Tuesday Notes

I have been watching a lot of how to save money videos and radio whenever my back is out,   I tend to listen to the radio when I am working in my art room.   Like on the news sometimes, I have heard some whoppers.

First  of all, it is not cheaper to buy a  block of cheese and grate it yourself.   Cheese is cheese.   Check the price per pound.   I have been getting it for under two dollars a pound. Always  check your per pound unit price.   It makes no sense to work any harder than you have to.   Now, if you want a specialty cheese instead of sharp cheddar, Mexican blend or mozzarella, it is probably going   to necessitate your grating it yourself.   But, for what we use for everyday cheese, it just isn’t to your advantage to buy a brick.

We toured the Tillamook cheese factory years ago.  They make a huge block of cheese.  Then it goes to a station here it os out through a giant cheese slicer where it is cut into two pound bricks.  The pieces that are leftover go into what I would describe as a bus boy tray.  These trays go on to the shredder to be made into bags of cheese. In other words, shredded cheese is the leftovers.

Next whopper is that it is cheaper to have your food delivered.  It is just common sense that if you ask someone to do your labor , it is going to cost you more.  If you price check the items, you will find that they are more expensive than you can find elsewhere; or sometimes, even at that particular store.  Even if they wave a delivery charge, you should tip the delivery person.  You loose the control of price comparison, and looking for alternatives if something is priced  too high.  It’s true you avoid impulse buys, but that’s a high price  for not  having self control.   If I only  want a few things and I don’t want to see markdowns or special buys, I send my hubby to do the shopping.  He will usually come home with just what is on the list, and only deviate if he sees the item cheaper.  He has shopped with me long enough to know what’s a bargain.

When we were both out of work, he would go with me to shop.   I truly thought he was just walking around aimlessly and bored. One day we came upon a end can display of 8 ounce cans of tomato sauce marked .25 .  He said, “ that’s not a bargain, they were a dime last week.”
He is a lot more savvy a shopper than he was when we were first married.

The best rule of thumb is of someone  has to extend their labor on a product, it is going to be more expensive.  A bowl of cut up fruit is going to be a lot more expensive  than buying the fruit and cutting it yourself for example.   A rotisserie chicken will be about three times what it cost to buy it and cook it yourself. There are ways to cook a whole chicken that takes less than 10 minutes.   

For the most part, any boxed mix or bag dinner in the freezer section, will be a lot more expensive than making it from scratch. The exception is pasta sauce when you get it on sale.  By the time you buy tomatoes fresh or canned, you have spent more than pasta sauce especially if you get it on sale.  The exception is of you grow your own tomatoes.  And, as I was reminded by a reader, some people are sensitive and can taste metallic from canned food.  You can get pasta sauce in jars.  I got Classico for a dollar not long ago.  It costs .80 for the jar and a canning jar lid works on it.  I don’t think I would can in them,  but I use them for dehydrated food and food storage.  We are trying to avoid plastic when we can.

Virtual paycheck.  It is a concept not everyone can grasp.  If you compare the price of something made from scratch with the ready made product, you will find the price difference. Now, time how long it will take you to make the product from scratch.  Divide the time by the profit.  This will give you the amount per hour that you are saving.  If you make Starbucks lemon pound cake, it is about 212.00 an hour.  If you make tortillas, it’s about  ten cents an hour. I have purchased tortillas for as little as .50 a package.   Use your time wisely.

The concept that using an insta pot takes just as long as making a dish in the stove is a misconception.
It is true that the pot has to come up to pressure, and  then it cooks sometimes in a fraction of the time.  The difference is in the fact that you can take a few minutes to load the pan on an insta pot, and after you program it, you can walk away.  Instead of watching a pot, you can finish the rest of dinner.  In the time it takes to cook spaghetti complete with meat sauce, you can make a salad and butter the French bread.  Maybe even set the table! Lol 😂
Stew cooks on 35 minutes, not two hours.  Chicken breast from frozen on 15 minutes.  If you de frost it on the microwave and cook it, it won’t be as moist  and it will take longer. Now, I, not going to tell you that it will have a crispy skin, but boneless, skinless chicken breast won’t have skin anyway.

The bottom line is that you can’t always believe everything you hear and common sense has to prevail.   When buying food, do the math.

Kitchen Management aka meal prep

Kitchen management is setting aside an hour when things are less hectic can save a lot of time when they aren’t, namely dinner  time.  

By prepping for dinner and using a meal plan, you save time and money and reduce your stress.   If you clean one thing towards a deep clean a week , your kitchen deep clean  is a lot less work.

Meal plans are a plan, and plans can change, but you are a step ahead of no plan. I was sick last night and didn’t feel like cooking.  I defrosted a bag of fajitas and added diced tomatoes and we had fajitas.  
Now that have part of a can of diced tomatoes.   Tonight we will  have spaghetti in the insta pot so I can use the rest of the can of tomatoes.  

Spaghetti in the insta pot—

1 ) Cooked hamburger, about 1/2 a pound.  Or, cook it on sauté and drain of fatty hamburger,  
2) Add 1/2 pound of spaghetti noodles, broken in half, and placed in a circle around the meat,   Like a birds nest.  This is to prevent noodles sticking together.
3) pour a jar or can of pasta sauce over the noodles and hamburger.
4) pour 2 cups of broth of your choice AROUND the outside of the noodles.  You don’t want to disturb the noodles and pasta sauce.
5) put the lid on the pot and make sure it is set to the seal position.
6) process on manual for 8 minutes.
7) when it is done, manually release the pressure.  Letting the pot release its own pressure will result in water logged noodles.  
8) while the pot is coming to pressure and cooking, you can make the rest of dinner without tending to a pot.

Meal plans

• Chicken pot pie 
• Fajitas 
• Chicken noodle soup 
• Shrimp and noodles 
• Christmas party out
• Pizza 
• Breakfast  for dinner 

Kitchen management 

1. Put the stove vent screen in the dishwasher 
2. Change the lightbulbs on the task lights 
3. Wash kitchen floor 
4. Clean and disinfect countertops and sinks and drains. 
5. Clean out the refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀.
6. Note things on refrigerator that need to be used up soon 
7. Cook chicken for the chicken pot pie and soup 
8. Wash vegetables for the soup and pot pie.
9. Check the mixes and replentish any that need  to be added to.

Rice mix 

Taco seasoning 

Ranch dressing mix 

Cream soup base 

Meal plans for week of 12/10 no spend

No spend December with  a 30.00 budget .

Meal plans arema way to make life easier and save time and money .

We use a protein based matrix.

• Chicken pot pie 
• Dinner party out 
• Pizza - buffalo chicken 
• Chicken noodle soup. Biscuits 
• Breakfast for dinner 
•  Fajitas, rice 
• Shrimp and noodles 

Notes 

1. Chicken pot pie uses chicken breast purchased on bulk for a  dollar a pound.   Mixed veggies were .88.  Cream of chicken soup was .49.   
2. Buffalo chicken pizza uses some chicken from the chicken breast, hot sauce. White cheese, parm, blue cheese dressing.   Blue cheese if you have it. 
3. Fajitas are leftover from a previous meal in the freezer. 
4. Chicken noodle soup is a good cold weather meal. Comfort food is always good. 
5. Shrimp and noodles uses the rest of the noodles from the soup. 
6. Breakfast for dinner is a mainstay here, everyone participates.   Eggs continue to be cheap, one dozen of ours was free.   Keeping a controlled supply gives you the luxury of waiting for cheap prices.  We also have dehydrated eggs in a mason jar that has been food saver processed.  They were .78 a dozen and a good back up for emergencies.   

Buying food as inexpensive as you can keeps your food budget down.  Bulk buying some things inexpensive is a good tool.  Anticipating your needs and buying multiples to last you until the next sale is another way to cut your costs.   Relate it to a stockbroker.  They want to buy low and sell high.   You want to buy low and eat then food when the price is high. Not too different than when our great grandmothers on the farm, bought fruit and veggies when they were plentiful in the summer and canned for the winter.   

Start saving for bulk purchases.  Soon the new crop will be filling stores warehouses.  Last years crop  will be put on case sales.   Last year I lucked out and the case sales coincided with a basket  coupon.  

Still half price food is never something to pass up if you can help it.   

Planning to use leftovers is a good way to stretch your meals.  It saves time and money.  One study says tha we throw out 40 percent of our food.   That seems high to me, but with the fad of buying organic food, it is not surprising.   Most pesticides are water based.  They wash off.  We use vinegar in the water.   Organic food spoils almost as soon as you get it on the house.   At least, that is my experience.  The cost is  almost always twice that of regular food.  The farmers  aren’t making as much money.   That tells me that it just might be a marketing ploy to make higher profits.   Just my opinion .   

 

Concept Saturday

Yesterday. We talked about basics.  It’s a state of mind.   Our grandmothers or great grandmothers went through the Great Depression and the Workd Wars where food was either in short supply or rationed or money was more than tight.  There was no welfare back in the depression time.  Soup kitchens was it.   They learned to stretch what they had and morph a bit of a leftover into  something new.

Using what you have and using inexpensive  ingredients can stretch your food dollar a lot.  Carrots can be on a stew or they can be on a carrot bread or on carrot and raisin salad.

Rice can be a side dish, rice pudding, or rice and beans.  Spanish rice, or rice pilaf .

A pork loin can be a roast, sliders, stew, stir fry, or pork chops.  Pork chops with stuffing, pork chops with rice.  

Potato dumplings, mashed potatoes, potato fries, boiled potatoes or potatoes in stew, hash browns....

Sausage pizza, sausage omelette, sausage on soup.

Eggs, well, just about a zillion different ways.  Besides breakfast for dinner, they go in a host of baked goods and pasta. A good source of protein that can supplement a dinner that is short on protein.
Yogurt parfaits are another way to stretch the protein . Layer yogurt, fruit, yogurt, granola, etc until a small glass or dish is full. Top with granola and a berry of you have one.  Frozen blueberries work well.

Pizza is a good way to stretch bits of meat and cheese.  The cheapest pizza sauce is to either set aside a couple of tablespoons from pasta sauce or get it from the dollar store aka DT.   Freeze the pasta sauce in an ice cube tray and then when frozen, pop them into a zip lock bag and put them in the door of the freezer.  Two cubes dress a small pizza.  Also, whenever you are chopping anything that can go on a pizza, set aside a couple of tablespoons  and freeze.    Soon, you will have a stash in the freezer ready to make a pizza in a hurry.   Just be sure to keep it all in a section of the freezer,  we have a side by side refrigerator so one shelf works.  The bulk pizza dough fits on the shelf as well.   Making four pizza crusts in the kitchen aid takes nit much more time than making one pizza.  Now, putting a pizza together is done in a matter of minutes.  My granddaughter did it from the ball of dough to ready for the oven at four years old.

Of course, we had happy face pizzas, but she was happy, felt accomplished, and stayed out of trouble. LOL

Chicken pizza can use a little bit of cooked  chicken.  Buffalo chicken pizza is a good alternative and can be as hot or not as you like it.

Chicken is a versatile meat.  The internet and cookbooks are full of recipes.
A lot of southwest or Tex mex recipes as well as old family favorites.  Chicken can often be found for a dollar or less a pound.  Rotisserie chicken is never a bargain. That is on another blog.

Ground meat is another budget stretcher. Figure a quarter pound per person unless you are also using another source of protein in the meal.  Tacos have cheese, chili has beans.  Hamburger crumbles stretch further than patties.  Armor meatballs are cheaper than buying the meat AD making them yourself.  I have been finding coupons lately.  The cheapest I have seen are at Winco.  With coupon they netted 1.45 for the equivalent of making a pound hamburger into meatballs from scratch.

Simplifying your ingredients means you can buy your ingredients in bulk and buying in bulk means less time and money in the store .

What we ate ...

December 2018

1. Beef stroganoff 
2. Spaghetti 
3. Roast pork, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans 
4. Pork sliders,, tater tots , fruit 
5. Pizza
6. Potato soup, loaded 
7. Pork chops with gravy, stuffing with craisens, pear salad, green beans 
8. 
   

Basics

Grocery on the cheap takes a different approach to putting food on the table .   A few concepts can drastically reduce your food bill along with eating basic food.   I strive for less salt, sugar, trans fats, HFCS, hydrogenated oil, and additives.

• Instead of going to a store and buying just what you need for a week, you go to two stores and buy what you need to replenish your stock.   What you buy is based in your needs and the items that are advertised at a rock bottom price (RBP) .  
• Simplify your stock.   Everyone has a list of about 15 things that they buy on a regular basis.  It is important to know the RBP of those items. Spending too much for a can of cranberry sauce you use once a year doesn’t effect your budget near as much as that can of diced tomatoes that you use every week.   
• Never, never never pay full price.  Something  has to be really necessary and have no substitute for me to pay full price.   If you rotate stock and buy in bulk using a calculated amount of stock.  In other words, calculate how many of an item you will use in four to six weeks.   That is how many of that item you will stock.   Now, when that item is in sale for a big discount, buy a four to six weeks supply.  Rotate items until you have a supply of your master list.   
• Our master list would be pasta, Pasta sauce, diced tomatoes, green beans, frozen vegetables, meat ( hamburger, pork loin, chicken breast) dry beans.  
• Rotate meat when you find it on sale.  Again, buy a four to six week supply.  In other words, if you eat hamburger once a week, you need enough for four meals. This week maybe hamburger. Next might be a pork loin.   I have been getting pork loin for a dollar a pound.  
• Efficiently scratch cook.  The object is to spend more time prepping or planning a grocery trip and less time cooking from scratch. The internet and Pinterest are full of ideas. 
• Use coupons when they are a help.  Lots of coupons are for things you would be better off without.  But, there are also coupons for good food and every little bit helps.   Ibotta is a rebate type ap that give you money back.   
• Know what stores have the best prices on what you need.  There is a recent blog on what you can find in the PNW .  Fred Meyers usually had dairy on sale at least once a month.   
• In the Seattle area, grocery outlet. Fred Meyers and Winco are the cheapest  stores.  When we didn’t have a local Winco, we went once a month to six weeks.  
• The twenty dollars that gives over and over..again and again .  Costco’s bulk flour, oatmeal, and rice.  Add 3.50 for bulk yeast.   
• Food for thought...the average cart has 50 percent snacks and drinks.  Eliminate them and you are on your way to a good budget.  Popcorn at Costco was 12.00 for almost a years supply last I purchased it.  Use an air popper.  
• You don’t need a list to go to the store, you do need a plan.   I can tell what we are short of that I need to look for a good price by looking at the shelf.  Can I see white?   The refrigerator tells me of we have milk, eggs, sour cream and cheese.  I want the lowest price.   2.50 is my highest price I will pay for cheese.  I often get it for 1.00 a half pound.   

My advise would be to pick one thing and tackle that and then keep adding until you are comfortable with your budget.

First, list 7-10 meals that your family likes that use inexpensive sources of protein.   We like eggs, dry beans, cheese, good hamburger, boneless skinless chicken breast, and pork loin that
can be cut into pork roast, chops, or stew and stir fry.   All of the parts of a pork loin cost a lot more when purchased individually.   Your goal is to keep the cost per pound at two dollars or lower average of you are going for a four dollar a day per person budget.

List your meal main dishes.  Now, write down the main things you use to make the dishes.  Keep things simple.  Remember efficient scratch cooking. Now decode how many of that meal you will use in a month. Do the math and you will have a target list of your eventual stock.

Start with the protein. Watch the sakes and pick one protein on your list that is a RBP. Buy a months supply. Next week. Buy something  different.  Pretty soon you will be on a roll. If you don’t have enough in the budget, Rock the boat and cut down drastically on the junk food.   Your doctor, and your budget will be happy.

Hauls to 12/6

QFC
Savings 54 percent

Mission tortilla chips 1.49
Round steak, ( 4 ) 6.36
Puffs tissue .99
3 lbs cheese @2.49 less .70 coupon
5 tater tots and steak fries @.99
Marshmekkiws, pumpkin .79
Sweet potatoes .79lb
Pumpkin pie 3.99
Gala apples .99 total 2.22
PeRs (2) 1.29

Total 33.39

Grocery Outlet
Cheese slices 2.29
Total
4.58

Total 41.58

Fred Meyers
Cereal 1.79
English muffins .99
Bread 1.19
Pork loin 4.11
Barilla Shells 1.00
Mission low carb tortillas 3.29
Grapes 2.77
Total 15.14

Total  56.72

Chain store ads - the best of

Alberways

Oven joy bread ..89@@
Land of lakes butter 1.99 digital coupon


QFC

Barilla pasta 1.0


Digital Thursday , Friday, Saturday
Flour, vegetabke oil 1.49
4 lbs sugar .99
Baking chips .99


Sour cream log  1.89


Fred Meyers

Milk .99
Peppers, English cucumbers .99
Berries 2/3
Cream, half and half, butter 2/5
Pears .99
3 pound bacon 10.99



B5, S 5
Cream cheese .99
Cheese 2.49
Cereal 1.79
Coffee 5.99

How did she do that? Why 2 stores?

it’s no secret, nit any one store ism healers on everything.  The concept of moving to two stores affords you the best of two worlds.   Of thenlroduce doesn’t look good or is tool  expensive one place, you have an option.

Prices can vary drastically  between stores.  A cake mix can be 2.79, or it can be .79 on a holiday sale,  it is almost always a dollar or two under at Winco.  We got Jimmy Dean sausafemfor 6.39 for THREE pounds,  at Kroger, it was 6.99 for ONE pound.

So, in the Seattle area, here is a breakdown,   Note that if you aren’t in the Seattle area, the same concept prevails.  The mod west has also and save a lot.  Further north east, Price chopper and Aldi,
Wherever you are, there is usually one or two stores that are discount.  Walmart doesn’t seem to be the one here last time I was there.

Winco
Mild green chillies are .69 as opposed to the name brand that is twice as much.
Vegetables and potatoes are almost always cheaper and good quality. Ten pounds of potatoes are almost always about two dollars.
Canned diced tomatoes and beans are about .58.   Their cans are BPA free.
Hamburger buns are under a dollar.
Armor meatballs are two dollars for almost a pound,   Lately I have had coupons too.
They aren’t the cheapest usually on meat,  the exception is pork roasts like sirloin that can be less than two dollars frequently.
Recently chicken breast was a 1.28 and thighs 1.00. Sandstrom chicken is from Idaho.

Alberways has sales ans in ad coupons for basics like milk and bread. Cheese sales are good.  My buy price on cheese is 2.50 a pound or lower. I would prefer 2.00 a pound.

Fred Meyers and QFC are both Kroger stores.  Of the two, Fred Meyers is cheaper.
Fred Meyers has English muffins for  3/5.00.  The packages are large, I am guessing a dozen. They are located usually by the Eggs in a metal basket.

Meat is often cheap.  Watch for pork loins and chicken.   I have found  diced tomatoes and ice cream cheap too.  Lately, some of the vegetables have been cheap .  Dairy is usually cheap once a month at least.

A scientific study showed that Fred Meyers , grocery Outlet, and Winco were the cheapest  stores in the area. Grocery outlet is not a full service store.  It is an overstock store and has no in store deli or meat and floral departments.  I personally, don’t buy anything but name brand deli meat and I don’t buy the produce at all.   I bought a bag of apples that was bad—the whole bag. They wouldn’t make it good. To be fair, those stores are franchised and not owned by the same people.  But, their produce comes from the same warehouse.  Many Times, you can get boxed goods far cheaper.  You need to know your prices.   Taco kits are often a dollar.  Often there will have been a test market and the rest of the stock will be there at an extreme mark down. Again, know your prices. I have got Pillsbury whole wheat flour for a dollar, and diced tomatoes for .33. You just have to have a discerning eye.  Their cheese department has sliced cheese reasonable and they have a lot of varieties. Dairy is often really cheap and sometimes needs to be used soon.   Always check pull dates. Lately, bacon has been really cheap.  They give you a credit to put their specials on your e mail.   Again, buyer beware, check the pull dates and know your prices.  

Monday Kitchen Management aka meal prep

Kitchen management is a tool that saves time and money and takes stress out of the mix of dinner time.   The more you can do at your leisure, the less you have to do when time is in short supply,

Reminder of meals :

1. pork roast 
2. Pizza
3. Pork sliders , salad 
4. Spaghetti 
5. Chicken pot pie 
6. Chi
7. Breakfast for dinner 

1. Wash and disinfect countertops and sinks and drains, 
2. Wash kitchen floor.
3. Wash refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀. 
4. Cut pork loin into  a roast  and chops, stew meat if the ends are not even. 
5. Freeze everything but the roast.  Season roast. 
6. Make a batch of pizza dough: Noreen’s kitchen big batch pizza dough. ( u tube ) 
7. Organize pantry
8. Wash sweet potatoes and peel for tonight’s dinner

Meal plans 😀 no spend December

the end of November and the first of December brought a regular 56.00 grocery shopping.  I, however bought bulk meat.  The rest of the month should average less.   A lot less.  I have budgeted 30.00 a week for perishables.

Meal plans

• Roast pork , mashed fresh sweet potatoes, green beans 
• Pork sliders, fruit 
• Pizza
• Spaghetti with meatballs. Salad 
• Chicken pot pie 
• Breakfast for dinner 
• Chili or chili and rice bowls 

Notes :

1. Pork loin was a dollar a pound at our Fred Meyers.   I will cut a roast, some chops and some stew meat from it.  The total cost was around for dollars.   Fresh sweet potatoes were .79 a pound, down from .99 at thanksgiving.  Grapes were .98 amd we have blueberries and blackberries from last week.   Also apples that were less than a dollar a pound, 
2. Pork sliders are leftover from the roast.   I will make buns.   Fruit is a good salad since we cannot have lettuce these days. 
3. Pizzas are favorite and a cheese pizza cost a dollar.   I got cheese for 1.80 a package with a coupon. Both Fred Meyer and QFC have it for 2.50 a package of 8 ounces.  Five dollars a pound or less is my buy price, I’d rather have two dollars a pound.   We have pepperoni bought with a coupon and sausage that was greatly discounted at Costco.  A three pound chub was 6.39.  I saw it this weekend for 6.99 a pound,   Same brand 
4. Spaghetti and pasta is an 8 minutes in the insta pot.   Spaghetti was a dollar for Barilla at Fred Meyers, you can usually get it at the dollar tree.  We got sauce for a dollar at qfc a week or so ago.   We paid 2.44 for 80/20 in bulk for hamburger.  Cook it and de fat it.  Dinner in minutes if you already have the meat cooked,  it thaws in a few minutes. 
5. Chicken pot pie can use mixed veggies, cream soup (.49) and chicken breast bought in bulk for a dollar a pound.  
6. Breakfast for dinner can use the rest of the blackberries in muffins and eggs, 
7. Chili is a simple dish in the insta pot.  The equivalent of a can of beans costs a nickel.  They can be upwards of a dollar and  have salt in them.  Us a half pound of already cooked hamburger and diced tomatoes.   

You can eat well on a four dollar a day budget and keep a pantry.   It just takes going to more than one store, making sure you know the buy price on the limited stock of foods you have, and efficiently scratch cooking.   Spend more time planning, and shopping, and less time  cooking.  You time will be well spent.

No Spend December

We are going to do a no spend December.   It osma popular thing to do.  Time to deplete the pantry and freezers amd make room for new things.  It keeps your stock fresh,


First: take inventory .

Chicken breasts
Chicken thighs ( few)
Hamburger
Roast (1)
Rope  sausage ( 1.5)
Cooked bulk sausage
Chicken nuggets
Hamburger patties ( part box)
Pork chops
Pork roast

French fries and tater tots
Frozen veggies a few bags

Blueberries-1 bag

Pasta
Pasta sauce
Diced tomatoes (some)
Green beans canned
Corn canned
Dry beans
Dry rice
Bisquick
Cream soup
Tomato soup
Chicken noodle soup
Chili
Instant mashed potatoes
Instant sweet potatoes
Gnocchi-1
Tortillini -1
Bbq sauce,
Mayonnaise
Catsup
Dry milk

Eggs
Cheese

Now, make meals using what we have.   We want 28 dinners and know there will be fillips to buy and fresh dairy and vegetables.   Dinners can repeat up to four times.

• Pizza - pepperoni and sausage, or chicken 
• Spaghetti and meatballs and sauce or meat sauce. 
• Tacos. Burritos. Or enchaladas , chicken or beef 
• Breakfast for dinner : pancakes, breakfast burritos, waffles, French Toast, omlettes, quiche 
• Soups, vegetabke bean, chicken noodle or potato 
• Pork chops or roast 
• Chicken nuggets (homemade), chicken pot pie, chicken roasted, chicken and noodles 

Come along with us to see what we can eat.   It’s a lesson in life and the way you can make it happen. 

Chicken pot pie

Chicken  pot pie is a favorite around here and it can be quick —or not

Frozen chicken breast can be cooked on the insta pot in 15 minutes.   Place frozen chicken in the pot on a rack. Do not overlap.    Place a cup of liquid of choice.  Water, or chicken stock,
Close the lid, set to seal, and cook 12 to 18 minutes depending on the thickness of the chicken breast, 15 is a good go to time,  check to see if it is cooked thoroughly  with a thermometer.

Make cream soup from a cream soup base or use a can of cream of ... soup.

Place cooked, cubed chicken, frozen mixed vegetables or peas and carrots , and creamed soup in a baking dish.

Now, this is where it gets to how much time do you have,

Your “crust” can be

Biscuits.
A ready made pie crust,
A scratch pie crust
Or home made biscuits.

Your preference.

Bake according to your crust directions.  The filling is already good to go. You are just heating it through,

I usually only do one crust becaise we don’t need more carbs.

Another option is to just heat the filling in the insta pot or on the stove or oven and make the biscuits and serve the chicken mixture over biscuits.

Whatever works with your family and time constraints.

Haul to 11/30

Costco

6 lbs Jimmy Dean sausage. 12.78

Dollar tree

Bread
Cookies 2
Pickles

4.00

QFC
Blueberries 4.99
Less coupon
2.99

Pasta sauce .99
Celery 3.28
Green pepper .99
Blackberries .99
Milk .99
Total 15.18


Winco

V8 2.44
Meatballs 1.45 coupon
Beans, frozen .88
Mixed veggies .88
Stove top stuffing twin pack 1.98
Bacon 3.23 coupon
Acorn squash .50
Tomatoes 1.25
Yoplait 5 ea coupon .48 ea
Graoes 2.95
Granny Smith apples 2.81
Chicken thighs 1.00 a pound
Total 28.26

Grand total 60.22

Over 4.22



Bulk purchases of chicken, meatballs and sausage.

Chain store ads 11/28

Alberways

BOGO
Bargains?...
Chicken breast
80/20 ground beef
Pork chops
Petite sirloin steaks

Oranges .99 lb

Progresso soup,  is 2, get 3 free bargain ....??

Milk 1.99@@
Farmland bacon 3.49 $$$
English muffins 1.29

*******
5 dollar Friday
49 Oz jif peanut butter
Salsa
Bread 4/5
10 lbs  c and h sugar
Donuts
***********


QFC
12 Oz berries 2.99
Oranges 4 lbs 2.99
Many different varieties apples .99


Digital, buy up to five thurs to sat only 

2 lbs frozen potatoes .99
Brats 2.49

Buy 5, save 5
Lean cuisine 1.88
Farmland bacon 3.99$$


Fred Meyers 

Whole chicken .79 ( heritage farms is southern grown Tyson )
Grapes  .98
 Sirloin steak 2.99
Campbell’s soup, chunky .99 when u buy 8
Tube rolls 10/10
Cheese slices 2.49
Blueberries 2/4

B5, S5
Cheese 8 Oz 2.49
Cheese slices 1.99

Same digital 5, Thursday thru Saturday as QFC

Notes
@@ means you need an in ad coupon
$$ means there is a coupon out there. This time it was for .75 and it was in an insert, but I don’t know which one.  I used it at Winco and netted 3.25 .

Several things are cheaper at different stores.

0ranges  are cheaper at qfc as well as apples.  Apples at Winco are often a dollar a pound, select
varieties.  

English muffins are always 1.67 (3/5) at Fred Meyer for a very large bag.  They are in a metal basket usually near the eggs,

Cheese prices are confusing,   Buy price is 2.00 a pound with a cap of 2.50.  Slices are more, usually 2.00 a package.  You can usually find that price at grocery outlet.

Tuesday- how did she do that. .....

Let’s talk about easy hacks that save time and/or money.

1. After making chicken breast or thighs on the insta pot, or on the stove, save th chicken stock for soup.  You can freeze it in ice cube trays or just keep it on a jar in the fridge if you are going to use it soon,   
2. Save heels of your bread for bread crumbs.  Why pay two dollars or more a pound for someone  else’s dry bread. Just break it up and put it through the food processer and put on a sheet pan on an oven you have usd and turned off.   
3. A small spatula gets all of the mayonnaise oit if the jar.   
4. Pickle juice can be used again by adding jalapeños , or carrots and cauliflower, blanched green beans, etc. I would hear the pickle juice and blanch the veggies. 
5. Leftover piece of chicken that’s too small for another meal.  Make chicken salad sandwich.  Just add mayo and pickles .  
6. A u tube friend ( April Holly Smith) cooks a bunch of potatoes 🥔 ahead and keeps them in the refrigerator.  She calls them refrigerator potatoes. Then you can use them through the week. She has a lot of grocery Hauls and ideas in food, 
7. Portion control, portion control, portion control.   If you don’t serve more than one mealsmworth of food, no one can eat more than one meals worth of food.   No one person needs to eat the most of a two pound roast.   If you are expecting to get another meal out of it, don’t put all of it on the table.   Teach children to look at who hasn’t eaten yet before they serve themselves .   
8. Yogurt parfaits are a good addition to a breakfast for dinner meal that is shy on protein,   
9. Milk that is near its pull date?  Make pudding.  Or bread pudding f you have bread going stale.   
10. Leftover rice can become rice pudding, or added to a soup. 
11. If you use half of something, make a concentrated effort to plan how you are going to use the other half. 
12. Leftover chili. Have burrito bowls or rice and beans to stretch it and not have the same thing two days on a row.  It is especially hard to cook a smaller amount of somethings  or there are only two or three in the family, 
13. Taco meat can be tacos, taco soup, or nachos,  
14. Cooking a bulk hamburger meat and de fatting it then portion controlling it in quart bags saves a lot of to,e.  You are more likely to de fat a large batch, than you are if you are cooking a smaller amount at dinner time,   Out the quart bags in a gallon bag and label.  You have double bagged you meat and have better organization in the freezer. 
15. Dollar store baskets in the freezer and refrigerator are an easy inexpensive way to organize . 
16. Containing all of one item is a good way to avoid that mystery thing in the back of the freezer or fridge. 
17. Meal plans are a great time and stress saver. Posting them tells other family members that you plan on using that leftover rice or whatever for another meal.   
18. Having a certain amount of “free” foods tells older children that they can snack on all they want of those foods and you are,nit depending on the ingredients for a meal.  We had top ramen, PBand J. Beef and bean burritos, and air popped popcorn .   
19. Keeping a small stock of food, preferably a four to six week supply, means you don’t have to go to the store of you are sick or have that dreaded s word.  (Snow and ice ) .
20. Always keep a few easy easy meals in your freezer/pantry for times when the resident cook is sick, or not available.   That frozen pizza is nit so bad if you have the flu or are away.   It’s insurance against the take out demons, 

4 people, 5 days, 30.00 challenge

Breakfast
Eggs, toast
Oatmeal, milk

Lunch
Hard cooked eggs , carrots, fruit
Or
P b and j

Dinners
Spaghetti , meat sauce, salad. Dressing
French Toast, bacon, orange slices
Chilli, tortilla chips
Beans, rice
Vegetable bean soup


2 doz eggs 2.00
2bread
Oatmeal canister
1 gal milk
Peanut butter
Milk
Jelly
Spaghetti
Hamburger 1 lb
Pasta sauce
Salad
Dressing
Bag of oranges
Pinto beans 1.5 lbs
4 cans diced tomatoes
Tortilla chips
Rice
Carrots, 5 lbs 2.28
Mixed vegetables
Celery
Parm cheese
Apples

Total 29.77


Notes

1. Most likely the children would get free breakfast and lunch on that budget. 
2. There is enough milk and rice to make a rice pudding . 
3. There will b e enough mixed vegetables and carrots to stir fry veggies to go with the other 1/2 of the spaghetti.

Re,e,ver Sox dollars a day means you can only spend thirty dollars. Not eat thirty dollars.   

Monday motivation : kitchen Management aka meal prep

kitchen management takes an hour or so our of you week and saves a lot of time and stress during the hectic dinner hour,

Reminder of meals :

1. Potato kielbasa skillet 
2. Pizza
3. Ranch Mac and cheese 
4. Chili cottage pie 
5. Shrimp orzo with feta 
6. Chicken with fore roasted tomatoes 
7. Breakfast for dinner including blackberry muffins, 

• Wash kitchen floor 
• Clean and disinfect countertops and sinks and drains. 
• Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀. 
• Wash potatoes and carrots with vinegar water. 
• Make blackberry muffins and freeze, 
• Make a batch if Liza dough 
• Cook pork sausage and de fat and portion control bags. 
• Portion control chicken thighs ( 1.00 a pound at Winco. ) 
• Clean microwave 
• Wash south side cabinets. 
• 
  

Meal plans for week of 11/26

Meal plans are a good way to save time and money and make dinner hour a lot less hectic.

This week we are working from the taste of home annual cookbook. Most Taste Of Home recipes can be found on the Internet by a search.  

It just makes sense to use what you have and what is on sale for a reasonable price that particular week.  Blackberries were a dollar a box and QFC has a 2.00 coupon on ten dollars worth of vegetables.   It was hard to find reasonable vegetables there, but there were a few. 

• Potato Kielbasa skillet 

• Pizza 

•  Ranch Mac and cheese, mixed veggies 

•  Chili cottage pie 

•  Shrimp orzo with feta 

•  Chicken with fire roasted tomatoes 

•  Breakfast for dinner with blackberry muffins, 

Notes

1. Kielbasa was free at QFC. 
2. Pizza is a mainstay,  homemade pizzas  cost a dollar for a cheese pizza using on the cheap prices. 
3. Ranch Mac and cheese can use homemade ranch seasoning,   
4. Chili cottage pie uses beans to stretch the meat. 
5. Shrimp orzo uses the rest of the package when we had gumbo.   
6. Chicken with fire roasted tomatoes —thinking I can use the insta pot. 
7. Breakfast for dinner is using blackberries from QFC that were .80 with a discount coupon for vegetables of you bought ten dollars worth.   We also got blueberries, green pepper, celery . 

Using every available option for free or reduced price ingredients makes for a inexpensive meal. 

Incorporating ingredient that need to be used and fresh produce makes for more economy without sacrificing taste or nutrition. 

Minimum ads

I found ads, they are very short on scope and time constraints.   Most of the ads were non food items,

QFC
Insta pot for fifty dollars.   It is a Six quart, but don’t know which one.

Milk .99

Digital up to five Friday, Saturday
Butter 1.99
Classico pasta sauce .99

Fred Meyers
The same digital five limited sale

Grapes 98
Berries 2/3
Sour cream 2/3
Kroger sausage 2/4

Alberways

Salad .79
80/20 ground beef 1.99
Pork loin 1.99 - the top of my buy list, we would rather have .99 to 1.69

Costco has Jimmy Dean sausage in a three pound chub for 6.39.