This is about chicken

Chicken  is the cheapest priced meat at the moment,  here, it was .90 a pound for whole chicken and it was Foster Farms. It is the best quality including the quality of the butchers in the area.  It always makes sense to buy locally grown chicken.  Perdue is a good brand in the south.  Never buy a whole chicken that is less than three pounds.  At three pounds, you are at the break even point —half your meal bill is laying for bone and 1/2 is paying for meat.   That’s why if you are buying that 6.99 two pound chicken from the deli,you are actually paying 6.99 a pound for cooked chicken.

I bought a 5.5 plus pound chicken yesterday.  It is my intention to take you along as I see how many meals I can get out of a 5.89 chicken.

First

Open bag of chicken and drain off any liquid there may be into a colander placed in the sink.
Place chicken in a roasting pan with a rack.
Place anything you have short of the kids dirty Sox  in the cavity..an onion, an apple., a orange, a lemon,
Wash your hands .
Pour some olive oil over the chicken and pour a little more into a cup.  Rub the chicken down with the olive oil on both sides.
 Place  the cup in  the colander and wash your hands .
Sprinkle the chicken with salt, pepper,

Bake in a 450 degree oven for 10 minutes

Reduce heat to 350 and cook an additional 20 minutes per pound.

Chicken should have juices run clear, be at 180 degrees and the keg should easily pull from the body of the chicken .


1  chicken Sunday dinner
2 chicken sliders
3, chicken noodle soup 4
4. Chicken stir fry 4
5. Chicken pot pie 4
6. Chicken enchiladas with green sauce
7. Buffalo chicken pizza 4
8. Chicken Normandy

Friday recipe

Magic Mix

Magic mix is a mix that makes cream soup base for a non preservative cream soup equivalent.  It also makes chocolate pudding .

4 cups dry milk powder (not instant )
1 cup flour
2 stocks butter

Cut in the butter into the dry ingredients
You can use the kitchenaid, or food processer or a
 Pastry tool

Store in refrigerator or freee
To use

1/2 cup mix to 1 cup

You can add seasonings as you like,
Garlic, Italian seasoning celery seed or
Ranch dressing mix



To make  chocolate pudding
1 cup mix
1/2 cup sugar

2:T cocoa
2 cups water

Heat to boiling, stirring
Take off the heat and add 1 tsp vanilla
Cool.

Hauls to 4/4

Dollar Tree

Ravioli. - an experiment

Egg noodles


Sprouts

Strawberries.2.50
Baby cucumbers 2.50
Blackberries .50
Cantaloupe 1.98
Grape tomatoes  2.00

Green beans 1.35
Zucchini .73
Red bell pepper .98
Sweet potatoes.85
Yellow squash .68
Blue cheese 3.99

Bread.  1.99
Bread rolls 1.00
Total 27.49

Grand total 29.49

QFC
5 bacon 2.99
14.95

Grand total 44.46

Winco

Bread 1.18
Beans .48
Olives .98
Cucumber .98
Green onion .48
Bars 1.48
Strawberries 1.98

Total 9.38

Total 53.84

The best? of the ads

Slow ad day this week......I guess they are saving it for Easter.  LOL

Alberways

Lean ground beef 2.99 - FM is cheaper
2# strawberries 4.88
Eggs .99@@. Limit 2
Bread .99@@

Cantaloupe 2/5



QFC

4 days only -thurs-Sunday
Sugar .99
Ground turkey 2.77

*****
Barilla 1.00

NAB stands for not a bargain
Deli whole chicken 6.99 - two pounds.  That’s at best 6.99 for a pound of meat!  

SPROUTS

Grapes  .98
Blues , raspberries , blackberries 3/5
Tomatoes, on the vine .98
Cucumbers, eggplant .98

Friday Saturday, Sunday
Corn 4/1

Fred Meyers
This is a hard one - a lot of restricted bargains

Flat out
80/20 ground beef 1.90 - rotation meat time !
Peppers. English cucumber.99
Raspberries 12 Oz, 3.99
Pork sale BOGO including pork loin.  This may be a good buy , pork loin should be 1.00-2.00 obviously, the cheaper the better.

FRIDAY! SATURDAY ONLY DIGITAL
Pie 3.99
Turkey breast frozen .97

FREE MILK with 4 Kellogg’s specified products
4/8.00 less 2.00 for milk makes the cereal 1.50 each.
Coupons?

FOUR DAYS ONLY THURS TO SUNDAY
Breakfast sausage 1.99
Sugar .99

Lists: what we ate

March meals - nite some of these meals I just write down to main dish, we did have a balanced  meal

1. Chicken Normandy, green beans, mashed potatoes 
2. Breakfast for dinner: eggs and veggie omelette, fruit 
3. Pizza
4. Potato soup cheese biscuits 
5. Chimichanga, salad 
6. Potato soup, cheezy biscuits , strawberries 
7. Spaghetti and meatballs, garlic parm bread 
8. Taco casserole 
9. Pork chops , baked potatoes, mixed vegetables 
10. Eggs, oranges, sausage , rolls 
11. Hamburgers, French fries, lettuce and tomatoes 
12. BLT, fries, salad 
13. Tuna casserole , peas and carrots 
14. Chilli and bread 
15. Eggs, sausage, muffins 
16. Hamburgers, French fries, fruit salad 
17. Crab cakes, Mac and cheese, mixed veggies 
18. Stew, bread 
19. Pizza, salad 
20. Dagwood sandwiches 
21. Roast beef a jus, salad 
22. Sliders, hamburger and bacon, salad 
23. Roast chicken, mashed potatoes, veggie, strawberries and cream 
24. Chicken sliders, tomato salad 
25. Chicken soup, French bread woth parm, bitter and seasoning 
26. BBQ Pork 
27. Roast Beef a jus, salad 
28. Fish and chips 
29. Salad 
30. Stuffed green Peppers. Cheese beer bread 
31. Waffles, cantaloupe and strawberries 

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Monday Kitchen Management

Kitchen Management aka food prep is a tool that takes a lot of stress out of a hectic dinner hour amd tackles deep cleaning the kitchen, one small project at a time.  At Management school, they taught us the Swiss cheese treatment.  Of a project is too big amd dauting, break it down into small segments, and it somehow seems a lot more manageable.  Knock holes in the Swiss cheese  and it’s less of a solid mass.

Meal recap
Pizza
Potato soup, cheezy biscuits
Taco casserole
Chicken stir fry
Chicken ala king
Breakfast for dinner

1. Wash kitchen floor 
2. Wash and disinfect countertops and sinks and drains. 
3. Clean out the refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀, 
4. Note anything that needs to be used soon . 
5. Wash fruits and vegetables, clean the green beans for stir frying 
6. Wash potatoes and carrots 
7. Wash the vent screen for the stove. 
8. Mark on meal plan times to thaw food. 

Meal plans

Meal plans are a tool that makes life easier and more efficient,  the more efficient you are, the better and less hectic life becomes.

Our meal plans usually are based on a protein matrix,  beef, chicken or pork, and vegetarian,  sometimes a fish.

• Mom out : daughter cooks 
• Pizza
• Potato soup, cheezy biscuits 
• Tacos, Spanish rice, refried beans 
• Chicken stir fry (Facebook) 
• Chicken aka king 
• Breakfast for dinner, 

Notes : 

I am working on a blog on how many meals can be prepared from a six pound chicken. Some we have already eaten, the rest of the chicken was separated and frozen.   My husband would have squawked if I fed him chicken six days in a row. Lol 

1. Pizza is a mainstay.  Easy when the crust is made in bulk and frozen and the cost is a dollar a cheese pizza.  Add toppings that have been leftover from other meals or not.
2. Potato soup and cheese biscuits come in at less than 1.50 for a total of four servings when ingredients are purchased at RBP.  
3. Tacos are from already cooked hamburger, rice can be batch cooked for Spanish rice and the chicken aka king.  
4. Chicken stir fry is from a recipe on Facebook with the addition of parm, cooked chicken, and maybe some red pepper flakes .  Green beans, and zucchini were both really inexpensive at sprouts.  
5. Chicken  ala  king is an old recipe.  Use magic mix and add frozen peas and maybe some chopped red peppers .
6.  Breakfast for dinner is a mainstay.  Everyone cooks.  It may or may not be economical, depending on what you cook and the amount of meat you serve.  Eggs are cheap.   Fruit in season is always a hit.  

Concept: meals:a master list

Groceries on the cheap takes a different approach to shopping for groceries.   Instead of the panic method, you use a replentishntish method,   This is good  because  you always have food in the house.   Studies have shown that not having food on the house lowers your life expectancy.   It is not good for children.  It is also not good because bleep happens.   Snow, sickness, government shutdowns, layoffs, any number of things can happen  Having a month to six weeks worth of food on the house is not hoarding, it is being responsible.

• Make a lot of 10-14 meals you family eats on a regular basis.  The average cook on a house has that many on their memory.  Now, list the ingredients.  Use inexpensive sources of protein if you are on a budget . 
• Pull out the non perishable things on your list.  The perishables on a separate list,  I have them on my meal plan form. 
• Non perishable list:  estimate how many if that item you will use in a month period.   If you typically use two to four cans of diced tomatoes, do the math.  This is easy on a spreadsheet.   
• Now, when things are on sale at their RBP, buy as many as you can until you get to your self imposed storage number.   
• The average family will have 10-15 items.  
• Things like ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard, I keep one ahead.   When I pull my backup out of the pantry, I start watching for a good price on the backup.  
• Flour, sugar. Yeast. Oatmeal. Baking powder, vanilla, beans. Dry milk I reolentish when I feel I am running low.   
• The basic survival list is part of my regular stock.  It comes in 2 parts of 5 items. One is from a Costco type store, the other is from a dis pint store like Winco.   The size of the packages can be determined by the size of your family,   
• Flour, beans, oatmeal, rice, yeast.  Yeast is close to 3.50 at winco.  A lot lot more at QFC.   
• Sugar, Vegetable  oil, butter, baking powder, dry milk.  
• Organize a closet, pantry, or cupboard so that  things are grouped together and you can tell at a glance when you need to look for a sale. 
• Simplify.  One or two kinds of tomatoes are sufficient.  The more variety you have, the harder it is to shop and maintain stock.   

Mexican stuffed peppers

Green  peppers were .77 this week at Sprouts.

Mexican stuffed green peppers

1. 4 bell peppers 
2.  1 C cooked rice 
3. 1 can mild diced green chilies , drained 
4. 1/2 lb cooked ground meat 
5. 1 T taco seasoning 
6. 1/2 cup Mexican blend cheese, grated 
7. Enchalada sauce (homemade) 

• Wash green peppers and slice top off about a 1/2 inch down from the top.  Take the seeds and membranes out.
• Place in a baking dish 
• Prheat oven to 350 degrees 
• Warm pre-cooked meat with taco seasoning , 1 TBLS of the diced chilies and some enchilada sauce to make the consistency  of taco meat, 
• Add some sauce and chilies to rice just to moisten,   
• Layer meat mixture  rice, and cheese inside the peppers 
• Repeat layers until the peppers are full.  Top with cheese 
• Cover Peppers with their ‘lids’ 
• Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until peppers are tender and filling is hot. 

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Hauls to 3/28

Fred Meyer

Fred chicken 5.86
Bread 1.34
Onion .91
Cucumber .99
Spaghetti .69



Total 10.48

Fred Meyers

14,24

Lost slip
Sausage, strawberries.

Total 24.78

Potatoes 2.48
Wheat tortillas 3.43
Bread 2.28
Pickles 2.71
Bacon 3.98 less .75
Eggs 18- 1.45
Ice cream 3.83
Roma’s 1.34
Apples 3.82
Pears .65
Grape tomatoes 1.48
Grapes 2.38
Apples 3.96

Total 30.92

Grand total 49.58

The best of the ads 3/27

QFC

Draper valley chicken BOGO- good buy? 

Oranges, apples .88

Cottage cheese/ sour cream 4/5 

Ice cream 2/5

Berries 2/5 (raspberries, blackberries 

Digi, thurs- Sunday 

You can buy 5

Bacon 2.99 $$. .75 coupon out there, 

La Croix 1.99

Wide own bread 1.99

Sprouts 

Blackberries .88

Green beans .98

Cantaloupe 1.98

Walnuts 3.99 lb

Pumpkin pie 3.99

Squash .88

Grapes 1.98

Strawberries, blues, raspberries 2/5

Alberways 

At select stores 

Green beans .99

Russet potatoes 5# .99

Has avocado 5;5

Grass fed chuck  roast 3.99

Regular ad 

Pork shoulder blade roast .99

Mandarins 2.99 3#

Shreds, coleslaw 5/5

GM cereals  3/5 must buy 5$$

Yoplait .38@@ 

Bread 1.49@@

Milk 1.99@@

Fred  Meyers 

Grapes 1.48

Ice cream 2/5

Raspberries/blueberries 2/5

BUY 5, SAVE 5

GM. Cereal  1.79$$

Nature valley bars 1.99

Mayonnaise 2.99

Ritz 1.79

Kraft bbq sauce .49

Thursday to Sunday only 

No coupons 

Sausage 2/5 

Asparagus. 99

Tillamook yougert 3/1

Pan bread 1.99

Lists : what we buy

First, what we buy that may surprise you .  Even on four dollars a day, you can have life’s little luxuries.
Low fat beef

1. Real butter.  The other stuff has nasty things on it.  My opinion is to buy the real thing and use it in moderation, 
2. Real maple syrup.   I found it for five dollars at Trader Joe’s, 
3. Real parmesean cheese. Not the green box that has wood pulp in it, 
4. Real vanilla.   It cost a lot, but it lasts a long time and you use it sparingly.  
5. Real whip cream.   Again, we watch our oils — hydroginated oils are not good for you. The article I read said that they thicken the blood,.
6. Real cheese.   Just real cheese. 
7. Olive oil
8. Quality ice cream
9. Low fat beef 
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Monday kitchen management

Kitchen  management takes an hour  so when things are less hectic to prep food for the weeks dinners and do some deep cleaning. In management school, we learned that the Swiss cheese treatment was the best way to tackle a large job.

1. Manage the six pound chicken we cooked yesterday, 
2. Make chicken noodle soup and chicken stock, 
3. Make bread dough 
4. Wash kitchen floor 
5. Clean and disinfect counter tops and sinks and drains. 
6. Clean out the refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀. 
7. Straighten the pantry. 

Meal plans

Meal plans are necessary to make life easier, cheaper, and for a more organized dinner time.

• Roast chicken , mashed potatoes, veggie, strawberries 
• Pizza
• Sausage, cream, penne, peppers. 
• Chicken enchiladas with green sauce, salad 
• Tacos, refried beans, Spanish rice 
• Chicken noodle soup , beer bread 
• Breakfast for dinner 

Notes 

1. Chicken was a dollar a pound,   I bought a six pound one, 
2. Pizza is a mainstay.  Cost of a scratch cheese pizza is a dollar. 
3. Sausage is chicken basil.  Yum 
4. Chicken enchiladas are easy and a way to stretch your chicken.  Remember, you are adding cheese  so you don’t need a lot of chicken .
5. Tacos. Uses already cooked and de fatted meat.
6. Chicken noodle soup is easy on the insta pot and another s t r e t c h of chicken.  Beer or cheezy bread is a good addition and easy, 
7. Breakfast for dinner is a fami,y affair and everyone cooks, 

Back to basics

I have been watching a lot of food hauls.  Some are good use of budget friendly items and some not so much.  Not everyone takes the word budget the same way.

• Shop two stores.   Get on and get out,   Two stores give you the best choice of vegetables and fruit and specials.  
• Buy your protein on a a rotation basis using the RBP principle.   Usually at least one grocery store will have a loss leader on protein. If you buy a months worth of that protein and portion control it, you will spend less and always have food in the house.   Ie: if you eat chicken three times a week , you will need enough chicken for 12 meals,   At a quarter pound serving for four oeople is a pound,   Or, 12 pounds of chicken.  Today, chicken breasts are .99 a pound,   You will spend 12.00.  That’s cheaper than buying three packages of different meats.  You have better portion control and it is cheaper.  
• Groceries on the cheap is not about inferior food.  It’s about getting the best quality you can at the lowest price.  Instead of a panic shopping method—- “It is payday and there is nothing thing in the house or refrigerator “ , you have a replenish method.  It’s buying produce and dairy, your rotation protein, and filling in staples that are on sale and you are depleting. Keeping a specified amount of certain staple items keeps it real.   
•  Making a list of things you buy on a regular basis to complete meals simplifies your grocery list and helps keep you away from impulse  buys.  Some accounts have impulse buys at 70 percent of a market basket.  Impulse buys is what jacks up you grocery bill.   Having a basic list saves time.  We have perishables on the meal plan to check off what we already have. 
• Purchasing foods that are versatile simplifies the buying experience.  We buy a basic of chicken breast, pork loin, amd hamburger.  Add eggs , cheese, beans.  Limit our tomato products to tomato powder, diced tomatoes, and pasta sauce.
• Keeping a basic stock means you will always have food in the house.   Being organized and having a section of pantry or cupboard for each thing means you can tell at a glance what might be running low and you can watch for a sale.  The idea is to buy everything at its RBP.  That means you have to buy more than one of a lot of things. One week it might be 6 cans of green beans. Another week, to might be six bags of frozen vegetables. You will spend less in the long run.  Most refrigerator freezers will keep a months worth of food for a family of four. Food insecurity is a bad thing.  Not having enough food on the house reduces your expected life span.   
• Cook from scratch.  Efficient cooking can save time and a ton of money,   A batch of muffins made from a homemade mix costs .30 plus any flavoring.  Like an apple and some cinnamon.  A Six  pack of muffins can cost 5.00 or more amd you can control the sugar.   A loaf of artisan bread was 3.99 last  week, the cost is .25 and about ten minutes.  The difference between a frozen waffle and scratch is astronomical.  Consider sneaking on some whole wheat flour with your regular flour. You can control the ingredients.  The more boxed meals you buy, the more expensive they are and the more chemicals you are putting in your family. 
• If you are on a four dollar a day budget or less, you can’t be looking at organic and alternative  foods.  Not a popular idea with the younger people, I know. But, organic food costs 38 percent more and add a 20 percent depletion  rate means you are paying almost 60 percent more for your food.  The sad, but true reality is that you have to eat all month.  Running out is not an option. Most pesticides are water solvable.  Wash your produce with vinegar water.  Peel what makes sense to peel.  
• Balanced meal- a protein, a starch or carbohydrate as it’s called, and fruits and vegetables.  
• You have a limited budget don’t waste it on empty calories.  Go for food value.  The back of every box has a nutrition label.   Read labels and ingredients.  Ingredients are listed in order of volume.  Fake cheese.....the first ingredient is emulsifiers.  Then a peleferia of oils, os,e good, some not. 
• Becaise you are buying your food on the cheap doesn’t have to mean it isn’t healthy,   We avoid salt, sugar, trans fats, hydroginated oil, GMO.  HFCS, preservatives and chemicals.  Soap and wood pulp are a good thing to avoid too.   LOL 

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Friday recipe : magic mix

It is all about saving time and money.

Magic Mix - store in the refrigerator or freezer. 

Makes basically a white sauce with adding just water.   

Use for Mac and cheese, instead of cream soups on any recipe. 

You can make by hand, or use a food processor.   

• 4 cups dry milk (not instant) 
• 1 cup flour 
• 2 sticks of butter 

Cut butter into dry ingredients.   Store in container with  a right fitting lid in refrigerator or freezer. 

Use 2/3 cup mix to 1 cup water.  

For the consistency of a white sauce, use 1/2 cup to 1 cup water. 

Lists - things we don’t buy

Now, things we don’t buy ...

• Microwave popcorn 
• Boxed Mac and cheese.  Some  of it has harsh detergent in it. The other has more fat .
• Cold sugary cereals.   Again, some of it has harsh detergent, and avoiding a lot of sugar is a good thing. 
• Fake anything. 
• Pop and sugary sodas.  Water, herbal teas are good iced and hot, milk in moderation, 
• Potato chips  and like junk foods.   Empty calories.  Get more bang for your buck, 
• Premade cookies, cakes, rolls most of the time.  There are recipes that take little time and avoiding a lot of those items is better nutrition.  We almost always have some kind of fresh fruit.  Ready made treats can bump your food bill up a lot, 
• Any canned item that is easier and cheaper to make from scratch.  Winco does nit have BPA in their cans.  
• Southern grown chicken 
• 
  

Hauls to 3/21

QFC

10# cheese @2,00

Strawberries 2/5

Nectarines .99

Bread 1.49

Cottfe cheese 1.49

32.56

Winco 

Paprika 1.59

Garlic 1.02

Onion powder .87

Spinach 1.98(

Chili powder .79

Sausage .98

Pinto beans 2.46

Grapes 2.99

Total 12.68

Grand total 45.24

Ten pounds of cheese at 4.00 a pound is 40.00

It pays to buy bulk when it is on sale of anything you use a lot of.   Cheese freezes.   

Dollar tree
Tamales
Noodles
2.00

Safeways
Mixed vegetables 1.00
Peas and carrots1.00
Crab cakes 4.24
Grapes 3.70

Total spent 1.52
Grand total 48.76


Costco
Bisquick 5.49
Total 54.25

Best of the ads 3/20

QFC
Grapes 1.48

Milk 1.25
Butter 2.50
Sour cream/ cottage cheese 4/5

Buy5, Save 5
Tillamook ice cream 2.99
Dbl cream cheese 2.99


Sprouts

Apples .98
Pears .98
Jumbo avacados .98
Minincucumbers 2/5 -1.5#

Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Blackberries .98
Blues, raspberries. 2/5

Alberways

Apples, oranges .99
Apple juice 1.25

Tuna .59@@
Hot dog or hamburger buns .99@@

Fred Meyers

Oranges 5# 4.99

Sirloin steak 2.97

Peppers, eng cucumbers .99

FF whole, drums, split breasts .99

Milk 1.25

Strawberries 2/5

Note : it is real easy to cut off the rib portion of chicken breast and I use them for stock and chicken pieces by cooking them in a slow cooker.

Lists: Thinking out of the box

Things that are cheaper to watch for.   Sometimes getting something a lot cheaper is just a matter of thinking out of the box literally.  Most boxed food has preservatives and is more expensive than making scratch.  Making scratch doesn’t have to take all day conjuring up memories of I Love Lucy and her flour shenanigans. Lol

• Pinto beans in the bulk isle were cheaper than the DT and a lot cheaper than a regular grocery store in a bag. 
• Pepperoni ends were a lot cheaper at grocery outlet. Pepperoni is pepperoni no matter what shape it is in,   
• Bacon ends were really inexpensive at Winco . I rendered  them down while I cleaned and made muffins, draining off the fat out  of the grill pan as I went with a turkey baster.  This keeps the fat from leaching back onto the meat.  I will use it to season and add protein to dishes.  Green beans and so,e soups come to mind. A little bit goes a long ways 
• Buying nut pieces in the bulk isle when they have them saves time and money.
• Buying seasonal food off season is pennies on the dollar .  The pull dates are still in compliance, the food value is the same.  Being flexible really pays off.  
• Buying spices in the bulk isle is a good price and you can reuse your jars you already have. 
• Making your own taco seasoning is a whole lot cheaper.  Anything that is 90 percent cheaper is worth taking a little time to do. 
• Making a batch of bread that stores in the refrigerator takes minutes and saves a lot . Artisan bread was 3.99 at Safeway's. 3 loaves would cost 12.00.  The cost.....75.   94 percent savings. Hands on time...about 7 minutes a loaf.   
• Muffin mix is easy, it’s cheaper than the box and a whole lot cheaper than than frozen  counterparts.  If you use the frozen ones to save morning time, make them in your kitchen Management day and freeze them in bags,  save the bags and reuse them for the next batch. Waffle mix just adds oil.  You can do the same with them.  
• Magic mix is basically a roux mix.  Makes Mac and cheese in a hurry, or the cream soup that you use for casserole or chicken pot pie and costs less.  Takes not much more time than finding the can and opening it.