Chain store ads -WE 5/29/18

QFC

4 days -FSSM
DIGITAL COUPONS

JOHNSONVILE SUSAGE 1.99
WATERMELON .29
ANGEL FOOD CAKE 1.99
CRACKERS .99
ICE CREAM SANDWICHES .99
——————

Hebrew National BOGO

Draper Valley Boneless chicken breast BOGO

Darigold butter 2/5
Tillamook ice cream 2/6

Strawberries 2/5 -lb

Lean ground beef 5.99lb —-NOT

Cream cheese 1.88

ALBERWAYS

Corn on cob 6/1

DIGITAL ONLY- 2 LB CHEESE 3.99 LIMITI ONE

Hot Dog or Hamburgr buns .79@@
BBQ sauce.99@@
Johnsonville sausage 2.99@@
Best Foods 2.49@@
Dryers ice cream 1.99@@

80/20 hamburger 2.99

Sugar 1.99@@

FRED MEYERS

B.S. Chicken breast bogo
80/20 hamburger 3.49
Bacon 3.49
Pork shoulder 1.79
Sweet peppers, cucumbers.88
Strawberries 2.49

Fruit Pie 4.00
Cake mix/ jello 1.00

Cottage cheese/ sour cream 4/5

Notes :   Buy price for BS chicken breast is 2.00 tops.   80/20 hamburger I paid 2.44 a lb, but 2.99 doesn’t seem too bad.   Now would be a good time for a bbq sauce, even if there is a limit. .99 is my buyprice.   I have gotitnfor .55 with a coupon  before.   Coupons seem to be few and far between on food items.    Because of flour shortage, I would stock a little for buns if Icould.   They are a pain in the rear to make.    BBQ season is a good time to stock picnic supplies.   Usually better prices at the time of the fourth.  

Tuesday Notes : motivation

We all get them:   Creative slumps.....writers block....robots heads...whatever you call it , its normal.

Sometimes, just putting on upbeat music and an apron helps.   Sometimes not....

I always get more done if I have a list.   It motivates me to see how many things I can check off the list.   Its a tool to keep yourself on track and doing things in a logical sequence.

I purchased a couple of books at the DT.   One on burgers, and one on chicken.   Both have spice blends and sauce recipes that are not our usual fare and will spice up our meals.   Sometimes it s just fun to try something different .

I remember the first time I has tacos, it was at a friends birthday party.  I was maybe 13.   My mother never did cook tacos.   I made them again when I got married.    My mother cooked pizza in the 50’s, but that was about it for any foods other than the basics. How times change.

Spring is here and summer is not far behind.   One of my tracks for summer is to make a bunch of salads on the weekend or on Kitchen Management day.   Then dinner can be hot dogs ,hamburgers, grilled chicken etc that can be cooked on the grill if it is hot in the kitchen.   Tacos are another meal that you can do in a short amount of time to get out of the hot kitchen.  Precooked ground meat that is in portion controlled bags is a real time and money saver.

Time to get the deck cleaned from the winter and set up to be able to eat outside.

Burgers:

Black and Blue:  blue cheese, salt and pepper
Indian Turkey
Black bean burger
Buffalo chicken burger
Portobello Burger


Chicken:
Curried chicken
Sticky Soy Orange chicken
Chicken with lemon and ginger
Chicken Fajitas
Hosin Chicken with mustard and brown sugar.
Jamaican Jerk Chicken
Asian Chicken
Chili fried chicken

Monday Kitchen Management

Kitchen management is a tool that makes your kitchen more efficient and saves time and money.  It is easier and takes less time to prep ingredients for a weeks worth than doing it one day at a time.   The last thing I want to do at six o’clock at night is to set in to scrub veggies and wash the kitchen. Floor.  
LOL

I picked up two small books at the dollar tree.  Chicken and Burgers.   They have all kinds of recipes for new to me flavors .   Even if you aren't going to make the chicken or ground meat, the sauces are worth the buck.   Liquid and dry measurement equivalents on the back page.  

Reminder of meals

Tacos , refried beans
Chicken pot pie
Pizza
Hot dogs , salad, veggie sticks
Salmon, rice,
Pork stew, bread
Breakfast for dinner.

1. Beans can’t  be cooked too far ahead.   Best done the day of eating.  Fortunately, in the insta pot, all you have to do is dump and push buttons.  
2. Tacos are made from cooked hamburger, so they are a snap. 
3. Pizza crust is made the day of and takes a few minutes.I have a recipe that is dome in the mixer and you can freeze it. 
4. Wash carrots and potatoes, celery, peppers 
5. Check the stock of your rice mix. 
6. Start refrigerator bread 
7. Wash kitchen floor 
8. Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead.  
9. Clean pantry and take inventory . My meal plan page has a list of perishables so you can check off what you have and list what you need.   
10. Wash top of stove and drip pans. 

Groceries on the cheap is a different way of buying and cooking food.   Instead of going to the store and buying just what you need for a week or a day, you have a master list and you buy what you need to replace to replenish stock.   You always have an emergency stock of food and by shopping wisely, you actually spend a lot less than others.   We spend four dollars a day per person (SNAP guidelines I hear ) and supplement a grandchild and have built stock.  You can eat well on four dollars a day.  IT takes buying food at RBP and efficiently scratch cooking.  You don't spend any more time, but you have a whole lot of more food for less money.  Simplify, lower your costs, always have food.  

Grocery Haul

We had to go to meet a lady to share some egg cartons, so we stopped at dollar tree and grocery outlet.   Spoiler:   Wheat flour is a quarter. -pillsbury.

Pizza sauce -DT

Sun dried tomatoes - DT

Whole wheat flour .25

Planters nut  medley 1.99

Nature valley granola cups with almond butter .99

Taco kit .99

Fake n bake cookies .49

Total 7.75

We are under budget including bulk meat purchases.   

Meal plans

Meal Plans are necessary to be organized and save time and money.

• Out -mom has a dinner meeting -chicken pot pie 
• Pizza
• Tacos, refried beans 
• Hot dogs, potato salad, vegetable platter 
• Pork stew , Bread 
• Salmon, rice, green beans 
• Breakfast for Dinner. 

Notes:

1. Chicken Pot Pie is an impossible pie.   Its easy and less caloric.   (Carbs) 
2. Pizza is a dollar family favorite.  Add your favorite toppings.   It really helps if you pull a little bit of something you are chopping for another meal and save it for pizza night.  It saves time and money.    We use the tops of the sweet peppers when slicing them for stir fry or peppers and sausage.   Saving a little cook sausage helps too.   Pepperoni is a dollar for oberto  at the DT.  Pizza sauce is a name brand and cheaper than anywhere else, even scratch at the DT.   We put the jar of pizza sauce in an ice cube tray and freeze it.   Dump the cubes into a zip lock and put it in the freezer door.    2 cubes work for a pizza at a cost of .20/   
3. Taco kits are a dollar at the Grocery Outlet.   When  we can find them for that , I get them because that is the buy price for taco shells.   We have got them for .48 , but that is an aboration .   Refried beans are scratch in the insta pot.   This way they have NO fat.  They do have tomatoes and chillies and scratch beans.   - less salt.   
4. We cook rice in the insta pot....no watched pot and perfect rice every time.   I add chicken stock and some herbs.   
5. Salmon is cheapest at Winco in a bag of individual portions.   It makes for a quick and easy dinner.   Green beans were .39 a can in a case lot with a basket coupon.    It’s one of those times when you have to strike while the deal is there, but it is worth the savings.   Canned veggies are .50 at winco again.   
6. Pork stew cooks in the insta pot and is from pork cut from the pork loin.   A case of when life gives you lemons, make lemonade or roll with the punches.   I got a pork loin for 1.29 a pound at Fred Meyers.   It had fat all through the center part of the loin.   I got beautiful chops cut, but ran into fat in a cross section.   I made cubes out of it.   I have had better luck at Costco Business for pork loins.   Whole carrots are much cheaper than the baby ones.   The best price i have found on baby carrots is a dollar a pound.   Whole carrots at winco are 5 pounds for 2.28. Or .46 a pound—less than 1/2 price.   We wash them in vinegar water and cut them for vegetable trays. 
7. Breakfast for Dinner is a mainstay here.   It can please everyone and everyone cooks.  Its a family affair.   Eggs at winco this week were 1.15.  Buttermilk pancakes are really good.  Buying dried buttermilk is not cheap, but there is no waste and it lasts forever.   

\

QFC Haul

5 Barrilla pasta 2.00/1.00

Betty Crocker cake mix free/1.99

1 sausage roll. 6.49/free

Retail 18.49.  Spent 5.00

73 percent savings.

6 meals under 5.00 -GOC prices -22.01.

The key here is working on a RBP budget.   Ingredients are basic ingredients and no specialty items.
This is 5.00 dinners for the proverbial 4 person family—two adults and two school aged children.
If you spend 1.25 on dinner, and have a bowl of oatmeal and a small addition of fruit ( 35) you have 2.40 left for lunch and staples/ stock.

Pork Stew and Bread 
Carrots, Potatoes, gravy, 1 lb pork cubes. Peasant Bread
2.25
Vegetarian Spaghetti 
Noodles, sauce, diced tomatoes, parm cheese 2.53 add a salad, 1.22.   Totals 3.75
Bread .25,   Salad 1.00 is 5.00

Tacos, refried Beans 

Taco kit, 1/2 lb meat, lettuce, tomato, cheese, refried beans 4.41

Chicken Pot Pie
Peas, carrots chicken, gravy biscuit top. Salad 3.70

Quiche UIKEYINPUTUPARROW

Sausage,  3/4 pound, mushrooms, celery, bisquick crust, salad. 4.73 


Pizza

Pizza crust .19, cheese .50, pizza sauce .20. Total .89
Add toppings:   1/4 lb sausage (see quiche). .61 , 1/2 sweet pepper .50, 1/2 pkg pepperoni .50, parsley , cubed ham (1/4 pkg. ) .50.  Pick 2 .   For a 2.00 pizza.   You can make 2 and still have a simple salad.   Total for a cheese pizza and salad 1.89

Winco Haul.

Note:   Apparently there is a flour shortage.  I kinda alluded to that when the price of some bread products went up and flour at Costco.   For a while , the DT has no orowheat bread.

Winco.

Potatoes 10 bs 1.98
Potato salad 3.98
Eggs 1.15
Hot dog buns .88
Nathans 2.78
Hummus 1.98
Strawberries 1.78
Lettuce .98

Total 16.60

Friday Recipe

Chicken and Pasta -serves 2

1 large chicken breast (8 ounces)
1/4 of a box of penne pasta ( or pasta of choice)
2 T butter
2T flour
1-1/4 cups milk
Garlic pepper to taste
1cup shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line sheet pan with Parchment.   Spray with cooking spray.
Pat chicken dry with a paper towel.  Rub with a little olive oil and sprinkle with a spice mixture.
Brown chicken on both sides in a skillet on the stove for one minute each.
Transfer chicken to baking sheet and cook until done.  Time will depend on its thickness.  5-15 minutes or until juices run clear and it tests done with your meat thermometer.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta and drain.   Pasta cooks in 2 minutes in the insta pot.  1 package needs a quart of water.   Or, boil it on the stove.

In separate pan, heat butter in the pan and whisk in the flour . Cook a minute.   Add milk a little at a time until you have a thickened sauce.   Add cheese.   Stir until melted.  Stir sauce into the noodles.   Garnish with dried parsley.   Add garlic pepper if desired.


Spice mixture:

Equal parts
Paprika
Garlic pepper
Onion powder
Pepper
Thyme
Oregano

Grocery Hauls

Costco

Oatmeal 8.39
Bananas 1.39

QFC
I didnt go last week because I knew this week would be the same ad.

Barilla pasta 1.00
Stoffers Meals ( calculated lunches ) 1.88
Goldfish .99
Jimmy Dean Sausage


19.98

Watching my carb level closely.  Some of the frozen entrees are as low as 17.  

Book Review : Good and Cheap: eat well on 4.00 a day

I bought “Good and Cheap: eat well on 4.00 a day”. It was 10.00 and I can appreciate the fact that they proceeds went to feed the hungry.   I, however, don’t think that the. Examples of food are too practical.   No food is going to do your family any good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.

This woman wrote the book for a graduation project from college for her masters.   I don't think she was too down to earth.   Most people I know would not eat the food she was suggesting and the money just doesn’t add up: it doesn’t sound like she has walked the walk.

Kale
Eggplant
Pineapple, fresh pineapple salad
Tomato scrambled eggs 1.80 a serving (half your budget)
Egg sandwiches with mushroom hash.  1.80 a serving
Quinoa....1.25 a serving -have you priced a bag of quinoa.
Broiled grapefruit 1.00
Dal.????? .60

Corn soup....just corn soup...1.25
Squash soup.....1.50
Tomato soup and toasted chees 2.40–more than half your budget
Kale salad 2.25 -the total protein is an egg yolk for a family batch

Broiled eggplant 2.25


None of this has any meat.

Quinoa 1.25
Tomato soup and toasted cheese 2.40
Kale salad -no protein 2.25
Totals is 5.90.  And hardly what would be RDA for a family.   I do know I wouldnt get my husband to eat quinoa or kale salad.   And probably not my granddaughter.

Sounds good, but doesn’t meet the reality check.

The key to four dollars a day is to buy your food at the lowest possible price.  Buy food that is nutritious and versatile.   Buy food at RBP in bulk when it makes sense.   Buy meats that are low fat.  Eating beef once a week gives you variety and the nutrition that you cant get from any other source that is practical.   10 percent fat hamburger is 2.77 this week at Alberways .   If you fry it and de-fat it the fat left will be minimal.   A 4 ounce portion is plenty .

Efficient scratch cooking, buying in bulk and things that are on sale helps.   Stock at low prices and eat when the prices are high.  Not a strange concept. Stockbrokers have used that concept for years.   Our great grandmother on the farms, put up food for the winter.

You can feed your family on four dollars a day, keep a 4-6 week supply of food and cook food that your family will eat.  I don't know many men or children that are adventurous enough to go without meat and be satisfied with a piece of grilled eggplant or a grilled 1/2 grapefruit for a meal.

And....1/2 a raw egg in anything that isn’t going to be cooked is wrong.    You are playing with fire.
The object is to feed your family, not kill it.  LOL.

Alberways ad

QFC was a two week ad.   Fred Meyers doesn’t mail their ads, so we have to get them on line.

Alberways

Lean ground beef 2.77
Petite Sirloin steaks 2.77

Avacados , tomatoes .88

Bread .99@@
Tuna .59@@
BREYERS 2/5
Strawberries 2/5


About it.

Fred Meyers
MAY 19 ONLY.
WITH DIGITAL COUPON
BUTTER 1.99

Avacados .77
Apples .99
Pears .99
Petite Sirloin. 2.68
Ground Beef 3.77 - 10 percent
Tillamook cheese 2# 4.99
FF split chicken breast BOGO- note not sure if thats a bargain. Or not

Milk ;99
Cream cheese 3/5

Barilla Pasta 1.00

BUY 4 SAVE 4
FF chicken tenders frozen 4.99
Kraft mayo 1.99
BREYERS 2.99

Note all the BOGO are not advertised, there are more tags in the store.


My vote for the rotation protein would be either the 10 percent hamburger at Alberways for 2.77 or
The split chicken breast at Fred Meyers if the price nets 1.50 or less.

Split chicken breast can be advanatageous if you cut the rib portion off, save in a bag. Bag the chicken breast in dollar store quart bags and the quart bags in a zip lock that you mark with the chicken and date.   Before you go to bed, put all the ribs in a slow cooker, fill to within an inch of the top , add vegetable scraps and italian seasoning.  Let cook on low all night.   In the morning, strain the broth into a pan and pick the bones for meat.   Cool the chicken stock in deli cups and when chilled, remove the fat that collects to the top freeze with some headroom.

I have lots of BLANK, what do I do?

Age old question :  I have an abundance of .....what can I do....

• Zucchini in this part of the country grows like wild .  There is always an abundance.   Its s good vegetable that is full of nutrients, but how much can you use.  The obvious answer is to grate and freeze it for chocolate zucchini muffins or cake.  It gets veggies into children by magic.  You can also dehydrate grated zucchini. Or dehydrate and grind it into a powder to add to soups.   Another way to hide it.   My mother’s friend used to cook it with tomatoes an d italian seasoning.   We have cut bigger ones, took the seeds out and filled it with a mixture of sausage and tomatoes and cheese.   
• Tomatoes:  obvious one is pasta sauce, tomato soup, and stuffed tomatoes.   I recently foun d a recipe for roasted tomato, pepper and carrot soup.   You can stuff a tomato with the pulp, breadcrumbs, and some parm.  Top with parm and broil.   We slice tomatoes and cucumbers and use it as a salad. 
• Eggs:  you can dehydrate eggs.  Its messy and takes f o r e v e r , but it does preserve them.  I did it when they were .78 a dozen.  It is a good thing for emergencies.  You reconstitute them and can make scrambled eggs or use them in baking.  My best trick is to make deviled eggs or just make hard cooked eggs.  The easiest way to make hard cooked eggs is to put one in each section of a muffin pan.   Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and bake the eggs for 30 minutes.   Have an ice bath ready and immediately dump the eggs into the water.  I use tongs or a large spoon.   They peel really easy and there is no watched pot. 
• Carrots:  carrot cake or muffins 
• Milk:  pudding, bread pudding . Clam chowder or potato soup. 
•  Potatoes:  french fries, baked potato bar.  Loaded baked potato soup. Chilli fries...I made fries last night.   I cut the potato after it was washed in vinegar water, and soaked it in more vinegar water for 30 minutes to get the starch out.   I dried them with a paper towel and put them in a green container with paper towels between two layers.   They were in the refrigerator until we were ready for dinner.   Put the potatoes in a bowl and dry them off with a paper towel.  Drizzle some olive oil on them and sprinkle with your favorite seasoning.  We use garlic pepper.   We cooked them in the hot fryer for 20 minutes.   Start at 15 and add if needed.  Shake half way through.  We set it at 400 degrees:   You could also bake in a 400 degree oven and turn over half way through.   Air baked, or oven baked fries with little good oil and no salt is a good way to eat french fries.   In moderation !!!
• Bread.  Bread pudding, toasted cheese sandwiches, french toast, stuffing for pork chops.   Make stuffing, add chicken stock, veggies, dried or chopped fine and apple and craisens.  Brown pork chops on both sides and place on stuffing and bake off covered until chops are done.   

Keeping ‘zones” in the refrigerator is a good way to avoid missing something in a ‘black hole” 

• Condiments, large bottles 
• Dairy , a plastic basket groups yogurt. 
• Leftovers 
• We keep cheese: mozzarella  and Mexican blend, a celery box, and miscellaneous items on one shelf. 
• The door is set up to take salad dressings, condiments like mustard, and a butter space.  
• There is a drawer for meat and sliced cheese.
• A drawer for veggies 
• And a drawer for back up cheese.   

Terrific Tuesday -what next?

Working on a schedule for the blog.

Sunday:  meal plans
Monday:   Kitchen management
Tuesday:
Wednesday:  the best of the chain store ads
Thursday:  Grocery Hauls
Friday:  recipe
Saturday:  


Tuesday and Saturday are blank.   With Fred Meyers going to a Wednesday ad, Saturday is changed.  
So, please comment what you want to see.   Hacks?  Dinner Diaries?   Any ideas.  

Kitchen Management Monday

Kitchen Management is a tool that preps food for the week in conjunction with your meal plan.  It saves time and hastle when you reach the hectic dinner hour. 

Reminder of meal plan for the week. 

1. Quiche , fruit
2. Pizza
3. Salmon, seasoned rice, honey gingered carrots 
4. Tacos, refried beans (scratch) 
5. Stuffed chicken breast , baked potato, veggies. 
6. Chicken tenders, oven fries, veggie tray 
7. Breakfast for Dinner

Notes 

1. Wash and wax kitchen floor 
2. Clean refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀 
3. Clean and disinfect countertops and sinks.
4. Straighten pantry 
5. Make bacon for chicken, ham and bacon quiche. 
6. Cook a chicken breast in the insta pot.  (Or poach in the microwave. ) 
7. Wash fruit, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes 
8. Check the rice mix and make some if needed 
9. Mark meal plan if something needs to be defrosted.   (Chicken) it takes 2 days.  

Winco haul

Winco haul for vegetables and fruit

Celery .88
Granny Smith apples .98
Jonigold apples .98
Strawberries 1.98
Lettauce .98
Bar S bacon 2.48
French bread .95

Total 17.43

Real Meal Plans

Meal Plans are a necessary part of groceries on the cheap.  They keep you organized.   We use a protein based matrix.   It just makes for a varied selection of meals and makes meal plans efficiently in a matter of minutes.

• Quiche, field green salad 
• Pizza 
• Salmon, rice, glazed carrots 
• Tacos, refried beans 
• Stuffed chicken, baked potatoes ,peas 
• Chicken tenders, oven fries, vegetable platter 
• Breakfast for dinner.  

Notes 

1. Quiche is a favorite and we need to use up eggs.   
2. Pizza , another favorite can use up leftovers and costs a dollar a cheese pizza when make from scratch.  Scratch pizza crust takes less than five minutes and cost .19. The cost at safeways and central market was priced at 1.50 and 2.00.
3. Salmon is frozen.   Note that all salmon we get is frozen. They freeze it on the boat to keep it fresh.   What you buy in the store has been previously frozen.   Rice is a mix made from scratch with chicken stock and herbs.  Carrots glazed with butter, honey, and ginger.  
4. Tacos are with a kit we got for a dollar. Homemade Insta pot refried beans. These refried beans have no fat.   
5. Chicken was purchased for a dollar a pound.  Oven fries are made in convection oven and have a spray of oil on them or are tossed with olive oil.   
6. Chicken tenders are made with a coating of breadcrumbs, nuts, and parm cheese.  
7. Breakfast for dinner is a family affair.   Everyone contributes.   A healthy family time.   

Meal Plans

Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers .  
Yesterday, we went to the GO .  ( a discount grocery store.). I found stewed tomatoes, organic, hunts for 3/1.00.  The pull date was March on some and June on others.   I bought six that had June pull dates.   I researched the cost of them.   Target has them for 1.38 which was cheaper than Wallmart.  
I have been told that you cant eat on four dollars a day.   I have also had people tell me that all they could eat was potato chips and ramen noodles.  You can eat well on four dollars a day.  We eat on less than four dollars a day and we supplement a grandchild and have grown a stock.   We eat well.   Salmon, Pork Loin, Boneless, skinless chicken breast, and supplement eggs, cheese, and beans.  
It can be done and it can take no more time than you are spending now.   It does take a little effort.  

I didn't start out to feed us on four dollars a day.   I just wanted to cut our food costs.  We live in the 7th highest COL place in the US, so I read.   Judging from the food haul I watch on a daily basis, it seems right.   Because I write this blog, I set out to try every cost cutting food hack I could logically do.  Some are not going to be tried here.   Like making stock from already eaten chicken parts.   YUK!  But if it was reasonable, we tried it.   The last ting that I tackled was making bread.   I did find bread recipes that were almost free and easy.....almost no money and almost no time is a good thing.

When you are on a fixed income and social security give us a 132.00 a YEAR raise and. Your taxes and insurances go up 2000., its a good thing that we can eat well on a shoestring.   Buy shopping wisely, we can still have a few luxuries .

By attacking the large food bill on many angles you can collectively lower your food bill dramatically.

• Shop wisely.   Set rock bottom prices on the things you use on a regular basis.   Don't buy those things until they are at or below the RBP.   When you do, buy in bulk within reason.   I would start at a 4-6 week supply of that particular food.   If you use 2 cans of tomatoes a week, that means you would keep 8-12 cans.   Most cupboards can take that .   The average family has a list of 10-15 items they use on a regular basis.  
• Buy meat and some staples in bulk.   Rotate meat and buy one thing a week , enough to supply your family for 4-6 weeks.   PorkLoin, chicken breast, and hamburger are good choices.  They are easily purchased at a two dollar a pound average and are versatile to avoid monotonous dinners.  Flour, rice, and oatmeal are items we buy at costco in bulk because they save a lot of money.  Cheese at the business costco is cheapest.   There are sales lately at the chain stores, sometimes with digital coupons and limited times.   I want two dollars a pound.  
• Meal plan.   Just Meal Plan. 
• Efficient scratch cook.  Pinterest and the internet are full of recipes.  An insta pot is worth far more than it cost.  Just making beans and rice instead of buying canned or redi rice. Or instant rice will pay for itself in less than a year for the average family.  
• Make bread and muffins and pancakes from scratch.   A batch of pancakes are less than 30 cents.  They cost five dollars.   A artisan loaf of bread is upwards of three dollars.  It cost a quarter.   Not a quarter of the price—-twenty five cents.   And it takes 10 minutes spread between two days.   
• Portion control.  No one needs to eat a two pound roast at one sitting.  Nutritionists will tell you that three squares a day is better than waiting until dinner and gorging yourself.   Portion control is good for your waistline and good for your budget.  

Easy,   Nothing is rocket science.   But the savings are remarkable.  Start with one concept.  When that is comfortable, add another.    Hope this helps.   Four dollars a day is attainable.   

Grocery outlet and DT haul

We went to amtown a few towns away.  I thought I could get a few more diced chillis and holiday nuts.   There were no more of those items.    I did find taco kits for a dollar.   I have purchased them from grocery outlet before.   These were a different brand.  But getting the taco sauce and seasoning  along with the shells for the same price as the shells is good.

Stewed tomatoes, hunts were 3/1.  Some were dated March, other’s June.  I bought 6.  I know I can use six before June date.

You can score good if you are not season sensitive.   Pumpkin Oreo type cookies are a dollar.   They are not stale dated, just seasonal.  

Dollar tree netted ancient grains suddenly salad , and tortilla chips for taco soup.  

Mexican Chicken casserole......

Gather ingredients,   Diced mild green chillies , diced tomatoes, drained. Pasts and cheese,   

Cook pasta. I used the insta pot with a pound of pasta and a quart plus of water,   

Didn’t wind up adding the pasta because it was good without and I’m trying to avoid some carbs, ,   

Shredded chicken .  I cooked a chicken breast in the instant pot from frozen for 15 minutes. Place on rack and add two cups of water . Sometimes,  I add chicken stock instead of water,   

Layer the chicken, chillies, diced tomatoes, and cheese.  I used a blend of any these I had in the cheese drawer,   Sharp cheddar, white cheddar, and some parm.   

Normally, I would add cooked pasta and top with some reserved cheese,   This would taste good In a quesadilla.