Suddenly Saturday.

ok, hubby went to get the Sunday paper somfreddies ad will be posted later.     I hate to repeat myself, anyone that has an idea for a blog post so welcome to comment .    New ideas would be nice.    TIA.

Following the five series..   Or a little tto more....

Five ways to maximize a basket coupon.    We have been seeing a lot of basket coupons lately.   QFC had ten dollars off of forty.   That's twenty five percent.    Safeways had five off of twenty five - or twenty percent.   There are ways to get th most bang for your buck.    QFC always has one of the best coupon policies of all the stores.    They let  you post the basket coupon first, amd the. The other coupons.    Safeway will not.  

Ok.  Five ways to maximize your coupon.

1. Look through the ad and circle things you buy that are a good price.    
2. Check your coupons for a matchup or two.   Look on line for electronic coupons also.   The more coupon stacking you can find the better.    Electronic coupons can't be stacked, but you can still use a basket coupon.   
3. Keep your eyes peeled for discount merchandise and unadvertised specials.   I found shrimp and stir fry veggies.   
4. Bring a calculater and keep a running total.   Husbands and kids are a good resource for this.   The closer to the dollar amount you can get, the more you save.   You want the whole percentage off.   Buying more lowers your percentage.    
5. 
   
6. Watch for freebies.  Don't bother with something you are not going to eat.....let's not waste, but if you can use it or know someone that can, go for it.   I get cat treats because I have a grandcat. I took advantage of twenty five percent off for basically a food bank purchase.    

It takes a little planning, but the reward is good , nutritious food for little money.    That's how you can put a meal on the table for less than four dollars-- you just buy your food for 1/3 to a 1/2 of what other people pay for it.   You are not eating cheap; you are eating smart!   

Example : Alfredo sauce on a jar 1.00, pasta .55, frozen peas (1/2bag) .33, chicken pieces .50. ( part of the rib portions of de-boning chicken breast.    Total.  2.35.   I bought extra fiber pasta.    

Pasta sauce 2.00

Pasta 1.59

Peas (1/2) .78

Chicken 3.00 

Total.  7.37

Difference 5.02 

68 percent off.    Think of it as getting two more meals for free.  

Trust me, if you are on a limited budget, that is HUGE and well worth some time  and effort.   

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspectives. 

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until they goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen )by
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending

QFC haul.

Let's do the math
Safeways  And Costco 53.95

QFC 30.27 less husbands jerky meat is 9.22 totals 21.05

Total weekly spent on budget food 75.00 less 6.90 for backpack tuna is 68.10

QFC haul.  

ACTUAL  COSTS
Ore ida potatoes  32 oz 1.12
Tomatoes 1.00 lb 1.03 
Stir fry veggies .88 or .66
Stir fry veggies .88 or ..66
Barilla pasta (5) 4.00 - actual price 2.75 or .55
blue bunny cones (2) 2.99  or retail 4.00- 1.50 ea 
Shrimp 3.91 or 2.95 
Hillshire farm sausage free retail sale 2.99
String cheese 1.00 - fill in  .75
Pie 3.99 - 2.99
Cookies 2.49 187 
Tuna .69 .52 
Milk .99 was .74 

All of this was also 25 percent off.    Net prices are in bold

Store calculated savings 55 percent

Freaky Friday : five series : proteins

I got up early and hit the bricks so to speak.    I watch Jimmy from "she's in her apron" o. U tibe.  She is really a motivated.   Sometimes it's all I need to get my sore butt out of bed and move.  I cleaned the bedroom.   Hubby shampooed the carpet in spots., cleaned the kitchen and started dinner.   Cleaned the dining room and the deck.  

I still have some more of dinner and clothes to fold and need to finish eight cards I started last night.  

On to food related.    We are having shrimp salad tonight and rolls,    It so very hot here and will be for he next few days- a salad on the deck sounds good to me about now,  

Shrimp is me of the most expensive proteins we buy, but because I shop thrifty and we can average, we can still afford it.  

here we go ...move cheap proteins

1. Eggs:   Lately they have been under a dollar a dozen.    Even in the dead of winter at two dollars a dozen, they are a bargain in nutrition.  Scrambled eggs, omlettes. Quiche breakfast burritos.    
2. Sausage.   I have got bulk sausage for as little as two dollars a pound.    It's always inexpensive   at Costco in a three pound chub.  You can add crumbles to a soup, make depression stew, make a quiche, pit it in red sauce for pasta.... 
3. Cheese.   Grated cheese is the least exoemsove these days.   I just paid 1.58 a pound for Mexican blend,   Mexican blend goes good with a lot of things    Cheese added to beans and rice makes burritos.  Grated cheese makes the best toasted cheese sandwiches.   The possibilities are endless  my target price is 2 .00  
4. Pork loin : can be sliced for pork chops, roasted, or cubed from the end pieces.   Cubes can be a meat pie or stew or braised on rice  or mashed potatoes.    My target price is 1.69
5. Chicken : whole, thighs, or split chicken breasts.    Whole chicken can be made into four meals : 1/2 breasts, dark meat, amd the bones for chicken soup     Thighs can be used as BBQ thighs, or the meat for tacos. Or pulled chicken sandwiches .  You can de-bone chicken breast for boneless, skinless chicken breast and use the rib  portions for soup stock and pull the chicken pieces.   It makes boneless, skinless, chicken breast a dollar instead of six dollars a pound.   Quite a savings for a few minutes work.    I only buy PNW grown chicken- Foster farms is best.    The Internet and cookbooks are full of chicken recipes.    
6. Beans and rice.    Just beans and rice.    Again, the possibilities are endless.   The thing that stopped me before was cooking them.  I invested in a 14.00 baby rice cooker and a pressure cooker. 

And one not so cheap:

Hamburger is not so cheap these days.   In actuality, ground turkey is about the same price and doesn't have the same nutritional properties. Turkey has a few grams less fat.   Beef has some amino acids not found  in any other meat.   I buy 7 percent fat usually and de-fat it.   De-fating is supposed to take up to 17 percent of the fat  away.  I don't know how that translates to  7 percent hamburger. LOL .   It can be crumbles for red sauce, taco meat, hambirger pie, sloppy joes, cheeseburger macaroni.   A meatloaf so a treat.  I have been buying meatballs because they come almost a pound in a package and with coupons they are as low as .98 .   I can't make them for that.    You can make a host of recipes from meatballs.   Speghetti, over rice with sauce, over mashed potatoes with gravy, meat ball subs. Another versatile protein.  

My life is all about set it and forget it.  I love passive cooking.   When I was young it was because I was working two jobs and had three kids at home and a house to keep.  Now, I have a granddaughter, a house and I'm old and feeling older everyday.   Physical therapy is helping greatly, but with one plastic hip and one screaming one, standing for long periods of time is not an option.   

Hauls -

file under don't do as map, do as say....lol.  I did break some of my rules.    Having a few things that are for emergencies are good amd I'm not cranking up the oven on a ninty degree day here.   Safewaysmhas good desert for five dollars.   I got dove dollars off of twenty five basket coupon,   I spent 20.61.

1. Danish - 4.00 
2. Uncle Bens Spanish rice 1.33
3. 40 tortillas for 4.00 
4. 2 lbs grass fed beef patties at 2. 99 a Nets 2.39 lb 
5. 2 pounds Mexican blend cheese at 1.98 a pound nets 1.58 lb 

All of which was twenty percent off.    

No pics , the only way I can put pics up now so from my phone and it's dead. 

Costco 

Celery 

Small romaine 

Blueberries 

Bacon 

Garlic 

Total  33.34 

Total 53.95 

Terrific Thursday : easy Peasy

Good morning.....

Part of the mantra of groceries on the cheap assumes we are all busy and have a limited amount of time to spend on kitchen management and providing meals for the family.   Is one of the most important part of keeping a noise besides paying the bills.    Everything else can wait-- a little while anyway.   LOL.

With a limited amount of time, making planning a shopping trip and purchasing groceries a priority and cooking efficiently to make up the difference  in time consumed by cooking efficiently pays in the long run.   The basic need is to feed your family good nutrition that they will eat.    Doing it on the cheap means you can have more food for less money.   It's even more important ofmyoumhave limited resources.  

That's a long winded way of saying this is an article about efficient cooking.   It took me a long time to figure out that cooking the thing that takes the longest time to cook first  is more efficient.   It took even longer for me to figure out that if I cooked met in batches and portion controlled it, dinner time would be less hectic.  

You can scratch cook fast.   It takes prepping when the house is more quiet and planning,   You can plan almost anywhere , all it takes is a piece of paper and a pen -- waiting for the kind do to get out of school......waiting in the doctors office..waiting for anything-- soccer practice!  

Bullet time: things you can do quickly to make meals more efficient. Many can be done while you do the dishes.  

• Bake eggs.  Just place eggs in a muffin tin and bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for 30 minutes.   Dump in an ice bath and dry off and put in refrigerator.   
• Wash veggies in vinegar water.   Doing all of them at the same time makes one mess to clean up and preps you for the entire week.    
• Frying hamburger or ground sausage or both when you get home from the store or shortly thereafter , means the meat can't get away from you and be stuck on the back of the fridge, and it's cooked and ready for any number of meals.    It also means you can take the time to de-fat it and make it healthier.   The meat is usually the part of dinner that takes the longest to cook.  It makes the busy meal hour less hectic.   
• Cooking a whole chicken or chickens when they are less than a dollar a pound can be super easy, take almost no time and save a lot of money.  Cut up the cooked,chicken into the dark meat, the breasts, and bag the vines for soup stock.   To cook a whole chicken fast: place a quartered, peeled onion in the bottom of a slow cooker.    Rinse the chicken and clean out the insides. Rub the outside with a slice rub that you have pre made, and put the chicken in the pot over the onion,   Cover, amd cook for 1 hour a pound on high heat.   Non- passive time. About five minutes.   Clean and disinfect everything that raw meat has touched including everything you touch with chicken hands. Prepping your work station helps.  Place slow cooker insert on the counter beside the sink, place the slice rub in a disposable coffee filter. You can place the onion on the slow cooker. Wash the chicken, place ot on the slow cooker insert, and  dry rib it.   Wash your hands and disinfect the sink and counter., place the insert in the slow cooker and cover and program the slow cooker. Five  minutes tops! 
• Make your own mixes when you have free time.   Children can help , it can be a good lesson in counting or fractions.   Smaller children just like to stir or push the food processor or blender buttons.   It's good for them to see what things have in them.   Food doesn't have to come out of a box or bag.  
• Non fried re-fried beans are a fraction of the cost  of refried beans in a can and have no fat!   They can be made in a slow cooker with a potato masher or with a pressure cooker and a food processor.    
• Save bread heels and either grate them on the largest side of a box grater or in a food processor.    Why pay someone upwards of 2.00 a pound for their dry bread and throw yours away!   
• Minutes to make a cream soup base mix.   Many dollars and less preservatives ahead.    
• It takes minutes to make oatmeal in the microwave and it's a lot less expensive and more nutritious than the packaged mixes.  Leaving a measuring cup in some things saves a lot of time.  Measuring cups are at the dollar store.  A 1/2 cup measure is always in my oatmeal canister.    I buy oatmeal by the ten pound box at Costco.   It's also a dollar a lime at the dollar tree.  Good source of fiber and protein.  
• I cook pasta in  the microwave.   Anything that has little non- passive cooking helps.  A watched pot never boils? Set it and forget it means you can make the rest of the dinner while the noodles cook.   Sauce in a jar or can (cheaper than scratch on sale ) and pre made by you meatballs or crumbles and a salad or green beans makes dinner.  
• Or cook elbows in the microwave while you make cream soup mix on the stove and add grated cheese.   Homemade  Mac and cheese not from a box.  More nutrition and  better taste.    Remember cheese whey is what my grandmother used to sell to the farmers to slop the hogs.   You add the milk to make it back to cheese-- just eat the cheese!   FYI. Annie's box of Mac and cheese has exactly the same nutrition as the Kraft box.  But, Annie's has more fat!   Because pasta comes in a pound box doesn't mean you have to cook the pound box.   
• Which brings me to......hambirger helper I tested had just over four ounces of pasta in it.   I never pay more than a dollar a pound for pasta and frequently pay .75 or less.  I have paid .38 before.   You can also get pasta with a serving of veggies in it and double Dover for discounted prices too.   Pasta is a buck for 1.5 pounds at the tree.  It's not necessarily the best quality.  I prefer the blue box or rotini.   
• By the way, the "cheese sauce that had no cholesterol in it was 1.57 ounces.   It calculated out to 13.00 a pound.   I never met a cheese I didn't like, and I never met a cheese that didn't have cholesterol.   LOL.  You can buy mighty good cheese for 13.00 a pound.   
• Put your macaroni in the microwave to cook.  Put already fried hamburger in a pan.  Add some frozen mixed veggies or peas and carrots, and a can of drained chopped tomatoes, reserving the juice.   Drain the cooked macaroni, add to the pan and stir add in enough reserved tomato juice to make the right consistency heat to warm it up and add grated cheese.  Turn off the heat and cover to let the cheese melt.   Stir.  More food, better taste, less money.     

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspectives. 

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until it goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen )by
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

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Alberways - the ads

QFC must be a two week ad because I didn't get an ad in the mail.  All wemgotmt not the mail this week is Alberways.  


Cantaloupe  .99 each

Eggs .99@@
8 ounces cheese .99@@ limit 4 total between eggs and cheese



Five dollar Friday
Foster farms breaded chicken
Berries 2/5



Buy 5 save 5

Coffee 6.99
Tabasco .79

About it.    I don't know about you, but we don't need five bottles of Tabasco.  
Not much there.  

food date labels don’t mean what you think — NOVA Next | PBS


Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspectives. 

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until it goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen )by
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

Pizza pizza,pizza

My daughter looked at the ingredients for pizza crust that I had sitting on the counter.    Is that all my t takes, she said.     She had just bought a vegan pizza at one of those 42 percent profit stores for ten dollars.      It never ceases to amaze me how they can omit  the most expensive ingredients in a pizza ( the meat and the cheese) and still price a pizza at ten bucks.   

The cost of a large pepperoni pizza at home is about 1.50.  The flour for a pizza crust is .30.  Add water, 2t olive oil. Salt, amd yeast.   I buy yeast at Costco  on

in a bulk bag.   You can buy it at Winco by the scoop if you don't want to make the investment.   I don't price anything under 2T that is kitchen staples.  It's too much like hard work.   I have pieced and broken down basic things like beans and flour.  

It takes about five minutes to make the dough and another rest time of ten minutes.   You can. E chopping and gathering the ingredients for the topping during the rest time.   

The pizza sauce is a dollar at the dollar tree.   The same brand as you will find in other grocery stores for 1.50.   I open the jar and pour it into my ice cube trays and freeze it in the ice maker.   Cover it with something first .  It takes three ice cubes to make a pizza.    There are 16 cubes  in a tray.  So, for about .18 you can spread sauce on a pizza with a pastry brush.    Pepperoni is .50 with a coupon at the dollar tree.   Coupons are almost every month at coupons.com 

In the time it takes you to wait for the pizza guy or go pick up a pizza from the store, you can have a pizza ready for the oven.   

Flour for crust .30 

Sauce .18 

Cheese 1/2 cup .25, full cup .50 

Pepperoni .50 

Total  1.48 of you use a whole cup of cheese.   

That is 15 percent  of the cost, and you are getting cheese and pepperoni.   

Terrific Tuesday.

The ads are not here yet.   I did check Winco, but don't see any major bargains.    I did see that there are no blueberries.    I used the last of the coupons that were die to expire on anything that we would use and was a good buy,  

I did pick up a recipe book for cheap.   It helps to spice up things every now and then.  I have been reading Pinterest and u tube for inspiration,    So,emthingsmworked be good ideas of they pertains to our family unit.    Some mixes we don't use a lot of, but homemade mixes are a good way to avoid the       Preservatives in ready made.   You can sometimes avoid the hydrogenated oils too.  I have heard all the hype about cocoa it oil. So, I read the nutrition on organic cocoanut oil at 7.00 a pint or so.    It had a but,old of saturated fat.   .....so, don't eat meat because of the saurated  fat, eat cocoanut oil  at over thirty dollars a gallon.    Doesn't make much sense to me,

On to taste of home summer slow cooker recipes.   Been eyeing it for weeks now.   Since it is discounted at Winco, I decided I finally would get it.

Recipes

1. Chicken chop salad 
2. Pizza pancakes 
3. Sausage with jalapeño potatoes 
4. Orientation sausage skillet 
5. Parmesan chicken bites 
6. Chicken ranch flatbreads - sounds like it could be pizza too
7. Spinach gets chicken penne 
8. White beans and bow ties 

Many more.    A good resource,    

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspectives. 

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until it goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen )by
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

Food prep day

Today  took three hours.  I had to wash dishes in between  and the counters were full, I had to juggle appliances.

I :
Took inventory of fresh produce

Cleaned vegetables with vinegar water.

Peeled and sliced cucumbers and put them in a green container.

Washed radishes for oven roasted veggies

Cut up cantaloupe and put in a green container

Made watermelon juice from the last of the watermelon

Washed,peeled and sliced zucchini and put inthe dehydrater

Made sausage patties and froze them

Made a apple dump cake

Made non-fried refried beans

Made cinnamon sugar

Made pizza dough

Made seasoned bread crumbs.

Listed prep work for the weeks meals.

Washed and cut romaine for salads and tacos

Washed romaine 

made prep list  for the meals 

wash veggies and prep for storage  and inventoried 

Apple dump cake 

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspectives. 

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until it goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by 
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

Everyday

Everyday I do a blog.   I have been following a lady that is very inspirational and helpful on getting your butt up and doing what needs to be done.   Lots of good ideas.    Today she talked a little setting up areas of your home and deep cleaning that area for an hour a week.   Pick a day.    It keeps you focused.    I usually see so,ethnic no that is bugging me and hit it for a couple of hours when  I feel up to it.    But, those areas that I don't see everyday , just don't get done.   The reality is I'm not the only person that lives here,   And everyone needs to do their fair share.    LOL.   Like that's going to happen.  

Today is the day I clean the fridge and prep meals for the week.   I'll probably run the  damp mop over the floor and clean off the counters.   

 I cleaned the pantry the other night at two in the morning when I couldn't sleep.   It gave me a good overview of what we had and what may need to be supplemented soon.  I'm looking for a diced tomato canned good sale,   It was .60 a can at Freddies last week, I want fifty cents.   They are .58 all the time at Winco.    I was over stocked and didn't buy any for a long time. Now we are lower than my comfort level.    I plan to eat down canned beans and transition to some canned and some dry.    I still want canned in case I'm in a pinch or we need them in a emergency situation.   Our power goes out , sometimes  for days in the winter.    We are a small pocket on the electric grid and they fix the larger grids first in order to cover as many people as possible.   We have a BBQ and a fireplace, but dry beans would take a l o n g time!    

That was a long explanation to say I will replace some of the bean shelf with tomatoes.    I filled some of the tomato shelf with my own mixes and canisters of dried beans,   I also took a small crate from the dollar tree and pit all those little jars etc of baking things in it.   It makes it a lot easier to find what you need and I don't have to take every little bottle of flavored vanilla , baking powder etc out to find why I need.   It's contained.    Life's easier and less cluttered of what you need is contained.    

OK.   Pizza dough. Non- Fried  refried beans, rice, clean veggies and put them in green containers, make green salad.    Clean off the fridge door.    

Type a master list of cleaning chores.   

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspectives. 

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until it goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by 
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

5 meals under five dollars - some Way under

Four people, one meal, five bucks.   Better, cheaper, faster.

Notes : this is assuming you have two adults and two school aged children.  It also is predicated on efficient cooking and batch freezing,   

If you out a entire batch of chocolate chip cookies  in front of a child, they will eat an entire batch of chocolate chip cookies.    Portion control a reasonable amount,   

1) chicken enchiladas.   I made them the specified way .  Next time I will make them on the shape of a pie and cut wedges.   They will taste the same. But they will take a lot shorter time to make.  An entire 9x13 pan cost 2.66.  The filling made enough for two meals.    I will need to make another white sauce.    

2) speghetti with meatballs, French bread   : tip: speghetti is often less than a dollar with coupons, sauce is on sale with coupons frequently and meatballs have coupons and is cheaper than making scratch.   A good case in point,    The meatballs at Freddies were 3.69.  The same amount and brand was 1.98 at Winco.   Speghetti .50, sauce .88, meatballs 1.23.  2.61 , homemade bread or biscuits .30. Cheese .25. Green beans .50.    Total 3.66. Enough for lunch the next day.    Leaves 3.00

3) veggie bean soup.   Cheezy biscuits.   Biscuits .60, veggie,bean soup.
     Beans .32, tomatoes 1.00, stock, .50 carrots and celery.   1.82.   2.42

4) tacos, refried beans, rice : rice costs .12, refried.beans ('can ) .88.   Taco shells 99, meat 1.00.    Tomato, lettuce,cheese.  100.  Total.   4.00

5) pizza, green salad
Green salad 1.00.   Pizza : sauce .20, pepperoni .50, cheese .25, crust .45.  1.40: total 2.40

Average for five meals 3.10 each.  


Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspectives. 

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until it goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by 
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

5 things to avoid buying

seems list articles are a popular read .....

5 things to avoid buying

1) rotisserie chicken :   Most rotisserie chicken are three pounds or under.   Three pounds is the break even point on the bone  to meat ratio.   Even at five dollars, the chicken will cost you 1.67 a pound.  When you think about that, you are paying 3.33 cents a pound for your meat.  Washington grown chicken is a dollar or less a pound often,   You,can cook a chicken in 5 minutes or less non- passive time and a five pound chicken is a lot more bang for your buck.  

2) soda pop.  "They" have come out with the fact that the fox in pop strips your bones  of calcium.    Besides the fact that it's empty calories .    If you are in a four dollar a day budget, pop is not a good investment,  

3) potato chips and the like.   Again, they are not good nutrition and you want the most nutrition for your buck.  Better snacks are peanut butter and celery or wheat bread , a piece of fruit, popcorn that is air popped.  

4) fruit juices-- especially for children,    The nutritionist told me when the children were small that it is better to give  the children the apple instead.    It's got fiber and is better for their teeth.

5) ready made anything just about,    Almost always scratch is better.    Less preservatives and tastes better,  follow me along on my quest to find easy ways to scratch cook instead of buying ready made.
 I have tackled

1. Cream soup base 
2. Beans 
3. Rice 
4. Pizza crust 
5. Bread 
6. Rice mix 
7. Refried beans - not Fried 
8. Croutons 
9. Bread stuffing 
10. Bread crumbs , seasoned 

Next: tortillas, 

I still hold  on to some instant mashed potatoes and French fries.  It's a convenience, fast meal thing.   Cheaper than going out for dinner is my excuse ! And, I can get them cheaper than homemade.    LOL.  And pasta is just too much bother for the cost.  I can get pasta formats cheap as a quarter a box.     Some things are cheaper to buy ready made - either for the time they take or for the cost and some things can be just avoided.   I made pita bread--once.   I made bagels - once.   Never again.   They aren't on my diet because they are too car loaded and they are a pain in the touché
to make,   

I got a Betty Crocker cake mix with frosting for .50.   We don't eat cake often.   But at fifty cents, I don't want to make it from scratch.   The savings would be negligible,   

Pick your battles.   Some things are easy to make from scratch and take little time.   So,e things can just be avoided.    And some are just a splurge.   With careful planning, you can still have a splurge . Save on the things you eat often and the things you can make easily from scratch,   

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspectives. 

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until it goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by 
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

Meal plans

The age old adage......make a plan or plan to fail.   Not having a plan invites the take out demons in LOL.  

Make a plan, adapt the plan if you need to, but make a plan.  

In case someone is new, I thought I would walk you through the process.  

We have a stock of food.    I have purchased a months worth of protein to include various types of protein to use on a rotation basis.   I stocked when prices were low.    The object is kinda like a stockbroker would buy stock for speculation, but with food theirs not much of a gamble.  LOL. You buy when the comidity is priced low and eat when it's high.

We have a lot of pepperoni because I get a three dollar package for  .50 at the tree with coupons.      We, also  have a lot of eggs because we are getting them for .79 a dozen.    It only, makes sense to have pizza one night and breakfast 4 dinner another night .   The rest of the week is wide open,   I usually work on a matrix of proteins that outline the plans and make otmamquick and easy task,  

2 vegetarian ( for variety and cost averaging )
1 fish
3 pork or chicken
1 beef ( for variety and certain amino acids and irony )

Equals 7 meals

1. Pizza - pepperoni      I make scratch crust.   Granddaughter is getting good at spreading pizza sauce, cheese, and pepperoni     Pepperoni and sauce come from the dollar store.  I freeze the sauce in ice cube trays and ,when frozen,  transfer to a freezer bag.   
2. Breakfast 4 dinner.    Use eggs, fruit of some kink, and a starch : pancakes, English muffins ( 167 a dozen from Freddies) or hash browns.   Sometimes in Leiu of fruit, we have yogurt parfaits.   
3. Fish packets  - a family favorite : mom likes the ease of prep, the kids think it's playing camp out, and somebody ( that illusive person that is never there) likes that there is almost no dishes. Place on parchment paper, stack the following :  a piece of romaine or spinach, a scoop of cooked rice, a piece of fish, and a fresh green veggie like green beans,   Seal in a packet and bake in an oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.    Or wrap in parchment, then  foil, and grill.  
4. Chicken enchilada casserole   I made chicken enchiladas last week and have more filling left we put in the freezer.   Then enchiladas were a pain in the totusche to roll, so this time I'll layer in a round casserole and cut like a pie.   
5. Sausage with roasted root veggies.    Salad 
6. Chicken pot pie - chicken breasts I de-boned and froze .   Mixed veggies I got on sale for .85.   
7. Meatballs and speghetti .   Sauce we got for .50 a liter and spaghetti I got for .25  with a coupon and Meatballs were a.98 with a coupon.   

4+1 = 5......four people. One meal, five bucks.   So,e of these meals are less than a buck.   Some are slightly more.    In order to stay on a four dollar a day meal plan, you have to stick to less than five dollars in order to eat the other two meals and have some stock on hand,    

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspectives. 

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until it goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by 
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

Dollar tree and grocery outlet hauls

wemwent to dollar tree and grocery outlet.   I was looking for a electronic light for the broom closet.    They didn't have one.   

I did get a hundred percent cotton t shirt.  A hair barrette for granddaughter, a refrigerator bottle, French rolls, amd a canvas storage box.   

At grocery outlet, I got bake Bisquits for .50 ( too hot to bake in the kitchen very long. ) 

Tomato paste for .39, 2 Betty Crocker cake and frosting mixes for .50 each, dated 2017.   And my husband picked mixed nuts  and I bought my daughter some spices  so mine  stay in my kitchen!   

Total spent 18.00

1. 2 cake and frosting mixes 
2. 1 package brown and serve rolls 
3. 2 packages Bisquits in a can 
4. 4 jars of spices 
5. 2 cans  tomato paste 
6. 1 cotton t shirt 
7. 1 plaid hair barrette 
8. 1 canvas storage crate 
9. 1 refrigerator bottle 

1. 
   

Fred Meyers TOMORROW - vegetable alert!

this is tomorrow's ad

Vine tomatoes .88
Gala apples - new crop .88
Peppers .88
Greek yogurts .69
English cucumbers .88
Peaches .99
Broccoli .99
Zucchini .99
Pears .99

La croix water , 8 count 199

Kroger ice cream 1.88@@
Frozen veggies  12 oz .77. That a little over a buck a pound

Barilla pasta 1.00




Heritage farm chicken is southern grown chicken


Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspectives. 

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until it goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by 
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

Suddenly Saturday : baked eggs recipe

I am drinking my third cup of coffee...got up early.   Watching a video of a couple and four kids that bought a real fixer upper for 24 thousand dollars and are gutting it.   Brought back memories.    We added another house on to our existing house about thirty years ago,   Took up 3.5 years while we lived on the basement and I cooked on a one burner hotplate and a microwave.   We did the work pretty much ourselves, only hiring the sheik and basic plumbing and the electrical box.   We still maintained a frugal grocery bill.    We didn't cook much real scratch food, obviously without an oven some of that wasn't possible.   Just maintaining some degree of normal while we spent every bit of extra time we had putting in sinks, dry walling, stringing electrical wire Etc.   now , we are due for some remodeling.    Not up to it.    We doc replace the floor in the bathroom a week or two ago.  

I digress.  

I am baking eggs this morning,   We are still working on the .79 eggs I got a few weeks ago,    Last night we had eggs and sausage patties that were two dollars a pound with sale and coupon.

Baking eggs.   By far , the easiest way to make a hard cooked egg.    I love recipes that take very little non passive cooking.   It goes me more productivity and less work.  Spend more time planning and shopping, amd less time cooking and you will save more money .  With efficient cooking, you can still eat scratch and healthy.  


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place eggs , one each in muffin pan cups.
Place pan in preheated oven and bake 30 minutes
Immediately place eggs in a ice bath.   Let sit for 10 minutes.
Refrigerate .   Eggs peel really easy.


I tried to do a quick haul at Safeways to use the five dollars off of twenty five coupon.    I calculated 25.05 and added zip lock bags and a coupon.  It didn't come to 25.00.   They didn't post the correct sale amount on the meat and I didn't carch it.

I don't know if I'll try again or not. I've already spent forty dollars this week.   Probably not.   We don't need a lot and the pantry and freezers are full.  

Back later with the Fred Meyer ad for tomorrow.  





Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspectives. 

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until it goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by 
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

Friday Post

Safeways has a big sale on,  they also have a five dollar off of twenty five on just 4 you basket coupon.  

That's twenty percent of you keep your bill down to twenty five dollars.    I went today, but had to split my order to get 12 tuna cans for the backpack project.    I still have the coupon and usually don't find it hard to spend twenty five dollars in a grocery store.

With that sneered, let's get the most bang for our buck.

First B5 S5

Mostly junk foods, but there are some sleepers.

1. Herez salsa. , 16 ounces 1.99. Less,.55 coupon  nets 1.44 -- buy 2
2. Ortega taco shells .99
3. Sargento sliced cheese 1.99 less .55 coupon nets 1.44
4. Coffee 6.99 - retail 10.99
5. 7 percent ground beef 3.99 - three pounds.

That should do it.    Use a calculater and fill in with something small.   Check the oricemofm8 ounce cans of tomato,sauce.    

Just an example. , but it,shows,how,it,can be done. 

10 things that will lower your food bill

Ten things you can do to lower your cost of food at home.    

1. Know the RBP of things you buy on a regular basis.  Set dollar limited on things.    Unless you really have to have something that is a higher price. don't buy it at the high price.   
2. Check the ads when they come on the mail .  Check all the stores for bargains,   Decide  which two chain stores have the best buys.   Some stores here have no ads, but prices can be found for some stores at favado.    ( am ap for your electronic devices) 
3. Avoid junk food and ready mades like the plague.    Empty calories can jack your food budget up fast and not give your family good nutrition.  Learn to cook scrarch, one thing at a time.  Find the easiest recipes as possible.  
4. Buy fresh produce in season and look for the best quality for your money.   
5. Don't experiment.   Buy things most of your family will eat.   Remember; no food will do you any good if you feed it to the garbage disposal.    That isn't to say you need to eat pizza and chicken nuggets everyday!   LOL.  
6. Take advantage of every coupon you find that is for things you buy on a regular basis.  Store basket coupons are best used when you stick to the limit.  In other words, if ts five dollars off of twenty five, you spend twenty five.  That way, you are getting 20 percent off everything you buy.   Add that to regular manufacturers coupons, and you can extreme coupon.   Extreme couponing is not about buying 60 bottles of,hot sauce you'll never use on your lifetime.  
7. When you find something at a RBP that you use a lot of on a regular basis, buy as many as you can (store limits ), as many as you can afford, or as many as you will use before it goes on sale again or you need to fill in your self imposed limit of stock - whichever comes first.    His isn't about filling a pantry as much as it is having enough product that you can make a meal out of in an emergency  for the least possible cost.  The operative word is a manageable amount so it gets used up before epiration dates.   
8. Some things are best bought in bulk.  We eat a lot of rice.  Rice doesn't go bad.  I can safely buy a 25 pound bag of rice and put it on glass jars.    Now, beans in bulk won't work for us.   I stock to five  pounds at a time.   
9. Meal plan.   Just meal plan.....it saves a ton of money amd stress.    
10. Buy your protein on a rotation basis.    Buy enough to feed your family for a months worth of those meals.  In other words, if you eat ground beef once a week, you will buy four meals worth of ground beef.   When you get it home or shortly afterwards, cook it if appropriate and portion control it for meals.   I usually either make meatballs or defat crumbles.   Ot makes cooking a snap and takes up less room in the freezer.    If it's pork roast, I cut cubes from the end that isn't flat, cut a roast, and cut some pork chops and freeze.    Chicken is either bought as breast with ribs and I de-bone it and make stock from the bones.   Then I bag the breast on quart bags, amd the quart bags in a gallon bag, or I cook a whole chicken and separate it onto the breast, dark meat and bones for soup.   

Hope this helps.    

Chicken enchiladas, take along

I made chicken enchiladas this morning for tonight's dinner.   I used a Betty Crocker recipe that was on line.   I make dinner early on the day, or at least prep so,e of it.   The last thing my old body wants to do at six o'clock at night is to prep a scratch dinner for an hour.   LOL.  

Cost of recipe:  note small amounts of staples like flour and slices are not cost out.   If its one noes worth, it's not worth my time.    Chicken broth is  low sodium chicken granules. ( Winco) .  I used two tsp.  

1) cook chicken broth and flour , and spices on the stove on med heat until slightly thickened.   Add Greek yogurt ( I added sour cream) .  ( .33)

2) Filling

• Can of corn .50
• Can of black beans .50
• 3/4 cup cheddar cheese .47
• Green chillies .58 
• Chicken breast, cooked and shredded 1.00
• Total 3.05  - made a double batch - recipe total 1.53 Q

3) assemble filling corn tortillas ( 1/3 package .33) and place on 9X13 greased pan
4) top with sauce and cheese ( .47)

Total 2.66😊
 I can't download pics because Google changed the format and I will need to learn a new trick, I guess!

Things to buy when you see broke

my version of things to buy when you are broke.   Imagine having twenty dollars and need to feed your family, .....

1. Oatmeal 
2. Eggs 
3. Rice 
4. Beans 
5. Milk 
6. Bananas 
7. Top ramen 
8. Diced tomatoes 
9. bulk pasta 
10. Parmesean cheese 
11. Flour, yeast in bulk isle 
12. Pepperoni at the dollar store

1.