Fred Meyer Haul

The last for the month...

Fruit bars -3.34
Fruit pie 5.00
Pork loin 5.64
Mission tortillas 1.00
Corn 1.00
Cantaloupe 2.00
Peppers .88
Cherry tomatoes 2.00
Cucumber , English .88
25.50 total


Total for the month 296.50 or 70.60 a week
Includes bulk hamburger cost -without bulk purchase 45.36 a week.

Last quarter 51.98 a week.
Total for 4 months including bulk meat 56.63-   .63 over 4.00 a day.  

Friday recipe -

Groceries on the cheap takes a different approach to grocery shopping.   Instead of going to the store and buying a weeks worth of  groceries and repeating the process the next week when the cupboards are bare, you shop to replentish your basic stash.   Simplify, lower your costs, always have food in the house.   

The cooking part is made simpler by scratch cooking efficiently.   Finding recipes that take 5 or less ingredients is a good way to start. 

Buying your diced tomatoes with seasoning is a good way to simplify things.  Most brands have Mexican and Italian seasonings.  

Adding diced seasoned tomatoes and cheese to a cooked meat and pasta makes a quick dinner.   You can use diced chicken, sausage , or ground meat.   

Summer is coming.   A dinner salad is a good way to eat .   Add a nice crusty piece of bread or a muffin.  

Soup is a good go to when you dont want to cook in a hot kitchen.   Dump ingredients in a slow cooker and get out of the kitchen in a hurry.  

Pasta cooks in 2 minutes in the insta pot.  There is a pressure up time and you need to de pressure manually soon after the cycle is done.   Drain as usual.   If the pasta sits in the pot and depressurizes automatically, the pasta will be over done.   The time it takes is just enough to gather ingredients or 

heat sauce. 

One of our go to meals in a hurry is chicken parm.   The chicken is patties from Foster Farms.   They heat in the microwave in minutes.   Put over cooked spaghetti and add sauce and parmesean cheese.   

It takes minutes.   

Last night we had chicken chimichangas.    They took a matter of minutes because I had cooked the chicken in the insta pot earlier in the day.   I added a green salad.   

Spaghetti and meatballs is also easy.   I buy meatballs, but I have also make meatballs in a bulk meat cooking time.   I make them with a portion scoop and put them on a rack over a sheetpan.   That way, the fat drips onto the sheet pan as they bake in the oven.  They are not stewing in their own fat.  

 Garnish spaghetti and meatballs with Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes.   

Anything that you can put together in minutes and hand off to a instapot, slowcooker, or oven is a 

good pick.   I make stove top stuffing, add craisens an apple pieces and put it in the oven with pork chops I have browned on the stove.  Cover and cook until the meat is done.   I make scratch stuffing when I happen to have enough dry bread. 

Sausage or meatball subs work well too.   You can sometimes get sub rolls at the DT that are orowheat brands they carry.   I have a scratch recipe, but it takes a lot of fussing.  You can make it in the kitchenaid, but it still has shaping and rising times.   

Spinach, tomato, and feta sandwiches???????    Obviously, the spinach is raw.   

Dinner Diary

Peasant Bread ...a rustic bread -cost .25 

Leftover cake crumbs made in the food processer 

A good way to make best use of the last of the cake.

Crush in a bag from cereal inserts or cake mix, oatmeal.....

Finish in the food processer.  Who says garbage is garbage.   LOL.  

Dinner 

Chicken Primavera

Bread 

Vanilla Pudding with cake topping.  

Chain store ads

QFC

FOUR DAYS ONLY -april 26-29 - TH, F,S,S 

Pork Shoulder Roast .99

BUY 4, SAVE 4

BREYERS 2.99

RITZ 1.79

KROGER SMOKED SAUSAGE 1.49

LAND OF LAKES BUTTER 2.99

DIGITAL COUPONS - you ca buy up to 5 of each item 

GM cereal 1.49 - should be paper coupons to stack 

Kroger cheese 2.49 - top of the target price 

Yoplait 10/5

Marie Calllender’s Pot Pies 2/5

Oscar Mayer bacon 3.99

Goldfish 2.99

Tide 3.99 / 50 ounces 

Phil. Cream cheese 1.49

Corn 2/1 

Regular ad 

Flank steak 5.99

Strawberries 2.99

Asparagus 1.99

Alberways 

Pudding Rings 2/5

Cheese .99@@

Lean Cuisine 1.89@@

Kelloggs Cereal 1.69 - coupons out there, you must buy 3

Buy 10 Dannon Lite and Fit, or Oikos yogurt and get butter or eggs free

The yogurt is a dollar each.  

Thats about it.   

Fred Meyer next.  I have to get it on line.  

English cucumbers, peppers.  .88
Foster Farms BS chicken breast 1.97


DIGITAL COUPONS
Tide.3.99
Cheese 2.49 - top of the target price
GM cereal 1.49 - coupons are out there

——-

Flour tortillas 1.00
Honey 3.99
Pr shoulder bone in 1.79

Digorno pizza 4.99
Berries  2/5
Corn 2/1
Hebrew national 3.99

Tuesday Food Diary

Last night we had taco soup and quesadillas.  We had derviated from our normal breakfast for dinner the night before and had nachos.   My husband said he didnt feel like eggs.   We had leftovers, so I made taco soup and added a quesadilla.  

Leftover taco meat,
Black olives
Milk green chillies.
2 cans diced tomatoes with jalapeños
1/2 quart of tomato boullion.
12 ounces of frozen corn.

Simmer in slow cooker.


Quesadilla

Spray small flour tortilla with cooking spray
Put sprayed side down in small sauté pan.
Fill with grated cheese
Top with another tortilla and spray with cooking spray.

Brown on both sides to melt cheese.
Cut into quarters.  


Leftovers don’t have to be boring, or look like leftovers.  

Fred Meyer Haul

I am way under budget, if you dont count the bulk beef purchase we made this month.   I expect by next month we will be back on track or lower without having to buy much meat.   We are down to just buying pork.

Frozen entrees 1.88
Fruit bars 1.88

Goldfish .99
Cookies 1.99
Snapeas .99

Diced ham 2.00
English muffins (12) 1.67
Butter 2.50

Grapes 1.99
Tomatoes 1.29

Total 24.90

I went for 4/5 strawberries.   As typical of FM mentality, bait and switch, they had none.

Kitchen Management

Kitchen Management, aka meal prep and clean kitchen.....is a good way to get a head start on dinners and take some of the stress out of a hectic dinner hour.  

Meal. Plan recap:

• Taco soup, tortilla chips 
• Pizza 
• Chicken Primavera
• Tacos, Spanish rice 
• Chix chimichangas 
• Baked Potato bar 
• Breakfast 4 dinner 

1.  Find taco soup recipe 
2. Make pizza dough...you can freeze it. 
3. Wash veggies , including potatoes 
4. Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead.  
5. Incorporate anything on the edge in the next few meals. 
6. Wash and disinfect counters, sinks, and drains. 
7. Wash kitchen floor 
8. Straighten pantry 
9. Mark meal plan to precook chicken for primavera and chimichangas.

Clean inside of dishwasher -part of deep clean.  

Meal Plans

Meal Plans are a tool that saves time and money .   Being organized is a good thing.   Even if a plan doesn’t work, you are still better off to have a plan.

• Soup and Bread 
• Pizza , salad 
• Chicken Primavera, bread sticks ,  
• Tacos, Spanish rice.
• Chicken Chimichangas, lettuce, tomato 
• Baked Potato bar 
• Breakfast for Dinner. 

1. Soup of choice, bread is a good fill in.   Something about a crusty loaf of bread just make soup and bread fulfilling.   Homemade bread can take as little ass 10 hands on minutes and cost a quarter.   
2. Pizza is 1.00 a cheese pizza.   Add toppings and you still have an inexpensive crowd pleaser.   Pizza dough can be purchased for 1.50-2.00 and made for.......19 cents.  
3. Chicken Primavera is an old recipe revisited.   Healthy and good.   
4. Tacos are another easy meal.   Taco meat is already cooked in the freezer.  A couple of seconds in the microwave and you can add it to a little water and taco seasoning in a sauté pan.   Let it simmer while you chop tomatoes, onion, and lettuce.  Gather the salsa and cheese.   Spanish rice is a few minutes hands on in the insta pot. 
5. Chicken chimichangas are another easy dish. Chicken cooks from frozen in the insta pot in mere minutes.  Before insta pot, I cooked it in the microwave in water.   Add cream cheese, diced chicken, and pepper jack cheese, add mild green chillies.  Spray with oil and bake.   Basically, everything is cooked, you are just melting cheese and browning the tortilla.   
6. Baked potato bar uses up about any leftovers in the fridge.     Another easy dinner the family likes because they can make it themselves.   
7. Breakfast for dinner is a family affair , everyone cooks.  I want to try oven french toast.   Hoping to find french bread at the DT.  

On another note.   The center for disease control is recommending that you dont eat romaine in any form. I assume that they are not including romaine you grew yourself.   But, a lot of people are getting sick 🤕.   

Saturday Notes

This would be the day when I posted Fred Meyer Ad.  But, they went to a regular Wednesday thru Tuesday ad and they arent in the Sunday Paper anymore.   We dont get their ad in the mail.  I have to get it on line.

Checking your stock frequently helps to keep yourself on track.   Putting like thugs together makes it easy to tell at a glance how much of any one thing you have left, or better, how much you need to fill in.  

5 Breakfasts that cost less than a dollar.

1. Scratch Oatmeal w topping and whole wheat toast. Oatmeal when purchasednin bulk from costco costs .085 a serving.   You can add brown sugar, apple, or a 1/2 a banana and still feed yourself for well under .50 .  If you use a half apple you can probably serve a family of 4 for a dollar. 
2. An egg, whole wheat toast, part of a piece of fruit. Eggs recently are seven cents a piece.  Add whole wheat toast from the dollar store (orowheat) and some applesauce or 1/2 an orange and you are well under fifty cents.   
3. Breakfast Muffin 
4. Breakfast burrito 
5. Pancakes, syrup, hot cocoa. Turkey bacon 
6. Yogurt parfait.  Yogurt,granola, fruit layereed in a glass. 

All these prices are based on seattle prices, purchased on sale with or without coupons. 

Friday

My outline says its recipe day.    Did that yesterday.   My husband did go to safeways and get 5 frozen veggies and he stopped by QFC today for free chips.   I’m over budget, but considering I bought a bulk beef purchase that obviously will last more than this month, its not bad.   I’m still well below the USDA stats for my husband and I, and we supplement our granddaughter.  

Groceries on the cheap takes a different manta on grocery shopping. Basicly , instead of shopping for a weeks groceries and rushing to the store on payday to buy another weeks groceries, you stock the basic necessities and shop sales when you are running low.   By keeping a four to six week supply of your basics, you always have food in the house and you are just replacing your perishables and looking for a rotation protein and sales to restock.   It simplifies things and you actually spend less time shopping .  A result of this is that my shopping hauls are not what anyone would consider well balanced.   Our meals are well balanced and I stress low fat, sugar, salt, HFCA and hydroginated oils.
The benefit of all this is that we eat on less than four dollars a day per person and we eat well.  

Simplify, lower your costs, always have food in the house.  
Its not a new concept.  Stock market traders want to buy low and sell high.   Same principal.   Buy when prices are low and eat when they are high.  Our great grandmothers gathered fruits and veggies in the summer when the gardens were producing, and canned the bounty to get through the winter months.    Nothing new, just modernized.

On another note, dollar tree now carries orowheat bread.   The selection of bread products varies .   Nonetheless, products that are upwards of two dollars are a dollar.    Anything goes.   Bagels, English muffins, wheat bread, rolls, hogie rolls, thick bread for french toast.    Obviously, the closer you go to delivery day, the best selection you have.

Oven French Toast is going to be my next Sunday night dinner.   I have never made it enforce.   This should be interesting.   Anyone ever made it?    Tips?  

Thanks for tuning in.....please share.  

So, what’s in a price.

Prices even in the same area can be drastically different.  There is a big push by food retailers to make things really convenient for people.   Having had two children under the age of 2 at one time, I can certainly understand why people would buy into pick up delivery.

My daughter had development problems due to a medical issue when she was a baby.   At three we had here tested.   She tests with a high IQ and a vocabulary several years past her chronological age.   The doctor asked her where milk came from.....her answer....my Dad.   LOL.  This was because I wasn’t about to drag two children under the age of 2 to the store for bread and milk.   I would call my husband and have him stop on his way home from work.   It was just a whole lot easier.

The fact, none the less, is that they add on a charge one way or another for the convenience of having someone else shop for you.

At Christmas time, I had no desire to battle the crowds to get a few things from Costco.  They offered free delivery, so I used it.  I noticed that the items I bought were more expensive than the same counterparts in the warehouse.  No joke, you are going to pay one way or another for the privilege.   Sometimes, its just worth it.

There is just no doubt, different stores can charge different prices for the exact same thing.   A lot has to do with the climate of the store.   Full service stores with deli’s and meat markets staffed with personnel are more expensive than the no frills store.   If you don’t need the services of a deli or manned meat market, don’t pay the price.   The fancier the store and the more items it has, the more you are going to pay.   Rightly so, if you have to pay the wages and benefits for personnel to provide
services amd stock and rotate stock for a zillion items, it is going to be reflected in the price of the things you buy.

If you are trying to feed your family on the lowest column of the USDA cost of food at home list, using the full service stores sparingly, is a good idea.   Winco and Aldi  save money because you bag your own food.   I prefer it because I know what items need to go to the downstairs freezer and I can pack the food accordingly.   That way, we are not bringing things upstairs , only to bring them down to flights of stairs.   I also have no one to blame but myself for putting the bread on the bottom.  LOL

That being said, I have found as much as a 1.50 swing between the most expensive store and the cheapest store.   That’s  a lot of money percentage wise.   The lesson here is to know your prices.

My mother used to say that 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.

To pay 1.50 for a can of veggies one week, .50 the next week, and 1.50 the third week is just plain Stupid unless you live in a fourth floor walk up in NYC.   You are much better off buying three when they are .50.   It’s just plain simple logic.   Moderation is the key.   If you buy a bunch of things that your family doesn’t eat a lot of and they go to waste, its not smart either.
I read a interesting article on facebook by Taste of Home, that identified things that we have been throwing away that are good a long time after their pull dates.   Eggs and yogurt come to mind.


Using as many bits of leftovers as you can can save a lot of money .  Its a mindset.   My Dad used to say the more you do, the more you want to do.   You just have to take that first step.   Motivation is a strong word.

We eat on less than four dollars a person per day.   It took a long arduous path to get to this point.   There were hits and misses...a lot of misses.   We struggled through cooking soy beans and them still being Little Rock’s.....my experience with  lentils weren’t much better.   I succeeded with bean sprouts only to be told they were dangerous.   But, we succeeded in the end.   We eat good hamburger, boneless skinless chicken breast, pork loin , and salmon.  No, Virginia, we don't eat beans every meal.   LOL.  ( a take from the Santa Claus letter ) .

Simplify, lower costs, and always have food in the house.  

Four plus one is five....four people, one meal, five bucks.

No food is going to do your family good if you feed it to the garbage disposal.

A stockbroker’s concept is to buy low and sell high.   Buying your groceries is no different.Buy when the price is low, and eat when the price is high.   Think of it as making a profit.

Thursday Notes: recipe

Last night we had oven chicken for dinner.   I added an on the spot pasta side dish to go with it.

Basically , I opened the fridge; and started throwing things into a sauté pan 

A recipe of pasta 

Leftover corn 

Leftover beans 

Some grape tomatoes , cut in half 

A small zucchini, sliced 

A handful of raw spinach.  

Olive oil 

Red pepper flakes 

Italian seasoning,   

Chain Store ads....

QFC is the same as last week.

Fred Meyers
Watermelon 1.77
Strawberries 4/5
Raspberries 4/5

Beef Roast 2.99
Bacon 3.49 ( watch sizes some are 12 oz.)

Milk .99
Sliced cheese 1.99
Butter 2/5

Buy 5, save 5
2 lb cheese 4.99 (top of the target price )
Dryers 1.99
Phil.cream cheese 2 pk. 2.99
Turkey bacon 1.49
Goldfish .99
Note: orowheat bread, pan bread is 2.49 (1.00 at the DT)

Alberways

Dollar days
Garden sala
Avacados
Peppers
Baby carrots
Lettuce

Coupons in ad
Milk 1.79@@
Bacon 2.99@@in three pound packages. This bacon is thick sliced.
Butter 2.99@@

Frozen veggies (some are 16 ounces) 1.00

Some meat is BOGO, no prices listed
Buy at your own risk.....LOL

Dollar Tree Haul

7.00

Sara Lee bagels are 1.00 w a .55 coupon attached
Thin sandwich rolls
Cranberry nut sandwich breads

Sun dried tomatoes
Fudge grahams
Mustard

Barrilla elbow pasta.     (2.00 next door at safeways. )

Tuesday Notes

I stayed up late last night reading Comey’s new book.  It is an interesting read.   I don’t agree with the people saying it’s just a way for him to make money.  There are a lot of life’s lessons in there.  I find it interesting that someone that came from a family that appears to be of modest means could rise from it to be where he is .  It seems more about his upbringing and attitude than money or status.   I would have to say from experience that instilling a good sense of values and a good sense of self worth in a child is more important than money.   It is amazing how suttle attitudes can be picked up by children .

This is about food.  I digress .....

Attitudes make a big difference in our lives.   Motivation is a good thing.   After hearing that the one thing I was good at could help people , especially children, I set out to write this blog to help people
S t r e t c h their food dollars.  I Learned a lot in the process.  I still want to reach more people, I know I can help people eat better and spend less.  Having food in the house goes a long ways to make people feel more secure in their lives.   Security is a step up from wanting to sit down and give up.
They say adversity builds character; personally, I don't think I want more character.   LOL

Trying something new for dinner is a good thing.   It breaks up monotony.   Even working with a small budget, you can make things fun.   How about a meal that all starts with the same letter.   Kids could have a fun time thinking of things to eat.

There’s inspiration. Everywhere.  We got a magazine fro QFC last week that is full of recipes...and coupons.  The internet and pinterest is full of them.   You can get magazines from the goodwill for .50.  Read them and return them .  Food has changed , but its still food.   I have recipe books from WWII.  They are real money savers because certain things were in short supply and the recipes compensated for that.

I got more ideas from the little 1/2 page books you can get at the supermarket.  They are usually full of ideas.

Overnight Maple French Toast.   A good recipe for Sunday morning.   It is made the night before and cooked in the morning.   Or, make it in the morning and have it for dinner .   We like breakfast for dinner.   Ditto a puffed pancake. Breakfast Burritos.

Buffalo chicken wraps

Pork chops with sour cream sauce.

Pork, onion and apple hoagies - rolls are often at the DT- orowheat

Chicken Primivera

Mediterranean Pasta with beans

Lemon basil vegetables and rice.

Strawberry Vinaigrette

Pillsbury mini  cookbook.

5 things that save pennies.

It is the mindset.   Save pennies, make dollars.   You would be surprised what can be made from those things that people normally would shove in the trash..

• Last week, we splurged and bought chicken wings for 1.00 a pound.   I say splurged because i had just paid the same amount for boneless, skinless chicken breast.   I cut the “drums” from the “thighs” and there was the wing left.   Not much meat there.   I threw them in a bag and put them in the “garbage “ door shelf of the freezer.   When I have enough chicken bones , I will make chicken stock overnight.   
• There are always scraps .   We wash the carrots and celery in vinegar water.   Vinegar is 4.26 a two gallon pack at costco.  The peelings and the tops and bottoms of the celery can be frozen and saved for stock.   Stock, when purchased can be 2.00 a quart.   Its a no brainier to dump saved chicken bones and veggie scraps into a slow cooker with water to within a inch of the top and let it go all night.   Pour it through a sieve or colander in the morning.  Let cool and freeze.  
• Freezing the pizza sauce in an ice cube tray and dumping the cubes into a quart bag is a good addition to the ‘garbage” door shelf.   That makes a pizza sauce (2 cubes ) for a medium sized pizza .20.   
• Anything that can go on a pizza that is left from another meal can be frozen for a pizza.   The smallest amount can be used .   A little sausage, peppers, ham cubes, mushrooms, chopped onion, anything you put on a pizza.   
• It goes without saying that you can use the heels of the bread or any extra hamburger or bot dog buns to make bread crumbs.   Put it through the food processer with a plastic blade and the children can make them.   Or, if you dont have a food processer, let the bread dry in the oven and grate it with a box grater.   I used to do that out on the deck with a sheet pan under the grater.   Again, bread crumbs are often 2.40 cents a pound.   There are better uses for your 2.40.
• The ‘juice’ that is left from draining the diced tomatoes can be used to flavor rice instead of the water.  Sometimes I also add some vegetable or chicken bouillon .   It s more flavor and maybe just a little nutrition .   
• Many cooks put a little pasta water in their sauces.   
• That little bit of peas and carrots in the frozen bag can be added to a cheeseburger macaroni cassarole....homemade.  
• I save the coarse salt that my daughter doesn’t use from their frozen pretzels. 
• Leftover cornbread can be the base for a chilli bowl. 
• Leftover black beans can make their way into a salad or hamburger used for enchaladas.  
• Leftovers dont have to be just the same thing heated up.  I cant tell you how many men are against eating leftovers.  I have heard it many times.   I suspect if they were the ones cooking and doing the cleanup, they might not be so opinionated .(hows that for being snarky LOL) but, reimagining a bit of leftover, can solve the problem.  
• Bits of cheese make their way into mac and cheese in our house. I stole that idea from a happy hour menu!LOL.  They are a rich source of ideas.  Flatbread comes to mind...and it doesn’t have to be burned and like a cracker.   
• We had two strawberries left from our fruit plate the other night.  I threw them in my oatmeal just before my husband go to them to throw in the garbage disposal.   “No food is going to do you any good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.  HHA  HA /!

Kitchen Management

Kitchen management is a concept that goes a long way towards being organized and saving valuable time during the hectic dinner hour.    I remember those days when I got home from work, and had hungry children and the mail, laundry, and dinner staring me in the face.   All I really wanted was to put my feet up and watch the news with a cup of nice tea.   LOL.   Reality.  

Prepping for the weeks meals and zone cleaning the kitchen makes life so much easier the rest of the week.

• Oven Roast Broccolli 
• Make pizza dough and freeze /refridgerate 
• Cook chicken breast in insta pot. 
• Wash salad greens, potatoes, carrots and celery 
• Mark meal plan calander to thaw chicken 
• straighten the pantry, fill canisters.   
• Wash kitchen floor 
• Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead.  
• Clean countertops and sinks and drains with disinfectant 
• Wax island cupboards.  
• Make breadcrumbs . 
• Post food purchases to spread sheet 

I started this blog almost six years ago because my children encouraged me to.  My daughter had taught children from low income families for a number of years and one of her students mothers had reached out to her because she was running out of money before she ran out of month.   My daughter told her that I knew how to s t r e t c h a buck.   It seemed like a good idea to write a blog so that I could help people.   I had been studying the subject for some fifty years.   

It wasnt until my daughter and I set out to give a class on cutting your food bill in half that I did the math and realized I had changed enough habits to feed us on less than four dollars a day and grew a stock and supplemented granddaughter.  After I started this blog I decided to work at every angle I could find to further the concept of cutting the food bill. 

Simplify, lower your costs, always have food in the house.   

Four plus one is five.   Four people, one meal, five bucks.  

No food is going to do your family good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal. 

Waste not, want not. 

My mother used to say, some people could have a bargain get up and bite them in the but and they wouldn’t see it.  Don’t be that person.  

Meal Plans for wk of 4/16/18

Eat well when you make a plan.   It takes away the answer to the question “ What’s for Dinner”

1. Potluck : broccolli 
2. Pizza 
3. Chicken Chimichangas 
4. Speghetti and Meatballs 
5. Sloppy joes 
6. Stuffed Chicken Breasts 
7. Breakfast for dinner 

Notes:   

Pizza is a easy way to make everyone happy.....cheap . Homemade pizza is about a dollar.  More to add toppings of meat.   

Chicken chimichangas are easy and quick.  They can have Spanish rice and beans for sides. 

No Brainer:   Spaghetti and Meatballs.  Easy, quick and a crowd pleaser.

Sloppy Joes use the buns we got from the DT.  Fresh potatoes.

Chicken breast stuffed with spinach and cheese and topped with a breadcrumb mixture that is homemade.   

Fred Meyer mini ad and beyond

There is a mini ad in tomorrow’s paper for FM.   There isn’t one for Alberways .

Cantaloupe is a dollar each.
Mandarins are 3.99 for 5 pounds.

TWO pounds of rotisserie chicken is 5.99 when you buy 5, save 5.   That means that you are paying six dollars a pound for chicken.   Not of my money. LOL.  

Buy 5, save 5, is only good if the prices are at RBP and especially if you can match with a coupon.   Seems like coupons are drying up.   I found a coupon for mandarin oranges in glass jars.  Period.  
There is one for toothpaste.  

Simplify, spend less, and always have food....the reason to grocery shop on the cheap.

By simplifying your grocery list and buying multiples , you save time and money.  buy versatile things that make good meals.   Last night we had salmon, smashed red potatoes, and honey ginger carrot coins.  

Spending time to teach your children 👶 how to cook and shop by observation is a good thing.  The gap between the poor and the rich is shrinking .  We never know what the future will bring.   If you know how to stretch a buck, you will always be able to cope.   It’s not hard to spend more.  It is not always the fact that you don’t have money.  Sometimes, people want to save for a particular project.  A special vacation , a rental unit to make money for the future or ?????.



Cooking is a good life skill.   My mother taught us how to bake ,  I think because she didn’t want to.
She was less generous with her teaching of dinner items, I think because she couldnt afford it if we messed up.   LOL.   Besides, I was so slow and deliberate, dinner would have been past our bedtimes! LOL.  I had to learn to cook what I didn’t learn in home ec.   I don’t remember learning anything about meat.   It was probably more than their budget.   I remember making a roux and potato soup and muffins.   I remember “planned overs” .  

I have always been busy.  We had three children and a house, boat, yard, and cars to keep up.   A lot of the time I held two jobs.  I learned to make efficient dishes.   You can scratch cook and spend less time in the kitchen.   With the inventions of good kitchen appliances, you can cook almost anything and not spend hours on your feet. Some  basic appliances can more than pay for themselves in a few months.   The difference between cooking beans in the insta pot and buying canned. Beans is remarkable. Even at my buy price of .50, scratch is saving 95 percent. The time involved is minimal.    Rice is more savings.   Pinto beans are cheapest at the DT and they are grown in USA and non GMO.   Rice is really cheap at Costco and its not a huge investment to buy a bulk sack.   If you don’t use a lot, consider splitting a bag with a neighbor or friend.

Rice and beans are a staple.   They are also a good go to if you are flat broke or there is nothing in the house and you cant get to a store or the stores have no food.    Not a pipe dream by the way.  One not so distant past christmas, the main road (I-5) was flooded and trucks couldnt bring the grocery stores food.   It’s  not a good idea to buy groceries one day at a time and not have a minimal at least stockpile even if you have tons of money.  

Look at the menus at the neighborhood’s   eateries.   When the cost of food jumped up, especially beef, the chefs used their creative assets to come up with meals or snacks that were delightful, but less expensive.   Flatbread, baby meatballs, tacos , sliders.....

Anyone but me wonder why the cost of beef went up drastically
because of a year of drought, and it never went down.   We just limited our beef consumption to one or two nights a week if we needed to use leftovers (Planned overs) . My husband had to learn to like chicken.   LOL.   His main objective to chicken was that it had no flavor.   I started to look for flavorful chicken recipes.  Fortunately, even the 6 yo likes spicey foods.

 Simplify, spend less, always have food.  

Friday Recipe

Baked Chicken Nuggets

Face it, chicken nuggets are just plain nasty.   Most of them are made from reconstituted chicken .
Kids love them, but I offer a adult version.   More heathy and tastes a lot better.  

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast , cut into 1 to 1/2 inch cubes .

Combine :
1/2 cup breadcrumbs , dried
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped nuts ( walnut or pecan)

1 stick butter, melted split between two small bowl.   *

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Dip chicken pieces in the melted butter, then the crumb mixture.
Place on baking rack on a sheet pan and bake for 20 minutes in th preheatednoven or unti the chicken tests done.  180 degrees is my benchmark.

Hint:  the bulk food isle (Winco here ) has broken pieces of nuts.   You are going to chop them up anyway, so they save both money and time.  

* you might not use all of the butter, by splitting the butter between two bowls and adding to the first bowl as you need it, you are not contaminating all the butter.  Do not reuse the butter for another purpose.