Saturday Dollar Dinners

Last night we had potato soup and a cheezy drop biscuit.  It was easy and took almost no time,   Potato soup is full of veggies and satisfying and adding a drop cheese biscuit was fast and added some protein.  

Quick dinners keep us on track and eating scratch on a budget.  The hardest part of the soup is peeling carrots and potatoes and citing them up.  Three minutes in the insta pot with three cups of a broth and you are almost done.  I added a three ingredient drop biscuits made with bisquick and dinner was done .   Cost on the soup is about a  dollar and the biscuits were probably less.

Having some dinners that are super inexpensive means that you can afford some more expensive dinners and  still keep an average.

Pizza is another meal that everyone likes and can cost as little as a dollar. It’s not what you buy as much as it is when and where you buy it.  Pizza crust ( food processor pizza crust from the food channel ) costs .19.  Add 1/5 of a jar of pizza sauce from the dollar tree (name brand ) and cheese that you purchase for 2-2.50 a pound and you have a cheese pizza.  Add some pepperoni, sausage, ham, vegetables, and you have a pizza.
When I cut up peppers for fajitas, I cut the bottom and top off the pepper, chop them and put them in the freezer for pizza.  Having a freezer door shelf for pizza is a fin thing,  anything that can go on a pizza that you can save from another meal is a good thing.  Freeze the Pizza sauce in an ice cube tray and pop the cubes out into a zip lock.
The last pizza we had I used ham cubes from the freezer, she leftover sausage that we got for free and I used  for breakfast burritos, and some peppers.  

Waste not, want not, just takes a few minutes and can save a lot.

Friday recipe

Last week during Kitchen Management day, we made breakfast burritos for the  freezer. It is a good thing to have when time is short.

• Flour tortillas - 1.00 at the dollar  tree .  I have got them as cheap as .50 at qfc during  Cinco  de Mayo sale. 
• Refried beans  - homemade leftover 

• Sausage, cooked and de fatted,   Ours was free, but two dollars is my buy price.  It can be as much as six,  right now, it is two at qfc with a digi coupon.  I have also got it at Winco with a paper coupon for two dollars.   
• Eggs 1/2 dozen @ 1.00 a dozen is .50,  scrambled 
• Cheese -1/2 cup .50

Total cost 2.00 for 10 or .20 each. With the sausage, it would be about 2.50.  We did,not use all the sausage I still had enough for two pizzas and still have enough left for another probably five burritos.  

1. Layer small amount of refried beans in lower third of the tortilla .
2. Top with s spoonful of sausage, egg, and cheese each. 
3. Roll the tortilla , tucking in the sides as you go. 
4. Wrap the tortillas, amd place in a gallon bag, 

To cook, unwrap and microwave intil thawed, or unwrap, brush with olive oil and brown in the oven or a hot air fryer. 

Hauls to 2/13

It’s snowy here, and we don’t drive in the snow.  It’s not as much what you do, but rather, what an inexperienced driver may do.  Lol   In a break in between storms...

QFC

Cottage cheese 1.39

Cake mix -FREE -dumped in the food bank barrel

Jimmy dean sausage FREE

Cream cheese 1.29

Ore Ida fries 2 lbs 1.79

Total 7.55

2 loaves bread coupon 2.08

Total 9.63 

The best of the ads 2/13

Yet again, the mailperson didn’t deliver.  

QFC

Blues 3.99

Roast sale BOGO ????

Digital coupons 

Cheerios 1.79$$

Hillshire farm sausage rope  1.49

Sour cream /cottage cheese 1.49

Milk .99

Eggs .99

Yoplait 10/5

*******

Safeways 

Milk 1.99@@

Bread .99@@

Chicken of seamtuma .99@@

Oranges, apples, .99

Green peppers, cucumbers .99

 

*******

Fred Meyers 

FF chicken breast, thighs BOGO 

Cantaloupe 2/5

Eggs.99

Yoplait 10/5

Digital coupons 

Cheerios 1.79

Ore Ida  potatoes 1.79

Best foods 2.99

Sour cream, cottage cheese 1.29

Cream cheese 1.49

Pasta,4/2

Smoked sausage 1.99

Tuesday in the snow,

Seems like the entire United States is under a blanket of snow.  Even Hawaii had snow.   Our car is almost twenty years old. It is in good working condition because we had a lot of repairs done last year.  We aren’t driving it because if here were to be an accident, the insurance company would total it and I’m not ready to buy a new car.  The stick market crash of Kate has done a number on our assets.   So, we haven’t t gone to the grocery store.  Fortunately, when you have a stock and go to replenish the stock, there is no need.  And the asset in all that is that our budget will balance in spite of the fact the utility bills have been 50 percent higher.

I’m keeping a long term and short term list.  So far, nothing we can’t live without.  

The stores have a three DAY supply of food,   When people don’t carry their own four to six week supply of food, they depend on the grocery store to prep for a snow storm.   It’s crazy.   Shelves are bare.   The stores are cutting their hours to twelve hours.   All because of a mindset.   I get that people on one bedroom walk ups on NYC can’t very well stock food.  Rent is sky high and storage is at a premium.  But, the majority of people can at least have a week ahead.  

If you don’t lay top dollar for your food, and you aren’t t in the habit of buying one days worth of food at a time, you can find sales  and pay no  more and have more food.  

I have been sick and watching a lot of grocery Hauls,   It’s what I do.   I try to keep abreast of what stores seem to have the best prices on food and where they are.  What are people spending habits and how they can do better for better nutrition and less money,    The food snap assistance debacle because of the shutdown has been a real eye opener.  

One lady, who shall be incognito and I’m not judging her because I don’t  know her story or what she has been through. Judging  people is not fair when we all have our hardships one time or another.   I wiI will judge her cart for the betterment of someone making better decisions.

Two kinds of character chicken reconstituted nuggets, 8.00 worth of individual potato chips , and boxed individual cookies.  I see almost no food value, paying for a icon so chicken can be ground up and reshaped, and a potential of saving good money and st r e t c h i n g to the next money, whenever that might be.

I also could see that with four small children, she maybe is tired and has her hands full at dinner time.
A solution  might have been to get with her mom or a couple of neighbors and get one adult to
entertain the children, and another one or two to make some easy freezer meals.  Dumping a meal on a slow cooker on the. Or not before the kids get up, having a cup of tea or coffee is a easy way to start a day and provide better meals for your family.  

There are a lot of recipes out there that take ten minutes and make dinner happen.  Choices, we all have choices.   It’s making good ones that sometimes are not the easiest thing to do.

Monday Kitchen Management aka food prep

Kitchen management is a tool that saves time and money.  In addition, tackling a little of the deep cleaning each week, saves a big job down the road.

• Wash kitchen floor. 
• Clean and disinfect countertops and sinks and drains . 
• Wash inside of refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀. 
• Note what needs to be used up soon. 
• Wash vegetables with vinegar water and dry, 
• Make refried beans in insta pot, 
• Make chocolate cupcakes 
• Make a grocery  list ? 

Meal plans 2/11/19

Meal plans are a necessary part of saving time and money.   It makes the dinner hour a lot less hectic. 

•  Chicken noodle soup, rolls 
• Pizza
• Breakfast for dinner 
• Sausage and bean stew
• Pulled pork sandwich, salad, fries 
• Chicken and rice Caribbean 
• Tacos, refried beans, Spanish rice 

Notes

1. Chicken noodle soup in the insta pot.  Use noodles left from a bag. 
2. Breakfast for dinner and pizza are family favorites and easy. 
3. Sausage and bean soho from the taste of home soup cookbook. Sausage was free .
4. Pulled pork from weeks past.  Homemade rolls from kneads homesteader 
5. chicken and rice from soups and stews 
6. Tacos from hamburger already cooked.  

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Almost free food

I am still advocating that everyone of at all possible should have a stock of basic food to last you four  to six weeks.  It doesn’t have to happen overnight, but it should happen.   This can be done oult of
of your regular food budget, if you just buy things on sale and buy multiples instead of one thing at full price.  There’s that nasty f word again, lol.

In this day and age, one doesn’t know what can happen with climate change, the government, and any number of things that can happen including loosing your job.  Besides the fact that, not having to run to the store right after payday because your cupboards are bare and there is a jar of pickles on your refrigerator is a good thing,  anything that reduces stress is a good thing,

Not to long ago, one Christmas, The interstate was flooded .  Trucks couldn’t get to the grocery stores to restock.  Grocery stores carry a three DAY supply of food.   That’s food for thought.

I digress.    Almost free food.

I priced 32 ounces ( 4 cups ) of chicken stock.  It was 2.88.  You can virtually make chicken stock from your garbage and it takes a matter of minutes.  Our chicken soup recipe for the insta pot  takes cooking chicken thighs and carrots and celery.  When chopping the vegetables. Save the peelings and the scraps.  Put them in a zip lock or container for the freezer.  When you have deboned the thighs for the chicken soup, add the bones to the vegetable scraps. Add scraps as you make them .
When you have enough, place the bones, scraps. And some herbs on a slow cooker and fill it within an inch of the top with water.  Let cook all night or all day, whichever works for you, after 12 hours, strain it and freeze in a bag or a jar that has about an inch of headroom.  You just spent about 10
minutes of your time and saved at least 2.88.   And, your stock has no preservatives in it.


Bread crumbs are similar, a ten minute job recycling your garbage before it hits the landfill can make breadcrumbs.  I cost them at .27 an ounce,  even at the dollar tree they are 2.00 a pound. At ,27 they are 4.32 a pound.  Hmm 4.32 or FREE.

A quart of homemade stock and a pound of homemade bread crumbs saves 7.20.  7.20 buys 12 cans of diced tomatoes in a non BPA can at Winco.   Food for thought.   A good start on a pantry.

What we don’t buy

We  eat on less than four dollars a day.   Now, to be fair, we are not feeding a linebacker or construction worker.  We are feeding some of a 7yo.

We, however, buy good food cheap rather than cheap food.  Buying your food from more than  one store, buying it in bulk to keep a four  week stock, saves tons of money.

We don’t buy :

• Chicken that isn’t local. We buy NW grown chicken.  
• Fake Parmesan cheese. That stuff in the green box has wood pulp in it 
• Fake maple syrup.   Use less, enjoy more 
• Fake vanilla.  We use very little vanilla, it doesn’t go bad, enjoy the food stuff. 
• Cheap hot dogs,  processed meat isn’t supposed to be good for you.  We eat some, but we limit the use and don’t  buy cheap.   
• Boxed Mac and cheese. Some of that stuff has a caustic soap in it.  Also sugar.  You are much better off making scratch.  Kids will eat what you lit in front of them if they aren’t used to garbage.   
• Boxed sugary cereals.  Our grandchild just doesn’t like it, she would rather have a bowl of real oatmeal.  
• A lot of chips and cookies.  If you are especially on snap these days, it is better to buy all of what you need of good, basic food, and then,if you have money leftover, buy the snacks.  If I brought home 10 bags of chips when my children were home, they would eat 10 bags of chips, not good for them and they won’t eat good food if they are full of garbage.   We buy tortilla chips for part of dinners.   
• Ditto pop. 
• Fruit juice,  full of sugar.  Ditto fruit boxes.   The nutritionist when my daughter was little told me. It to give her even natural unfiltered apple juice.  She said she would be better off eating the apple.  
• Herbal teas are good, amd hydrate without rotting teeth out and filling kids up so they don’t eat good food.  
• Catsup with HFCS.  Read the labels. Use less . 
• Boxed food.   I have still got a certain number of things, but have avoided a lot and make our own mixes. 

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Hauls to 2/6

Safeways
Grapes 1.99
Total 3.94

Nite these were free because of a precious overcharge.

QFC
Sargento cheese slices 1.49
Bread w coupon .29
Blues 3.88 18 Oz
Chicken wings 4.99- 2.5 lbs

Total 16.61

Total soent 16.61


Dollar tree
Noodles
Bagels ( priced at 3.99 at safeways)
Total 2.00

Safeways
Pie crust 1.26
Cream cheese 1.67
Chocolate whip cream 1.99
Grapes 2.75
Cost 7.66 actual FREE

Grand total 18.61 out of pocket

Winco
Eggs 1.28


Total out of pocket
19.89

Best of the ads

Best of the ads...working in the internet again because I didn’t get the ads in the mail.  

Fred Meyers 

Roast sale BOGO - nomway of knowing if there are bargains or not, 
apples. Several varieties.99
Milk .99
Blues 3.99

Strawberries 2/5
Yoplait 10/5$$

Orowheat bread BOGO 
Note you can  sometimes  get it at the DT. 

Digi up to 5 
Cream cheese 1.49
Pasta 4/2
Nathan’s 3.99

QFC 
Draper valley boneless, skinless breast, thighs BOGO 

Digi - up to 5 
Cream cheese 1.29
Cottage cheese 1.29
Ore Ida frozen 2 lbs 1.79

Alberways 
Progresso soup .88@@

Cereal and bars, various brands 1.88 probably $$

Things you can buy at the DT that are good.

In his climate of the aftermath of the government shutdown, there are probably people that are stretching their food a bit more than usual.  Here is a listing of Dollar Tree food that is good and a way to get through.  Some food is better than others. I am listing the things that can make meals and are mostly name brands that can be purchased elsewhere.

• Chicken boullion 
• Barilla pasta 
• Thomas bagels 
• Noodles 
• Hunts pasta sauce 
• Tortillas - read the package, so, have little hydroginated oil and no lard. 
• Beans - pinto beans are grown in USA and non gmo.
• Soft white bread 
• Name brand turkey bacon 
• Enchalada sauce, although scratch is easy and cheaper.  

Little money , no problem,

I have been watching people’s hauls on food stamps.  There are the good, the bad and the ugly represented there.   I started this blog to help people stretch their food dollar so that they could eat reasonably  good for  for low cost.  Google has made it impossible to share.  To say that I’m bummed is an understatement.  There is not much sense in me spending hours a day to write a blog and research if no one is able to find it.  People don’t stop and look for sites, they want a reminder or a link.   Unless I can go viral on Facebook, I don’t think I will be wasting my time.

One maybe last time.   How to s t r e t c h food to feed a family when there is no money left.

• Make chicken noodle soup.  Chicken thighs were .78 a pound.   A pound of chicken thighs, a couple of carrots, a rob of celery and some chicken steelmakers soup.  Cook chicken, remove the meat from the bones . Place the bones in a bag or plastic container.  Wash veggies, peel the carrots and save the peelings in your “bag” .  Save the ends of the celery on the bag as well.   Cook the chopped vegetables in chicken stock.  When they are tender, add the cooked chicken that has been cut up or shredded.  Add noodles and cook until tender. Cheezy biscuits are a good pairing. Noodles can be found at the Dollar  tree. Or, you can make them yourself. 
• Take the bones and vegetables you have saved from this cook or more and place on a s,ow cooker with water up to within an inch of the top.  Add 2 T Italian seasoning and set the skow cooker to low.   You can do this before you go to bed and wake up on the morning to chicken  stock ready to strain.  Freeze or use soon.   
• Potato soup. Peel and cut 2 lbs potatoes into cubes.   Peel 2 large or 3 small carrots and slice.   Wash and cut  up a rib of celery.   Cook in insta pot with chicken stock.   When vegetables are tender. Add a half cup of milk that has been thickened with 2 Tbls of cornstarch.  Stir  until soup has  thickened . Garnish with anything you have. Bacon, cheese,chives, sour cream.  Turkey bacon is at the dollar tree. 
• Chili.  Hamburger (1/4 pound already cooked and de fatted  , 2 cups beans, dried. 2:cans diced tomatoes, 3 cups beef stock.  Cook 35 minutes in the insta pot, or cook on the stove . 
• Leftover chili can do double duty by making nachos,  cheese, nacho chips, chili, peppers, diced tomato or fresh tomato.  Leftover block olives. Tortilla chips are cheapest at Costco.  
• Flour tortillas are at the dollar store.   Mix real cheese with beans a a 1/4 pound of hamburger and fill tortillas and place in a baking pan that has been spread with enchilada sauce.  Homemade enchilada sauce is really easy and cheap to make.  I hear it is also at the dollar tree and  you can use 1/2 a can.  I have not tried it , or looked at its country of origin.  Put more enchilada sauce on the rolled enchiladas and cover with cheese.  You can also add a .69 can of mild  green chilies from Winco drained.  Place the n a medium oven and heat through until the cheese is melted.  
• Flour tortillas can also make breakfast burritos.  Add smashed beans, cooked sausage, and scrambled eggs, cheese  and fold.  Eggs continue to be cheap if you shop around.  Winco has them for 1.28, others were two dollars.  Sausage can be cheap of you use coupons and shop around.  The price discrepancy  between stores for the same brand and size of chub can be between 2.48 and six dollars.  
• Spaghetti in the insta pot. Or not, is another cheap meal. 1/2 a package is adequate for four servings.  Barilla is a dollar  at the dollar store. And, you can find it cheaper on sale.  Pasta sauce is cheaper to buy ham make scratch.  A can is .88 at winco.  Jars can still be found for a dollar on sale and the jar cost .80 to buy.  I wouldn’t use it to can, but for dried food or storage on the fridge, it works.   Add meat and or parm cheese.   8 minutes in the insta pot.  You need 2 cups of stock or water in the insta pot.  
• Pizza crust  costs .19.  You can get pizza sauce at the dollar tree for a dollar.  Freeze the sauce in an ice cube tray and pop out onto a freezer bag.   Use 2 cubes for a pizza.  Or take a couple of tablespoons out of the pasta sauce in a pinch.  Add cheese and any vegetable or meat you have around.  A cheese pizza can cost a dollar made from scratch 

• 7 meals, piggy backing ingredients. Low cost.  

Book review: Betty Crocker bisquick cookbook

Berry cricker bisquick cookbook c 2000

302 pages of every imaginable way to cook with Bisquick.

Many recipes are ways to make a dish that might call for a yeast bread or store bought bread in a pinch.  Everything from pizza crust, waffles, pancakes, popover dough, cakes, pies, tarts, dumplings, stews, a syrup substitute that is better than the sugar laden syrup you buy.

• Autumn brunch waffles 
• Cinnamon cider syrup 
• Waffles 
• Whole wheat waffles with honey pecan syrup
• Chocolate waffles 
• Belgian waffles 
• Pancakes 
• Puffy pancake 
• Potato pancakes 
• Danish 
• Coffee cakes 
• Fruit swirl coffee cake 
• Banana nut bread 
• Pumpkin bread 
• Blueberry muffins 
• Scones ,
• Egg and sausage bake 
• Apple brunch cake 
• Cheese  garlic biscuits 
• Mini Chinese chicken snacks 
• Sausage cheese balls 
• Crab cakes 
• Biscuits 
• Pull apart bread 
• Beer bread 
• Cheese flatbread 
• Cheeseburger bake 
• Italian sausage pot pies 
• Oven fried chicken 
• Easy chicken pot pie 
• California pizza
• Turkey with corn bread casserole 
• Southwestern  bean bake 
• Veggie pizza
• Asian oven pancake 
• Easy pizza pie 
• Chicken Primavera pie 
• Salmon asparagus pie 
• Impossibly easy Mac and cheese pie 
• Impossibly easy spinach pie 
• Impossibly easy cheesecake
• Impossibly easy mocha fudge cheesecake 
• Quick fruit cobbler

• Impossibly easy French Apple pie 
• Impossibly easy pecan pumpkin pie 
• Chocolate swirl cake 
• Strawbweey shortcake
• Peach toffee crisp
• Pineapple upside down cake 
• Carmel Apple cake 
• Cream cheese pound cake 
• Caramel turtle bars 
• Chocolate chip cookies 
• Veggie pizza pie 
• Glaszed  lemon bars 
• Granola pancakes 
• Berry banana bread 
• Citrus yogurt muffins 
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Monday Kitchen Management aka food prep

Kitchen Management aka food Prep saves time and money.  You are preping what you are eating the next week and cleaning up the kitchen once.  Cleaning the kitchen is not everyone’s most favorite job, so doing it once instead of multiple times is a good thing.

Reminder of meal plans.

• Chicken noodle soup 
• Pizza
• Chicken pot pie 
• Tacos , refried beans 
• Brats, rice and peppers 
• Chicken adobo, rice 
• Breakfast for dinner 

Things to do 

1. Wash kitchen floor 
2. Wash and disinfect the kitchen countertops and sinks and drains.
3. Clean out the refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀. 
4. Make a note of things you need to use up shortly. 
5. Wash carrots and celery with vinegar
6. Make chocolate pudding, 
7. Straighten pantry 
8. Replenish the rice mix. 

Meal Plans

Meal plans are a necessary part of planning for dinner that saves time and money.

Having a matrix that works for you makes the chore fast and easy. Taking into consideration, what needs to be used soon and what you have purchased on a clearance section is a good thing. Having a form  that also includes  a basic list of food that you can check off what you have and mark what you need to buy is also a great help.

• Chicken noodle soup. Cheesy biscuits 
•  Pizza

• Chicken pot pie , chocolate pudding with chocolate whip cream 

• Tacos, refried beans ( homemade) 

•  Brats with rice and peppers

•  Chicken adobo. Rice 

•  Breakfast for dinner 

Notes :

1. Chicken noodle soup uses the last of a package of noodles . Cheezy biscuits are a baking powder biscuit that has been rolled out and filled like cinnamon rolls, but with cheese and herbs instead of the brown sugar and butter.   
2. Pizza is a mainstay,  cost 1.27 for pepperoni and 1.00 for plain cheese. 
3. Chicken pot pie is to use the 1.25 double crust I got on closeout .  This will make 2 pies when only having a top crust. 
4. Tacos uses already cooked hamburger, lettuce, tomato, and cheese. Refried beans in the insta pot.  Not cheaper than canned, but more healthy with no fat. Better tasting 
5.  Brats uses the rest of a package from last week. Rice is .02 a serving, amd peppers are frozen and purchased for a dollar a pepper.  
6. Chicken adobo is from Taste of Home a carryover from last week  . Add rice.   
7. Breakfast for dinner is a family affair and everyone participates in the cooking. 

Cooking for two meals that often a batch or oackagemif is,etching gets repeated in order to it waste food. 

Easy savings

There are quotes that emphasize principles of Groceries on the Cheap. One basic principle is that “It isn’t necessarily what you buy, but, rather, when and where you buy it.

By switching your mindset from I want xxx and I’m going to buy it , to I want to feed our family things they like that I can incorporate into good meals, you can save a bundle.

Yesterday we hit the dollar store.  There are things that the dollar store carries that make no sense to buy at any other store.  Cleaning supplies are one category.  A lot are name brands or just as good quality ingredients as anywhere else, just at a fraction of the cost.  

You don’t want to pay much for anything that goes away.  Things like paper products, foil, wrapping paper or gift  bags, are not cheap elsewhere and why pay more for something  that isn’t durable or long lasting.  The paper napkins are smaller and for the most part do an adequate job for those times when you are eating bbq ribs or other messy food.  You can use cloth napkins, but it is more practical to use paper when the food is messy and likely to stain the cloth.

I digress .

Yesterday we bought Thomas bagels for a dollar at the dollar store.   They were 3.99 elsewhere.   

Butter was 4.00 a pound, I paid 2.50 on a sale.   Cake mix can be upwards of 2.50, or .78.  

We paid .41 for cream soup.  It is 1.58 now.   It isn’t what you buy, but when and where you buy it.  

Barilla pasta is 1.00 at the dollar store. It was .98 at another store, and 2/3.00 at yet another.  Now, I’m not going to drive to a particular store for two cents.   If I’m already there and especially if I have a coupon, I’m going to use the coupon on the lowest price.  But, you have to consider that you can get 50 to 75 cents on your dollar just by knowing prices and taking advantage of the good ones.   If the banker was going to give you 50 percent interest instead of the fractions of a percentage they are paying you, you would be stupid not to jump at the chance.  You are getting that percentage on your money and you aren’t paying income tax on it.  

I was sick last week.  My husband went to the store and bought groceries with a list.  When he got home I noticed  that we were charged 5.68 for something we didn’t get.  He took the receipt and food back to the store,  they gave him credit, but not for the amount of the overcharge.   I politely wrote the management.  I felt it wasn’t prudent to have to go back to the store twice.  They gave me my money back and a gift card for twenty dollars.   We used part of the twenty dollars to buy a few things to fill in our groceries for the week.   I checked Ibotta and found a 15 cent rebate.  Ibotta takes a couple of clicks and a picture and it gives you basically free money.  The 15 cents put me over the top and I now have a 20.00 gift card for amazon. 40.00 free money.   Sweet. And, I sent a few minutes at a time over a period of time.   That three minutes that I might have been waiting for the water to boil on the stove, or for hubby to get ready to leave the house.   

A few cents here, a few cents there can make your money 💰 stretch and improve your quality of life.   

I , especially with recent goings on, can’t stress enough that everyone should have a four to six week supply of basic food on hand.  It can be done on a four dollar a day budget.  It just takes avoiding the f word....full price.   If you can get four packages of bagels for the same price as one, you have one for this week, and three in the freezer for the next 3 weeks. If you pay a dollar for Barilla pasta. Instead of 1.50, you can have three pastas for the price of two.   Two pastas for the next 2 weeks.  Double that and you have a five week supply.  You have spent the same amount, but you have hedged your bet covering yourself for an emergency situation and giving yourself peace of mind.  Studies
have shown that the person that has to worry about where the next meal is  coming from has a lower life expectancy.  Children should not have to live with that insecurity.

It just takes a concentrated effort.  After you have a small stock, you can go to the store and buy what you need to replenish with sale prices and fresh produce and dairy on sale. 

The basics

Haven”t written this for a while.

The basic concept of groceries in the cheap is never to pay full price for your food.   This is realized by taking some baby steps that take a little time, but only have to be done once.

• Make a list of dinners that your family likes that use inexpensive sources of protein. 
• Simplify the protein.  The less ingredients you use  , the less items you have to buy and the easier it is to organize and store your supplies.   We use boneless , skinless chicken breast, pork loin, and hamburger. Add cheese, beans, rice and eggs.   Picking versitle sources of protein is key. 
• Buy your protein in bulk at its lowest price.  This is more beneficial if you find a sale  and rotate your purchases buying a four  to six week supply at a time.  This means that if you use a pound of hamburger a week,you will buy four to six pounds of hamburger.   
• Use the store ads to fill in what you need.  Know your prices of  the things  you buy on a regular basis.  Write them down in  a small notebook for a few weeks and you will  see a pattern.  This will tell you when you are likely to find things the cheapest. 
• Use every available means at your disposal to lower costs.  Coupons, sales., apps  like Ibotta.  Every little thing is a help.  Don’t pay to much time to it, but a few minutes can reap great rewards.  Taking a couple of minutes while watching tv to load coupons on a store card with anything you regularly buy can save money.  We just paid .29 for a loaf of bread.  It cost me a quarter t make bread and I didn’t have the labor. 
• Portion control.  No teen needs to eat the better part of a two pound roast.   Fill the plates in the kitchen or put what you expect to eat on the table.  Fill little kids plates with a small portion, they can have seconds if they eat what  they have. Waste not, want not. 
• Use every bit.  Make soup, make stock instead of buying stock.  It takes almost no time and saves a lot of money.  Like five minutes saves several bucks.  Your ingredients are free.  Dumping a few things in  a slow cooker and going to bed is not really work. 
• Efficient scratch cook.   The internet and Pinterest are full of ideas for recipes that take less time to make.  Spend more time planning and shopping and less time cooking,  the money is to be made on the planning and buying of the food. Not the cooking.   
• Tools like insta pots. Slow cookers, and food processers help on saving time and money.
• Always shop in at least two stores a week.  Go with a plan and stay away from junk food and drinks.   If you must buy junk food and drinks, use a separate budget so that it is abundantly clear how much those items add to your budget.   Going to two stores gives you the best selection of produce and two sets of sale items. 
• Go with the plan of replenishing your stock.  You are not buying a weeks worth of food.  This affords you the luxury of never having to pay full price.  Dairy usually goes on sale at least once a month.  Much of it with the exception of milk, has a near month pull date.   
• Buy fresh vegetables and fruit in season at their lowest price.  Otherwise, buy frozen.  Frozen sometimes can actually be  fresher than fresh. 
• Keep a supply of eggs equivelentto three weeks supply.  If eggs aren’t at your buy price. You won’t get stuck.  
• Dry goods can be purchased when on sale, buy 4-6 weeks supply unless that goes on a mega sale at a particular time of year. Picnic condiments go on at summer holiday time.baking supplies go on at Christmas and thanksgiving time.  Less at Easter.  
• Meal prep time is a good tool to save time and  money.  Anything you can do once and use for a week is a time saver and you only cleanup once.   When the meal is half prepped. You are more likely to finish it when you are tired than you are to call for pizza.   Pizza costs 1.27 for a scratch pepperoni pizza when you buy your ingredients for a RBP. It can cost 20.00 for delivery when you add tax and tip.  There is, o tax here on ingredients,  it anything bought that requires a food handlers card is taxed. 
• One of biggest things you can do to save money is to go to Costco or Sams club and buy a bulk sack of flour, oatmeal, yeast, and rice. Saves hundreds.  Muffins can cost a dollar a piece.  A dozen smaller ones can cost .30. Better for your waistline and budget.   

Little things all add up.  One step at a time. 

The story behind groceries on the cheap

Long ago, in the 70s , I was a single parent.  We went through double digit inflation in the 70’s and I had a job that didn’t get a raise in three years. Our  rent went from 145.00 to 285.00. Child support was sparotic at best and we didn’t qualify for welfare, or so they said.  Needless to say, it was sink or swim.  I already learned a lot from my mother about stretching your food dollar, but I set out to learn more.  I watched everything I could find on our 10 inch black and white tv with rabbit ears, and  got every book I could find in the library.  Food was the  most expensive part of our descressionary income.  I cut the dry cycle on the dishwasher and turned off the heat on some of the rooms.  December of 1972 we ate on 25.00 for the month.

Fast forward to the 80’s and things were better .  It was a habit by then and we still economized on food.   I was published in the Woman’s Day and Taste of Home.

On to the 90’s and beyond and my daughter had graduated from college and had been teaching children from low income families for years.   She was getting feedback from mothers that were lamenting that they were running out of snap before they ran out of month.  She , trying to help, told them my mother knows how to stretch a food dollar.  My adult children convinced  their not so tech savvy mother to start a blog.

And the rest is history.

I have written a blog almost every day for almost six years.   It is my hope that I can reach people that need to stretch their food dollars.   No one should go without proper food.  I have heard horror stories of kids eating top ramen and potato chips for breakfast , lunch and dinner, and Sunday dinner being corn on the cob and watermelon.

A few changes a little at a time can change your habits to make it easy to feed your family on four dollars a day and keep a four to six week supply of basic food.  The recent government shutdown is a good example of why this is necessary.  Anything can happen from weather to shutdowns to other natural or unnatural disasters.  Having a small stock saves money and gives you piece of mind.

We were already pretty frugal, but I set out to lower our food costs as low  as I could without sacrificing good food.  It wasn’t until I set out to write a class that  it came to me that we were in fact eating on less than four dollars a day and grew a small stock.  In fact, last year our grocery expenses were almost 5.00 a week less than four dollars a day.  The usda has charts on line that tell you what your cost of food at home should be per your family ages and sizes.  This is not adjusted for your States COL index

It happened  one little step at a time.

What we ate : Jan 2019

What we ate:

1. Vegetable bean soup with oatmeal French bread 
2. Ham quiche , salsa 
3. Soup over rice 
4. BLT’s 
5. Ham and Alfredo sauce pasta 
6. Pork sausage quiche , pear, blue cheese and walnut salad 
7. Pizza
8. Pizza
9. Chicken pot pie 
10. Potato soup
11. Pizza
12. Spaghetti
13. Sausage, sauerkraut, apple 
14. Chicken noodle soup
15. Pizza
16. Quesadillas
17. Pork chops, apple bread dressing with Craisens , green beans. 
18. Pork chops, applesauce, baked potatoes 
19. Burrito bowls 
20. Nachos 
21. Chili
22. Orange chicken, fried rice 
23. Baked potato bar 
24. Chicken soup 
25. Ham and Swiss sliders , fries 
26. Tacos 
27. Hamburgers, French fries 
28. Ham and cheese quiche with red peppers and chives. 
29. Pizza
30. Brats, oven fries, sliced tomatoes dressed 
31. Tuna casserole