Jenny can cook

I just found a u-tuber that is remarkable.    She has videos on cooking healthy that won't break the bank.   Scratch cooking that is fast , easy and low fat.  unfortunately, she's not low sugar too.    None the less, she bakes with extra light olive oil which is a much better alternative to hydrogenated oil.

Flat bread, 20 minute pizza crust, no butter, no egg chocolate cake, easy mac and cheese, buttermilk  Biscuits-- and she is funny!     Jenny can cook.

Easy cooking from scratch saves time and money, besides not buying things with ingredients you can't pronounce!  

Trying too many things at one time can be overwhelming.  am planning on introducing a new dish a week along with trying to do more scratch cooking,  I was already pretty much scratch, but I am trying to reduce the hydrogenated oils we consume.   They are worse than the butter.   We don't consume a lot of butter either.    I already use olive oil for a lot of things.   Not all oil is created equal.  Someone told me oil was oil.    Wrong...... Vegetable oil, from what I read on the Internet, isn't recognized by your body and your body doesn't break it down.     It's not natural.  It gets into your bloodstream and thickens the blood.    Butter at least is natural.  Now, I'm not saying put a whole pat  of butter in your toast.   Moderation is the key.

Last night we had pork chops and roasted veggies : potato, carrot, cauliflower and radishes. That  wasn't  the plan, but Winco had gorgeous pork chops for two dollars a pound.    I will adjust our meal plans.   I also want to try no knead rolls.   The granddaughter is home, and she lives to help gram cook  in. the kitchen.   I think it is important for children to see where food comes from.   Not out of a box or plastic bag.    I, however, don't intend on spending my whole day in the kitchen.   My hip won't stand for it, and I have other projects I need to do and a house to run.  Cc

If I can, I'll take you along for the ride in pictures.  

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the Put Dinner On The Table meal train from a different

 prospective. .  The emphasis is on purchasing good food( shelf- stable/ freezer staples )at the lowest possible cost and purchasing enough to last you until it goes on sale again -- Keeping a controlled non-perishable stock of they things you use on a regular basis. It means that when you shop, rather than purchasing just what you need for a day or a week, you  buy a loss leader protein, produce you will need on sale, a stock item if it's a RBP, and dairy instead.    This allows you to put well balanced meals on the table consistently  for a four dollar a day budget per person.   You spend more time on the planning and shopping end of the meal train and less on the cooking end by cooking efficiently.    

Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on four dollars a day, spending more isn't hard.   You still get more bang for your buck.    

Winco prices

Went to Winco, next to the doctors.    
Since Wimco has no ad, here are prices I saw.  

Nissin terriaki bowl are basically free with a coupon.   They are .58 and there is a dollar coupon with three.    The bottom line for three is .25 each.  

Yoplait is .50 with coupons .40

Ten pounds of potatoes are 1.00

Sliced olives are .58

Grapes are like 200 a pound.

Pork loin chops are 1.98 a pound

Cutting the food bill....one baby step at a time,

I have started micro managing our food bill......well, maybe micro managing is a strong word.   I have been broadening my horizons and finding recipes that are easy to replace the few things that imbue ready made or from a box or can.

Enchilada sauce is a dollar  a can.    It is sooo easy.   I always,thought that oatmeal tomato sauce in it. In a pinch. I used the leftover tomato paste from pizza sauce and added water and taco seasoning.   I wasn't far off the mark.   All enchilada sauce is is a white sauce recipe basically.  You start with the roux that you would make 2 cups of white sauce with.  Add taco type  seasonings and substitute the milk with either vegetable or chicken stock.  Easy and I probably can make a mix ahead of to,emto make it even easier.    The sauce keeps 2 weeks on the fridge, so the recipe on Pinterest says.

Next, I am tackling rice  from scratch.    I got brown rice don, rice is proving to be a little harder.

I found a recipe for thin pizza crust.   I have made thick crust in the food processor lots before. But hubby prefers a thin crust.   I found that recipe on the Pinterest too.

It's cheaper to buy pasta sauce than it  is to make it when you buy Hunts   on sale.  We buy instant mashed on sake and the price comparison is close to scratch.   Potatoes are hard for me to keep from going bad.   Many are already bad before I get them home.   It's just easier for us.   I do make oven fries .  I also buy fries frozen for 3.00 amd a few cents for five pounds at Winco.

That's about all buy that isn't scratch.
There are all kinds of seasoning packets in the store.   It is a good way to jack up the price of a  meal that would have been  an economy meal.  Spices are a dollar all over.  If you are in a pinch or you only need a little bit, Winco has bulk spices.   It is far cheaper  to make your own seasoning amd you can control the salt and heat.    Recipes are on an earlier post.  

The ads

Last  night we got the ads in the mail. Dare  I say two ads.   One for Alberways and one for QFC.  
I did part of our shopping on Sunday.    Basically dairy and perishable produce.  

This weeks ads are not surprisingly all about Easter.    It's. It usually a good time to stock.

QFC

Ham 1.49
Broccoli , cauli, .99
Tillamook cheese bricks 5.99

Nothing on the ten for  10 sale is a bargain,   The same frozen veggies are .79 at Freddie's.  
Ditto buy 3. Save 3.    Jenne o turkey bacon is a buck at the dollar store.  

Alberways

Ham 1.57
Strawberries 3.99 a 2 lbs
Tillamook cheese -2 lb loaf 4.99@@
Kraft mayo 3.88@@

Five dollar Friday
Pork tenderloin
Shrimp
General Mills cereal 3/5
Stove top stuffing, potatoes Bc 5/5@@$$

 Coupons in ad ....note a fm after them means that Fred Meyers has the same or lower price.  
Butter 1.99 fm@@
Cake or brownie mix .99 @@- always that price ot lower at Winco
Cream of mushroom soup .79@@$$

That's about it.  

Terrific Tuesday

Its pizza Tuesday.    I had a quick and easy pizza crust recipe years ago, but it is for a thick crust, more like DiGiorno.    My husband would prefer a thin crust.  O tried the dollar store crust, but it was too thin and reminiscent of cardboard,    

I saw a recipe on Pinterest.   I'm going to try it .  It looks like I can make it in the food processor.    I'm was looking for come that didn't have to many stand times.   This still takes an hour and a half.  

Winco has ready made Pizza dough,    It is 1.50 last I saw it.   Scratch will be fractions of that.    

There are still coupons lit there for Hormel pepperoni.    They are form.50 off off one and they're at the dollar store.    One of the last coupons I can still find that work at the dollar store.   I am nit rinsing the same name brands that I have in the past.   I see hauls in the Internet, but not  here.   They have  uncle bens rice, hunts pasta sauce. Dole pineapple, sometimes  Betty Cricker  potatoes, Marie Calanders, jenne o ,pic sweet frozen veggies.    Some things you can find cheaper at the regular grocery store.   I'm 

I digress.   Back to pizza.  Motts cheese is two dollars a pound at Costco.    It is mix information that it is cheaper to grate your own.    I tried that because I have a stick of brick cheese.    We went through four pounds in a week.    If you can get a finely grated cheese, it stretches it further,    I did grate my own parmesean.  Actually, Romano was cheaper so we used that this time,   I used a micro plane, it makes it last a lot longer.    The cost of grated cheese has gone down,    Yellow is 2.08 a pound at Costco  and the motts was 2.00 in five pound bags,   I freeze and take out enough to fill a large  lock and lock.   I'm 

I got peppers at grocery outlet six for 3.00 a while back.  I took them hi,e and sliced them and stuck them in the freezer.  I have been working on them for months,   Sometimes just a few will put some color in a dish,   We eat first with our eyes.  

I got a jar of pizza sauce at the dollar store.   I never do that, but saw it on a haul and thought we could try to.  After I open it, I'll use what we need and freeze the rest in an ice cube tray so we can pull out what we need.    

Sausage is cheapest in a roll at Costco.   Take it home, defat it ,and freeze.    

Black sliced olives are .58 at Winco.    I haven't done a comparison yet, but it certain,y looks like if you take the air and liquid out of a can of while olives, you would have the same volume left.  
Sometimes, it is miss-information that something cut up is more expensive than the whole.  

It's still a lot of money to buy a hamburger meal box at any price along with boxed Mac and cheese.  

Buffalo chicken pizza.   

1. Crust 
2. Blue cheese, or ranch dressing 
3. Chicken cut up into small cubes, season with hot sauce ( Tabasco or hitter, your choice) 
4. Blue cheese
5. White cheese
6. Red pepper cut up.   ( color) 

Another concept is almost free pizza.   My co- workers retort to that was, who's giving
Away pizza?  
Operative word....almost,    
Whenever you are chopping anything that goes in a pizza for another meal during the week, chop a little more and shove it in a bag that you place in the freezer door.    Ditto meat.   Chicken?  Ham for ham and pineapple pizza.    When you have enough make pizza.  

Guess that's all .   

Grocery trips

I did some research on grocery shopping,  The average family grocery shops twice a week.    There are four types of grocery shopping hauls according to the food marketing institute.  

1. The once a week stocker that buys just what they need for the weeks meals.   
2. The shopping trip to prepare for a party. 
3. The fill in trips to get odds and ends that you need to complete your meals. 
4. The quick trip to buy one or two meals.   

The fourth one is the most disturbing to me,   It is a good way to overspend,    You don't have a list and you are looking for what looks good to you for the next two meals.    Sales aren't on your vocabulary and you can bet your bottom line is going to be high.    

The average family of four spends 786.00 a month on food.    We spend 300.00 and I have a stock built and maintained,    I used to shop on Friday, hit two stores. And be done.    After the shake up of the food industry here, I find that Fred Meyers and Winco are the best price leaders of the moment,    Fred Meyers has ads that come out on Sunday.   Winco has no ads.  It has changed the way I shop 

It also has made my grocery bill go down.    

I heard a checker one day say that she  wasn't going to go to two stores to save 25 cents.   Good point.   But, I save about five hundred dollars a month.   What can you do with five hundred dollars a month?    That goes a long ways to pay our lower bills.  

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the Put Dinner On The Table meal train from a different

 prospective. .  The emphasis is on purchasing good food( shelf- stable/ freezer staples )at the lowest possible cost and purchasing enough to last you until it goes on sale again -- Keeping a controlled non-perishable stock of they things you use on a regular basis. It means that when you shop, rather than purchasing just what you need for a day or a week, you  buy a loss leader protein, produce you will need on sale, a stock item if it's a RBP, and dairy instead.    This allows you to put well balanced meals on the table consistently  for a four dollar a day budget per person.   You spend more time on the planning and shopping end of the meal train and less on the cooking end by cooking efficiently.    

Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on four dollars a day, spending more isn't hard.   You still get more bang for your buck.    

Five dollar meals

In order to keep to a four dollar  a day budget and still cover the things that you need to complete meals;  you need to stick to averaging five dollars a day based in a budget for four people.

4+1 =5.    Four people, one meal, five bucks,
 By averaging , you can afford a more expensive meal by balancing it with an inexpensive one.

I cleaned the pantry, took inventory, rotated stock and tidied it up.  If the pantry is cleaned up, there is a place  for everything and you can tell at a glance what you may be running short of.   If the basket is getting empty, it's time to watch for a sale.  

I am on a mission to eat down the pantry and then replenish.  We ate a lot from the fridge freezer, and I replenished it from the downstairs freezer with the foods we will need to complete this weeks meals.

None of this takes a lot of time.   Ok, I'm not going to lie, the pantry clean up took several hours.   The meal planning and shopping trip planning does not take a lot of time.    It probably takes less time that if you shop weekly for a weeks worth of food.   You aren't writing detailed lists.    You are buying - a protein that is RBP and on your rotation, replenishing dairy and perishables.  If you are low on a stock item, and it's at a RBP, you will replenish.   I work left to right on the shelf, so the new stock will be placed on the right so it is rotated through.

Ok, next weeks meal plans.   We have a LOT of eggs.    They were 18 for two dollars last week at Fred Meyers.     My granddaughter and I love hard cooked eggs.   We have been eating them all week.   I ate a hard cooked egg and my regular bowl of oatmeal the other day.  I stayed fuller longer.
We still have two packages of sausage to use up.  One of them is chicken.    They have April and May pull dates.

1. Breakfast for dinner.   Eggs, confetti pan  cakes ( mix bought for .50 at GO) fruit.   
2. Pizza, salad ( pizzas bought for 2.44 super bowl week) 
3. Speghetti and meatballs.   Bread.  ( bread on sale  at Costco, vegetable speghetti gets an additional veggie into our diets. Meatballs from the freezer.   Salad 
4. Chicken pot pie.    Chicken , peas, carrots. Cream soup base, Bisquick crust 
5. Fish packets  : salmon, rice, beans, broccoli 
6. Sausage and peppers 
7. Easter 

1. Mac and cheese, broccoli 
2. Lemon chicken stirfry ( Betty Crocker) 
3. Buffalo chicken pizza ( scratch crust ) 
4. Beef and bean taco casserole ( Bc) 
5. Bacon and bean quesadilla and tomato soup.  ( tomato soup from Costco in a box is 2.00.  ) (Bc) 
6. Tuna casserole with peas 
7. Beef and broccoli stir fry.

1. Tacos , refried beans, rice. ( kit from GO) 
2. Pizza , salad 
3. Tomato soup, cheezy biscuits 
4. Chicken pot pie
5. Pork chops with bread dressing with Apple and craisens , peas 
6. Chicken carbonara (Bc) salad 
7. Salmon, a gratin potatoes. Green beans 

I decided to mix things up and try a bunch if new recipes from the Betty Crocker on line  cookbook.  It is free to download and is a good resource.   If you have something you need to use up, you can plug it in and ideas will magically appear.   

Protein rotation

Face  it, the most expensive categories of your food bill is protein.   One of the easiest ways to cut protein costs is to buy your protein on bulk when it is a loss leader.   You wait until a particular meat is on sale at a RBP and then buy enough to last you for a month of those meals.   Bring it home, batch cook it, if appropriate , and portion control it into packets for the freezer.  

Based on the proverbial family of four  .... Working in two - one month rotations,    The weeks probably won't be in order , you will be picking your meat based on sales  ads.  Be prepared to change your rotation mid stream of you get to the store and they are out of the meat, or it doesn't look good.   

Month one 

1. Chicken 2-about 5.5 pounds each.    ( RBP 1.00 or less a pound ) (8 meals) 
2. Ground beef - 7-9 percent fat. ( RBP 3.00 and change a pound ) 6-10 pounds ( 4x2 meals) 
3. Cheese - white and yellow and eggs - RBP 2.00 a pound and a dozen.   
4. Fish, or shrimp, or canned tuna or salmon.    - enough for four meals.   

Month two 

1. 2 chickens - 8 meals 
2. Pork- either sausage ( Costco has three pound logs) or a pork loin ( RBP 2.00 a pound.) ( 4x2) 
3. Cheese- eggs (8) 
4. Fish, shrimp, or canned tuna, salmon (4) 

28 meals each month -

Weekly 

2 chicken 

1 beef

1 pork

2 vegetarian 

1 fish 

Beef and pork are so lot between two months , the other "meat" is purchased  monthly.    

By being flexible, you can fill in the blanks with the most cost friendly items of the month.   

Fred meyer ad for tomorrow

Fred Meyers ads..  It's all about Easter.   Traditionally. It is not a good stock ad when it is a holiday with few exceptions.    Picnic supplies are best stocked around Memorial Day to Fourth of July,  

Spiral ham 1.49
Butter 1.99@@
Milk .99@@
Foster farms .99 whole chicken
Strawberries 2/4
Cantaloupe 2/4


About it.     A good day to stock the dairy.  

Thinking on your feet!

Yesterday we went to th grocery outlet.    For those not living in the PNW, grocery outlet is an overstock store.   You certainly have to know your prices, some things are best suited to a very large family.  They carry a whole wall of organic.    They sometimes carry test market things this don't  fly well.      They can be really a good thing if you can quickly think on your feet.   Obviously, if you don't eat what you buy, you haven't saved any anything.

Example : a few months ago, they had Kraft jalapeño white cheese.   We all like spicy, it was a buck a pound. I was all over it.   After analyzing it, I see why it didn't sell.   Some people would not touch a jalapeño for anything. They just don't  like hot.   The people that like hot, probably weren't all over it because it wasn't that hot.    Like goldilocks, it was just right for us,   The price was right.

Often times, like yesterday, we hit the jackpot.   Dole fruit snacks were .50 and they had no sugar added, very low in carbs considering the volume.  
I had already planned to put  bacon on part of them and cheese. I had a recipe for Mac and cheese with chicken and bacon,    Bacon was .50.     There were two left and I took both of them.   They have to be eaten today..or shortly thereafter.  We already have breakfast for dinner planned.    It worked out fine.  If it hadn't, I would be rearranging the meal plan to fit.

Sara Lee pound cake was frozen and it was gingerbread.    It was fifty cents.   I thawed it and we ate it for desert after dinner with some whip cream.   I put the rest in the fridge and it no doubt will be eaten today.  

I also picked up another taco kit.    It was a buck and had a May pull date.    I make my own taco seasoning to save money.  But, of they are going to give me taco seasoning and taco sauce for more than free, I'm not stupid, I'll take it.  Thank you very much.  The kit is cheaper than buying the taco shells plain from another store.  

I purchased chicken, artichoke and cheese sausage for three dollars.    I figure when the sausage is cit with veggies and cheese, it will have less of the sausage on it along with its excess baggage.  

I saved 75 percent,   Total spent was less than eight dollars.

Buying some things that cheap and incorporating them onto your meals goes a long ways to stretching your food dollar.  

Yesterday we had a Mac and Cheese  with chicken and bacon casserole that was made from sauce that had non fat fry milk in it instead of a high salt and fat alternative.    And broccoli.     Gingerbread pound cake with whip cream for desert.

I have breakfast for dinner and sausage and peppers left on the meal plan.    It just happened that all the processed meat landed at the end of the week.    I might switch one of next weeks meals to spread it out.  

I am trying at is point in time to eat down the pantry and freezer so we start fresh again.    It gives me a better perspective of what we really are so doing on food.    I spend seventy five dollars a week, consistently for several years now.   Ot bumped a little before Winco graced us with their presence.    Haggens did  a number on Albertsons and Safeways price structure.

But, that seventy five dollars a week built and maintained and grew a decent pantry and freezer stockpile.   We could probably eat for four to six  weeks on it.   It's that time to fmthemuear tomdoma pantry and freezer reduction and refill.   The can goods get rotated consistently.  The freezer does not.  
I want to get it back to a fair to eight week rotation on protein.  
Only then will I tell just how low , low is.   Right now, we are at 2/3 of snap and we have grown the stock and maintained it.   Thats not a bad thing, it will get us through the donut hole and if I invested that money, I sire would not have got fifty percent interest on my money.  
Fred Meyers ads are in.   Next post.






Groceries on the cheap is looking at the Put Dinner On The Table meal train from a different
 pro spective.  The emphasis is on purchasing good food( shelf- stable/ freezer staples )at the lowest possible cost and purchasing enough to last you until it goes on sale again -- Keeping a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you use on a regular basis. It means that when you shop, rather than purchasing just what you need for a day or a week, you  buy a loss leader protein, produce you will need on sale, a stock item if it's a RBP, and dairy instead.    This allows you to put well balanced meals on the table consistently  for a four dollar a day budget per person.   You spend more time on the planning and shopping end of the meal train and less on the cooking end by cooking efficiently.  

Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on four dollars a day, spending more isn't hard.   You still get more bang for your buck.  

as all over it.   

Grocery outlet and dollar tree

We went to Kenmore today.    It was a gorgeous day and the drive is beautiful.
It was very fruitful.     The dollar store netted  three pair of sox for granddaughter and some odds and ends of household maintenance.    The only food was pizza sauce.

The grocery outlet had a lot of fifty cent clearance.  Bacon, fruit snacks, low carb, Sara Lee pound cake,
Chicken artichoke sausage was 2.99.

I saved 75 percent.

Winco.

Yesterday, I went t a delightful luncheon with friends,   I also worked on my studio and did some housework.    I went to Winco to fill in what I was missing for meals.

I got
Stir fry veggies
Tomatoes, ( Roma's were about a buck a pound )
Lettuce
Strawberries were on sale

4 cheese pasta sauce by Huntsn was .88
Sliced black olives were .58

My ice cream was 2.97

The whole trip took 30 minutes.  

We had BBQ chicken , waffle fries, and green salad for dinner and strawberries with cream for desert.

We are thing to eat down the pantry and freezer.    I have Ben adding a little stock, but mostly fresh perishabkes.  

Oranges were less than a buck a pound in a bag.  

.  

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the Put Dinner On The Table meal train from a different

 prospective. .  The emphasis is on purchasing good food( shelf- stable/ freezer staples )at the lowest possible cost and purchasing enough to last you until it goes on sale again -- Keeping a controlled non-perishable stock of they things you use on a regular basis. It means that when you shop, rather than purchasing just what you need for a day or a week, you  buy a loss leader protein, produce you will need on sale, a stock item if it's a RBP, and dairy instead.    This allows you to put well balanced meals on the table consistently  for a four dollar a day budget per person.   You spend more time on the planning and shopping end of the meal train and less on the cooking end by cooking efficiently.    

Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on four dollars a day, spending more isn't hard.   You still get more bang for your buck.    

5 hacks.

Five kitchen/ shopping hacks.  

1. Roma tomatoes  are cheaper and you get more bang for your buck because they have more flesh and less seeds.    
2. Canned diced tomatoes can be used for soups, but also for nachos in a pinch ( drain and reserve juice for soup etc.    
3. Bagged salads that have nit lost their shrink wrap are best.  Mc they sort gang, they start giving off gases that swell the bag.    
4. Always check bagged produce. If one piece is bad, you haven't saved anything.  
5. Fiv pond bags of carrots are the Best Buy.  Baby carrots are just large carrots cut down.   Carrots last a long time on the fridge and are very versitle.   

Winner, winner, not chicken dinner.

Last night we had tacos, refried beans and Spanish rice.   I made the tacos from a kit that. Got st grocery outlet for a buck.   That was less than the cost of the taco shells.    It had the seasoning and the taco sauce.

Hambirger 100
Taco shells 1.00
Rice .15
Salsa. .50
Refried beans. .88
Cheese , lettuce, tomato.    .50+ .75

Some of this is guesstimate.    It's really hard to price minuscule amounts of things.    4.78 and that was five of us and there was leftovers of rice.

Tonight  we are going to have BBQ chicken thighs, French fries and a salad.
Thighs 1/4 of a whole chicken.    1.25
BBQ sauce
Fries 1.00
Salad 1.00

Total 3.25
---------
Sausage, potatoes, peppers, bread

Sausage 3.00, peppers 5/3 ( .50) , potatoes ..40at 5/1.   , bread 1.00 ( brown  and Serve
 1/2 loaf ( Costco)  4.90

-------

Breakfast for dinner
Eggs (8) .88
English muffins .56
Fruit  - oranges and blueberries    3.00
4.44

------
Mac and cheese with chicken and bacon.    ( note this is enough for lunch the next day)
Pasta .50
Bacon 1.00 ( jenne o turkey at the dollar store)
Chicken, in  cubes   1/4 breast.  .75
Cheese.   100
Broccoli.  .65

Total.   3.90

It's not hard to keep a meal for four people under 5.00 if you are diligent at finding protein sources that are under two dollars a pound.    By averaging , you can have a more expensive cut of meat sometimes.  

Haggens rises from the ashes

Haggens will  have half the stores that were sold to Albertsons under  Albertsons management.    The brand will still be visible.     Mostly they will be north and south of here.    This shake up of the industry has been going on for close to two years.    A lot of people lost their jobs and a lot of people have been inconvenienced with closed stores.  Someone wanted to be the biggest in the northwest.  It reminds me of the teenager  that goes through a buffet line and takes all the fruit to prove he's macho and then can't eat all of it.   ......except the reprocussions to other people are far more  out-reaching and devastating.



Albertsons will take over the remaining stores.   This came out of the merger between Safeways and Albertsons.  At this point in time they have slowly incorporated each other's ad campaigns and both ads are virtually identical sans a pic or two.

Of the two stores, Safeways had the best buys and was cleaner in my opinion.   We should see soon how things fall out.

We still have two Kroger stores - QFC and Fred Meyers , Winco, grocery outlet and Costco.   SAMs club is in the next town.    Lately, Winco and Fred Meyers are the best prices.
Our Albertsons is inconvenient to get to.    Safeways is not and th dollar store is nearby.   I like it,when I can clump errands.

Without a PLAN.

I JUST READ AN INTERESTING  ARICLE ON PINTEREST.   Now , we all know that Pinterest is the whole truth and nothing but the truth!    LOL

According to the article, you save three hours, fifty dollars, unlimited stress and net seven healthy dinners instead of 1-2.  

It is true that having a plan and hitting your two grocery stores a week diligently, can save running to the store for everything that you might be out of or forgot.   The least amount of things that  you HAVE to have for meals, the less stress you are going to have.    Trying to remember and do meal plans on the fly is  stressful.

• Check the ads or favado for a loss leader protein.    Take a quick look at your meat stash and see what will fill on your inexpensive protein.    
• Using the protein sources you have on hand, jot down seven  dinner plans.    Use a matrix or a theme based matrix to make things, easy.   
• Check the vegetable bin and note  what needs to be used up.  Make stock!  Blanch and freeze!   Incorporate into your meals.    
• Add perishables you will need to finish the meals to your list.    
• Check for good prices on stock items and then check your quantities.    Add to your list of necessary.    

You are done.    

I have a form...fill in the blanks . Note which store has which items on  a good sale.    

A little planning saves a lot of time and money.     

This week, I would have purchased two chickens from Safeways and eggs from Fred Meyers.    

Strawberries are 1.28 at Winco.  

Note six English muffins are two dollars .     Twelve are 1.67 at Fred Meyers.   That is less than 1/ 2 price.    

S c r a t c h ......cooking

When  is scratch cooking , scratch cooking?      Scratch cooking conjures up thoughts of the commercial of several decades ago where some lady is cooking biscuits out of a can.   Pits flour in her hair and makes like she is slaving over a counter to bake the biscuits or cookies or something.    ...

Scratch cooking is not what it used to be.    No one makes their own crackers, pretzels, or refried beans.   Well, no one I know anyway.  

Convenience food these days is often loaded  with preservatives and salt.   Many times the regular food has been reduced to a lot of fake something..

Groceries on the cheap spends more to,e buying the food than cooking it.    You get paid for finding food 1/2 price in having an adequate supply of food to eat and have on hand in case of an emergency. Buying food 1/2 price is like getting fifty percent on your money.   No bank anywhere is going to give you fifty percent on your money,     Because we all love busy lives, the time o spend shopping and planning is made up by cooking from scratch efficiently.  

If I cook two chickens at the same time, it takes the same oven space, saves power and saves time.   Portion controls save money.    And I am cleaning the kitchen once for eight dinners.    Dinner is a snap when the protein is already cooked.  

We make our own taco seasoning, dry rub, and cream soup base.   There was a time when I made my own biscuit mix, but it takes shortening, and that is something I avoid these days.  

There are some convenience foods that I still buy.   My criteria is is it cheaper than scratch?   Or is it something  that takes a lot of time to make without superior results.  

I'm not going to lay top dollar for so,done else to mix some vegetables  in my chicken and lit it in a bag.    I am going to lay for stir fry vegetables in a bag at Costco, because it is less expensive than buying all those vegetables for a small family.   I can portion control and not waste.  

I buy Bisquick, I buy instant mashed potatoes, and a few a gratin potatoes.   At the cheapest price, they are about the same price as making them from scratch, or cheaper.     Tortillas are inexpensive.   I keep them on the fridge and have them whenever we need them.  

I make our Mac and cheese from scratch with real cheese.   Read the ingredients on the back of the package.   If the first ingredient is the food on the package, you have a winner most of the time.    By keeping boxes of things in moderation, you are getting the best of both worlds.  Too much ready made is not  the best for your health.  

I am starting to learn to cook rice from scratch.     It's better for you than instant and cheaper.    I just have never been able to make it come out good.  

The bottom line is that we eat well.   We eat balanced and a variety of foods.  We always have fresh fruits and vegetables on the house.   And I have consistently fed us on 75.00 a week.    That , right now, is 2/3 of the snap basis.    And, I have built and maintained a stock fir that money.  

I'm not a rocket scientist.    Anyone can do this.   It takes initial planning and some follow up planning,   Actual tome shopping is usually an hour or so a week.  

Shop the same stores,    I pick two chains a week.   Hit the grocery outlet, dollar tree ( name brands only) and Costco on a need to basis or when I am on the area for another errand.  

By shopping the same stores you can direct your own path, and only hit the places you need to be.   This saves a lot of time, avoids impulse buys, and gets you in and out.   I know what I am buying when I walk onto the store.  Only of a coupon matchup hits me between the eyes, or I see an unadvertised special on a staple I, running low on do I deviate........except for a treat for granddaughter every once in a while.....I get to spoil my granddaughter, right!    

Alberways deals up

tomorrow's deals

I am assuming as usual that Albertsons and safeways have  the same deals.   I am going from favado.


Grapes 1.99
Albertsons lists Foster farms chicken for .87
Nathan's hot dogs are 3.99
Bumble bee solid albacore tuna 125
Broccoli / cauli .99

And wait for IT.........





GRATED CHEESE IS 7.00 a pound!      Lucerne is 5.00 for two pounds.  
Note: it is two dollars a pound at Costco for white at regular Costco,and  2.08 a pound at business Costco.

QFC
Strawberries 2/5


That's about alol. Not the best week for stocking except the chicken at Alberways.    LOL

Off the grid.

I have not a clue what to write about today.    Anyone have things they want to read about please comment.  

Yesterday, we had tuna melts.   Fruit salad, amd a green salad with black olives and tomatoes.

I went to Fred Meyers and bought just what was on sale that we needed to fill in our meals.
Eggs were on sale for two dollars for 18.   That's eleven  cents an egg.    .88 for protein a meal is about as cheap as you can get.   We will have breakfast for dinner once a week for the next month.  

I replenished the raspberries.   I always have fresh fruit and veggies in season.

I bought four boxes of cheesy potatoes.   Betty's Crocker made with real potatoes.   They were a dollar each.   I had two coupons for .50 off of two.   There was a .50 Ibotta on them.   Net cost .62.
You can add a small amount of ham to the potatoes, make a salad using hard cooked eggs and vegetables and have a dinner  well unde  a five dollar guideline.

English muffins are the base for our tuna melts.  Fred Meyer always has a l a r g e  bag of English muffins for 3/5 or 1.67 each.    We had tuna melts and still have enough for egg muffins another day.  That is cheaper than Costco.

Coffee was 4.99.   I keep a back up when we open the last coffee, I buy a new one.   I avoid running to the store for one thing like the plague.  Going to the store without a plan is a sure derail manuvere.

We had to go further into town for an errand.   Grocery outlet netted nothing.    Everything was too high priced.   No harm, no fowl, we were already there.   I did check the coffee prices, more
expensive than Fred Meyers.

We were gone 1.5 hours and stopped for our errands for part of that and got gas.

We are full and I only need to fill  in perishables the rest of the month.

1.  Tacos, refried beans , rice with salsa 
2. Pizza 
3. BBQ chicken thighs, French fries, salad 
4. Pork sausage, potatoes, peppers, bread 
5. Mac and cheese with chicken and bacon ( Pinterest) 
6. Breakfast for dinner 
7. Tuna melts.   , salads 

25 pantry staples

Having a well stocked pantry means that you don't stop and run to the store when you are on the middle of cooking.  Everyone has a stock set of recipes that you use to cook meals.   Your family likes them and they usually are easy to cook.    This makes it easy to keep a pantry and make a meal.

25 pantry items

1. Olive oil.   Costco is good.     I cook almost exclusively with olive oil.   It boosts your good cholesterol and is a natural oil.    
2. Salt, pepper, Italian seasoning. Parsley. Chilli powder, cumin, garlic, oregano. Paprika.    All these can be had at the dollar store or at grocery outlet in bulk jars.    Costco has many, but grocery outlet has smaller jars so you can be fresher.
3. Sugar, brown sugar, flour, cornstarch, baking powder. Non fat dry milk 
4. Chicken and vegetable stock.   Better than bouillon, or granulas.   Winco has some of that in the bulk isle.    
5. Coffee, tea, 
6. Beans, dried, split peas, rice.  Costco had rice for .33 a pound.   Winco had it for a dollar a pound on a bag.    
7. Pasta. Pasta has a eight year shelf life.    I wouldn't want to keep it that long. But we go through a lot of pasta.   I buy only good brands and I buy it when I can get it less than a buck.  I have bought it for as little as .38.   Coupons for pasta aren't as plentiful as I have seen on the past.    I did get a good brand,without  a lot of variety of shapes at QFC a few weeks ago for .50.    
8.  Pancake syrup
9. A brownie mix 
10. Instant mashed potatoes.   Idahoan makes flavored mashed potatoes and I can get them as cheap as .60 with coupons,    
11. Diced tomatoes.   Diced tomatoes are tomato product that is the most versatile and often on sale for as little as .38 at Winco, almost always at least one we k a month at Freddie's for .50.   
12. Beans.   Several varieties.   Also .50 or close to it at Winco and Fred Meyers.    Win is own beans have no preservatives on them.-- just beans, water, and salt.   Always rinse your canned beans and drain off the liquid.    
13.  Canned green beans , a few corn! 
14. Chicken noodle soup , tomato soup.  Costco has tomato, roasted red pepper soup for two dollars a box.   It's really good and o out basil, milk, amd cheese to it.   
15. One each of a backup of catsup. Mustard, mayo.   
16. Oatmeal, bulk.   (Quacker  oats at Costco) 
17.  A cake mix in case of an emergency.  
18. Bread crumbs ( home made ) 
19. Yeast
20. Black olives ( a treat) or for pizza and salads.   Slices are .58 at Winco.  
21. Refried beans 
22. Cream soup mix ( scratch) 
23. A box of a gratin  potatoes ( Betty Crocker is sometimes BOGO with coupons at the dollar store.   
24. A box of suddenly salad.  I was buying them on the summer for as little as .75.   
25. Salsa 

With this stock, I can always make a meal without going to the store with a few added staples from the fridge or freezer.  We always have grated cheese, eggs, and my rotation meat.    Fresh carrots and celery.   They are cheap and can fill in any number of dishes from soup to roasted root vegetables with a chicken breast.   

Hope this helps. If you are just starting out. Don't expect to get all of,this on one trip to the store.  It takes time.  When you have s well stocked pantry, life is a lot easier.    Your scope of shopping just got easier.    There are on,y a few that nags you HAVE to purchase, and you don't have to try to remember that last little thing to make a recipe.     

You are looking for a loss leader protein that you don't already have , fresh produce to fill in your meals, dairy , and a stock item of you find one and need it.