Winco......interesting observation.

I have been watching a lot of grocery hauls from across the United States.   It gives me perspective ( sorta) as to prices other places. A lot of people buy all organic, al lot buy a lot of junk food.   I tend to try for the  middle of the road.  

While watching these, I discovered a very interesting pattern.   These are on the same week of purchase.    One lady bought Classico pasta sauce on the regular jar in Utah for .58 from a Kroger store for .58 if you bought five.    Our Kroger stores (QFC) in Seattle has it for 1.50 each of you buy 5.    Some other lady in another city, paid like 2.16 for the same jar at  Wallmart in Indiana.  
That's some price swing!    It goes to reiterate that your quality of food doesn't have to go down to eat on the cheap.  You just have to find the lowest prices on things and buy them when you are low.    You buy five pasta sauces, and don't buy the green beans that you found on sale the week before.   You still eat pasta and green beans, you just eat more days for the same money spent.  

Last night we had spaghetti and meatballs. Tonight we will have either salmon or breakfast for dinner.  
My focus , now that I have got to the point where I can serve good meals for four dollars or less a day, is to work harder on reducing our fat, sugar, and salt intakes.    It was never bad, I just want it to be better.    It's something to work towards.  

I went to Winco yesterday.    I got a lot of veggies and lettuce that was on my list.    I also got brown rice in a bag.   Yesterday morning I found a microwave recipe for brown rice that comes out in grains rather than sticky rice.    I found a white rice recipe too that I will try another day.   I was using instant and figure that the bagged rice will be cheaper and probably more nutritious.    I cleaned out the vegetable bin and bread basket before I left so I know exactly what we were short of.    This should do us until next week, or the week thereafter.

Put 1 cup of washed rice in a microwave safe bowl with three cups of water.    Cook uncovered in high for 10 minutes.    Reduce heat to 50 percent power and cook an additional twenty minutes.  
I sometimes use chicken broth or vegetable broth for the water.  

Albertsons has purchased their stores back (33) of them in Washington state.    Other companies have purchased stores in Oregon and California.     Haggens will close their last store.    I am saddened because Safeways was the better store here.   The prices were lower and it was a lot cleaner.    Only time will tell of there is an improvement.    The prices while Haggens had control were way to high, we will have to see if things improve.     Fortunately, we have Kroger stores and Winco for other chains and grocery outlet. Costco, and SAMs club.    Competition breeds lower prices.
I will be glad of things go back to having a grocery ad on a regular basis.   It's hard to compare.    I know some things are consistently cheaper at some stores.  

1. Sliced cheese in a lot of varieties are almost always 2.39 at grocery outlet.    Coffee, if you aren't particular, is cheaper at winco and grocery outlet.    
2. Tomatoes and beans are cheapest at Fred Meyers and Winco.   Lately it has been Fred Meyers.    
3. Green beans are cheap at Winco.   Low sodium ones are best at Costco for about .66 a can.   
4. Refried beans are cheaper at Costco, but there is,no variety.    Winco has vegetarian ones close to the same  price.  
5. At any point in time, I can usually find Foster farms whole chickens for a buck or less a pound.   
6. Periodically, I can find 7 percent hambirger at Winco for around three dollars    
7. Fred Meyers is cheap on dairy about once a month.   You can stock that week because most of it has a month pull date.   Sour cream, cottage cheese, and milk.   
8. Costco , unless there is a sale, is cheapest on butter at 2.50 a pound.     Sales sometimes bring a better price, but like this week, you have to buy five and there is nothing else on the buy five list that is a good price and no coupon  match ups. You are laying more for some things to pay less for others.    No 75 percent off this time.   
9. Vegetables are a crap shoot.     Windows are sometimes good......watch!    Grocery outlet sold me a whole bag of apples that were written inside and wouldn't do anything about it.   I watch very closely before I buy any vegetables from them.   Costco is good especially on bananas.    Watch the bags, if even one piece of fruit is bad, you haven't saved anything,    Their prices are fairly consistent through the the year.  That means, that at the height of the growing season, they may be cheaper elsewhere.    It also doesn't pay you of you don't use that quality.    We never, unless we at pot lucking, use a whole box of spinach.    Tomatoes and berries are eaten most of the time , or I can freeze blues.   
10. Black olives are cheapest at Winco.   Hands down!   
11. Frozen veggies are cheapest at Costco wholesale or Winco or Fred Meyers on a coupon,   Bigger bags are better for us because I can take out what I need and save the rest for another meal.    Dollar store potatoes ar good.  Check the country of origin.   Five pounds of French fries are around three dollars at Winco.    Rarely can I find cheaper with a coupon.  
12. I can almost always find yoplait for fofty cents and I can always I can find a coupon for an additional ten cents off.    Yoplait is the lowest in sugar I can find.    
13. Pepperoni is always a dollar at the dollar tree and sometimes a coupon makes it BOGO.   Ditto Betty Crocker potatoes and they have mashed sweet potatoes.  Uncle bens rice is another BOGO when you have a coupon.    Hunts  pasta sauce is always a dollar.   Watch, they are coming out with smaller cans.    It is sometimes cheaper at Winco or Fred Meyers.   My target price is less than a dollar.   I have got ot for as low as fifty cents, but most recently .75.   Pineapple is a buck and there are coupons out there.    Name brand turkey bacon is always a buck ( check pull date) .
14. Bread and buns are cheapest at Winco.   
15. Instant mashed potatoes at cheapest at Winco and coupons can make them as cheap as .60.   

That's a good run down.    If you have questions on the Seattle area on another inexpensive ingredient, please let me know on the comments.    

Shopping anyway you can.......

yesterday, I had to do business in Bothell.   This week, we have gone to Fred Meyers on Sunday, QFC on Tuesday, and grocery outlet on Wednesday.    No store had a large expenditure.   Fred Meyers was a planned trip, that is, we went there and there alone.    The other two trips were on conjunction with other errands.   It makes no sense not to take advantage of an already scheduled errand to add the grocery store.  It saves gas.    In total, I have spent very little this week.   I bought grapes at QFC, the other stores were more expensive and lesser quality.    The grocery outlet netted :

1. Cereal, fiber one with extra protein and almonds and craisens .99
2. Rice 
3. Taco kit .99
4. Sliced cheese
5. Tortillas 
6. A bag of peppers for 1.50.   Total 13.00

I saved more than I spent.   This is an unusual week.  There were no ads, and the only way to get the best of the stores is to go to the best of the stores.    Grocery outlet is not a store we go to on a weekly basis.    I do business in. Bothell once every four to six weeks and I co-ordinate the trips to save gas.   

My planned trips for the two chains this week was to be Winco and Fred Meyers.    I'll do Winco  when I go to the doctor since its on the same neighborhood to finish with a few perishables that are cheaper there.    

The trick is to only buy what you are almost out if, and not to impulse  buy.   I'm still on track for the budget, but I have got everything cheaper than if I had just gone to a store and purchased what we needed.   I spent 46.00 total between the three stores.    

Having ads would have helped, but with the shake up on the food industry here, it's the best I can do. The bottom line is that the house is full of good food and we are eating well on less than 75.00 a week.    Last night we had a vegetable bean soup that had no fat except the little olive oil I used to sauté the vegetables. --and olive oil is a good oil; it increases the good cholesterol levels. 

Planning meals and eating a variety of meats and proteins gives us the luxury of having beef once a week or so and not having too much trans fats.    It also helps to stay at a three to four ounce portion of meat when you eat it.     

  

Grocersies 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.    

It's ad day....

It's ad day and there is,not much there.   QFC was an two week ad.   I got grapes yesterday, but the five for five is not a good one to work with this time. A lot of things that I don't buy or can get at a lower price, there no  coupon match ups.  It's matching the dollar off and coupons than can bring you anywhere from 64-75 percent off.        Alberways is almost entirely exactly alike and there are not many  bargains.    

The last I heard the auction to sell Safeways and Albertsons stores was Feb 22, but it kept being postponed.    I think things should be better when the dust settles.    It's been a long time for this part of the country.    

We have Winco, Fred Meyers, amd QFC along with Costco, SAMs club, grocery outlet, and some things at big lots.  

Albertsons
Top round, London broil, 15 percent hambirger 3.99
Salad kits 2/6 - not a bargain
Cantaloupe 2.99 strawberries 2/5. - cheaper at FM

Five dollar Friday
No real bargains.

Blues and blacks  6 ounces 2/5

I honestly can't find anything on ad that isn't cheaper almost everywhere else.   They want 1.67 for peppers each.   They want. 1.49 for the oranges that are like .58 a pound last week at Winco.    I have purchased naval oranges for a buck  or under  for weeks now.  

Fred Meyers has a lot of dairy and chicken on sake.   Canned tomato and beans were 2/1.
Winco has good prices all the time, they fluctuate, but usually you can find a  find a good price on many things.  

Those have been my two chains for a while now.  
I am  not seeing flyers from many if the grocery stores.  Favado  might help, out but  they are not always accurate.     Sometimes you can match with coupons.  

I am  under my 75.00 a week budget for several months now sticking with Winco and Fred Meyers, adding a grocery outlet and dollar  store run and my regular Costco things.  I am very particular what I buy at dollar store and where it comes from.    I don't buy much.  Some American brands match with coupons for almost free food.

Costco has

1. Bananas 1.39
2. Blue cheese 
3. Oatmeal
4. Bisquick
5. Rice 
6. Refried beans 
7. Green beans 
8. Stir fry frozen veggies 
9. Bacon 
10. Laundry detergent 
11. Toilet paper - paper towels can be cheaper with coupons, 
12. Over the counter meds that the doc orders. 
13. Vitamins on sale 
14. Sour cream and cottage cheese in bulk.  
15. Grated cheese at wholesale club ( 2.08 a pound last time) other flavors are 2.35 or so.  
16. Hopefully brown and serve sour dough baguettes.  

All of this is bought on a need basis.   I don't keep a large stock of them.   I usually have more green beans.   It's one of the vegetables everyone eats.    

Grocery outlet is a good one for coffee sometimes and cheese.  You never know what you are going to find.   Foster farms chicken breast, frozen is sometimes cheaper.  If I don't  know where my chicken is from, I don't buy it-   I prefer Foster farms, but draper valley works.  Buzz words don't necessarily give you the best chicken.  

Thanks Jane

What's for dinner.

Good morning.   Meal plans for the week.  

This week the loss leader was chicken breast for .99 a pound at Fred Meyers ( Kroger) .  I got a half package of ham bits for 2.83 at Winco.    We also have sausage, pork chops, 7 percent ground beef that has been defatted.     ( if defat-ing takes as much as 17 percent of the  away, does that mean that 

It's virtually fat free ?   --certainly it is a lot less fat..   I still have some frozen chicken,    One of the keys is to remember that we only need a sox ounces of protein a DAY including egg.    

Meal plans for this week 

• Sunday: oven roasted chicken breast with oven roasted vegetables ( carrots, potatoes, zucchini and radishes.   (radishes take in a really good sweet roasted taste.    ) 
• Monday: leftover chicken with rice . ( I cooked the rice in vegetable broth and added asparagus, peas, orange pepper, parm, parsley, and salt and pepper.   
• Tuesday: pizza 
• Wednesday : vegetable bean soup , bread - parm- peppercorn 
• Thursday: speghetti and meatballs. 
• Friday: salmon 
• Saturday breakfast for dinner.  ( ham) 

That's about it, one less beef dinner, but we have been doing that lately.    My matrix  is

2 beef, 2 pool or chicken, 2 vegetarian and a fish or shellfish.  Eating a variety of meats or proteins, keeps eating less boring and gives you the best of the meat sources .   Some meats have more fat and than others.   Beef has four more grams of trans fats and cholesterol  than a chicken breast ( 3.5 ounce  of sirloin.   I suspect that if you defat hambirger that is already low on fat, the figures will be closer.   None the less, if you limit your protein to six ounces total in a day as recommended and eat a variety of meats, you should be able to be well rounded without eliminating a food from your diet.   

Less fat, less sodium , less sugar.    

Gone are the days that we would sit down and eat a eight ounce steak.    I never did eat the fatty cuts of meat.    Things like stew meat don't have the fat and ,at eking, so they are best cooked low and slow and I always cut off the visible  fat. 

That's about it.   

Jane 

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.    

Eating on four dollars a day.

This is going to be a quick one because I have no time this morning,  

Basically, it dawn on me last night, what I am saying is : you,can eat well on four dollars a day if  you get eight dollars worth of food for four dollars.  An easy fix if you shop wisely.

Lately I have been reading about the food additives that are bad for you.  It still boils down to what I have been saying , watch your fat, salt, and sugar!

  I think it will almost impossible to eliminate all hydrogenated oils out of your diet because of their  widespread  use-  until the food industry finds a new way of manufacturing.    It would be nice to say that we could make everything from scratch , but in this day and age, not many of is have the time to make everything from peanut better to crackers and everything in between and you would probably have to use some fat anyway or your family wouldn't eat it.     You would be cooking the entire day and have so much waste trying to cook for a small family.

Your best is all than anyone can expect you to do.

That's all I can do right  now, back later.  






 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.    

Sunday notes

My husband ran in to a lady that was so nice that she offered to return our cart to the store.   She was impressed that I had a coupon book/binder.    That must take a lot of time, she sad.   No, actually it took a little time and very little money to set up a coupon book.   I got the binder from the goodwill.  The dividers and pencil pocket from the dollar store, and some sleeves from office max.  It's not hard to set up and binder with dividers.  

I spend about twenty minutes the week of the month  pulling old coupons while I watch tv, and downloading the coupons for the new month.   Click and print.  Then separate them into categories and file.  Done.   

The inserts from the papers that come in the mail and the paper I get for a dollar at the dollar tree get marked with the date (if I remember ) and filed in a file folder.  Minutes.    

I check favado before I go to the grocery store to see what they think is on special and pull any coupons that will get me more bank for my buck.   

I have got as much as 75 percent off my purchases that way.   I do the math,   If it isn't going to be worth while to coupon or make something from scratch, I don't do it.    

Spending all Sunday afternoon clipping every coupon in five papers even if I'll never use it is a waste.    

We know what we will buy, that we buy on a regular basis.    The junk food....,it can stay in the paper. LOL. 

Onward and upward.   

Our meal plans went out the window last week.   I regrouped and went to easy things I had on hand that my husband and daughter could cook.   

We had 

Roast beef a jus sandwiches and waffle fries ( dollar store fries, not so good) steak fries are good.   

Shrimp stir fry 

Speghetti with red sauce and meatballs. 

Sausage , potatoes and peppers.   

Pizza

Back to normal.    

I spent 10.00 at Winco yesterday .   I'll finish at Fred Meyers today.    My loss leader meat will be chicken breast if they have them, and the cubed ham I got from Winco.    

Fred Meyers has milk for a buck and sour cream and cottage cheese for 2/4.   I already have eggs.    

Cantaloupe, blueberries, and some romaine and radishes should balance the vegetable Bin out.   

That should be it unless something is a grand unadvertised special I really have to have.   

Ps: this isn't meant to be all about me......I'm trying to show how with a stock , in adversity, you can punt and not revert to take out.   All we brought in from the outside last week was a bag of roast beef from the deli, because I was hungry for a jus sandwiches.   And, how you can make best use of the specials and just buy what you need to fill in your perishables and make best use of your protein dollar.    

Thanks for stopping by 

Please share 

Jane 

fm ads - for tomorrow

Foster farms split chicken breast/ drums or thighs   .99
Blues 399
Milk 100@@
Kroger ice cream 1.99
Radishes 2/1
Cantelopev2/5
Red Barron 3/10
Cottage cheese/ sour cream 2/4
Philadelphia cream cheese .99@@

5 ways retailers get you to spend more at the grocery store.

 It's no secret that retailers have spent a lot of time and research to get you to spend more money at the grocery store.  To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

1) they place a really good buy on something really desirable by the entrance to the store.   The plan is to get you into the mindset of putting things in your oversized cart.    Of
If its empty, you have to fill it up, right.  

2)  I just ate a dinasour!   All those taste tests are placed around the store to divert your attention train of thought  and make you want to buy more.   

3) 70 percent of a stores profit is made from impulse buys.   Stick to a list.    If you don't have a specific list, stick to a meat, produce, and staples you need to replace list.   Some stores have no 

Store flyers, so you are flying solo.

So called loss leaders and coupons that at for dollars off a specific total amount purchased  are a way to get you into the store.   They are hoping that you will impulse buy, especially if you have "free money,". Many times the regular things we normally buy every week are at FBP.     Beware.    Buy specials that you need or will need in the near future and stop buying when your total reaches the xx. Dollars.   Figure the percentage of the "free money" and calculate on your head or with a calculator of an ite, is a good RBP.    The more you go over the limit, the less percentage you are going to get off.   

4) just because something is on an end cap doesn't mean that it's a bargain and signs at eye level can be .for the thing on the bottom of the display.  .  Read carefully.   

5) manufacturers  pay slotting fees for the best shelf space.   The expensive stuff is at eye level.   Look up and down for the good buys.  Many times the store brand is just as good and a whole lot less-- sometimes better.    Winco canned beans have beans, water, amd salt in them.   Other higher priced beans have chemicals in them.   Always rinse beans and discard the liquid.    

To reduce distraction 

1) go by yourself .

2) eat before you go.  But, not so much that everything doesn't appeal to you.

3) stick to a list

4) group your list by department so you don't backtrack.    The longer you spend in a store, the more money you will spend.   Get in and get out.

5) if an isle doesn't have anything you need don't  go there.  If you don't have a baby or a pet, why go down that isle?  You are wasting time,   Avoiding the candy and bakery departments won't tempt you.  

6) if you have a husband that hates to shop, but has to go with you, send him on a hunt.   It's in his instincts and you are able to concentrate.   Have a specific coupon, he can find it.  

Freaky Friday.

QFC s freebie is a chocolate egg.    Woohoo.    Chocolate, did somebody say chocolate.  

I haven't grocery shopped . Maybe tomorrow.  

It's good to have easy meals in your pantry or stash to have when the main chef in the house is unable to cook. Wednesday we had shrimp stirfry..I got up and tried the crockpot rice.    I had never tried it before, so I only made about a quarters worth.  It turned out as stickey  rice and a put a reasonable amount of olive oil in it.    We like our rice more like individual grains.    I love my husband and daughter.  

Yesterday I asked my husband pick up just enough roast beef sliced thin at the neighborhood deli.   Surprisingly, enough for two sandwiches was only three dollars.    He cooked waffle fries and the sourdough baguettes in the oven and he made a jus.    Roast is so high or iced, I don't cook it very often.   I still came in with enough food to feed four of us for five bucks.    My daughter made lentil soup.   It looked very good, but I'm not fond of lentils.

Tonight I hope to cook.    Otherwise, we will have speghetti and meatballs.  My daughter is a pro at cooking pasta and the rest just needs to be heated up.

Stocking helps.   I haven't been to the grocery store.  We could have skipped the roast beef sandwiches, but I saw a picture on Pinterest  and was hungry for them.   We could go for some time more.  

After having emergency surgery , I sent my husband  to the store for perishables. He came back with beer and  Pomegranates .   I sent my college aged daughter to Costco with a budget, amd she came home with two weeks worth of real food.

Stocking covers your rear.  

Don't believe everything you hear and only 1/2 of what you read.

I have been reading a lot of grocery and health articles lately.   Mostly because I'm sick and that what can do in bed.   lol

A lot of things might have been true a few years ago, but some don't pass the logic test.    Yoplait yogurt has no HFCS  and no fake sugar in its low calorie yogurt.    Before you go ballistic on somvetching you read, it's best to do a little research.    There is a lot of hype where there is no merit behind it.  

I can believe that boxed Mac and cheese is processed, organic one report said has more fat in it.

Hamburger meal boxes are processed and have very little product in them.  

A study, however, said that processed lettuce in bags or crates has less germs in it than of you wash it. Yourself.  
Sometimes processed just makes sense especially if you have a small family.   Costco stir fry vegetables are a good price. They are frozen and you can take just what you need out of the package. I would cost a lot and take a lot of time to buy all those veggies separately.  

Frozen French fries are as cheap as raw potatoes, there is no Waste.   ( buying at RBP.) cooking them in the oven is good.

Look at what the ingredients are on the package.   How much per pound are you paying.   Is it easy  to make yourself.   Does it have a lot of oil, HFCS, or sugar of salt in it.   Will it save me money if I make it from scratch, or will it take a lot of time.  I made pita bread.... Once!

I read an article today about raised bread.    No gluten, no sugar, to HFCs, no this,no that...WHAT DOES IT HAVE IN IT.

I got mission tortillas for a quarter for ten.   Not worth my time to make them.  

Buyer beware.  Sometimes the healthier version  isn't really that healthy.  

Learn to read labels. Sugar has a lot of names.    Total carbs on the label is the total  carbs less the dietary fiber.  

Ingredients have to be listed in order of volume.  The thing that has the most in the ingredients has to be first and on down the line.   So when a tub of fake butter has water for the first ingredient, I'd be looking twice.    HudroginTed oil has a lot of names.    Palm oil. Coconut oil. Soybean oil, amd probably many more.   They are manufactured oils that use metal in the process.   They stay as a thick substance on the blood.    Not the best, my guess, for heart patients.    I'm not a doctor, I'm just giving an educated guess.

Of something doesn't have as a first ingredient the product it's suppose to b, I'd look again.  How about cheese sauce with no cheese!

Ingredients on labels  are easy to research.   And so is a logic test.  Protein bars , as one person stated, have oodles and oodles of sugar.    If they have well under 20 carbs, that's not oodles of sugar.

Read labels amd ask yourself it it passes the logic test.   Do the pros and cons.  Before you make a life changing decision.

Apples, tomatoes, broccoli, oh my.....

And what do they have in common?        They are all good for us and cost under a dollar a pound.    Wonco always has some variety of apple for a dollar a pound. QFC has broccoli for .99 a pound and a can to docs tomatoes is anywhere from  .38-.68 a can . And, they are good for you.  

I think the biggest yuk factor in the eyes of people towards broccoli is that most people over cook it.    Broccoli is a vegetable that you threaten , not cook.     Cook it until it is crisp tender.    I saw a picture on something) that I thought was cute.   It was called Mac and trees.    They put blanched broccoli in a bowl of mac and cheese.    $how fun is that!  

Apples are good just by themselves, or on a crisp, or cut up and put with cinnamon on your oatmeal.  
How about dipping it on peanut butter.    I found a peanut butter that had very low hydrogenated oil.   Read the labels.     We like apples and craisens in bread stuffing under oork chops.    Gandmas apple cake is moist and wonderful-  just don't try to use fake sugar!     ( doesn't work) .

Canned diced tomatoes are a staple in our household.   They can be side in many ways.   Out of salsa?    Dead of winter and want a green salad!  Chilli, vegetable bean or sausage and bean soup, red sauce?    And many more....


Vegetable and bean soup in the crock pot

Sauté 1.5 cups of the following ( total)  in any combination until soft.

Onion. Celery. Carrot chopped or sliced thin, colored peppers, chopped.
Add to the crock pot

Now open some cans and dump in crockpot.

2 cans of diced tomatoes (15.5 ounces ea)
2 cans of beans, rinsed and drained
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth

2T Italian seasoning
2tso garlic powder.

1 cup cooked sausage if desired.

Cover and cook on low for 6-10 hours.   We usually predict when we want dinner and count back.  
Garnish with parm cheese or croutons.


Apple cake

Combine :
1-1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups chopped Apple

Mix together
1 tsp soda
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped nuts ( optional)

Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix by hand ,
Batter will be stiff.
Bake on greased 9x13 pan at 350 for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.

This is not the healthiest cake, but, really is any cake!     It's desert!  
We don't eat desert often.   I try to cook come thing once a week.  
Some weeks  I don't get to it.  
This cake is easy and really good.  

I suspect that olive oil would be too heavy to substitute for the vegetable oil.   Maybe some bitter melted for part of ot?   I. Sure you could cut the amount of the sugar a bit depending on the tartness of the Apple.  

That's about all.


Jane

The ads .....

I just got th ads....including grocery outlet!    

Grocery outlet
Foster farms chicken .79. Check pull date!  

Albertsons

Ground beef, 7 percent 3.99
Roma's .99
Grapes 199

Friday only

Progreso veg classics 5/5
Strawberries 2/5

Chicken noodle .69@@$$
Ragu  149@@


Safeways

Ground beef 7 percent 3.99

Ragu and chicken soup same as Albertsons with coupons ( stack manufacturers and Safeways, )

QFC

Grapes 1.99
Broccoli .99

1/2 loin 1.99

Buy 5, save 5 net prices

Butter 1.99
Cereal 1.88. CK for coupons
Red Baron pizza 3.99
Freschetta 4.49
Colgate toothpaste 1.99 CK coupons
Classico sauce 1.49
Mayo 2.49


That's all.  

Stocking for wealth

Buying your groceries consistently at 1/2 pice is paramount o having good food on the table all month and having food in the pantry when the month is over.  

It is just common sense that one should have food in the pantry in case of an emergency.....which can be as simple as a child being home sick so you can't get to the store or that dreaded "s" word.......snow.

Having a controlled pantry is not hoading,    The extreme television shows have given couponing and having more than two cans of beans a inflated bad name.

Our grandparents did it for years.....it was called putting up the harvest for the winter.    1/2 price foods is operating in the same premise as a stockbroker.    Buy when it's low, and sell ( use) when it's high.  

It used  to be that you bought enough product of your staples to last you until  the next sale.    Now I am finding stable prices on some things and sales a little more often, but limited quantities.   How much you stock is up to you.   I have three or four months of some things.    My object is to buy at 1/2 price and hold enough to carry us through the months when we reach the donut hole. ( a Medicare reality) .
I would want a month minimum.  

This will take time.    One can or package at a time.     If you are on snap. You have the luxury of having all your money at the beginning of the month.   That can also be a curse if you don't wisely  budget.    Know your prices, do it on paper before you go to a store.    Buy your monthly bulk purchases first, then divide up the remainder of the money for a weekly budget.   Do it on paper first so that you don't overspend and not have enough for the perishables .

This is what I buy, you might very well have different items.

I buy a ten pound box of oatmeal and a five pound bag of cheese .  Both are from Costco ,  bit sometimes cheese is cheaper at grocery outlet.   You can freeze cheese.   They used to say that grating your own was cheaper.    When I grate my own, we use twice as much because it is a coarser grate.

I have non fat dry milk and bread flour and yeast in my pantry on case we can't get to a store.  

I stock

• Diced tomatoes (.49) Winco or Fred Meyers.    
• Various beans (.49) -.58. Winco ir Fred Meyers.    
• Idahoian mashed potatoes (.60 w coupon) Winco 
• Refried beans, (.88) - Costco or Winco.   
• Pasta sauce, hunts (75-1.00) Winco, FM, dollar store 
• Pasta (.49-1.00)  obviously, I would prefer .49 and double fiber or vegetable 
• Black olives ( less than 1.00) 
• Some chicken noodle soup, pineapple. A backup of catsup, mayo, and mustard.  Best deals around Memorial Day and 4th of July 
• A cake mix and a brownie mix (.88) - Winco 
• A stove top stuffing, preferable for free . 
• Salt, sugar , soda, flour  ( replenish when low) best deals around Christmas and thanksgiving 
• Spices.- Winco has a great bulk isle, you can also it's always get them cheap at the dollar store or grocery outlet     Like a buck.   Chili powder was 3.39 for a Costco sized bottle

• Rice That's about it.    

Thanks 

Jane 

Please share . I have a 120 hit goal.    

It's Monday!

It's Monday morning....the start of a whole new week.     I need to do meal plans ; I have already printed coupons,    Tomorrow there should be a lot more.  
15 minute dinners take less time than driving threw the fast food line. There are many ways to achieve a 15 minute dinner,   The Internet is full of what I call dump dinners.    Basically , they are in three categories

1) slow cooker
2) stir fry
3) oven dinners.

We love a quiche ( aka impossible pie) with sausage and cheese or cheese and vegetables.    There has to be a zillion possibilities.

Soups are easy in the slow cooker.   Anything from split pea to vegetable bean, chicken and orzo. Navy bean.  Clam chowder or potato soup. Chilli.

Costco has the organic, tomato and roasted red pepper soup back.   It comes out to be two dollars a box and is a whole lot cheaper than buying it even at grocery outlet.   We Doctor ot up with basil and blue cheese.

Stir fry veggies are a good price at Costco and go a long ways.   You can add shrimp or chicken that has already been cooked .  Cook it while the rice is cooking, or add ramen noodles.  
Otherwise, you can get stir fry veggies at the dollar store or T Winco for 1.29 or so.   Prices vary.

Mac and cheese ( scratch) is a winner here, as well as tuna noodle, enchiladas, pork chops on top of stuffing with apple and craisens.  Pork chops with pineapple and green pepper, or chicken with pineapple and green pepper.  

Baked potato bar with cheese, broccoli. Chili. Sour cream,

Tex -mex is always a hit.   Nachos, tacos, enchiladas, burritos. A pie baked in a small round casserole with layers of tortillas. Cheese, refried beans, chicken or ground meat taco seasoned,  topped off with refried beans and cheese.   Baked in the oven.  

Pizza, glorious pizza.   Everyone likes it and it can be tailored to everyone's taste.  .

Pasta: speghetti. Meat sauce, primavera. With shrimp and alfredo sauce. With tomatoes, parm, peas and peppers and cut up cooked chicken breast., olive oil.

Breakfast for dinner.

What's for dinner at your house!



 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.    

fm ads

nite: this week Tuesday, March 1st is a ten percent off for seniors day.  Clip coupon and certain things are exempt.   It only works in private selection and natural choices food.  

Oranges .69
Broccoli. Cauliflower .99
Barilla pasta .89. Limit six .  The coupon pit there won't work.   @@
Kroger tomatoes or beans .49@@
Strawberries 2/6

That's about it.  

Couponing. -- far from extreme.

It used to be that couponing meant that you could get a lot for free.   Especially at places like Rite Aid. 
I'm not seeing a lot of regular necessity things on big rewards.    By watching coupons when we need heigene items, I can usually get them for near free.   I don't carry a lot of those things,  I buy toilet paper at Costco and that's about it.  When I can find detergent for free or almost free, I go for it, otherwise, I get Costco.    

As far as food is concerned, we are trying to avoid a lot of ready made food.  It isn't always good for you and it's almost always more expensive.   Cookbooks are full of easy ways to make good food fast.    I do buy instant mashed potatoes, and some canned soups and frozen pizza.   

There are still a lot of coupon opportunities for what I call real food.    Coupons.com loads coupons the first day of the month.   You are allowed to print two coupons per household.    There is a limit on how many coupons can be printed, so the high dollar ones go fast.  You snooze, you loose!    Common courtesy says don't print all the coupons. Just the ones you are likely to use.    

Favado is an app for your phone or other electronic device that is supposed to tell you the sales for a particular store.   They aren't always accurate , but a good benchmark.  They match coupons and tell 
you where the coupons are located.    You still have to read the fine print because they don't  always do that.  

Our ads come on the Tuesday mail for Alberways!    And QFC ( Kroger) if they have an ad that week.   Grocery outlet and Winco don't have ads.   And Fred Meyers comes in the Sunday paper.   I can get the Sunday paper on Saturday at the dollar tree for a dollar.    I pull the inserts and the Fred Meyer food ad.   I put inserts on a file folder after I date them  and give them a quick look-over for things that I know I always buy on a weekly basis, like yogurt.   It makes it easy when I find a coupon matchup that give you the name of the insert and the date it was released.    I keep back three months.    

All this takes minutes a month.    It saves sometimes 75 percent off you bill.   Usually about five dollars or so a week.   Hey, it usually means about three hundred dollars , or another ten percent off our groceries a year.   It all ads up.   That's like thirty dollars an hour and I can do it in my pj's LOL.  

There is no double couponing on this state that I have found and most stores will not let you make money on a sale.   The only time that happens is with Ibotta or sometimes with reward points.   

Ibotta is an ap that gives you rebates on food--even things like bread, milk, and veggies.   When you have enough credited to your account, you get it back in a card to anywhere from Starbucks, Amazon, Walmart and more.    

I don't calculate Ibotta money against my food budget.   I spend 75.00 a week for two of us plus supplementing two others and that includes keeping a stock.    

The USDA has stats for  4.income levels based on number of people in the family and their ages.    
It is for actual food eaten.   We are at half.    Which makes sense, because I try for  our food at  1/2 price.   

No one thing makes that happen , it is a combination of efficient scratch cooking. Couponing, watching sales and trying to match coupons to them, only buying our everyday staples at 1/2 or less and stocking.

You can eat well on four dollars a day and have food in the pantry at the end of the month.    It takes time, it takes patience, but it can happen.

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.    

De- fating ground beef

One if the ways you can make ground beef healthier, is to defat it.    Beef is still a good source if protein  that has iron and vitamin b-12 that is hard to get in good qualities in other foods.   It's expensive now, and we eat it once or twice a week because if it's cost.

It used to be that batch cooking would be ten pounds or so; now three pounds to five pounds is plenty.   

It is a more manageable quality and mess of us eat it.    

Meat loaf in meat loaf pan so that the fat drips away from the meat and the meat isn't cooked in its own juices.   Meatballs are cooked on rack over a sheet pan to drain fat.   Meatballs were placed on rack using a portion scoop so that they are  all the same size to facilitate even cooking.   

I buy seven to nine percent fat hamburger --  Fifteen percent max.    The way to compare prices is to multiply the percentage of fat plus 1. By the price.   In other words of hamburger is 1.00 a pound and its 7percent fat, the net price is 1.07 or 1.00 X 1.07. ; if fifteen percent hambirger is 1.00, the net or ice would be 1.15.   That way you can tell which hamburger is the cheapest.   

De- fating the hamburger ( or other ground meat,   Ground turkey and sausage don't have a fat content listed.   ) 

1) brown the meat until it is no longer pink.  Pour into colander.   Set over bowl of you don't want the fat to go down your sink drain.

2) remove bowl, and pour boiling water over meat.   Return drained meat to clean pan.   

Heat and add taco seasoning, drain or separate some  into portion controlled batches and add taco 

seasoning to some.

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/ freezer stable 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 you don't buy 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 and feed your family on a consistent basis good, nutritious meals  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.    

Cake for dinner. ....

My granddaughters answer to what did she want for her birthday dinner was. Cake.    I told her she could have meatloaf cake with mashed potato frosting and we would spell out her name in parsley.    She wasn't impressed!  

Last night we had pizza from scratch.   1/2 pepperoni and black olives, 1/2 cheese and black olives.    

Tonight we are having breakfast for dinner.    

After a long day. What"s  for dinner is the last question you want to hear.   Years ago, every once in a while I retorted with " whatever you cook! ".  That had them standing with their mouth open! lol? 

I digress......    

What do you want to see covered in the blog.YOU CAN COMMENT BELOW.   IF YOU DON'T  HAVE TO HAVE  A GOGGLE  ACCOUNT, YOU CAN COMMENT UNDER ANONOMOUS.   

What to do with what you have.   

Chicken - whole. Or Thighs when  appropriate.  

• Chicken pot pie
• Chicken tacos or nachos 
• Roast chicken dinner 
• BBQ chicken thighs. Legs, and wings.    
• Chicken soup
• Chicken noodle casserole 
• Chicken and cheese stuffed shells 
• Buffalo chicken pizza 
• Chicken and vegetable stuffed baguette.  

Pork Roast ( loin) 

• Roast pork
• BBQ pork sandwiches 
• Pork and vegetable stuffed baguette 
• Pork pie 

Other inexpensive    protein sources :  ground turkey or hambirger (7-9 percent fat) , cheese, beans, rice, eggs, sausage .   

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/ freezer stable 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 you don't buy 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 and feed your family on a consistent basis good, nutritious meals  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.    

Om gosh...it's bad for you....a parody.

Hey, I have been watching way too much in the Internet about food that is bad for you, so I have come up with my own ideas......


1) WATER.     Omg.   It hydrates you,,,,and then you have to pee.......and my husband says that it rusts your pipes !

2)  American cheese slices.....OMGOsh.......the first imgredient is cheddar cheese!  

3).  Food at the dollar tree..... Potatoes , frozen potatoes and their from IDAHO!     Need  I say more.

I have been reading a lot on the subject of what you should and shouldn't eat.   Some of it contradicts itself.   Somethings I've checked, and just isn't true.    When in doubt, read the labels.   Some suggest  you make product  yourself.  I am reluctant with the amount of food borne illness that can happen.   I think you are better off leaving things that need precise monitoring to the professionals.   Not to mention, all that takes time.

The things that have been identified that are really bad for you that we can pretty much buy into are  hydrogenated oils, ( thicken your blood) , HFCS, concentrated sugar, nitrates ( cancer causing ) , and fake sugar.  

I'm still staying within the guidelines of four dollars a day per person or less.   A lot of things I can and we already don't eat.

 We love pepperoni and sausage.   I am just limiting our consumption to once every week or two.

   A lot of HFCS has been eliminated by manufacturers and I count carbs closely, so a lot of that concern is not a problem.    We don't eat a lot of catsup or BBQ sauce.  I almost never drink soda.  Our cookie consumption is not a problem,.

The things that will be a problem are the hydrogenated oil and fake sugar.   I already drink coffee and tea black. I drink a lot of water.     I do use some things that are sugar free because of diet restrictions.

Hydrogenated oils are a problem because they are in so many of our foods .   I use olive oil in our cooking almost exclusively.    We use real butter.    I think it is remarkable that the fake butter  that is supposed to be good for you , that costs twice as much as real butter, is actually worse for you than  the real thing.    I looked at two fake butters.   One had water for its first ingredient,   The other was a bit better, it had olive oil in it as well as hydrogenated oil.  

We bake our fried potatoes, I don't buy potato chips and the like, I use olive oil in dressings, and we don't use a lot of salad dressing. Mayonnaise comes with partial olive oil, I get tuna packed in water.

But, there is a lot of hidden oils in our foods.   Not buying a lot of ready makes helps.    Reading labels helps.   Remember,  ingredients are listed in order of volume.    I read several jars of peanut butter at the grocery store.  There was actually some that had very little oil and sugar, not HFCS.  
The cost wasn't  prohibitive either.

  You can't believe everything you hear about a product, read the labels for yourself.   There is a lot of misinformation and generalities out there, but it can be clarified with the simple reading of a label.    Some brands are better than others and  cost doesn't seem to be a factor.   I looked at two cans of beans.    The Winco brand, the cheapest had beans, water, amd salt.   The other brand had beans, water, salt and a couple of preservatives.


The above information is based in a lot of reading. I am by no way an expert.  I am just repeating what the consensus of opinions were.     I think I read that the FDA was mandating that the manufacturers fix cake mixes and frosting mixes by a particular date.    The problem might be that they are having a problem finding a suitable substitute.

This weeks meals

meal plans for this week.  


monday: roast chicken, mashed potatoes, green salad with cucumbers and tomatoes.

Tuesday: out

Wednesday : BBQ pork sandwiches, salad , waffle fries mixed fruit

Time go away from  me, I skipped the fries.   Plenty of carbs from the bread.  









Thursday : homemade pizza

Friday : tuna noodle casserole,  peas and carrots

Saturday: tacos, refried beans, rice.  

Sunday : breakfast for dinner.   : eggs, hash browns ( oven) mixed fruit , English muffins,



2 pork or chicken
2 vegetarian
1 fish
1 beef
1 parents night out.  


Notes :
Monday
green salad is romaine and cucumbers from Winco purchase less than target prices.   Chicken eas .87 a pound.    2.85

Wednesday :
BBQ pork sandwich is part of the pork roast purchased do 1.69 a pound , a baguette at .95 and
More of Wednesday's green salad.   2.50

Thursday
Home made pizza- scratch crust from winco  .98, pepperoni .50 from FM with coupon, cheese .50 1/2 pound, tomato from yesterday's homemade BBQ sauce.    2.00

Friday
Tuna casserole,    Noodles purchased for a dollar. Tuna from Costco, peas and carrots purchased at QFC for .65 .   Home made cream sauce.    3.65

Saturday
Sausage purchased for 3.00 (  mixed with cheese and vegetables ) , peppers frozen from 6/3 at grocery outlet, and potatoes 1.50 for five pounds.  
3.95

All less than five dollars a meal.

Thanks for stopping by

Jane

Quality foods

I just read an article that indicates seven foods that if you eat too much if, can hurt you.    Lately, I have been researching a lot.  For every idea, there is someone to d bunk it.    I tend to research the source before I repeat them.    Bottom line, use common sense.    Most of the "new age " foods are over processed.  Isn't that what the foodies are trying to avoid?  

I give everything I read a taste of common sense.    Is it  Logical?    Who's funding the study?   Some lady told me the other day that nutritionists only say what they learned.   Well, duh!  

There is too much contradictory out there.  Our  grandmothers USDA food pyramid has been revised to deal with the too much salt, sugar, and fat.   It has worked for years.   My grandfather was 92 years old when he died.   This new-age food has not stood the test of time.   I'm not sure that substituting one thing for another isn't just opening a new can of worms.  

There are far too many picky eaters out there.   I think that is more of a problem than eating a tried and true balanced diet.    Vegetables are only good for you if you eat them.  

My take.....

Eat basic food.   Make it tasty.  Buy the best quality of regular food you can afford.   You can eat cheaper food; just eat good cheaper food.    

We eat hot dogs seldom.   When we do we eat them , I only buy Hebrew National or Nathan's.   I only buy good white albacore tuna packed in water.   Foster Farms chicken. Buy good food cheap; not cheap food.

I go back to eat in moderation. There  are a lot of foods that aren't supposed to be good for you. ( this week)   If you eliminate every food that someone says is bad for you, you would die  from mal-nutrition--there would be nothing left to eat.  

My take :   Just eat a well balanced diet of a wide variety of foods in moderation.   You can't fool Mother Nature.    Fake is never better than the real thing.    

Basic, bottom line, if you are trying to feed your family on four dollars per person per day, you can still eat good basic food and have enough to eat.    You don't have to resort to beans every night or leave out whole food groups.    You can avoid or use in moderation the things that are bad for you. That is, that have been proven to be bad for you.    Even the experts acknowledge that to omit all the substances that are bad for you would be nearly impossible.   

Some manufacturers are working  on the HFCS and the hydroginated oils.   I use a lot of olive oil which is better for you.   It just doesn't work in a lot of things.    You can avoid some of the things, but all of them would be hard.   Mayonnaise does come  with part olive oil and it is the same price as regular mayo.    

Ingredient labels in  this country have to list ingredients in order of their volume.   If the first ingredient is hydroginated oil or water.......think again.   If it is the last on the list, you're probably ok. 

Buying food 1/2 price means you can be picky about what foods you feed your family and be mindful of the best quality you can afford.    

Five things that will derail your food to the table train.

Five things to avoid buying,  

1. Bottled water. Seriously, you are paying a buck for water ?     Water is free. ( kinda) .  It is necessary  for  you to drink it; but ,why pay a buck essentially for a thin plastic bottle.     Basic rule  :  don't pay for MT calories.    Water has NO calories.    You want the MOST bang for your buck.
2. Pre - packaged  individual servings:  no surprise here.  You are paying for the labor and all that plastic or paper-- not to mention extra space to ship.   It's like buy your oatmeal in bulk, it takes,no more time to measure out a 1/2 cup from a canister than it does to open the package.    It takes one and a half minutes in the microwave to cook.   Just add water and cook.  Scant one  cup water, 1/2 cup oatmeal, and 1- 1/2 minutes.   Add a banana, 1/2 an apple chopped, some raisins or craisens.....keep cinnamon sugar in a shaker......the possibilities are endless. 
3. Meal boxes or frozen meals.    Again you are paying for something that takes so little of your time if you are efficient.    Many are not what they are cracked up to be and are full of preservatives and things you can pronounce.    Many take no more time than making them from scratch,   There are a lot of easy meals out there that don't make you take something out of an over priced box.   My daughter and I tested a hamburger meal box a few years ago. They have improved their boxes since then, but the same premise  holds true.  My daughter cooked one, I cooked the meal from scratch.   We both used cooked "hamburger" .  The difference in time was seconds.    Mine looked better, had more product and had more cheese and vegetables.    The meal box consisted of little more than four ounces of pasta, and 1.57 ounces of a cheese sauce that you added the milk to to make it cheese sauce.    I suspect that Mac and cheese in a box consists of a small amount of macaroni and a cheese packet you add milk to.    Scratch isn't that hard.    There is a recipe for no brainier pasta I made up on another blog.  My nephew made up the name.   LOL. 
4. Snacks like potato chips and such.    Don't buy empty calories, make your calories count.    A lot of us are on diets to loose unwanted pounds or because our doctors have diagnosed us with a disease that we need to adjust our diets for.    Most of them don't include high salt or sugar.    Make your money count and buy real food.   An apple or an orange is much better for you than a package of potato chips.   
5. Soda pop, carbonated beverages-- what ever you want to call them. They,  too are empty calories.    Some say that the carbonation leaches calcium from our bones, most doctors say we don't need the sugar and the alternative is not much better.   There is a lot of hype out there; and for every yin there is a yang.  Bottom line is the food value is nil.   

And one myth:    Scratch pasta sauce does not cost less than pre made.   Pre made sauces in cans are about the same or less than buying the tomato sauce.    When you can get them on sale, they are less.   

I see that dollar tree is carrying a smaller can than what I am seeing at the grocery stores.    Ina, still finding it for a dollar or less.    Hunts peels their tomatoes with steam,   Some other high prices tomato companies do it with chemicals.   If you have to buy your tomatoes, real scratch pasta sauce is really pricey.    Finding tomatoes less than a dollar a pound is rare on our world.    Most of the time they are close to two dollars.   It is definitely cheaper to buy it made.   

Thanks for stopping by 

Jane 

Dissecting hamburger box.   7/21/12
The above article is the sole opinion of the writer.    It's just my educated opinion.

The ads in Seattle.

It used to  be that I could gather the ads on Tuesday and analyze  them. Now, since Albertson's and Safeway's  were bought out they seem to be the same store.,  QFC sometimes has two week ads, Fred Meyer has ads that come out on Sunday, and Costco and Winco don't have ads, life has gotten more complex.  

I can analyze QFC and what I call Alberways . Lately my Alberways is a bust.   I have target or my RBP on the things that we use often,    Most of the time Alberways has few real specials.  Fred Meyers is better a lot of the time.  Their ads run from Sunday to Saturday.

I get the ads for Fred Meyers on Saturday for Sunday. Alberways comes out Tuesday along with QFC if they have an ad that week.    I can then analyze the two or three ads.   I go to Freddie's or QFC of they have things on my target list for a good price.   I usually go to Winco if I still need more or if om need things that Winco is always cheaper on.

Some weeks I go to three stores.   Some weeks I can skip all but a few perishables.     It averages out. It's not as cut and dried as it used to be.   I'm thinking when the dust  settles and Haggens gets threw bankruptcy and the Albertsons and Safeway stores are sold, things might be less crazy.

Costco is pretty stable, and we have a few things that we always get from them. We go to Costco on a need to basis.  

None the less. I am  still making it work.   I can be more efficient on the kitchen and spend more time shopping than cooking,    It all averages out, the difference is that I can feed us more healthy by paying 1/2 price and cooking in batches.  


Thanks for stopping by


Jane

Better for less chicken

Last  night we had a pork chop bake - we tried a new recipe from Betty Crocker on line cookbook.   I omitted the French fried onion rings.   My hubby doesn't like onions and it would have just bumped up the price amd added fat to the dish.  

Today o out the 5.5 pound chicken in the crockpot to cook.    I will divide it only o four portions.   Portion control is one of the best ways to keep costs down.   I'm hearing that we all need a out six ounces of protein a day, some of which needs to be egg.  

A balanced diet is the key.    Some families allow seconds, the children just have to have seconds of a little of everything.  

We cut the cooked chicken ( a lot less work than when it is raw) into two 1/2 breasts, the dark meat, amd the bones left for soup.   When we cook a chicken on the crockpot ( see prior recipe) I save the broth.    Four meals with a five pound chicken cost somewhere around 1.25 per meal for meat.    That makes a five dollar or less meal really work.

There are a lot of recipes that call for rotisserie chicken.   Cooked chicken is a good substitute.  
Betty Crocker on line cookbook is free.  You can plug in what you want to cook and recipes will pop up.   Many of them are easy.   Many can be adjusted to use your own mixes of necessary.  
Always be mindful  of your budget.  

Our favorites are chicken pot pie, chicken enchiladas, chicken tacos, chicken orzo soup, chicken dinner, ....... Ther is a list on a precious post, and Betty Crocker is full of them.   I choose Betty Crocker because they are up to date, but down to earth.   The recipes are tested and work. Most of the time, they are quick and easy.    

I spend more time on the front end of the meal train and less on the back end.   By dinner time, my get up and go has got up and went.   I want easy.  I cook in the morning when I have the energy, I batch cook.  It is cheaper to buy in bulk and batch cook; you save money,time, and clean up.  

Even if you don't take some thing out if the freezer, you can still put a meal on the table fast.  

Thanks for stopping by

Jane

Eating better for less

Last night we had Mac and cheese and broccoli.   The broccoli we got for free.   The Mac and cheese breaks down as :

1 package 25 times fiber macaroni.    .49
Cream soup base.........to little to cost out.
3cups ( 12 ounces) of grated cheese, ( I used feta I paid 1.20 a pound for, white cheese was 2.35 a pound, amd yellow,cheese was 2.08.   ) 1.50
Bread crumbs and Parsley
Parmesean cheese.    .25

Total.  2.24  I still have 1/2 the 9x13 pan for today's lunch.    Total dinner. 1.12

If you have  some really inexpensive meals a few times a week, you can have some more expensive ones and you will still average 5.00 a meal.  

Tonight , I am going to make pork chops out of the pork sirloin I got for 1.69 this week at Winco.   I found a recipe in the Betty Crocker on line cookbook for a  green bean and pork chop dish that you bake in the oven.     Planning to cut pork chops off of the pork sirloin and leave enough for a roast that can be sliced thin after a roast dinner and used for BBQ pork sandwiches.  

I will buy a chicken at Fred Meyers today as well.   When you find two loss leaders in one week, you can concentrate on canned goods or veggies and bulk dairy the next.   Or if there are good buys at several stores, bulk up the shopping trip and skip the next week.
Being flexible with the things you buy -- in other words, not buying the same things every week- gives you the luxury of not paying full, price.    The bottom line of that is that you eat better for less.

Here's  now this plays out :

Mac and cheese dinner   1.12

Pork sirloin.    4.94. - approx 3 pounds
Pork chop dish.   3/4 pound   1.27 , cream soup .40. Green beans 1.00, cheese .50. - 3.17
BBQ pork sandwiches  3/4 pound - 1.27 , .95, ( pork and baguette ) Cesear  salad, romaine .68, ( dressing and croutons ) staples .25 parm. 3.15
Pork roast 1.5 pounds   2.54, .60 mashed potatoes, glazed carrots 1/2 pound .24    3.38

 4 dinners.  10.82 Or 2.71 a dinner.  NOT a plate.  

That's for three people.  Or .90 a plate .


Now, I would freeze some of the pork and insert other dishes so we didn't eat pork three days on a row.   This was for costing out meals.    I did not cost anything that was a staple that would be really difficult to cost.   Croutons are made from bread scraps.  

This is an exercise to show what happens when you shop wisely and buy with coupons or when things are at their rock bottom price.  

Betty Crocker on line CB dishes to try ( adapt for expensive mixes if possible ) scratch is sometimes better without preservatives and cheaper )

1. Cake mix cinnamon rolls 
2. Spinach tuna casserole 
3. Herbed pork and red potatoes 
4. Pulled pork 
5. Cheesy chicken and bacon soup
6. Chicken enchilada chili 
7. Bow ties chicken and asparagus 
8. Berry orange monkey bread 
9. Chick n taco soup. 
10. Vegetable minestrone 
11. Broccoli, cheese, and ham muffins 

That s food for thought



Jane

Tomorrows FM ad

 This is going to be short and sweet.

 Tomorrow's Fred Meyer ad.

 Foster Farms chicken $.87

 Butter 1.99@@
Milk .99@@
Bread 3/4@@
Oranges .89
Coffee 4.99

About it.  

Staring at a blank screen

I am tying to write this blog coming from a realistic point of view.   People are busy, they have lives, and children and maybe grandchildren.  

There is a broad spectrum of people and eating habits out there.   Everything from hamburger helper and sugar laden juice boxes to tofu and organic from whole paycheck grocery stores.   I am tying to be on middle ground.  

Writing from a four dollar a day perspective, neither extremes work. Most  of the people I interviewed get closer to three hundred dollars a month on snap . The government has a schedule of what snap is, but deduct what they think you can pay  based on your income.  They dont care if you have a car payment or other debt. That is not their problem,

The hamburger helper senecio has too much sugar and far too much money.    Six dollar a pound hamburger, juice boxes and 16 gram of sugar fruit cups ready-made cost 10.00 .   That particular person had a three hundred dollar snap.    Obviously, if you spend ten dollars a day on dinner, and  there is 30 days in a month, your money is gone and you still need breakfast and lunch.

The tofu and organic greens senecio is the direct opposite, probably more healthy, but the jury is still out on that one.  But the same senecio is there.   The cost of food for proper nutrition, is more than the four dollars a day, even if you receive four dollars a day.  Besides, most people I know wouldn't eat some of the things I am seeing.  

For practical purposes. I'm sticking to main stream diets.   I'm trying for low fat, low sugar and low salt.   Some meals don't cut it, others do.  Traditional foods.   We have had a lot of fad specialty diets in the last few years.  Their popularity has come and gone and came back again.    I'm going with the tried and true.  I'm trying to balance good nutrition, less of what we know is bad for us (salt, sugar, fat, HFCS, hydrogenated vegetable oils, and sulfites. ) Still prolly not realistic to take all of it out of a diet, nor is it advisable in some instances.

But, moderation is the key.    You can still eat a nutritious diet on four dollars or less a day.  

I'm not going to tell you that the food fairy is going to make it appear in your pantry and put the cooked food on your table.    It takes some effort.    Once you get set up, it will probably take less effort than you do now.    And, you will probably eat better.   No fast food- just good food fast.

An oatmeal and banana breakfast costs .23.    Both come from Costco.    I buy oatmeal in a ten pound box.   It's Quaker Oats.   Bananas are 1.39 a bunch.   I found ten bananas in my bunch.  That's .14 a banana.    Oatmeal is .09. Plus a splash of milk.    That mearns you can feed four people a nutritious breakfast for a buck.   It takes  1.5 minutes to cook a bowl in the microwave.

When you breakdown four dollars a day, you have to consider a budget for things like flour, sugar. Salt, spices, olive oil--    ( pantry items).

I am assuming a five dollar dinner for four people- the proverbial two adults and two school and children.  We eat five dollar meals for three adults and one child.

That leaves you eleven  dollars for breakfast and lunch.  If breakfast is a dollar, you have ten  dollars for pantry ( and stock items) and lunch.   If you are in snap and your children go to daycare or school, most of their lunches are probably paid for.  If not, leftovers or peanut butter and jelly works. Certainly attainable for three dollars .

Seven   dollars a day is plenty to purchase dairy, vegetables, and stock items.   That doesn't leave any
room for empty calories.    Every dollar has to count.

If you use even ten dollars a week for stocking a pantry, you will be in good shape and you can buy your food 1/2 price.

We are stocked, we replenish stock when things are RBP.   We spend less than four dollars a day on food eaten at home.    We don't go out often.  Last,night we had fish and chips that included coleslaw and clam chowder.   I have the clam chowder left for lunch today and it cost about 22.00 for four of us.    Drinks are the biggest profit for a eating establishment.   Drink water.  
Eating out is part of an entertainment budget, ot can't happen often for us.

It's doable . we some less than the USDA stats for my husband and I- about 25 percent less. And, we supplement daughter and granddaughter.  


5.00 dinner
1.00 breakfast
3.00 lunches
Seven for stocking dairy, produce, staples and stock.   Per day.

Winco and dollar tree

I went to Winco and the dollar tree today. Yesterday, I cleaned out the bathroom cupboards and under the sink.   I had seen nice baskets on some u tubes and bought a couple to organize the space better.    If things are grouped by categorize and contained in baskets, they are easier to find in a hurry.  

I have been researching other grocery hauls , and other people's four dollars day meals.    I'm not going to bash other people's work.   To each his own.

I try to reach a middle ground of healthy,without tons of salt, sugar, and fat.   I also try to hit main stream middle class America.  I am not assuming that people at going to eat alternative food on a four dollar a day budget.    If you pay six dollars a gallon of milk, something else has to suffer.    1 and 1 is 2.  Even with the new math, that hasn't changed.    lol.

My approach is rather, that you can spend some time shopping and changing the way you shop, so that your family has good nutritious food that they will eat.   If your family won't eat it, it's a waste of time and money.  

Winco haul.

Pork sirloin is 1.69.   Pork tenderloins are a good price too.    I went for potatoes and forgot the potatoes.  lol.   I did get broccoli, apples. Cucumbers, lemons (.25) , romaine, ice cream, black olives were .58 for sliced.   I haven't done the math, but it seems like the small cans of sliced olives are a better price than   the whole olives because they are packed a lot denser.   ( less water) .

I will probably adapt our meal plans yet again some can have a pork  chop dinner probably instead of the tenderloin that is in the freezer.  

Thanks for stopping by

Jane

I remember Mama....

Unless you are at least as old as I am, you probably don't remember the radio drama of that name.....

For some reason  it popped into my head while I was laying in bed tonight not being able to sleep.  

I remember being flat broke busted when my oldest son was three and a half.   It was December 1971.   I spent  25.00 the month of December of that year on food.   It had already been a long, cold winter.  

I went to the store and bought liver.   Those days, thirty five cents worth of liver was enough to feed cox's army!   I fixed it the way my mother always had with a baby can of tomato sauce and onion and green pepper.   It was braised In the red sauce.    I cut it up into bite sized pieces for my son and called him to dinner.  

He sat across the kitchen table from me.   He took one look at it and said...."what's this? "
I paused a minute. The mother in me sitting in my right shoulder was saying, you can't lie to the kid.   The other side of me was saying "but, what if he has heard about liver from his classmates?"

I looked him straight in the eye and said ......"meat" .

He used his toddler fork to stab a piece and proceed to put it in  his mouth and chew it  up.

Then, he put down his fork, looked me straight in the eye, and said.....


"Well, it's not hamburger!  

That was the start of many weeks of liver once a week.   He loved it, it was cheap, and on he 70's it was supposed to be good for you,

Flash forward eighteen years, I had remarried and had another son and daughter.   We were building a sizable addition onto the house when my husband's employer let everybody go.   I, too was out of work.   We had money, but we were reluctant to spend much not knowing how long it was going to be before we saw a paycheck.   The living room was stacked to the ceiling with cabinets, and appliances, waiting for my husband to finish the kitchen.  We were living in 400 square feet of the basement.   My "kitchen " consisted of a one burner hot  plate that I kept on our butcher block cart
and a microwave .  

One Sunday, I got up early and started a soup bone in a stockpot of water on the hot plate.    My youngest was about ten years old .   He opens the lid, amd asked,   "what's this? "
"Soup ". said.   "Well. It doesn't look like soup! ". Was his reply.
" it will by dinner time". Alas, by dinner time I had added tomatoes, cut the ,eat from the bone and added vegetables.

He must have been impressed, because he went to school and told his teacher that him mom had made soup and it wasn't out of a can.    She, bless her heart, told him that homemade soup was the best kind of soup.

Flash forward twenty six years.   We are retired now, and my granddaughter is almost four.   Now, I make soup from scratch and my granddaughter loves it.  

Some things never change.   Time just marches on.    The soups I learned to cook from my mother are still being made for generations.  

Soup is a good, nutritious way to stretch a buck and a hit at our house.   Tonight we had clam chowder.   I had only bought one potato because I didn't want to go to two stores yesterday and the potatoes were too expensive at QFC compared to Winco.    Turns out, the potato that I paid .69 cents for instead of getting five pounds for .99, had a lot of bad spots in it.    I punted and chopped celery to go with the potato, skipped the bacon to appease my vegetarian daughter, and added two cans of clams and their juice.   Salt. Pepper, and onion powder to appease my husband.

And, life goes on..

Meals

This month so far o have an average of about 50.00 a week for food.   I have had a 75 percent off day and a 48 percent off day.   I did notice on a recent grocery haul, the same pasta I just bought for .50 was 1.49.  

1. Breakfast for dinner : scrambled eggs, hash browns. Oranges and blueberries, English muffins, 
2. Pizza ( mom went out to a dinner meeting ) 
3. Left overs : meatloaf and potatoes with green beans  or pizza. 
4. Clam chowder, ( milk, clams, potato, bacon,  ) Biscuits 
5. Fish packets : spinach, rice, white beans, fish, fresh green beans 
6. Pork  tenderloin ,rice medley  Broccoli
7. Mac and cheese, fruit salad 

Notes 1) eggs were 1.50 a dozen at Fred Meyers.    Blueberries were cheaper to buy three small than one large.   ( always do the math) hash brown cook on the oven and are frozen- cheap at grocery outlet or Winco.    About 4.00. 

2) pizza was on sale for 2.44

3) leftovers added a free bag of red potatoes and green beans.   

4) clams are 2.00, I bought a potato for .69 a pound.    The bags of potatoes were 2.99 and the same bag was .99 at Winco.    I opted to pay more but loose less because it didn't make sense to drive a mile up the road for one thing,   Biscuits were free.    

5) fish was purchased at Winco in bulk.   I bought green beans for 33 percent off at QFC.   

6) pork tenderloin was 2.50 at Winco, rice from last night with peas and shredded carrots.  Broccoli was free . 

7) Mac and cheese starts with a white sauce base, cheese, and macaroni I got for .49.   

      Pasta .49, 2 cups cheese, 1.00,  blues and oranges on sale.   

With the exception of the fish. All of these meals were under five dollars  for four people.    Certainly,
The average would be less.  

No ads, QFC haul.

I hac no ads yet.   QFC has a two week ad from last week.   Last week I got 75 percent off.    This week I got fifty.   I didn't buy the same things except .50 pasta that is more than double fiber is a good buy.    Double fiber does the same thing as whole wheat for a diabetic and it tastes better.    Nothing is a bargain if your family won't eat it.  

I got Kleenex tissues with a coupon.   Not quite as good as I would have liked, but I was close, the quality might be better and I needed six  things.

They also have an electronic coupon that gives you five dollars off of fifteen in the produce department,    I bought fruit and veggies, carrots were a good buy in bulk and carrots last a long time.
I bought one potato for clam chowder this week because their five pounds of potatoes were three dollars, Winco 's are .99.    I got blueberries. Carrots, green beans , blackberries. and  a potato.  
A big box of popcorn chicken in the deli is a little over a dollar.

I'm happy with fifty percent.

 That I bought was honest good food except for the tissue we needed.  

I went to the goodwill because it was senior day.   I came out with four small restrauant cups amd a taste of home magazine.  Twenty percent made my net purchases 2.00.  
I thought the little tea cups would be fun for granddaughter to have a herbal t party!  

Let me introduce myself and give you some background if you don't know me.    My name is Jane Ulness.   I am 70 years young, ( some days LOL) and I live in a multi- generational house.   I take care of my grandchild , design greeting cards, keep house, do some volunteer work, and write a blog.  

It came to my attention when my daughter worked several years teaching low income children that many parents were having trouble making the food budget stretch.  Many were on SNAP.
I discovered the problem was that none had ever taught them how to shop or cook from scratch- or semi- scratch.   My daughter told one lady, "oh my mom knows how.   ".  I have been doing it for years.    I have been published in Taste of Home and Woman's Day.  

No, I haven't got a degree- except for the degree of the college of hard knocks, as my mother would have said.   I have lived it.    In December of 1971, I was left with 5.12 , utility bills, rent and daycare bills looming, and a paycheck that wasn't going to cover zilch.    I had to sink or swim, and I was going to swim.    I knew quite a lot from watching my mother that budgeted no mater how much my dad made.   I started reading everything I could read.  I tried a lot of things, fell and got up again and tried more.   Those days there wasn't the Internet or a lot of tv.   We had a 10 inch black and white with rabbit ears.   When it died, we listened to the radio.   I still enjoy listening to radio drama.

Even when times got better, I still budgeted and continued to learn everything I could.    I made a plan and tweeked  it to meet our current needs until I have a good plan that doesn't take a lot of time or effort, but works and puts nutritious meals on the table.

My passion is to do what I can to see that a child doesn't go hungry just because their parents don't know how to shop wisely or cook.   They stopped teaching home Ec in schools I hear, and if your parents didnt cook scratch, you probably don't know either.

No child should have to suffer the insecurity of not having food in the pantry.   Fiscally, I can't do much.  I give to the food bank when I can , and fill food bags for an out reach program when I get a chance.   The best I can do is education.    I would love to teach.  For now, the best I can do is write a blog and hope enough people can read it.

I don't get money for my blog.   I write it with the hopes I've helped someone feed their kids a nutritious meal.