What we ate in September

Note😜. Some of these days I was stopped in my tracks with a torn muscle in my shoulder.  Gramps cooked.  Bet you can guess which days that was!!

1. Chicken and rice casserole 
2. Pancakes, bacon, strawberries 
3. Leftovers 
4. Burrito bowls
5. Sliders, fries, salad 
6. Brats, corn on cob, peppers 
7. Pizza
8. Ribs, peas, baked potatoes 
9. Potluck. Pasta salad 
10. Chicken nuggets, peas, oven fries 
11. Chicken strips, fries, vegetable 
12. Hamburgers. Oven fries, strawberries and grapes 
13. Taco bake 
14. Mac and cheese with ham , fruit cup 
15. Sliders. Fries. Fruit
16. Sausage, acorn squash, rolls 
17. Vegetable soup 
18. Hamburgers 
19. Chicken soup 
20. Chicken breast, 
21. Chicken salad 
22. Roast beef sandwiches 
23. Spaghetti, salad 
24. Tuna melts 
25. Chop salad 
26. Chicken tenders, fries 
27. Stew 
28. Chicken pot pie 
29. Shrimp fettuccine, peas 
30. Bacon, eggs, French Toast. 

Saturday concepts.

Groceries on the cheap takes a different approach to grocery shopping,   In a lot of ways it simplifies things.  No more making a list and forgetting it on the kitchen counter.   No more getting home and forgetting so,etching that you need for the meal plan you have already written.  No more open g the cupboard and refrigerator the day before payday and playing the Mother Hubbard song.

And, you can do this for four dollars a day,   There are two of us, and we have a granddaughter that eats with us sometimes.   I have grown and maintained a stock.  We always have fresh fruits and vegetables in season.   This year, we have averaged 51.89 a week.   Four dollars a day equals 55.00 a week.   We eat regular food.  Pork loin roast, chicken pot pie, burritos, enchaladas, tacos, spaghetti , stew, pizza. Garden salads.and more.

The secret is not remarkable,   You don’t pay full price for your food,   You simplify by purchasing scratch ingredients that are versatile and inexpensive and keep a stock by purchasing them in a regulated bulk.   The difference between eating once and eating twice is that you buy your food for 1/2 price or less and for the same amount of money, you have two items instead of one.

Protein is your most expensive item on your grocery list,   Instead of buying five or six packages of meat, you buy one that is on a good sale and buy enough of that meat to make as many meals as you plan to eat on the following four to six weeks.  If you eat chicken twice a week, you will need 8 meals worth,   Buy it in bulk, break it down onto meal sized bags and freeze what you aren’t going to eat that week.  You can buy split chicken breast for as low as .88 a pound.  boneless, skinless chicken breast can be 8.00 a pound.   A little work and you have chicken stock for free instead of 3.00 a quart, and chicken pieces for tacos or a casserole, and your chicken breast at .88 a pound.

Pork loin can be purchased anywhere between 1.00 and 1.89 a pound.  Again, a little work and your center cut pork chops are 1.00 a pound instead of 3.50.

One of the biggest labor saving services is to buy a bulk package or tube of hamburger at a good price and cook and defat it while you are putting the groceries away.  Bag it in meal sized portions .  We use quart bags from the DT and out them in good zip lock gallon bags and label them ground beef and the date.  Dinner time just got sooo much easier,   I can make spaghetti or taco dinner in 15 minutes hands on time.  That’s less time than ordering a pizza and  waiting for it to come. Or waiting at a restaurant.

By learning how to scratch cook efficiently a handful of meals, you can save the preservatives and a lot of money.

There is a concept of virtual paycheck.  If you figure how much you save between scratch and that meal on a bag or box, and divide it by the extra amount of time you spent making the scratch, you will get an amount per  hour.  If it’s ten cents or you spent more, forget it.  Many times, the amount is remarkable.

My daughter and I thoroughly dissected and made a cheeseburger macaroni meal.   The box had 4.2 ounces of pasta.   (.25) and 1.57 ounces (13.00 a pound based in what we paid for the box) of a cheese sauce that had no cheese on it and did have a multitude of ingredients we needed a science degree to know what they were.    You added all the good ingredients.   Why,nit just add the good ingredients from scratch and avoid the science.   It was actually cheaper to scratch and you had a better product with more nutrition.

We have a buy price for things we use in a regular basis.   If the price is too high and I’m not in dire need or there is not  a substitute, I don’t buy it.   When it is a low price, buy as many as you need for four to six weeks. ( the average cycle on sales) .

A little time can make a lot of difference between eating well for low money, or struggling to make dinner with no ingredients.

Better, cheaper, faster : ham balls

A good recipe if you hav an abundance of ham left from a holiday dinner in the freezer.   An old time recipe.

Ham Balls

1 lb ground ham. **
1\3 cup bread crumbs
1T brown sugar
1/2 cup milk

Mix together and form balls.  Place balls in a 12 cup muffin tin.

Mix sauce.
1/3 cup brown sugar and 1 tbls prepared mustard
Brush over balls

Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the balls are heated through.
Serve over Cooked rice.

Nice add:   Pineapple chunks to the rice.

** cooked . Ham can be chopped in a food processer or ground with a grinder on the kitchen aid mixer, or ground with great grandmas manual grinder.  Manual grinders can be found at antique stores and estate sales.

Grocery Hauls 9/28/18

Safeways

Broccolli 1.02
Grapes 2.28
Cheese 4 lbs 7.98
Cheese, grated 1.00
Linguine 4.00

Total 16.28

Fred Meyers

16 chicken noodle soup 1.00 less 2.00 coupons
Pork bbq 3.99 less .55

Total 17.44

Winco

French bread .95
Bacon 2- 4.96
Ice cream 3.83
Buns .92
Fries 1.98
Tomatoes 1.56
Salad 2.68
Spinach 3.98
Peppers .48
Peppers 1.96
Total 23.30

Total 57.02

1.02 over.    
Some long term storage.

Chain store ads

Not the best of weeks for bargains,

QFC

Milk .99
Pie , pumpkin 3.99

Fred Meyers
B5S5 sale
Land of lakes butter 2.49
Dreyers 2.49
Yoplait refrigerator yogurt 2.99 - coupons?

DiGiorno pizza 4.99
Pork loin BOGO
Graoes 1.99
Milk .99
Campbell’s soup 1.00   Coupons.
Ragu  2/3

80/20 ground beef 3.49
Sour  cream large 2/4

Alberways

Eggs .99@@
Bacon 2.99@@
Bread .89@@

Frozen vegetables 1.00
Pillsbury grands 3/5 coupons

Digital coupons -or paper
Kens salad dressing 1.99 - .75 coupons dated 9/30. ***. Not sure if they work
Salsa 1.79

How did she do that - scratch cooking

One of the Rights of Youth  is chocolate pudding!    Goes along with watermelon and corn on the cob!  Scratch pudding can take no longer than the boxed stuff, but it is free of preservatives and you can make it from stock food you have in hand,   Simplify your pantry and life will be easier.  

Chocolate Pudding in the microwave

1/4 cup cocoa powder (raw without sugar)
2 T cornstarch
1-1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla


Combine cocoa and cornstarch on a microwave safe large glass measuring bowl and whisk in milk until blended.  Microwave on high 2 minutes . Reduce heat to 70 percent and cook another 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 minutes, stirring every 1-1/2 minutes or until mixture has thickened,

Stir in sugar and vanilla,   Let stand for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep smooth. Transfer to individual cups and cover with plastic wrap to keep from forming a skin,      Refrigerate.

Serves 4.

Kitchen Management aka meal prep

Monday here is kitchen Management aka meal prep day.  It is a tool that takes an hour, but  saves  hours in the long run.

Reminder of meals

• Stew with potatoes, carrots , herbs , peas 
• Pizza
• Pork loin , baked potatoes, veggie 
• Chicken enchaladas 
• Spaghetti , french bread, salad 
• Tuna melts 
• Breakfast for dinner 

1. Wash kitchen floor 
2. Clean refrigerator, and dump anything dead and note what needs to be used soon, 
3. Wash and disinfect counters  and sinks and drains. 
4. Clean the floor under  the refrigerator. 
5. Wash potatoes and carrots with vinegar water and set to dry 
6. Thaw  pork loin 
7. Make muffins 
8. Organize freezer. 

Meal plans

Meal plans are a tool that makes for a smoother experience in the dinner time.   You know what ingredients you will need, you know what might have to come out of the freezer in the morning, and left is just easier.

We meal plan on a matrix based on protein.   It gives a variety of meals and nutritional choices.

• Pork stew with potatoes, carrots, peas, and herbs, 
• Pizza 
• Pork loin, baked potatoes. Broccoli 
• Chicken enchiladas , salad 
• Spaghetti on the insta pot. 😀, salad , French bread 
• Tuna  melts. Salad 
• Breakfast for dinner 

 Notes : 

This week’s grocery shopping had a lot of basic needs on bulk.   Chicken noodle soup was on sale and there were coupons to make it about 1/2 price.   It is a good go to especially if someone is sick.

Cheese was on sale at safeways and we had coupons.  Two dollars and fifty cents is my buy price and it was 2.00 a pound.

Pork cubes are from the butt end of a pork loin.  Cutting the tapered down ends of the meat 

and making stew meat or stir fry is a good way to assure even pork chops.  The rest of the loin is cut  into roasts and center cut pork chops.   Butchering your own saves a lot of money...as much as 2.50 a pound. Protein is the most expensive part of your food budget, so saving a lot on it makes good sense. 

Pizza from scratch costs out at a dollar if you are buying your ingredients at RBP.   That’s is probably  why there are so many pizza places out there,  considering that those places get wholesale prices on their ingredients, they are making a lot of money.  It is easy , anyone can do it .  Our granddaughter at four yo could do it.  You can pat or roll the crust and the DT has most of the ingredients cheap, name brands.  Save bits from other meals and freeze.  Dedicate a door she,f in your freezer and pizza is a piece of cake—or maybe pie.  LOL

Pork loin Roast is from the end of the pork loin, after the stew or stir fry meat.  Roast it on the oven and add potatoes and a vegetable —Classic Sunday dinner,   There have been recipes out there lately with cranberry glaze or some with an Asian flare, 

Chicken enchiladas are easy and sauce can be made simply using a roux ( white sauce technique. 

Basically, make the flour and oil paste, add chicken stock and sour cream.   We add some of a can of mild chillis (Winco).  Fill tortillas with chopped cooked chicken and a little sauce, cheese and chillies. Pour sauce on bottom of a baking pan, place rolled tortillas on top of sauce and top with sauce and grated cheese.  Bake off at 350 degrees until the edges are bubbly.  Everything going in is edible and cooked if needed, so you are just warming it up to a desired temperature,   

Spaghetti is a favorite of many families.  We make it on the insta pot (8 minutes).  French bread is less than a dollar at Winco or it costs about 30 cents to make. Add a salad . 

Tuna melts are made with English muffins.  Sometimes  they can be found at the DT.  Orowheat, or the cheapest price is at Fred Meyer .  They are usually in a basket by the eggs.   

Breakfast for dinner is a hit here.  It is a relaxing way to eat breakfast. Most mornings are grab some breakfast and get out the door.  Buttermilk pancakes are good.  Making your own mix is easy.  It is better price wise to omit the milk powder and use milk instead of water when you make the mix.  My prices on line for dry milk are prohibitive,  I got my dry milk last time at Winco in  the bulk isle.  

Eggs  continue  to be close to a dollar on some places.  Yogurt is on sale and there are coupons for it .

Cinnamon rolls have been on dollar sales lately. 

Thanks for stopping by...

Tips and tricks to organize your freezer / refrigerator.

We are, after twenty years, getting a new fridge.  It’s been a long time coming and it is way past it’s designated useful life.   Lol

So, I thought it would be a good time to discuss organizing your freezer and refrigerator.

Putting like things on a shelf makes finding them in a hurry a lot easier.

Usually the top shelf is the tallest,   That’s where we put things like pickle jars and condiments,  

Using those larger plastic containers that we aren’t supposed to store food in is a good way to contain the clutter,   We have one for yogurt cups.  Another for any items like tube biscuits.
Dairy except milk on the door, is one one shelf excluding eggs.  

The next shelf has tortillas and eggs.   We keep eggs in lock and lock egg keeper.  It really saves of someone  drops the eggs,  like that would ever happen. Lol

The bottom shelf before the bins, has a celery keeper, cheese keepers, and any refrigerator dishes with leftovers or fruit that has been prepped.

The door has a space for butter, and cream cheese, a shelf for milk and juices, and two for condiments,   I separate sweet and savory condiments so they are easier to find,

This is just our organization. You can make your own,

The next drawers are for meat, vegetables and cheese.


The freezer.   We have a side by side.   I hated it at first, but looking at the options now, I prefer it,  
The huge black holes of a freezer would make it a chore to find anything.

In the extra freezer, o got bins from the dollar tree.   All of one thing  is in one bin,  it makes life a
whole lot easier.   In the side by side, I marked the bins with chicken, pork, beef, and fish/ vegetables.  
The doors of the freezer have vegetables, the ingredients for a pizza, and peppers.  

If you keep a bag for anything that can go on a pizza 🍕 takes away from when you are cooking meat or vegetables, and frozen pizza sauce from the jar at the dollar tree, it is really easy to throw a pizza together,   Cut small, frozen meat and veggies thaw and cook quickly at the high heat you cook a pizza.  

We also save scraps for chicken stock.  It is a good use of those tiny shelf’s in the door of a side by side freezer.  

With a little organization , gone are the days of moving a bunch of things to find what you want and buying duplicates because you think you are out of something.

Save time and money.


 

Friday recipes. : insta pot quick meals

I don’t have stock on insta pot, but I wish I did.   It is one of the most versatile and time and money savings workhorse on the kitchen.

Last night we had chicken pot pie,  earlier in the day I put a large chicken breast on the pot with a cup and a half of water.  You always have to add liquid to the pot, that’s what makes the steam.
I set it in poultry for 18 minutes because it was a large and thick breast.   When it was done and de pressurized, I removed it from the pot, checked to be sure it was dime, amd out it in a quart container in the refrigerator.   At dinner time, I cut the chicken on bite sized pieces, added frozen mixed veggies and a can of cream of mushroom soup with a half can of milk.   Put all of it on a casserole amd put it covered in the oven @ 375 for half an hour.  I then made the crescent rolls I got for a dollar last week and we had chicken pot pie.  

Insta pot spaghetti

Place in bottom of insta pot insert,
8 ounces of cooked ground meat
8 ounces (  1/2 a box) of spaghetti that you have broken in half and spread out in a Corel around the meat.  Almost  like a birds nest.
Add a jar or can of pasta sauce
Add 2 cups of broth of your choice pouring it around the Edge of the noodles.
Cover, seal, and  process 8 minutes.
Quick release

Stew is another thing that takes 35 minutes instead of hours.  

Rice is equal parts of rice and water or broth and put the lid on, seal, and push the rice button.

My favorite is making beans without the soak, rinse, and cook with new water for hours.   Watched pot.
Measure the beans.   You should get 3 times the volume .   Wash the beans and pick out any that don’t look good or the occasional rock.
Pour in the insta pot insert.
Cover with water past your second knuckle.
Cover, seal , and push the bean button.  
This will make well done beans, if you want more firm beans reduce the time a couple of minutes.  
NEVER fill the pot more than 1/2 full if you are cooking anything that will expand  like beans, rice, or noodles.  

The internet is full of good recipes.  Chili is a good and inexpensive meal too.  You can cook the beans and add your ingredients and switch the pot to be a slow cooker.  




It’s a slow cooker, a rice cooker, a pressure cooker and you can sauté and some let you make yogurt.

Grocery Hauls 9/21/18

Fred Meyers

Peppers .96
Sausage, chicken and a beef 2/5
Barilla pasta .96
Cottage cheese .96
Hawaiian rolls .96
Strawberries 3.96
Cinnamon rolls
Crescent rolls
Grapes
Scampi BOGO @7.99
Angus beef patties 1.5 lbs 3.99
Butter 2/5
Cucumber
Coffee 5.99
Eggs .96

Total 49.80

Big lots 

Baking powder 1.30/ 2.60

Grocery outlet 

Cheese 1.99

Squash .99

Pepperoni 2.49

Total 8.07

Grand total 57.87

.87 over budget of 4.00 a day.  

Total is under 

Chain store ads

Safeways is. It up on the internet yet and the mail person didn’t bring it,


QFC

Digital Friday and Saturday
Pork 1/2 loin 1.49 lb
Can use 5 times in one transaction,

Buy 5 save 5

Milano cookies 1.99
Dreyers 2.49

FRED MEYERS
Fred Meyers digital Friday and Saturday
Hamburger 80/20 3 lb roll 1.88

Gala apples .99
Soup 1.00 coupons?
Grapes 1.99
Pears .99
Kroger cinnamon rolls or crescents 1.00

Sargent cheese 8 Oz BOGO -coupons ?



Safeways

Cabbage .39
Grapes 1.28
Broccoli .99

Dreyers 2.99

Digital coupon - 10 ct tortillas .88

Milk 1.99@@ limit 2
Progresso soup .99@@limit 4
Bread 1.99@@ limit 2
Barilla pasta .99@@limit 4

Oven joy bread .99

Don’t buy this DBT

6 muffins 3.99 - 10 minutes hot out of the oven about a buck.
Sour cream, 1.26 - a dollar last week at FM
80/20 hamburger 3.99- 1.88 at FM on friday or Saturday   with a digital
Bread - orowheat is a dollar at the DT .

How did she do that? Scratch cooking

Oven roasted sausage and vegetables 

This time I separated the sausage from the vegetables because a family member is vegan. 

Cut up a variety of vegetables in somewhat  equal sizes.  

Toss them with olive oil. 

Shake on seasoning of choice,  we like garlic pepper. 

Some like Monterey steak seasoning 

Bake at anywhere between 350amd 400degrees for 30-45 monitors or until potatoes are tender, 

Potatoes. 

Peppers

Onion 

Carrots

Radishes 

Broccolli 

Turnips 

just about any root  vegetables, 

Monday Kitchen Management aka food prep

Kitchen management is a tool that saves time and money 💰 in the kitchen.  If things are organized , it os more likely that you will be encouraged to scratch cook,   Scratch cooking is more healthy because you aren’t consuming fillers  or chemicals needed to preserve food.   Years ago I wrote that convenience foods start with $$$$.    Some things are drastically cheaoer to make and are also very easy to make and take little time,   The things that take a lot of time or are actually cheaper than scratch, it makes more sense to buy.   Most of us lead busy lives and can’t spend all day on the kitchen,   I, for one , don’t have the stamina to work all day on the kitchen.  Sometimes my granddaughter will help.

Meal plans

• Vegetable bean soup
• Pizza
• Hamburgers, oven fries 
• Gnocchi with Alfredo sauce and peas and chicken , crescent rolls
• Chicken sausage, potatoes and carrots roasted 
• Ham and cheese sliders , salad 
• Breakfast for dinner 

1. Make vegetable soup 
2. Cook beans 
3. Wash potatoes and carrots with vinegar,  according to a chemist professor, most pesticides are water soluble.   Washing your vegetables is a good thing, 
4. Make pancake mix.  Note, using milk powder can be expensove, but you can just use milk instead of water when you are making the mix for cooking,    Just start with the two cups until the right consistency. I think I got my milk at Winco in the bulk isle,   It seem to be very expensive on line.  There are 3.5 cups of milk on a pound,   The cost comes to .59 a batch, still a lot cheaper than ready made.  
5. Wash kitchen floor. 
6. Wash and disinfect countertops and sinks and drains.
7. Clean out the refrigerator and dump anything dead.  Note what needs to be used up. Yogurt is good to make parfaits out of with granola (homemade) and fruit, 

Sunday meal plans

Meal plans are a kitchen management tool that saves time and money.  It makes meal time a lot less hectic.

This time I am working on eating down the pantry and freezer.

• Vegetable bean soup, cheesy rolls 
• Pizza 
• Hamburgers, oven fries, veggie platter 
• Gnocchi with Alfredo sauce and peas, crescent rolls 
• Chicken sausage, potatoes and carrots , sheet pan oven roasted 
• Ham and cheese sliders , fruit cup, salad 
• Breakfast for dinner 

Notes :

1. Soup can be made in a slow cooker and ready when people are ready to eat.  Cheesy rokls are biscuits with cheese inside.  We got biscuits for a dollar on sale,   
2. Pizza is a no brainier,  scratch pizza cost a buck.  Add bits of leftovers, 
3. Hamburgers are from the hamburger patties we got at Fred Meyers for two dollars a pound, bond are from the bread outlet store,  s ranch fries and a veggie platter , carrots, celery and pepper strips.   
4. Gnocchi is new for us, scratch Alfredo sauce and peas from the freezer, gnocchi is from the DT, 
5. Chicken sausage was in sake for 2.50 for a full rope.  We will use 1;2 because there are only two of us.   Roasted on the oven on a sheet pan covered with parchment.  Olive oil and garlic salt, 
6. Ham and cheese sliders.   Ham from a three pack on sale at Costco.  A little over two dollars a pack.   Cheese from GO at two dollars a package.   Slider rolls are from Fred Meyers on their .96 sale. 
7. Breakfast for dinner is a family meal.  Everyone contributes to cooking.  Buttermilk pancakes are from a homemade mix.  Add bacon 🥓 and fruit,   

Saving money and time

Saving money can be a hard chore, or you can incorporate ways to save a bit here and a bit there,   Just getting into little habits can save a lot and waste less food.   They are saying that we throw 40 percent of our food away in America.  That is a hard number  for me to swallow, but none the less, we do waste food.

• Knowing what we are going to eat on a regular basis is a good starting point.  Then,  stock the shelf stable and freezer ingredients that you use in a regular basis.   By having a stock on hand, you can always find dinner in a hurry or not.   
• Prepping hamburger or other ground meat when you get it home in bulk supply will  save a lot of money and time.  It saves money because you are buying it at the RBP.  It saves time because you are cooking and de fatting once and cleaning the dishes once.  You are also breaking the batch down on meal sized portions so there is no waste. It’s hard to buy a package of meat just the right size for YOUR family.  
• Already precooked  hamburger can make tacos in 15 minutes flat.  Probably less time than  calling  the pizza delivery and waiting on hold and then waiting for the pizza.   
• Buy in bulk what makes sense to buy in bulk.  A 25 pound bag of flour at Costco is 7.00.  A 6 pack of muffins is 5.00.  A bag of frozen pancakes is 3.00.  The savings are enormous.  Make your own muffin and pancake mixes when you have free time.  Muffins can happen  in five minutes real time.  The baking time can happen while you are doing the dinner dishes or washing a load of clothes.
•    Making pancakes 🥞 ahead of .time or making extra when you are eating pancakes can save time and money by freezing them between papers cut from the cereal box liners and putting them in the microwave for 45 seconds . 
• Making mixes, making chicken or vegetable stock, and breadcrumbs and croutons from your garbage or bulk ingredients can save a lot.  It can free up money to be able to buy the real thing instead of fake in some instances.  There is no comparison in real maple syrup and sugar water, or real Parmesean cheese instead of the stuff in a green can, real butter, olive oil, or vanilla. Vanilla right now is terrible in price.  But, a little goes a long ways. 
• Save the heels of bread or bread that is getting stale.  I put it through the food processor and place it on a sheet pan.   When the oven is still hot from baking, Put the sheet pan in and close the door.  Stir after a few minutes.   This toasts the bread .  When it is completely dry, place them in a air tight  container. 
• Wash your potatoes, carrots,  celery and save the ends of the celery and the peels in a bag in the freezer door. Set aside a particular door.  When you are cooking chicken bones for stock, throw them in the stock.   
• As you are chopping or cooking anything that can go on a pizza, set aside a little and out in a bag, one for each meat and one for veggies.   Buy a jar of pizza sauce at the DT and freeze it in an ice cube tray.  If you don’t   have an ice cube tray, the DT has them too.   When the sauce is frozen, snap the cubes out and put them in a quart bag,   Put all the pizza things on a group in the freezer door.   When you are ready to make a scratch pizza that costs a dollar without toppings, you can add the ingredients and sauce. We call that almost free pizza. LOL
• Making a cream soup base ahead is another money saver.   If you are lucky these days,you can find cream soup for a dollar,  even at that low price, the base is cheaper and more convenient,   It takes less room up in the cabinet, and you just add water and stir a few minutes.   
• Making your own taco seasoning is cheaper and you control the heat  you want it. Besides the fact that it has no preservatives.   
• Making your own rice mix is the same thing,   It saves a lot of money,.   Surprisingly, all this done one batch a week or so takes realitively little time. 
• Go to the store with a good idea of what you are going to buy,   If you are really right on money, make a list.   Buy what you can that is at a RBP.  Never say never, but never buy anything at full price unless it is a dire necessity.  Stick to your plan, 70 to 80 percent of purchases in a supermarket are impulse buys. Knowing  that saves tons of money.  Now, there are times when buying something that isn’t on your list and changing your meal plan can be a asset.   This week, we went to Fred Meyer.   Scampi was 8.00 BOGO.  It was a good random  addition, hamburger patties were 4.00 for 2 pounds.  I’m am not passing up two dollar a pound hamburger. LOL.  We just changed our meal plan.  I had hamburger buns  on the freezer because  we bought a month’s worth of bread at the bread outlet earlier his month,  we also got some things at the DT because orowheat bread is back in limited supply.  We could only get bread and bagels.  But since cream cheese was a dollar at qfc, that works great for us.  

To recap, buy I’m bulk when it makes sense, make mixes for things you buy on a regular basis, buy what you need at RBP and as much as you will need for a 4 to 6 week period, save designated garbage to use in ways to save money.  

Don’t buy chicken stock at 3.00 a quart, breadcrumbs at 2.40 a pound, pizza at 20.00 or muffins at 5.00.  All those things can be made in a matter of minutes and making  them saves a lot of money. 

You don’t have to eat rice and beans or top ramen and potato chips to eat on a four dollar a day budget.   We have been eating in less for 20 months now and we have a stock of food too.  We live in one of the 7 most costly places to buy food.   It just takes some education and time to change buying habits.   

Buy Prices

Groceries on the cheap takes a different approach to buying your groceries.  The end result is that you always have food in the house and you are buying it most of the time at wholesale prices.   This allows us to eat well on less than four dollars a day.  We spend four dollars a day but built and maintain a stock of groceries.

Instead of going to the store and buying just what you need, and maybe forgetting to buy something, or having 50 things to oit away when you get home, you simplify things by purchasing 1) a rotation protein, 2) dairy and produce, and 3) enough of something on your stock list that is at a RBP to last you 4-6 weeks.  Example:  if you eat green beans twice a week and use 1can , you want to buy 8-12 cans.  Now, when I got green beans for .39, I bought 2 twelve can cases.   It’s nit like they aren’t going to get eaten.   Lol

Our stock  items and the RBP. Your list may very well be different, but this gives you an idea.

Rice,25 lbs , Costco 8.49
Flour , 20 lbs Costco 7.00
Oatmeal , 10 lbs , Costco 8.29
Tea bags
Corn starch
Baking powder
Powdered sugar
Dry milk
Dry buttermilk -amazon
Bisquick
Brown sugar
Cane sugar
Cake mix  1.00 as low as .88
Lemon juice
Vanilla
Mayo
Pumpkin



Salt
Vegetable stock boullion
Chicken stock boullion
Tomato stock boullion
Beef better than boullion
Soy sauce
Bbq sauce 1.00
Black olives, sliced Winco .72
Maple syrup
Instant mashed potatoes - Winco .86
Baking soda
Craisens
Chocolate chips - bulk Winco
Cocoa -baking
Milk green chillies -.winco .69
Ketchup
Mustard


Tortillas - 1.00 RBP -.50
Suddenly salad 1.00 as low as .75 w coupons
Salsa in a jar

Albacore Tuna - Costco
Canned salmon- Costco
Canned chicken -1.00 emergencies
Kidney beans
Black beans
Pinto beans - DT 1.00/1.5 lbs
Popcorn - Costco about 12.00
Pepperoni DT

Green beans - .50 as low as .39
Corn .50 as low as .39

Pasta - 1.00 or less
Noodles
Pasta sauce - 1.00 glass 1.50
Pizza sauce -DT
Taco shells -1.00
Taco kits when they are a dollar at GO
Canned diced tomatoes .50 or less


Some of these things are bought once probably a year.
Some are bought best during specific months when they go on mega sales.
Picnic supplies are best near the summer  holidays .
Baking supplies are best during the Christmas holidays - closer to thanksgiving .
Buy sugar and salt and soda in bulk when they are at a RBP.  They are versatile and never spoil.
Soda and vinegar are cheap at Costco and can be used for cleaning as well as eating,
If you are a coffee drinker, I would keep a jar of instant in the emergency space.

Friday Recipe

Beef Tortilla Taco Casserole 

Pillsbury recipe
on Pillsbury.com


We made this last night. Since the recipe serves 8 and makes an 9 X 13 pan, I cut the recipe down to work with our 6X10 pan to serve 4 instead.

Basically:

• spray your baking pan with a cooking spray 
• line the bottom of the pan with flour tortillas , cut to fit. 
• In a skillet, I placed my already cooked and de fatted ground beef, salsa, corn, taco seasoning part of a bell pepper and a little water.   
• simmer the skillet a little while to combine the flavors. 
• layer meat mixture on top of the tortillas , 
• then a layer of Mexican blend cheese ( they used Monterrey Jack blend, shredded) 
• repeat a layer of tortillas, meat mixture and cheese. 
• bake in a 350 degree oven 35 to 40 minutes or until it is bubbly around the edges and the cheese is melted.   

You can also make this a freezer meal. 

My take on freezer meals is that I have precious little freezer space and I don't want to take up space with ingredients that don't need to be frozen.   I can, however, see where if the culinary expert of the family is going to be away at dinner time, and the culinary challenged are left to dinner, it can be an asset to have a few freezer meals.  

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Hauls to 9/14/18

QFC dollar sale

Kroger cinnamon rolls -2
Kroger crescent rolls -2
Smart ones dinners -4
Pumpkin pie 3.19
Donut holes -1
Cream cheese -2

Total 14.19

Dollar Tree
3 Barilla spaghetti
1 pizza sauce
1 basil pesto

5.00

Safeways
Frozen veggies 4.00
Pie crust 2.00
RIbs free

Grapes 6.43

Total 15.93

Total 31.62

Dollar Store Dinners

I have been watching a lot of videos lately on Dollar Store dinners.  The foods at the dollar store are in smaller quantities many times.  After all. How much does a dollar buy these days!   There are bargains at the dollar tree, but some are made in China, and some are more expensive than buying the product at the regular grocery store.

Now, I get it that there are some communities that only have a dollar store.  One community in Seattle , If rumors are correct will be on that position.   There are decent grocery retailers nearby, but the people without transportation will suffer.

The problem with a lot of dollar store dinners is that they are full of a lot of starch and are more expensove than if  you had made a good dinner from a grocery store,     There are some that came up with a good recipe, but many are not.  Don’t kill the messenger, they tried hard to make dinner from limited resources,

Canned vegetables are .79.   They are always .58 at winco and I have purchased them for as low as .39.  BTW, Winco canned foods have no BPA.   Many frozen foods come from China,  that being said , I have got Ore-Ida from the DT.

I found basil pesto yesterday as well as a name brand pizza sauce.   They always have the ingredients for pizza— thin and thicker individual crusts, and pepperoni.  Watch the cheese, some of it is fake.   They do have feta that is good.  They have eggs, but they are a dollar for half a dozen.

They do have :

• Pizza sauce that is a name brand cheaper than the other stores 
• Tortillas, several kinds and some without all bad fats, 
• Betty Crocker items 
• Hunts  pasta sauce , although it is cheaper at Winco . 
• Barilla spaghetti
• Sometimes  Orowheat/ Sara Lee  bread.  That is a real bargain if you can find bagels and English muffins. 
• Name brand turkey bacon, 
• Pepperoni that is s name brand , the coupons don’t  work anymore, but it is still a good bargain,. 
• Yellow rice 
• Pinto beans are the cheapest besides a 25 pound bag from Costco .   They are non gmo, and grown in the USA.   
• Taco shells 
• Betty Crocker and Other name brand cookit, brownie, and muffin mixes.    

Basically, you could make all of which are about three dollars. It’s,nitmambargsin if you are laying seven dollars for dinner at the dollar store.

1. gnocchi with pesto sauce, parmesean cheese, and chicken.  Using your chicken and parmesean. 
2. Spaghetti with pasta sauce 
3. Spaghetti with pesto and chicken and parm, 
4. Tuna casserole.
5. Pizza
6. Chilli and taco chips 
7. Beans and cornbread 
8. Spanish rice and beans 
9. Pizza dip with crust 
10. Artichoke spinach pasta. 

 Not. Eeuthing at the dollar tree is the best quality. Not all of it is made in China.   But, if you pick your foods carefully. You can stretch your food dollar.