Hauls 11/15

QFC
Savings 58 percent and that does not include our freebies that we will get tomorrow

Cheese (5).99
Butter (5) 2.49
Spaghetti (3) .49 charity
Turkey 5.12
Pie 3.49
Bell peppers .99

Total 26.27

Free from QFC
Polish sausage
Bc cake mix
Idaho mashed potatoes
Total free/ 7.47

Total savings 63 percent

Winco
Potatoes 10 lbs 1.98
Acorn squash .64
Apples 1.11
Buns .92
Apples 1.83
Carrots .98
Zucchini .55
Grapes 4.40
Ham 2.48
Strawberries 1.58
Meatballs 1.45 coupon
Total 17.68

Grand total 43.95

The 29.00 challenge.

There are a number of snap twenty nine dollar challenges out ther in u tube land.  It could be possibly the hardest way to make a four dollar a day budget work.  Snap gives the recipient a “debit “ card with a month’s worth of money loaded to it.  Setting aside what may be needed for fresh ingredients and once a month shopping at an appropriate time would be a better alternative for one person.  This assumes that there is. I food in the house at the first of the month.

Regular groceries on the cheap would be a better alternative.  Obviously, cooking for one probably necessitates eating the same thing for more than one meal.  

But, this blog will be honoring the rules and one weeks worth of food will be virtually bought.  We will use more than one store.  

Separate a budget .

Protein
Vegetables
Starch/ carbs
Breakfast
Snacks
Dairy

Winco

1. Eggs 1.29
2. 5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast @1.28 is 6.40. 
3. 1 package of cubed ham - 2.28
4. Cheese 1.67 - 3.33
5. Red or orange pepper .99
6. Pasta sauce .88
7. Apples 2 lbs @.88 is 1.76 
8. Potatoes 1.00
9. Lettuce 1.00
10. Tomato 1.00
11. Carrots .98 
12. Cans of corn, green beans, tomato 

Dollar tree

Oatmeal canister

Barilla spaghetti 

Flour tortillas

Milk 

Beans 

28.23

• Ham and eggs, fried potatoes 
• Ham and bean soup 
• Oatmeal 
• Cheese quesadillas 
• Chicken fajitas 
• Chicken breast, potatoes, green beans 
• Spaghetti with sauce 
• Chicken noodle soup 
• Ham and potatoes 
• Chicken taco bowl.  

Lots of food left . 

Chain store ads

It is typical for the prices to go up the closer to the holiday. It doesn’t pay to procrastinate.  

Fred Meyers
Note : this is at the shoreline store only 

Potatoes 5 lbs .77
Oranges .88
90/10 hamburger 2.99
Sour cream 2/3 


Alberways

Tillamook ice cream 2/6 must buy 2
5 lbs mandarines 4.88
Butter 2.49@@
Canned veggies 2/1.00@@
Sweet potatoes .99
Cranberries 2/5

QFC
Grapes 1.49
Butter  2/5
Cereal. Post or GM- Buy 4, free milk 4/10.  This is only going to be a good buy if you have coupons,
Sweet potatoes .99

Fred Meyer regular

Clementines 3 lbs 2.99
Organic berries 2/3
Cranberries 1 lb 3.99
Sour cream 2/3
Cake mix 4/3 digital coupon
Cream cheese 3/4 digital coupon

Grapes 1.99
Broccolli 1.49
Brussels sprouts 1.49

Tuesday - on inspiration

 Part of groceries on the cheap is using what you have and not wasting. There are several web sites out there that let you put an ingredient in the search engine and out pops a multitude of recipes that use the ingredient.  The online free Betty Crocker cookbook is one that we use.   Also, a few old cookbooks.  Back in the 40’s and 50’s , salads that used winter vegetables and inexpensive fruits in season were prevalent.  Salads like carrot and raisin; apple, celery and  walnuts, pineapple or other fruits and cottage cheese come to mind.  Our grandmothers used canned fruit and winter veggies to get through the winter.  

This weekend we made a carrot and honey quick bread.  It is a healthier bread using honey instead of refined sugar and part whole wheat flour.  It was good, bit s more dense bread.  We grated the last of the oldest carrots in the vegetable drawer and had some left over grated carrot after making the bread.  We had carrot and raisin salad for dinner with acorn squash and part of a rope sausage.  

We had purchased chicken basil sausage on a buy 10 at Fred Meyers.  There is always half a sausage left.  I entered sausage into the Betty Crocker  search engine.  Out popped a recipe for  gumbo.  I had never made gumbo before, but it called for cooked chicken, shrimp and sausage and we had all three.  I omitted the black eyed peas.   It was good and we tried something different.  My husband made a pot of rice to go with it in the insta pot.

Thinking outside the box can stretch your food dollar, avoid waste, and spice things up so that dinner  is a bit less boring — all on four dollars a day.  

I have been w arching videos of people that attempt to buy food on four dollars a day.  Mostly single people.  Buying food for one person is a hard job at best, and doing it in four dollars a day is a challenge.  Grocery stores are not set up to have small quantities and when they do, they are costly.   The only way to do it is to buy a month at a time and portion control.  Your freezer will be your best friend.  Another alternative is to set up a food pool where others in your position get together and each of you makes a family meal, portion controls it, and you do a food swap.   You get several different meals and cook a family meal.   There would have to be a discussion of food preferences and a monetary limit on ingredients, but it could and has worked.

You can still eat on the same principles as groceries on the cheap, just on a smaller scale.   There are two of us,   It works.   It also works for larger families.  

I am making an effort to be,o as many people as I can,  of anyone has an idea of what they would like to see here, please feel free to comment.  Thank you for stopping by.  Please share,  you,never know who you might be helping.  

Taco seasoning,

Taco 🌮  seasoning can be a dollar for an ounce packet.   Making your own can save a ton of money and you can tweek it to your families taste.   I tend to use taco seasoning in any southwest dish that calls for southwest spices.  It’s just easier.

1/2 cup plus 2T chili powder

2/3 cup paprika

1/2 cup plus 1T cumin

1/3 cup onion powder

1/3 cup garlic powder

1-1/2 tsp cumin

Red pepper flakes as desired

Mix together and store in jar with tight fitting lid.

Monday kitchen management aka meal prep

Kitchen management is a tool to make life easier when it is time for the sometimes hectic dinner hour.  Otmafords hou the luxury of cleaning as you go and not having to deep clean the kitchen of you rotate the larger chores.

• De fating hamburger is on a different bkog we did yesterday.  It takes a lot of the fat out of your meat and makes for easy, quick meals when time is in short supply. 
•  Carrot and honey bread was a good more nutritious addition to a meal.   Grating more carrots than needed meant carrot and raisin salad for dinner.   Doing double duty saves time.

•  Wash kitchen floor.  

• Wash and disinfect countertops and sinks and drains . 

• Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀. Note foods to be eaten soon. 

• Chop any veggies needed for dinner. 

•  Wash potatoes for the oven fries. 

• Make refried beans . 

•  Straighten the pantry.

 

Ten ways to eat healthy on four dollars a day

Just because you have limited funds, or not, you can still eat healthy.

• Avoid junk food.  Substitute veggies and peanut butter or hummus for those potato chips or other salt or sugar laden snacks.  If you don’t buy junk food, you won’t eat junk food,   Popcorn is a good alternative.  Costco has popcorn to be air popped inexpensive.  
• Eat fruit instead if drinking juice,  it is better for you and doesn’t have added sugar.  Avoid those individual servings .  Packaging sometimes cost more than the product. You save in garbage too. 
• Use garlic pepper instead of garlic salt . 
• Avoid too much salt, sugar, hydrogenated oils, HFCS, and fat. 
• Pick inexpensice of meat and pick ones that are low fat.  De fat your ground beef, cut the fat layer off the pork loin, amd use  boneless, skinless chicken. breast. They are all very versatile cuts if meat and if you buy them in bulk, you save time and money. 
• Keep a stock of fresh fruits and veggies in season.  In season veggies and fruit are more favorable and cost less.   Potatoes, carrots, celery. Grapes, strawberries, apples, zucchini, acorn squash were all reasonable prices this  week at Winco.    Peppers were a dollar at qfc.  I suspect that is the case at any discount store in other parts of the country. 
• Buy basic foods and learn recipes that are efficient scratch cooking.  Teach older children how to bake and cook basic things,  that’s good for their future well being as well as your time constraints.  When you scratch cook, you control the preservatives and sugars.  Baby carrots are just a farmers way to sell his rejects for twice the price of the regular carrots.   A great mRketing ploy that has made millions.  
• Pick mozzarella cheese becaise it is made With part skim milk.  Hard cheese like Parmesean does not have the lactose that other cheese have. 

• Avoid the so called healthy fads.   It’s supply and demand.  If it is a fad, the price is going to go up. I recently saw cauliflower for over three dollars. It’s a fad.   Like the pet rock!   Avoid it.  Get the same nutrition elsewhere. Buy a whole head when it is a dollar a pound.  A dollar is my buy price for veggies.   A bit more for fruit.  
• Invest in good equipment,  a little at a time if you need to.  Shop estate sales amd garage sales, the goodwill.  Life is easier and you will be more inclined to grate that carrot or make that pizza dough if it is easy.  Many will pay for themselves in the long run.  A can of beans can cost upwards of a dollar.   It costs a nickel  to make them scratch.  Ninety percent profit.  

Don’t eat this!

This is the fat that you don’t eat when you denfat your ground beef.   80/20.

Taking up to 17 percent of the fat out of ground meat

Taking the fat out of your hamburger is a healthy thing to do. Cooking it on batches and freezing it makes for faster meals at dinner time and is a way to cut costs and waste.

Frozen hamburger meat 

Fry until no longer pink and it tests done with your thermometer. 

Partially Cooked meat

Drain in colander over a pot.  

Pour boiling wTer over colander.  Use a pan to collect the fat if you have too much to go down the drain. 

Portion control for meals and place in quart bags and place quart bags in a gallon bag and label and freeze.   

You are on your way to fast, more healthy meals.   

Meal plans week of November 12-18

Meal Plans are a tool that saves time and money.  Life just goes more smoothly with a plan.  When you add a meal prep aka kitchen management time to the mix, life is just easier.

My meal plans are here to jump start your mental process and to show you my thought process.

We have a bulk purchase of hamburger from the Zaycon order from last summer.  It’s time for me to cook up and de fat another batch,   That, too, is a way to make life easier and more healthy,
Consequently, we are eating beef twice this week.  Portion controlling your meat and buy8ng in bulk saves time and money also.  It’s the waste not. Want not thing.

Hamburger buns will do double duty because there are only four if us here and we need to use up a eight pack of buns.

I bought two pounds of carrots for a dollar at Winco.  Usually we get a five pound bag, but the five pound bags were nasty,   This cost is comparable,  baby carrots are at best twice as much.

We work in a matrix based on protein choices.   There are many other matrix out there, that is just the one we use.

1. Chicken soup, rolls 
2. Pizza 
3. Tacos, insta pot refried beans 
4. Chicken pot pie 
5. Tuna patties, seasoned rice, peas and carrots 
6. Sloppy joes, oven fries, veggie sticks 
7. Breakfast for dinner, 

Notes 

1. Chicken soup is a good way to stretch the food dollar and soup in a slow cooker works well if you have a day where people have to eat early.  
2. Pizza is a mainstay around here.  I found a recipe for a months worth of pizza dough that was easy in the kitchen aid and freezes. 
3. Tacos are a snap from frozen, cooked hamburger and refried beans on the insta oarsmen while nit any cheaper than the canned ones, are no fat and more nutrients, 
4. Chicken pot pie uses the rest of a batch of chicken cooked in the insta pot.  It can, or course, be cooked in a number of other ways . 
5. Tuna cakes are an old recipe that satisfies our fish option.   They , too are quick and not too expensive,  we use Costco solid albacore tuna. 
6. Sloppy joes take advantage of the cooked hamburger and are made in a matter of minutes.  Using a scratch recipe saves money.   Oven fries are made with a little olive oil and “fresh potatoes 🥔 “.  Add carrots and celery sticks.
7. Breakfast for dinner is a family affair and everyone cooks,   

We all have those days.

We all have those days...those days where the washer decides to wash the floor instead of the clothes. Those days where the car battery decides to take a rest, or the kids forget their lunch money or their book bag or, whatever.  Those days , those glorious days that test our patience and try their best to stress us out.

Que the no brainier meals.

Having a core of nonbrainer meals is a necessity on this day and age.   No one is indespensible , but there are culinary challenged family members in any household.  Most people can do at least one go to dinner well.   But, having easy, fast, healthy meals in your “ personal cookbook” is a great asset.

• Impossible pie.   Great for the culinary challenged or not and in five minutes flat you can have dinner in the oven .  Add a vegetabke or salad and you have a balanced meal.  The recipes are varied and can scan the gambit from Mac and cheese to a breakfast pie.  We usually make it on a small rectangle baking dish instead of a pie plate.   Basically, you spray the baking pan, fill it with basic,my meat and cheese or vegetables and pasta or so,e other bulk, amd add a mixture of milk, eggs, amd bisquick.  Make the bisquick portion in a blender and it is easier,.  It is also easier if you have orecooked your ground meats and de fatted them.  A quick smash on the counter and the meat is broken up and ready for the oven or you can put on on defrost in the microwave for a minute while you gather the other ingredients. 
• Tacos.  Again the fast here is having the meat already cooked and portioned,   You can prep the meat as above , put your homemade taco seasoning on a small pan and add some water,   Put your meat on the pan and place on a low heat whikemyoumchop the lettuce, and gather cheese and tomato, onion? Probably 10 minutes. 
• Spaghetti in the insta pot takes about five minutes if you are slow to load and processes for 8 minutes.  It’s one of those things that an adult or teenager can do easily, challenged or not as long as they understand that all the ingredients have to be on the pot and you need to set the seal lever.   As long as you Always add liquid, don’t add flour or other thickener, amd Always set the seal lever, the insta pot is safe and a good time and money saver. 
• Breakfast for dinner.  Vegetabke omlettes, a little fruit and an English muffin works and almost anyone in the family can contribute to the dinner.   Granddaughter has been buttering bread since she was three. 
• One day, when granddaughter was three, I was cutting vegetables for oven roasted vegetables and sausage .  My mother always said it was easier to engage a child in what you are doing than it was to clean up the mess they were making while you were working,   I set my granddaughter buttering the French bread across the island from me,   She got half way through the project, and said,   “I can’t believe I get to do this,   “ oven roasted vegetables is a sheet pan dinner that we were eating before the term sheet pan dinner was made popular.   Potatoes, carrots, radishes or any other root vegetable  is washed cut into uniform sized pieces and tossed with olive oil and garlic pepper.   Bake close to an hour in a 400 degree oven .  

We all have those days, but there are always ways to get dinner in a hurry, or have recipes that even the culinary challenged can master.  

The case for a replenish mindset.

If your financial adviser told you to buy stocks high and sell low, you probably wouldn’t hire him or her.  It doesn’t make much sense to buy your food at their highest price either.

You essentially can make 50-70 percent on your money without paying income tax on the savings or taking any large risk.  

Many people are living from paycheck to paycheck.   It’s hard when at minimum wage with no benefits you can’t rent a two bedroom apartment in any state in the union.   But, you can with a little effort always have food in the house,  studies have shown that not having food in the house reduces your life expectancy.  The stress always me is not good for your health.  

Making healthy choices in your food purchases , simplified food lists, efficiently scratch cooking that allows for less preservatives and fat control will allow you to eat better for less.

Paying 2.79 for a .79 cake mix is just plain stupid.  Anticipate how many cake mixes you will use in a six month period and buy as many as you will need.   We don’t eat cake everyday,   Birthdays and special occasions are easy to predict.   The same goes for about any other staple  item you may have in your kitchen.  I know that I use two to four cans of diced tomatoes a week.   It’s not hard for me to predict that in six months I will need 48 cans of diced tomatoes, or two cases.   When I can find diced tomatoes in case lot for .49 instead of the dollar they cost, I can afford two cases instead of one.  Some things like frozen veggies are pretty much a staple, stable priced item, and don’t need to be stocked.   We know that the price would be a dollar a pound.  Buy enough to last you until you can find them for a dollar or less.   Sometimes , Costco business has five pound bags cheaper that would work for a large family.

Buying bulk meat when it is at a rock bottom price and buying it on a rotation basis over 4-6 weeks saves a lot of time and money.   Portion control, butcher it of you need to and precook and de fat ground meat.   It is healthier and makes dinner on a flash possible when you need it to.    Spaghetti in the insta pot takes 8 minutes.   You can make a salad while the pressure is coming up and you need to manually release.   Tacos are a 15 minute or less dinner.  

Baking and holiday meal supplies go on sale once a year at thanksgiving and Christmas time,   Less of them go on sale at Easter.  You can plan ahead and save a bit to stock.  I have seen cream based soup for 1.58 a can.   It as .49 and their were coupons I used prematurely, or I could have had an additional .08 off our .49 price.   That dollar times the 20  cans I purchased for the year saved twenty dollars.  It is enough to snowball the savings into ten or more pounds of pork loin that saves 1.50 a pound off center cut pork chops that saves.....the snowball effect.  

Stick to basic food.   We never , or almost never had potato chips in our house growing up.  If we did it was part of a treat dinner,   We didn’t miss them.  These days , if you buy 10 bags of chips, the kids will eat 10 bags of chips.  If they aren’t there and there are carrot and celery sticks and peanut butter or hummus, they will be more inclined to eat a healthier snack.  

Meal plans help to reduce the cost of groceries and meals.   They make life easier and take a matter of minutes.  Use time wisely, I wrote notes for this blog in the doctors office while I was waiting.  You could jot down 7 meals in a hurry waiting for the kids to get out of school or while having your morning coffee break.  Just take a quick inventory of what you have in the fridge to use up.   Having a stock of basic food means that you don’t have a huge grocery list and time in the grocery stores is limited.  

Never, I say never , go to just one store if at all possible,  two grocery stores give you the option of two sets of produce in case  some doesn’t look as good or is too high a price.  It also gives you the best of prices.   You can bet, if one store has a special on hot dogs or hamburgers, then The buns to go with is not going to be on sale.  If you have stocked the grocery essentials like canned goods or the few packaged things you still buy, you can shop the perimeter of he store and get in and out fast.   Pick the two stores that have the best prices. Here that would probably be Fred  Meyers (Kroger store) and Winco, a discount  store that is employee owned. Grocery outlet came in first, but their stock is limited.   I personally don’t buy produce or meat there.   I had a bad experience with apples and they wouldn’t make it good and the meat is all prepackaged.   The deli department, however is wonderful. The place to get specialty cheeses .  I digress.  

Plan your trips of stores are not close together. Piggy back it on to a trip to the doctor or on the. Way home from whatever.   We used to go to Winco when it was ten mikes away...once every four to six weeks.   Costco is in a need toilet paper basis.  They still carry toilet paper. But have discontinued many staples or run out for the replacement hemp or seaweed.  They do not carry regular eggs.  

I have buy prices in my head.   I used to keep a small notebook in my purse.   If something is,not my buy price, unless it is a dire necessity and I haven’t stocked it, I don’t buy it.   You can usually substitute something else.  It is the key to eating well on a low budget.  

We eat on less than four dollars a day.  We have a stock of food.   Somethings  less, somethings more.
You can’t say you eat on four dollars a day and spend 8.00 a day buying the ingredients.   That’s why Tahini  crusted eggplant for dinner doesn’t work.    Besides the fact that most of us wouldn’t eat it.   Lol 😝.

Basically, when cheese is running six dollars a pound, and you see it on a limited sale for two dollars a pound , you buy, as much as you can safely use or as much as they will let you buy (limits). You just spend your cheese money in something different on sale the next week.   They key to not hoarding is knowing what your family eats on a regular basis and limiting the supply to a four to six weeks supply unless it is something that only goes on sale once or twice a year.  

Hauls 11/8

Winco
Spinach 1.98
Strawberries 1.98
Pears 1.03. (.78 lb)

4.99

Fred Meyers
Note :  when things are 67 percent off, you buy a years supply.  Now is the tome to buy baking supplies and things associated with the fall holidays.  They will be at their lowest prices and you save a bundle not buy8ng them again.

Tillamook ice cream 3.49
Nalleys chili .89 (13)
Cake mix Bc .79 (2) I have seen it for 2.79
Tomatoes BOGO 3.99
Goya beans double can .89
Foldgers coffee 5.49(2)
Chicken sausage (2) 2.49
Campbell’s cr soup (20) .49
Milk  .99

Total.  52.59

Total 57.58

1.58 over

Chain store ads including turkey

The best of the chain store ads.  

The comparison everyone wants to hear

Fred Meyers has turkey for free with 150.00 purchase.  Or .47 with a 50.00 purchase.
QFC has turkey for .67 and you get 10.00 off a purchase of 75.00.
Safeways is free turkey with 150.00 or .47 if you buy 50.00
Winco usually matches the lowest.

Please also note that the latest market research shows that grocery outlet, Fred Meyers amd Winco are the top  three cheapest stores in our area.   If your free turkey is predicated on how much you soend, Winco or Fred Meyers would probably be better.  

The digital buy 5 thing at qfc has turkey breast for .99. That’s krill better for a small family,  

QFC

Peppers .99
Eggs .99

Buy10. Save 5
Butter 2.49
American beauty pasta .49
Apple, cherry, peach pies 3.49
Campbell’s soup .49

Fred Meyers
Buy 10, save 5
Butter 2.49
Progresso soup .99
Hormel chili .99
BC cake mix .79
Tillamook ice cream 3.99

Crescent rolls 2/4$$

Alberways
Eggs .99@@
Bread .89@@
Campbell’s soup .89@@
Boxed potatoes .99@@
Cream cheese 1.29@@


@@. Code means in ad coupon needed
$$ code means there are coupons out there . Check coupons,com first.

Another episode of how did she do That!

Almost free pizza.    Now that I have your attention......lol

Cheese pizza when purchased ingredients are at RBP cost about a buck.  The thin crust recioemcosts .19.   My cheese “buy” price is 2-2.50 a pound.  I get my best shit at hat either at Costco business in five pound bags or watching for Kroger sales.

Pizza sauce is cheapest at the dollar tree.   It is a name brand and cheaper than any other store I have found.  freeze it in an ice cube tray and place the frozen sauce on a zip lock on a specified freezer door shelf .  Two ice cubes tops a pizza.

On the same shelf, put in bags anything that goes on a pizza that is left from other meals.  In other words, if we are frying bulk sausage, I pull off a couple of tablespoons and place it in a bag for the pizza shelf.   Coloured peppers when they are at a dollar or less are cut into strips after the top has been sliced off.  The top gets chopped done and —you guessed it, goes into a bag for the pizza shelf,

Pretty soon, you have enough fillings for a pizza.   When pizza day comes, you make the dough and the fillings are already chopped and ready for the pizza.

Any pizza menu off the internet will give you many ideas for pizzas.

Pizza and breakfast for dinner are always hits at our house and both can be real money stretchers.   Any meal that your family likes that is economical is a winner in my book.    And, if it isn’t labor intensive it’s just divine! Lol

Monday kitchen Management aka meal prep

Kitchen management is a tool that takes a hour when time is more manageable Kane saves a lot of tome during the hectic dinner hour.

Reminder of meals

1. Sausage, and oven roasted veggies 
2. Pizza 
3. Mac and cheese, peas and carrots 
4. Spaghetti and meatballs 
5. Pork stew skillet pie 
6. Shrimp fettuccine 
7. Breakfast for dinner 

Notes 

1. Wash kitchen floor 
2. Clean and disinfect countertops and sinks and drains.
3. Clean out the refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀.
4. Make a nit to incorporate any thing that is nearing expiration, 
5. Wash root veggies , dry 
6. Make a note to thaw pork? 
7. Make carrot honey bread 
8. Thaw pizza dough 

Meal plans for week of 11/5

Meal plans are a necessary part of your meal prep.   Theynsave tome and money and make life a bit less hectic in the dinner hour.  A mantra is to soend a little bit more time planning and shopping and less time cooking if you are time crunched.   You save money and have better meals if you can efficientkymscratch cook and buy your food at rock bottom prices.  I want my financial adviser to buy stock  high and sell low said no one ever, so why buy  your food thensame way?

I digress mea Plans .   We use a protein based matrix for variety.

• Chicken basil sausage, oven roasted veggies 

•  Pizza 

•  Mac and cheese, peas and carrots 

• Spaghetti and meatballs 

•  Pork stew skillet pie -taste of home 

•  Shrimp fettuccine 

•  Breakfast for dinner 

Notes :

1.  Chicken sausage was in sale  at Fred Meyers for 2.50 on a buy 10  mix or match.  
2. Pizza crust is on the freezer, I made a monthly batch to save time and money. 
3. Mac and cheese was a request. Using multiple kinds of cheese makes the flavor interesting. 
4. Spaghetti and meatballs cooks in 8 minutes in the insta pot.   
5. Pork stew is from m the pork loin that we purchased for 1.69 a pound .
6. Shrimp fettuccine used the other half of the fettuccine noodles from last week. 
7. Breakfast for dinner is a family affair and everyone cooks.   

Incorporating what is on sale at the store is an age old trick to save money.  Eating in season hero’s greatly too.    Taste of home has a honey carrot bread I am going to try this week.   It sounded good and carrots are a good way to get vegetables into someone that doesn’t eat vegetables often and should,   

Eggs

Eggs in previous years have gotten a bad wrap.  They are a good source of protein, inexpensive  most of the year and are very versatile.

Last year, when eggs were .78 a dozen, I dehydrated some.  It is not an easy task, but it allows you to have the option not to buy them when the cost is prohibitive.

Breakfast for dinner is a good alternative to a traditional meal.  At our house we all cook or contribute to the meal.  Little ones can butter toast or English muffins or with help set the table.

Nutritional content of eggs

Saturated fat 1.6 grams
Polyunsaturated fat .07
Monosatursted 2 grams

Cholesterol 187 mg
Potassium 63mg
Sodium 62mg
Total carbs .6 grams
Protein 6 grams

Vitamin A 5 percent
Calcium 2 percent
Vitamin D 1 percent
B12 10 percent
Vitamin C zero
Iron 3 percent
B6 5 percent
Magnesium 1 percent

Vitamins are percent of daily requirement for a 2000 calorie diet
Saturated fat should be 16-22 per day,

Cocoanut oil has 12 grams per tablespoon of saturated fat
Butter has 7 grams per tablespoon
Top sirloin steak has 6 grams per 9 ounce steak.

How to cook hard cooks eggs

In the oven
Place eggs one each in the cups of a muffin tin .
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place muffin tin cups on oven and bake for 30 minutes
Immediately place eggs in an ice water bath.
Store on refrigerator.

To cook hard cooked eggs on the insta pot. This is for a 6 quart pot
Place 1 cup water on the pot.
Place trivet in pot.
Stack 6-12 eggs on trivet
Process manually for 7 minutes
Quick release .
Immediately put eggs in an ice bath for 1 minute.
Store in refrigerator.

As a protein for a meal, Eggs  are actually lower in fat than some alternative. It is also lower in protein.
1 cup of chicken has 5 grams of fat. And 25 grams of protein

Balancing your protein sources gives you the best case senero and a variety of  meals.

Friday hits and misses

We try to eat the old favorites and mix it up with some new recipes to be a little adventurous and keep growing as people.   They say that’s what keeps you young.  Use your brain or loose it. Right?

Last night was a hit.  Dinner took all of five minutes and it cost less than 2.25.  It could have been less, but that would have taken more time.  I used a premade pie crust (1/2 a box ) instead if making my own.  I already had .88 a pound chicken cooked, debined and on a bag on the freezer,  we have had a lot of meals off that .88 a pound chicken and I have at least one or two portions left.   I used the dregs if two bags of frozen vegetables lurking around the freezer and some red and yellow peppers,  the cream of mushroom soup we bought for .49 finished it.

Last week I made chicken tamale  pie. That recipe went in the recycle bin.  It had good ingredients, but turned out just a wrong  consistency.  It was dense for  lack of a better word.   The taste wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t appealing,

Pizza, glorious pizza , wasn’t that glorious.  I guess we are spoiled,  I have to admit it took another five minutes, but it tasted like it took five minutes too.   I should have defrosted a batch of pizza dough and made scratch instead of using the premade ones for 1.50 at the Winco.   It would have been cheaper and taste a lot better,   It was Halloween and I was cutting time to be on trick or treat detail.   As it was, We only had one group of children.  Most of the children went downtown.

White bean vegetable soup was good,   It took a bit more time because even in the insta pot, you  have to make the beans and drain them, and then add your soup ingredients on slow cooker mode.
It was inexpensive and fed us enough for a couple of lunches too.  

My husband made hamburgers from some patties we got for a discount a few weeks back.  It made the hamburger two dollars a pound .  A few oven fries in the hot air fryer and some tomato and lettuce finished it off.   It was a winner and I didn’t have to stand with health issues this week,  

Hits or misses, life goes on and we survive, a little smarter than we we re before.   We still made it I. Less than four dollars a day and have a pantry and freezer.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained,

We are going to try garlic linguine today.  We have all the ingredients.  QFC and Fred Meyers have farmland bacon for 2.99 a pound Friday and Saturday only with a digital here.  It will  be another stock up, but well worth it.  It freezes.

Garlic linguine has spinach, bacon, cherry tomatoes, and a sauce.  We have all of that because I have been eating vegetable omelettes for breakfast to reduce my carbs.    Eggs are still cheap and I get a free carton from Safeways on just for you.

Hauls 11/1 18

QFC

Pumpkin pie 1.99

Safeways

Ice Cream - free
Apples .88
Eggs
Total 5.05

Grand total 7.04

Winco
6 pasta sauces (charity) .88

Mission low carb tortillas 3.09
Darigold butter (2) 2.98 minus coupon 1.00 total 4.96
2 pizza crust 3.48 coupon attached
Diced tomatoes 6 at .58 for 3.48
Acorn squash .54
Salsa 1.98
Grapes  4.79
Pears .75
Stove  top 2 pack 1.98
Syrup 2.47
Lettuce .98
Turkey 2.88
Taco chips 2.28
Croissants 3.48
Ham 2.18
Raspberries. Double pack. 3.98
Cake mix .88

Total 44.18

Grand total 51.22