco.   Frozen vegetables have taken a hike in price lately.   I am looking for a coupon and/ or sale.    

Grocery Hauls for this week

Note:  we are eating down the freezer to rotate stock.  

Winco

2 baby cans sliced olives:  .70

1 lb peppercor salmon 

Hoagie rolls 2.98 (12) 

Roma tomatoes at .88 

18 count eggs 1.44 

Sliced Swiss cheese 4.32

Total 15.97

The Swiss cheese was cheaper than the slices at GO by 25 percent 

18 eggs were cheaper than 1.5 times the 12 egg price.

QFC 

Grapes 3.41

Not a special trip

Fred Meyers 

21.39

Total 40.77

Chain store ads

QFC was a two week ad last week.

Grapes 1.77
Milk .99
Blues and rasp. 2/5


Alberways

Strawberries 2 lbs 3.88

Mayo. 2.88@@@
Chicken of the sea tuna .58@@.

Pepperoni 3.49 look 4 coupon

Not a good week for bargains.  

Justifying a 25 lb bag of flour

The last quoted price of flour at Costco is 6.90 for 25 pounds, or 8 cents a cup.  
Things that more than give you a good return on your investment.

1. Pancakes cos 3.00 a bag.   Two bags almost pay for the 25 pound bag. 
2. Muffins cost .35 plus any fruit you add.  The cost of a dozen muffins is 5.00.
3. Peasant bread cos .25 to make.   He equivalent loaf of bread is 3.00 and up. 
4. Magic mix makes a cream soup base.   The cost of a can of cream of mushroom soup is well over a dollar. 
5. Pizza dough costs 1.50 to 2.00 /  it takes about three minutes and cost .19.

Monday Kitchen Management

Kitchen management is a tool that saves time and stress during the hectic dinner hour.    Prepping for meals makes dinner a snap and keeping the kitchen clean on a rotation basis is a good thing too.


Meal plan reminder:

• Pork chops, dressing, veggies
• Pizza
• Salmon, seasoned rice , peas and carrots 
• Chicken Parmesan, salad 
• Meatballs and gravy , mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables 
• Stir fry chicken and rice, mandarin oranges 
• Breakfast for dinner 

1. Wash kitchen floor 
2. Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead. 
3. Wash and disinfect countertops and kitchen sinks and drains . 
4. Thaw pork chops 
5. Make pizza dough 
6. Make sure seasoned rice mix is made 
7. Straighten pantry.   

Pork chops are browned and put on top of dressing and finished off in the oven.   

Pizza is a family favorite and cost about 1.05 for a cheese pizza.  Add toppings from leftovers.   

Salmon was 5.00 a pound at winco and wash frozen/ 

Chicken parm.....spaghetti noodles cook in the insta pot for 2 minutes in a quart of liquid.  Instant release.

Meatballs are two dollars for almost a pound at winco.  

Chicken breast is cooked in the insta pot from frozen in 8 minutes to 12 minutes depending on the thickness of the chicken.   Probably less if using flattened chicken breast coming in a frozen bag.   

Breakfast for dinner this week is egg muffins, bacon and fruit.   

Fred Meyer haul

Total 21.39

Buy 5, Save 5

4 v8 juice at 1.89
1 peanut butter at 1.99

Romano cheese 4.99
Granny Smith apples at 2.08
Organic green peppers 2/1
Blueberries 3.77


—————

Meal plans

Meal plans take away the anxiety.of answering the question:  What’s for dinner?   It just makes things more organized and when you add a kitchen management hour, life is a whole less hectic during the dinner hour.  

• Pork chops, bread stuffing with craisens and apple, broccolli 
• Pizza 
• Salmon, seasoned rice, peas and carrots 
• Chicken Parmesan, salad 
• Meatballs and gravy, mashed Potatoes, mixed veggies 
• Stir fry chicken , rice, mandarin oranges 
• Breakfast for dinner.   

Notes:  

1. Pork chops are from a pork loin bought for a dollar a pound.   Bread stuffing is from day old bread.   Appples were bought in a bag with a discount from qfc.   They are lunch box apples, that is, they are small enough to put in a lunchbox and with children, there is less waste.   
2. Pizza is one of the least expensive meals you can make if made from scratch.    
3. I purchased salmon from winco.  It is peppercorn salmon and was five dollars a pound package.   
4. Rice can be double duty so you cook once, eat twice. It is purchased in bulk at costco.  Thecost is two cents a serving.    Chicken was purchased for 1.77 a lb for boneless, skinless breast.   However, my next purchase is .99 a lb at Zaycon .   
5. Chicken parm and meatballs are part of our freeezer eat down program.   Both easy meals. 
6. Breakfast for dinner is a favorite here.   Its a sunday everyone cooks family event.   

This blog is written on the premise of a four dollar a day budget.   That is supposedly the amount of snap money.   We live in one of the seven highest COL cities in the nation.    There is always a way to cut costs and still keep within a budget.   The premise is that if you can do it on four dollars a day, spending more is not hard.   I have fifty years of experience, having lived through double digit inflation and no raises for three years as a single mother.    I have been published in Woman’s Day and Taste of Home  magazines.   My husband and I raised three children.   

Fred Meyer ad for sunday

Ground beef alert .....1.99 for 80/20 limit 4

Blueberries 3.77

Country oven bread .99

Mandarins 5 lbs 4.49

Pork 1/2 Loin 1.99 (that is the top of the RBP.

Cantaloupe 2/3

Sour cream 4/5
————
Buy 5, save 5

Cheese 4.99
Peanut butter 1.99
V8 1.99
Kind bars 1/99

Recipe: vegetarian pizza

Not vegetarian...just add chicken pieces

Pizza crust;  par bake for a few minutes

Brush dough with olive oil.   Sprinkle with dried basil.   Use 1 Tbls each

Topping:

2 medium tomatoes, sliced thin and deseeded
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced thin
1 cup frozen broccolli, thawed and drained.
Salt, pepper,
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until crust is done.
Add 1 cup (4 ounces ) mozzarella cheese
Bake an additional 10 minutes or until cheese has melted.  

Add ins;  RED PEPPER FLAKES/ AND OR DICED COOKED CHICKEN

Ideas from the ads

Cheese is 2.50 a lb (the top of the RBP) at Fm.  You have to buy 5 things,   It is like  1.28 for 8 ounces at Winco,   Chicken is .87 at FM and it’s washingtin grown.   It’s almost always a better deal to buy chicken that is local.   A lot of fruit is a buck at FM .

Milk is 1.79 @@ at safeways.  Hot dog buns are .79.  @@ Hamburger is 80/20 is 2.49.  @@

The last page I missed because I was doing it with the on line ad.   Holidays make the paper ads late in the mail.  

Alberways
Cheese, 8 ounce bags 2.50.   They are more money than Winco, but you dint have to buy 5 like FM.
That’s about all on the last page.  
Green beans are 75 cents.     Winco has a case of 12 for 5.00.  It’s not what you buy, it’s when and where you buy it,  

Meals

• Pizza    🍕 a kid favorite and can be super cheap.   A scratch crust costs .19.   With cheese at 1.25 for 2 cups or 1.28 at Winco., cheese should cost .65.    Add part of a DT jar of pizza sauce ( makes  5 pizzas) and top with keftiver veggies and or chicken bits or pepperoni .  The DT has pepperoni for a dollar and you can use 1/2 a package with other toppings.   Total cost 1.54.   
• Chicken , potatoes, a vegetable and bread.    A five pound chicken costs 4.35.   Even a family of six should be able to get 2 meals or more out of a chicken .   Roast chicken , chicken pizza or chicken cassarole, and chicken soup.    Figure the first meal 2.35.  Add potatoes at .20 cents a pound ,40 for four, a bag of frozen veggies is 1.00, and bread .25.   Total 4.00
•