Meal plans

Meal  plans are a tool that helps you stay on track and saves money and time.

• Bow tie soup , rolls 
• Pizza 
• Mac n cheese, peas and carrots 
• Bbq pork sliders, salad, oven fries 
• Shrimp scampi, seasoned rice with peas, 
• Pumpkin pasta , salad (QFC cookbook) 
• Breakfast for dinner 

Notes 

• Soup is a good meal when you are feeding the family at different times,   A slow cooker on low is a good thing.   The house smells divine and e wry ost gets fed when life becomes busy .
• Pizza is a mainstay.  Everyone likes it and a cheese pizza costs a dollar and is easy to make.  My granddaughter at 4 could make it if the dough and ingredients were gathered for her,   We got 😃 Happy   face pizza, but what the heck, right? 
• Mac and cheese, peas and carrots another happy meal, 
• Bbq pork sliders are from bbq beef meat we got on sale with a coupon.   Cheaper than making it ourselves.   Oven fries are scratch, no fat and done in the hot fryer, 
• Scampi was from when we got BOGO on the shrimp.  I wouldn’t buy it again, there were 16 small shrimp and the cost without the BOGO would have been eight dollars. A bit too pricy for what you get.  Seasoned rice is a homemade mix with chicken broth, and herbs. 
• Pumpkin pasta is from a magazine we got in the mail from the local grocery store along with coupons.  I good to try something new . 
• Breakfast for dinner is a good meal. Everyone cooks and it can be economical, or not. 

Groceries on the cheap takes a different approach to your grocery shopping.   Instead of going once a day or week to buy your food, you go to buy what is on sale that you can use to make meals, and stock up on your food when it’s in a RBP.   The result is that you can cut your grocery budget in half and still eat well.   Our food budget is about half what the USDA has listed.   Cost of food at home including adding  part of grandchild’s food.    We eat regular food that is typical of a family with children.  We have maintained this budget for almost two years now and have grown a stock.   The basis is to keep a stock of versatile foods instead of buying one meal at a time.  You pay a lot less for your food, food purchases are simplified and this, more efficient, and you always have food in the house.   

Concept Saturday.-easy and simple

Groceries  on the cheap is as much economizing on time as it is money.   We all have to put food on the table, but we all have to  wear many other hats too.

The concept we are about to talk about is nothing new.  Business models have used it for years and have been successful.

Simplify.

We all have meals that we love 💕.   Usually they fall into a catagory,   We love Tex mex, Italian, and what I will call modified mid century.  That is, things like Mac and cheese, chicken pot pie, meatloaf, chicken noodle made more healthy.

Concept

If you identify the ingredients of favorite economy meals you will find that you are buying some ingredients that do more than double duty.  We all buy about the same things every week.   By finding the lowest prices  on those ingredients and buying a four  to six week supply of them,  you don’t have to buy it again for a while.  It saves money because you aren’t paying full price, and you save time because you have less items in your cart to have to put away when you get home.  You might have five items in your cart, not fourteen.

Pretty soon, you will find that you are just walking around the perimeter of the store.
You are buying raw ingredients vs things in a package that have ingredients that you can’t pronounce  and take up more room in the pantry.

Basic, efficient food;  Food that does double or triple duty,

With flour, sugar, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda you can bake muffins, pancakes, cakes, and many more baked goods, thicken gravy. bread  meat, and make pizza. All a lot cheaper than buying  the ready made counterparts.

Chicken breast or thighs, hamburger, pork loin, and you have many meals, but only three compartments  in the freezer.  You have purchased it at RBP and you purchase it once in weeks.

Buy dairy on sale, buy enough for a month except maybe milk,   Most dairy has a month pull date.
Sour cream, cottage cheese, eggs, cheese.   I have a “buy price”.  If it isn’t something I just have to have, and it is expensive, I don’t buy it.  Cheese freezes well in the grated form.  Eggs can be dehydrated.

Fruits and vegetables are bought in season,   They taste better and are less expensive.  We can still find frozen vegetables for a dollar a pound.  In some ways , they are fresher  because they are picked at their peak and flash frozen.

Pasta is a labor of love, as well as tortillas.   Buy them when they are on sale,   Pasta has a ....eight year shelf life.   Tortillas can be stored in the refrigerator.

Some canned goods are a necessary part of life.  Everyone should have some on case of an emergency,   In this part of the country, we have hills and trees.   Lots of trees and lots of rain.
Having a tree  fall on power lines and wiping out our power can happen during  the winter.   Snow cripples is because of the hills.  Having food  that can be cooked outside in a bbq or in a fireplace is a
necessity
  Some things are just cheaper than making scratch.

To recap. Buy low and eat high,   It’s a concept the stockbrokers know well.   You profit when you buy the shelf stable food that is on sale or with a coupon cheap, and have enough to last you until it comes on sale again.  It’s just logic if you think about it.

Buy food when it is at its lowest price, eat it when it’s high, and never be without food.   Studies have proven that not having food in the house is putting a stress on you that actually lowers your life span.

We bought mayonnaise for .66 with coupons,.  It is  on sale this week for over two dollars...I want to say 2.69.   That’s a big difference.  Multiply that a few times and you have half price food.

It works, amd it makes eating for as low as four dolkrs a day the difference between potato chops and top ramen like I’ve heard of, and eating a balanced regular meal.   Tacos and refried beans, roasted chicken, potatoes and a vegetable, pork roast, baked potatoes and broccolli.   You can eat well on odor dollars a day.  We have done it for almost two years now and we have a stock of food.   There is a smug satisfaction on knowing you beat the high cost of food and still have food on the house. LOL.

Friday recipe :Pasta Primavera

Pasta Primavera

1/2 package (8 ounces) of Barilla spaghetti

1 T Olive oil
1 tsp Garlic
1/2 cup Grape tomatoes cut in half
3/4 cup frozen Peas
2 handfuls Spinach
6 slices Red and yellow peppers , chopped
Parmesean cheese

Cook the spaghetti in the insta pot for 2 minutes.   Break the spaghetti in two and place in pot loosely as to resemble a bird nest.  Add 1 quart of water.  Place lid on pot and set it to the seal function,   Process on manual for 2 minutes.  Manually de pressurize.  Drain the pasta.       After the spaghetti is cooked start the veggies.


In a sauté pan, place the olive oil and turn on medium heat.
Add vegetables, in order listed.   Sauté until they are warm and the spinach is wilted.

Toss the veggies with the spaghetti.  Top with parm and garnish with parsley.

Haul to 10/11

QFC
Barilla spaghetti (5) 4.00 -charity

Ice cream 3.00
Pumpkin pie 3.99

Total 6.99

Safeways
Coffee 5.99
16 cream soups .88 ea
6 Pillsbury biscuits 4.00
Total 23.93

Fred Meyers
Yoplait 10/ .24 ea
Strawberries 2.99
Hawaiian rolls 3.00
Grapes 1.91
Grapes 1.41
Lemonade apples 3.21
English muffins
Total 16.17

Total  47.09


QFC chicken 4.71

51.80

Winco

Tomato soup .98
Potato rounds 1.98
Olives 2.34
Chillies 2.07
Squash .51
5 lb carrots 2.28
Chili .78
Strawberries 1.98
Total 22.29

74.09

Chain store ads

No ads yet, because of the holiday. This is  from the Internet.   I do the work so you don’t have to.  Please follow or share.  

QFC
Grapes 1.88
Draper valley chicken breast BOGO - don’t know if that’s a bargain or not,

B 5, S 5
Cheese 4.99
Eggs .99
Goldfish .99
Cheerios 1.99 $$
Ritz 1.79
Nathan’s 3.99

ALBERWAYS

Cucumbers 1.00
Foster Farms Whole chicken .97
Grapes 1.88

Ny style sausage 1.99@@
Cheese, 2 lbs limit 2, 4.99@@

Frozen vegetables, 1.00 check pkg size you want a lb
Classico pasta sauce 2.00 **

**note - the jar is the size that a mason jar lid fits.   I don’t know aboutmcanning, but you can use it for dried foods and seal the top with the food saver. Mason jars are close to a dollar empty.

Fred Meyers

Both Kroger stores have Friday and Saturday digital deals for ice cream at 1.99

2 lbs strawberries 2.99
Tomatoes ..88
Bread, eggs 1.00
FF split chicken breast 1.29 not the best price, but better than any I’ve seen lately.  
Campbell’s chunky soup 1.25 $$
Barilla pasta 1.00
Frozen veggies 1.00 some 16 ounces
Cottage cheese, sour cream. 1.25

B 5, S 5
Cheese 4.99
Ritz 1.49
Goldfish .99
Cheerios 1.79$$


Notes - @@ means an in ad coupon is required
$$ means that there aremxohpins out there

Winco does not have an ad
Green peppers. Grapes, Strawberries, Nalleys chili, and Yoplait are all good prices as of yesterday. .

Tuesday : how did she do that ?

Vegetable bean soup  is a recipe I developed a few years back.  Otmosmheaety, but also satisfied the vegetarians in the family




Vegetable Bean Soup

Sauté carrots and celery . This was on the insta pot, but you can do it on the stove also .

Add 2 cans diced tomatoes, and 4 cups vegetable broth or broth of your choice. 

Add 2 cans or 4 cups of cooked beans of choice.  A Tablespoon of Italian seasoning and a teaspoon each of garlic and onion powder.   

If using insta pot, program to slow cooker and cook for 4-8 hours.

   If using slow cooker, sauté vegetables, add remaining ingredients along with the veggies to the slowcooker pot and cook on low for 4-8 hours. 

Monday Kitchen Management aka meal prep

Kitchen Management is a tool to keep your kitchen clean and your meals prepped so that the dinner hour is less hectic. A little work in an hour or so time set aside when things are mess hectic can save a lot of time later.

Reminder if next week’s meals

• Chicken pot pie 
• Pizza
• Spaghetti 
• Sliders
• Tacos 
• Vegetable bean soup 
• Breakfast for dinner 

1. Clean the refrigerator and dump anything dead and note things that need to be used up soon, 
2. Wash kitchen floor. 
3. Clean and disinfect countertops and sinks and drains.
4. Cook chicken in the insta pot. -done yesterday 
5. Make spaghetti in the insta pot 
6. Cook beans 
7. Make vegetabke bean soup. 
8. Cut up chicken and freeze. 
9. Make scratch sausage and cook.   

Notes

I did the kitchen management yesterday since we have a busy week.   Foil containers with licks are a dollar at the DT in a three pack.    They are a good thing to have occasionally when you are making a lot  of freezer meals and have a small family. They also come on a large family size.   I pretty much got a head start on this week’s dinners.  

Meal plans

Meal plans are a tool that saves time and money and a lot of frustration.  Anything that takes a little to,e and saves a lot of time and frustration during the hectic dinner hour is a good thing.

Starting with a good stash if basic food helps the creative process.  Having a matrix is a good start.   Everything on life starts with a foundation and an outline.

• Chicken pot pie 
• Pizza
• Pork roast, mashed potatoes and carrots 
• Sliders , salad 
• Tacos, refried beans Spanish rice 
• Vegetable bean soup , rolls 
• Breakfast for dinner 

Notes :

We bought a dozen rolls formsloders because they were a good price.   Besides sliders, I plan to add them to any meal that seems to work. 

Chicken was .88 a pound at QGC (Kroger) .  I cooked it on the insta pot.   It didn’t turn out with a crispy crust, but it was thirialky cooked and we have already had a chicken salad and fajitas with it, 

I still have enough for a couple of lunches and a pot pie or two.    All from about 4.50. 

Pork roast is from a pork loin purchased for . $.99 a pound. 

Re fried beans are cooked in the insta pot.   The price comes out to about the same as the cans on the cheap, but this has more food value and no fat.  

Vegetable bean soup is a recipe I made up years ago.   It weighs in at a couple of dollars for enough to feed an army and it too, has no preservatives or fat. 

Breakfast for dinner is always a winner.   Everyone cooks and it’s good quality family time. 

This week, the new crop of food must be coming on because the canned goods are starting to show good sale prices.   We got Nalleys chili for .75 and Campbell’s soup for a dollar less coupons made it .88.   

I expect the diced tomatoes I am running short of should be cheaper soon.   Replenishing stock only when things are on sale drastically reduces you food bill.   Some things I buy when the price is low, id We run out, , oh well, we can get by with something else.   I have “buy” prices.  If so,etching isn’t my buy price or less, we have to really need it, or we don’t buy it.   

A little planning goes a long ways to cutting your food bill.    We are still averaging at or below four dollars a day, supplement grandchild, and have grown a stock.   Having a stock of food isn’t hoarding, it is saving money and having the security of knowing, on a disaster, you will always have food.   We can’t predict the future, but we can do something to make us better prepared .  

Saturday concepts 10/6/18

Saturday concepts.

 10 things never to buy: 

1.  Bread crumbs,  why pay upwards of two dollars a pound for someone else’s dry bread and throw away the heels of your bread or bread that is getting stale.  Break it up and put it in the  food processor. Pulse until crumbs amd place of sheet pan in the oven after you have cooked something,  when dry, place in a mason jar or storage container,   
2. Baby carrots,   Baby carrots started as a way for a farmer to palm off his ugly carrots.  He devised a way to cut them into Baby carrots  and sell them for more than two times the price of a regular carrots.  One pound of baby carrots are upwards of a dollar.   Five pounds of carrots are 2.28 at Winco.  Less than half price. 
3. Parmesan cheese in a green can.   It’s old, it’s dried out, and it has wood pulp in it.   You can get Parmesans cheese or a blend or Romano for a good price.   Use any hard cheese that has a good price,   It’s just better and you aren’t eating a tree. 
4. Junk food.   Studies of people’s grocery carts show that 1/2 of a typical cart is drinks and snack foods.  Yes, Virginia, there are people that are paid to study your cart.   Their object is to get you to spend more money,   Your health will thank you not to oblige the marketing tactics.  I bought a quart of root beer the first time in years,   I thought granddaughter should taste a root beer float once in her life.   1.67 plus .17 sin tax.  I could serve a whole meal for that! 
5. Cut up fruit.  Many times lately, it is the thing on the tainted list.  Anytime you are buying something that takes a persons time to prepare, you are going to pay more.   Simple fact.   
6. Baked goods.   Caveat here. Pumpkin pie has been 2.99 to 3.99 here,   By the time you buy pumpkin, canned milk and eggs and pastry shell, you are spending more for scratch than buying the pie.  Especially of you have a dollar off coupon,   Bit, making a muffin mix, you can have a muffin made in a matter of five minutes and six muffins are five  bucks.  
7. Hamburger meal in a box.   If you break down what you are getting in that box and look at the science experiment ingredients, it would tell you it’s just plain rip off and nit good for you,   When my daughter and I dissected a box that cost upwards  of two dollars. (Yes, I know you can get them at the DT) . It had 1.57 ounces of a cheese sauce mix that didn’t contain cheese and 4.2 ounces of pasta.   At the time, you could get pasta for 88 cents a pound.   
8. Some cold cereals and boxed Mac and cheese have detergent in them.  Tsp is what we sold at the paint store to people that wanted to get the grease off of kitchen walls before painting,  you needed to wear rubber gloves because it ate  your hands up.   Just saying. 
9. Spices in jars.   Bulk spices are really a lot cheaper and if you already have jars, you can just refill them.  I went to the store for dill weed.  A one inch jar of dill was six dollars.   I went to the bulk section and bought enough to fill a jar, and..wait for it.....it was .17.   
10. Seasoning mixes.   Ranch dressing mix, taco seasoning, sausage seasoning..all a fraction of buying it in that envelope.   Many times, the packaging of something costs more than the product.   Dry buttermilk is really expensive.  It was fractions of that price when I bought it on amazon in a plastic bag.   Save your jars.  Especially ones like the Classico pasta sauce jars.   A mason jar lid works for them.  I have got Classico for as cheap as a buck and it costs .80 for the jar.

And, one thing to buy...

It doesn’t pay to make your own pasta sauce,   Hunts and Del Monte  sauce is less than a dollar at Winco .  Sometimes, you can get sauce in a jar for close to a dollar.   By the to,e you buy he tomatoes, you aren’t saving any money to scratch cook the sauce.

Always buy tomatoes with the seasoning already on them if you can for the same price as the 

tomatoes themselves,   It just saves time and money,   

It is a falsehood to say that cheese is cheaper in a brick than grated cheese,  Cheese is cheese.  A pound of cheese is a pound of cheese whatever shape it is in.   Check your prices.   Often grated cheese is cheaper..  now, sliced cheese is always more expensive.  

Friday recipe -easy whole chicken

Draper valley whole chicken is .88 a pound at QFC.   Re,e,bermnomchicken osma bargain if it’s under 3 pounds

Preface : One  super bowl weekend, I walked into QFC and fresh chickens were .50 a pound in the mark down section of the meat department,   I bought three.  Because that’s what I do.  It’s a sure fire way to cut your food costs and still eat well.   Now, I had the problem of cooking all this chicken in a hurry because the pull date was the next day.  I researched and after putting two of them in the ovens, I put the other one on the slow cooker.   The slowmcooker one was tender and by far, the fastest chicken I ever cooked considering non passive time,  

Slow cooker chicken,  

• Place a peeled onion, or two small peeled onions in the bottom of the slowmcooker.  This is strictly for flavoring, but a must. 
• Take the chicken out if the package, working on a sheet pan, dry the chicken with paper towels.  Rub a dry rub all over the chicken.  Use gloves or wash your hands thoroughly afterward. Place chicken on top of the onions.  Cover and cook on high heat for an hour per pound.  Don’t forget to plug the slow cooker in. Lol
• Test the chicken when the time is up.  I want 180 degrees, and the meat will fall off the bone.
• You miraculously, you will have a full vessel of chicken stock.   

In the insta pot FROM FROZEN.

• Place chicken in pot on top of the trivet. 
• Add 1 cup of water. 
• Cook for 10 minutes PER POUND. 
• Natural release. 

Insta pot for fresh chicken 

•  Place chicken on trivet on the insta pot, 
• Place an orange, lemon, onion, or apple in the cavity. 
• Pour  1 cup of water in the pot. 
• Process : 
• 3 lb chicken 18 minutes, 4 lb chicken 24 minutes , 5 lb chicken 30 minutes.over 5 lbs, add 6 minutes per pound,  add three minutes for an additional 1/2 pound. 
• Natural release at least 10 minutes. 

• 
  

Grocery Hauls / 10/5

Winco
Fries 2.14
Low carb tortillas 4.96
Chillies .69
Grapes 2.99
Strawberries 2.48
Salad 1.98

Total 15.18

QFC
Pie 3.99
Milk .99
Total 4.98



Winco
Strawberries .98
Grapes 🍇 3.79

Total 5.75

Total 25.91

Safeways
Frozen veggies 2.00
Salad 3.75
Eggs 1.98
Brdad .89

DT
Artisan bread 1.00

Grand total 35.53


Safeways
Bacon -🥓 double coupons, netted 2.49 ea
4.98

Total 40.56

Chain store ads

Fred Meyers

Yoplait 3/1.00 cohpon on coupons.com os for .50 on 5.  Makes them .23 each

Grapes .98
Peaches .99
Ritz crackers 2.49
Classico pasta sauce 1.99.  Note : I figure it comes in a mason tyke jar that costs a, ost a dollar by itself.

Insta pot is 79.99 and there is a ten dollar gift card attached.   Look for an in store coupon.

QFC

Draper valley whole chicken .88

Tillamook ice cream 2/5

Barilla pasta 1.00

NAB not a bargain 😥
Roasted chicken 6.99
2 pound chicken.  Never buy anchicken under three pounds,   At three pounds , you are breaking even on the bone to meat ratio.   At two pounds you are paying more for th bones than you are the meat you can eat.   The price per pound including bone is 3.50.  Washington grown (Mount Vernon ) is .88 a pound this week. There are easy, simple ways to cook a chicken.  Like ten minutes non passive time and you get a added bonus of 3.00 worth of broth,

Alberways

Digital coupon folders coffee 5.99

Soda crackers 1.88

Milk 1.99@@
Bread .99@@
@@ means I’m ad coupon


Fab 4
Campbell’s soup 1.00 coupons.com 1.00 on  eight.
Prego 1.49
Old El Paso taco shells .99


Pillsbury cinnamon rolls or grands 1.00 coupons out there for 1.00 off three.   Both inserts and coupons,com has them.

French Toast

French toast for the freezer is a good way to preserve bread and make easy breakfast to get people out the door with breakfast.   Just take from the freezer and pop it on the toaster or microwave for a few seconds.

Total cost using bread (from orowheat -thick sliced) and eggs purchased for a dollar a dozen at safeways, os .28 a serving.

Mix 6 eggs, a half cup of milk and a pinch of cinnamon, a teaspoon of vanilla if you want in a blender.   Pour into a shallow baking rectangle dish.  And coat bread in the mixture,  griddle or fry on a frying pan on medium heat until brown on one side, flip and continue cooking until the other  side is browned.

Cool and place in meal sized portions (2) into quart bags.  Freeze.

How did she do that? Chili in the insta pot ...or not

Yesterday, I made beer bread and chili .

Insta pot Chili

8 ounces of cooked ground beef
1 quart of beef broth
1 can 15.5 Oz tomato sauce
1 can -15.5 Oz diced tomatoes
6 cups cooked pinto beans (cook 3 cups raw)
1 small can mild diced green chillies

1. Cook 3 cups dried pinto beans .  Wash and pick beans.  Place in insta pot liner,  cover with water up to your second buckle. Put the kid in the insta pot and set to seal.   Push the bean button.   
2. When the beans are done, quick release and drain the beans into a colander,   Place back in pot, 
3. Add the stick, cans of tomato, and chillies,   
4. Program the insta pot on slow cooker.  

Serve chilli with cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips.   

We had beer bread because some of our family are not partial to cornbread. Total cost of chili 3.09. 

.
Beer bread
3 cups bisquick
1/3 cup sugar
1 -12 ounce beer

Mix ingredients. Don’t over mix.
Place in a greased loaf pan.
Bake at 375 degrees 45-55 minutes or until it tests done.  Cake tester comes out clean when poked into the center of the bread.

Spread a pat of butter on top of the bread for a softer crust.

Notes :

I used sirloin tips for the beef.   It was the mystery meat I forgot to label in the beef basket in the freezer.   I processed the meat with the beef stock, and them proceeded with the recipe. Save!
You This recipe could be done in the slow cooker using cooked ground meat and canned beans .
Better than boullion makes a good beef broth that doesn’t cost three dollars a quart.

Kitchen management aka meal prep

When you can make some if your food ahead of the dinner hour, it goes a long way to make the hectic dinner hour less hectic.   It saves time because you re setting ho and using one own instead of many through the week to wash.  So, torn on some peppy music and get started, in no time you will we presently surprised.   The look of that organized refrigerator is totally worth it!

Reminder of meals

• Chili, beer bread 
• Pizza
• Sloppy joes , fries, coleslaw 
• Chicken tamale pie , lettuce, tomato 
• Fajitas, 
• Pork chops with apple, cranberry stuffing 
• Breakfast for dinner, 

1. Wash kitchen floor.
2. Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀.
3. Make note of things that need to be used up soon.. check pull dates 
4. Clean and disinfect counters and sinks and drains. 
5. Wash potatoes for fries and apples for stuffing,  dry and place in colander, 
6.  Make beans for chili and make the rest of the chili on the insta pot, programmed for slow cooker.   
7. Make beer bread 
8. Replenish any mixes that are running low. 

Note 

How a on the cheap mind works ...lol 

Yesterday, I got baskets at the DT for the freezer.  The new refrigerator came with no bins and just flimsy shelves.   Don’t judge, I had two choices of side by sides in the measurements that would fit our refrigerator space.  One had stationary shelves that were nit the sturdiest and a ice maker with tooo many buttons for a six year old in the house,  I could just see disaster.  Anyway, I have looked at the container store and amazon, and couldn’t find any baskets to fit.  I finally found them at the dollar store, not the best quality I have see , but they will do until I find better.   

Long story shirt, I found a quarter pound of sausage frozen still in its tube.  I thawed it and yesterday , I cooked it while making breakfast.  I let it cool and saved it on a container.   Last night, I made a quiche with hash browns, eggs, sausage, cheese, and an egg mixture.  Sounds terrible, but it was very good.  And, easy. Five minutes work, and 35 minutes in the oven.  

Hash brown patties 1.00

Sausage .50

Cheese .63

Green Pepper slice, .06

Eggs .16

Milk .12

Total  2.47

Strawberries were a dollar at Winco.   

Meal Plans for week of 10/1/18

Meal plans are a good thing to do because they save time and money.  They just make life easier.  They can be done either before or after you shop because you are planning using your master list of food instead of what you are buying just for the week.  There is some sort of security of knowing you always have food in the house,   Studies have shown that not having food on the house shortens your life span.  It is an anxiety thing.

• Chili, beer bread or cornbread 
• Pizza
• Sloppy joes, fries, coleslaw 
• Chicken Tamale Pie (Betty Crocker ) 
• Fajitas -chicken 
• Pork chops, apple cranberry stuffing , salad 
• Breakfast for dinner -French Toast, bacon , fruit 

Notes :

• Beer bread is a simple thing .  Corn bread is an alternative if you have children. (Betty Crocker)
• Homemade pizza isn’t hard and costs a dollar for a cheese pizza when made with RBP ingredients. 
• Sloppy joes are made with precooked hamburger.  Bins are cheapest at the bread outlet or Winco,  they are smaller with less carbs.  A fast meal, 
• Chicken tamale pie is a Betty Crocker recipe.
• Fajitas are chicken with onion and peppers purchased and frozen when they were a dollar at Winco.  Green peppers were cheaper. 
• Pork chops with stuffing uses bread cubes , chicken broth, Craisens and chopped apple.   

• Breakfast for dinner is always a good meal.   Everyone contributes to the meal and it’s a family time.  Wide sliced bread  (artisan) was at the Dollar Tree .  (DT) .

The latest scientific ?study  showed the cheapest price on food came from the Grocery Outlet , followed  by Winco, then Fred Meyers.   Grocery Outlet is not  a full service grocery store and I hesitate to buy produce and meat there.   I pretty much figured that out myself.  The biggest asset when buy8ng Groceries is knowing the cheapest price that yo7 can find on the things you buy on a regular basis.   Trying to stock enough to last you until the next sale is going to give you your best return. 

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.