Meal plans

Meal plans using stock  items and perishables.     I have 3.69 left in budget plus 25.00 is 28.69

1. Slow cooker Italian chicken on rice,    Chicken cubes, Italian seasoning, black olives, diced tomatoes.    
2.  Pizza
3. Breakfast 4 dinner 
4. Cowboy speghetti -Betty Crocker - French bread 
5. Tuna melts, veggie sticks 
6. Pork chops on apple cranberry dressing , salad 
7. 4 cheese Mac and cheese (scratch) and peas and carrots 

Notes : 

1. Slow cooker chicken dish used a chicken breast,   Serve over rice.   Add a salad 
2. Pizza from scratch.    Cheese and veggies, save some black olives from yesterday,    
3. Cowboy speghetti is a cassarole, can be made ahead and out in the oven before dinner,  allow more time if it is pre made  and cold. Make sour dough quick bread 
4. Tuna melts , veggie sticks.     
5. Pork chops browned  on the stove.   Make stove top tyoe stuffing and add choooed appkemand craisens or cut up cranberries.  Stove top was two dollars , Winco  brand was a dollar.   Target had the double package for eighty eight cents after Christmas.    
6. Mac and cheese.    Scratch White sauce from homemade mix,   Clean out the cheese drawer using bits of cheese.   Never pay more than a buck for elbows.   Most of the time I can find them for less.   All else fails, Barilla is a buck at the dollar store.    Peas and carrots are cheapest at Winco with a coupon.   
7. Breakfast 4 dinner. Cooked  and de-fatted sausage in the freezer is a quick step to a sausage and cheese quiche.  Add a fruit salad.   We are still getting berries cheap.    

3.69 left

It's been two week  in no spend January .  I started right after Christmas.    I have 3.69 left of a 25.00 a week budget for perishables.   I did buy ten pounds of flour with that.

We are going to have nachos tonight for dinner.    QFC ( Kroger) is giving away nacho chips this week.   I will make some refried beans and pull taco meat from the freezer.   We have grape tomatoes 🍅 and cheese and peppers.  Sour cream.   I still have sour cream from before and cranberries, so I'll make another batch of cranberry bread.

Tomorrow's meal is breakfast for dinner and I have English muffins and pork sausage thawed.    I'll make sausage patties while I am in the kitchen.  

Planning m als makes things more efficient,   The more efficient you are, the easier it is to make dinner when you aren't in the mood or life throws you a curve ball.  

We are still under five dollars a dinner.    Some dinners are well under five dollars.    Last nights dinner was pretty much gleamed from other dinners.    The flour tortillas were left from the dollar taco kit that we used last week, the chicken 🍗 was left from the stock I made from rib bones left when I de-boned our chicken breast.   Tomato soup was made from one garlic clove, a carrot, and two cans of diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning,   Buying tomatoes with the seasoning in the, when you can saves time and money,    I added the chicken stock from the bones.   Total added ingredients was 1.50 for cheese and tomatoes.    None of that took much non passive time.

The more you cook, the faster you get at it.    I am on a mission to lower our food costs and still eat well balanced meals - protein, starch, and fruits and veggies.    It has worked for decades: don't  fix what isn't broken.  

Write  lists, make meal plans.   If things seem overwhelming, writing a list a list, prioritizing the list and work your way down the list.  It is one of the first things we learned in management school.   It works hard so you don't have to.  

Thanks for stopping by,   Fred Meyer ads later.

😇waste not, want not

One of the ways to s t r e t c h your food dollar is not to waste.  That seems like a given.    It just takes being mindful of what's in your fridge and what you can do with it.

Yesterday I made blueberry muffins for breakfast.   I was having a meeting at my house.    After that , I set out to think about dinner and assessing the fridge,   I had cranberries left from Christmas that needed  to be used up.   I searched in the search box on Betty Crocker  on line cookbook.  I have hundreds of cookbooks, but find myself looking at the on line cookbook when I need to use up something.

I found a cranberry bread recipe that used up not only the cranberries , but sour cream and and orange peel.    I had all of that.    I made it on my smaller loaf pans so that it would take less time to cook and save energy.   Making more  than one thing in succession saves energy costs because you are not preheating the oven multiple times.  I also made baked hard cooked eggs.   It's easy and makes perfect eggs every time.

We had chicken sandwiches and French fries for dinner with a fruit salad,  I used the orange that I had made orange zest with in the salad.  

 Tonight we are having homemade tomato soup and chicken quesadillas   .   I will use the soft taco shells  from the taco kit we had last week and the chicken left  from the bones  that I cooked when I de-boned chicken breasts.    The tomato soup calls for three cans of diced tomatoes, a carrot, and some chicken stock,   I have that from the chicken bones.

That's why planning your meals helps to stretch your dollars And why it's important to keep ahead of your fridge.

I am on a no spend January mission.   The goal this year is to eat well on less than we did last year.    Our medical insurance went up and it's been a brutal winter so far for the heat  bill.  Our social security did not go up one dime: they gave us a small raise and took it back for Medicare.    It's a challenge to put  good food on the table for less.   I am enjoying trying new recipes and the challenge, I always want to be learning something- it's how we grow at any age,     Our granddaughter is learning that food  doesn't come out of a box or a bag.    It a good thing for children  to learn.  

Last nights dinner. 

Homemade tomato soup and chicken quesedas.  

Pizza 🍕 toppings

last night we had pizza.    I had made the dough and oartiallynbakedmotmthemnightmbefife, but my daughter didn't eat it.  

We made buffalo chicken  pizza.   I had previously de-boned chicken breast and cooked the bones to make chicken broth.  I leave meat on the rib bones and pucknthemchicken ( like making chicken soup) after the broth is done,   I reduce the chicken  stock  so it takes less room on the freezer.  

Buffalo chicken pizza starts with ranch or blue cheese dressing instead of the traditional red pizza sauce.  

Next: the chicken pieces that have been tossed with a few drops of Tabasco or the "hot  sauce" of your choosing,

Top with blue cheese, regular mottserella cheese grated, or a combination,  

I add choooed red pepper for color.   You could also add parsley or red pepper flakes.    Mushrooms.  

I kept it more mellow because granddaughter was eating it and grandpa doesn't like mushrooms.  


Bake at 425 on a cookie sheet or pizza stone until the cheese is melted.    The dough was partially cooked.    

The ads

the ads

First : Winco had binkess, skinless chicken breast for 200 per pound.

QFC

Drawer valley whole chickens .99
Lean cuisine lunches 2/3$$

Buyn5, save 5

Blue bunny 2.99$$
String cheese 2.99
Cereal 1.49
Dawn 1.99


Alberways

Blues 3.99
Yoplait 10/4
Eggs .99
Cottage cheesec2/4

That's about it.  

Bread - the staff of life.

I'm on a mission.   Please feel free to come along for the ride.
I started out years ago trying to feed my family on a dime.   Sometimes literally,    I can remember a day in the 70's that I bought a package of chicken necks and backs for a dime a pound .  I cooked them , gleamed the meat, and set out to make dinner,    I made noodles from scratch , made a filling from  with the chicken , white sauce and a few mushrooms chopped fine and some Parmesan cheese and rolled them up.  Literally made dinner from bits of what was in the house,  

I'm doing it now to teach another generation how to shop and eat balanced good food for less than four dollars  a day.   It's possible.  I have been doing it for years.    We eat well.    It's a growing experience.  I want it all: I want good food cheap, good food easily prepared without resorting to boxed stuff. And I want it healthy,   I can do this,   Healthy doesn't mean trendy to me.   It means low salt, sugar, saturated fat, no HFCS , the least  amount of hydrogenated oils I can deal with, and as much scratch cooking without preservatives I can make happen,   I don't want to sound my whole day on the kitchen,   It is not practical for most people,   I'm retired, but most people trying to eat on four dollars a day have active families and some have jobs.

I'm on a mission to provide easy, quick, good tasting, scratch meals on a tight budget.    Not everyone reading this is trying to live on a four dollar  a day budget : but many are trying to eat less processed foods and don't want to live in the kitchen!

My focus lately is homemade bread,    Bread is expensive.   Homemade bread is cheap.   It all starts with the flour and yeast.   I set out this week to find the cheapest all purpose flour.   The cheapest I have found is 5.99 for 25 pounds at Costco,    The yeast seems to be cheapest at Costco too.    I don't have a Sams  club membership, so I don't know about them.

I started with pizza dough,   We were buying cheap pizzas and filling them with more ingredients.  They were still three dollars.   Pizza dough on sale is about 1.50.   With the lowest cost flour , pizza dough costs .17.   That is a remarkable savings--and it tastes better.   You can also make bread sticks out of the dough.  Easy, no rise,  

Pizza dough.   I make it in the food processor, but you don't have to.  

1) put 2 cups of all purpose flour in the bowl.   Add  3/4 tsp salt and 1-1/2 tsp rapid rise yeast. Blend just long enough to mix the ingredients- a few seconds.  

2) measure  6 ounces of 105 -110 degree (tepid) water in a glass measuring cup.  Add 2 tsp. Olive oil.

3) with the processor running, add the water mixture through the tube slowly.  Process just long enough for the dough to form a ball.

4) remove dough ball from bowl and on a floured surface add just enough flour to make the dough not be sticky.

5) place dough in a bowl that has some oil in it and turn the dough ball  over.    Cover and let rest 10 minutes or so.

This is a good time to gather your toppings.   I get pizza sauce (name brand ) from the dollar tree and freeze it in ice cube tray.  A couple of large cubes is enough for a pizza.  pizza cheese   is cheapest at Costco.    You can freeze it.

6) roll or pat  dough into desired shape and fill.  Bake at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until dough is done and cheese is melted.   I use a cookie sheet and bake dough a few minutes before we fill it.

Hands on dough time is ten minutes or so.    Clean as you go and dinner is a snap.

no spend January -1st real week ,1/2 -2017

Chicken breast, 1.28 a pound, de-boned.    Cooked from frozen 8 minutes in the insta pot. 

,

Sour dough type bread.   .27 a loaf.  Quick, but  a lot of standing time.    

The start of chicken Alfredo dinner.    

Bread has no preservatives, I don't think it will last that long.    

14.00 Winco haul.   Flour is the  cheapest  in five pound bags.  Go figure . Even cheaper than bulk or 25 pound sacks.    I will check Costco when I am ready for more.    Tomatoes  a buck,  Romas give you the most bang for your buck.   Diced green chilies are,cheapest at Winco.   I got dried buttermilk for ranch dressing and bread and garlic- hard to find garlic not made in china.   Packed on USA  is nit made in USA .   Beginning balance .65- total 25.65 

Tonight's dinner chicken Alfredo and  sour dough bread and broccoli.    

Dinner 1/2/17

Costco haul 1.39 bananas plus 14.23 Winco is 15.62 

January 3rd

Parents night out

 Made pizza crust (.17) total cost of a cheese pizza is about a dollar.   

Note: Costco flour is 5.99 for 25 pounds 

Balance 15.62 plus 7.55 and .88 for English muffins, blueberries, sour cream, and hamburger buns  total 24.05 plus j2 doz gigs 1.98.   -26.03

Chicken sandwich, fries made fruit salad.   , 

  

5 kitchen hacks

five easy kitchen hacks to make your kitchen time easier and cheaper.  

1. Make your own taco 🌮 and other seasoning,   I am hearing about sausage seasoning and complete seasoning as well as ranch dressing mix,    Saves time measuring when you have a mix firmthings you make often.    I use taco seasoning in many dishes,    
2. Enchalada sauce is 3/1 at the dollar store for old El Paso.   My go to recipe for sloppy joes called for catsup as a base.    Catsup has HFCS.    You can use enchalada sauce, taco seasoning instead.    You can add cooked beans if you want to stretch your hamburger.   
3. Portion scoops are at  restrauant   supply or Costco wholesale.   I got a new cookie sheet this year at target that had the portion scoop and a cookie mix for 14.00 less 15 percent.   Portion smcoops are great formcookies so they all cook at the same time, but I also use them for filling muffin tins and meatballs.   
4. Meatballs can be made ahead when you are doing batch cooking,    I usually buy three to five pounds of ground meat on a rotation for three of us.    I have done as much as ten pounds when all the kids were home and ate meat.    Taco meat, hamburger crumbles - de-fatted and a meat loaf and meat balls gives you variety and stretches your meat,    Meatballs can be portion scooped onto a rack that is placed over a sheet pan and baked in the oven.  I start looking at 10 minutes with a 350 - 375 degree oven.   The rack drains the fat and you have more healthy meat.    Meatballs can be meatball subs, on soeghetti w sauce, with gravy on rice or noodles 🍝- just a real versitle and quick meal when you have them ready made in the freezer.    
5. Make your own binder of easy, inexpensive recipes.  Plastic sheet protesters help to keep them clean.  Having go to recipes that are cheap, family favorites, and easy keeps the fast food gremilins away.    More healthy, less money  a winning combination.    

Note : my mother had a kitchen that looked like a showroom .   You would never know she ever cooked.   There was a plate stand with a wedge wood plate next to the stove.    No appliances except the microwave were on the counter.    Not so with  me.  I recently out all the appliances I don't use on a regular basis in the cupboards.  I put all the stainless steel pots and pans away in the blind cupboard and out the plastics that were in the blind cupboard in the own cupboard so they weren't buried.    I use enameled cast iron pans and just leave them on the stove.    I have crocks of cooking implements near where I use them.   Cupboards are organized with the things I use in that part of the kitchen - zone organization,   Baking, salad making and cooking from the island, table setting, coffee bar.  

The easier you make it, the more likely you will cook scratch.   

Some people, I understand, would be really uncomfortable of their kitchen didn't look like my mothers.    If you aren't that personality, zone organization and keeping often used appliances on the counters make things more efficient,    I did that with a 8 x8 kitchen with an eating area.  It can be done.   I did add a rolling chopping cart in the middle of the kitchen for Prep work.    

If your kitchen is set up to be convenient and you have easy, scratch recipes , you will be more likely to stay on track and scratch cook.     It's easy to start out enthusiastic, and wane when life's ;););  storms Happen,    LOL.   

Not so quick CHEAP bread

🍞 About the cheapest bread you can make.   I'm trying it tomorrow.   Looks delicious and it can't get much cheaper.   That bread would be five dollars at the bakery.  Actual cost .27

3 cups flour
1-3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp yeast
1.5 cups 105 degree water.  

The salt, yeast and water are not measurable costs.   The flour cost is .27

Mix ingredients together.

Cover and let sit at least 12 hours, up to 24 hours .

Knead slightly,

Preheat Oven safe Dutch oven with lid in 450 degree oven.   Place bread in pan, cover and bake for 30 minutes.   Uncover and bake 10-20 minutes longer or until done.   Bread should reach 200 degrees when it is done..  

Be very careful and use heavy hot pads when working with the high heat.    Make sure you have some safe place to set things down when you take them out of the oven.  safety first.    Keep children out of the kitchen when working with hot pans.   

Happy new year.

happy new year!     I already did a recap of our food expenses for the last year,  I am index budget!  Yah!    

This year I am joining a movement for ambo soend January on food.    We have a large stock built on our 3778.75 budget amount and it's a challenge to feed us on 100.00 for perishables for the month,   It  frees up money for savings and uses up some ofmthenfreezer and pantry to start fresh for the new year.    We are at half the usda stats for the cheapest budget amount And have replaced and maintained a large pantry and freezer.    

That doesn't mean we don't eat or that we don't eat well.     We eat balanced.   None of us are over weight.    I am also on a therapeutic  diet.    The secret is to buy your food 1/2 price.    Buy what's on sale and work your meals around it.    

Groceries on the cheap has nothing to do with cheap quality; it's more about shopping in a different way,    Instead if going daily or even weekly and buying a weeks worth of groceries, you buy from three different categories.   Those being a loss leader protein enough for a months worth of that meal.   

In other words, if you eat beef once a week, you need to buy enough for four meals.   This saves time, money, and waste.  If aoorompriate, you batch cook the meat and portion control it for the freezer.  Beef, most of the time for our budget, is 7 percent hamburger.  I fry it and de-fat it and portion control it on quart bags and out the quart bags in a labeled gallon bag.  The gallon bag can be reused and it makes for easy retrieval from the freezer.    Dinner time is half way done and less hectic.    

I have target prices for almost everything we buy on a regular basis.  If it's more than my target price, I have to think hard before I buy it; we have to need it really bad.    LOL.    My target price for 7 percent hamburger is close to three dollars a pound: most other meats are under two.   I get chicken breast for 1.28 last time, and de-bone  them myself , making stick and soup meat from the bones.  Boneless, skinless chicken breast that is a good brand is eight dollars a pound.   That's a great savings, even when they are BOGO.   

Pork loin has a two dollar limit for me.  I got it last time for 1.49.    Jimmy Dean sausage is the cheapest at Costco unless infind a sale and coupons.   I fry it and de-fat it as well.   I try to limit our processed meat to once a week or less.    I have been buying some that is natural.   

Fresh veggies have a dollar a pound target price: that's not always doable, but I try hard.   Averaging helps.   I was any vegetables that are apropriate   in vinegar water.    

We have target prices for the staple items that we use on a regular basis.   In our house that would be diced tomatoes, pasta sauce, chicken noodle soup, dry and canned beans, green beans, tuna, salmon, some emergency chicken, and pasta .    I buy the best quality I can afford, on sale, with coupons and Ibotta if possible.     I only buy them when they are at a RBP.  I buy as many as I can afford, as many as I can (store limits ) or as many as I need to bring my stock to my self imposed limit,   I trynfir a six months supply.   

To recap. When I shop, I go to the store with three groups of food in mind.   I have already taken a quick look at what we have in the fridge and freezer.   Having an organized fridge is a real time saver.  I have a,

Lso looked at the ads and noted what is on sale that I can use to fill out my groups.    

I am going for : 

1. Perishables : dairy, eggs, fruits and veggies,   I always keep carrots, celery, eggs, milk, sour cream and some yogurt.  Cheese is purchased on the oritein rotation and I want to lay about two dollars a pound.  
2. A rotation protein:  based on what meat might be on sale for my target amount or less.   Besides beef, Pork, and chicken, I am looking for cheese, fish, bulk beans , and 25 lb bags of rice.   
3. Any stock item that is on sale.  Popcorn and bisquick etc I keep one ahead.  Picnic supplies are best bought in the summer around the holidays, and baking supplies are best around thanksgiving time. 

A meal plan is a must.    If you don't make a plan, you plan to fail 

My most profound quote : NO FOOD WILL DO YOUR FAMILY ANY GOOD IF YOU ARE FEEDING IT TO THE GARBAGE DISPOSAL.  

No spend January - day 4 , 5

day 4

Veggie  spaghetti, meatballs, and homemade bread sticks.  

Veggie spaghetti is the same price as regular speghetti, but has a whole serving of veggies in it.  Homemade bread sticks are made in a sheet pan and cut with a pizza cutter,   Fast. Simple, and delicious.   Topped with olive oil. Sea salt, and parm cheese.  

Budget left 2.05.  

2 pumpkin pies 

Sliced cheese 

No sugar added  applesauce

Apples 

Oranges 

Lettuce

Peppers 

5 lbs carrots 

2 can progresso soup

Milk 

The rest was stock foods.      

2.05 less loaf of bread 1.40 balance .65

Day 5 

Quiche with sausage, cheese, mixed berry compote. 

Balance forward .65 

Tomorrow's Fred Meyer ad

blues 3.88 - 18 ounces
Tomatoes on vine .99



Coupons in ad
Greek yogurt .69@@


Progresso soup 4/5 - @@ - Note  QFC is a dollar until Tuesday and there are coupons out there
boneless Pork loin  chop 299 a pound - note Pork loin was 149 at Costco wholesale.  That's 1/2 price

Seniors- coupon for 10 percent off January 3rd blanket coupon with some exceptions,  private reserve food is the only food covered with the coupon,  

 Heritage farm chicken is Tyson,

Note of interest :   Lean cuisine frozen lunch entries are 2/3.   There is a coupon in the paper insert for 1.00 off of three.    Makes them 1.17 each.   A cheap, calorie controlled lunch,  

No spend January : week 1

no spend January :25.00 four weeks budget.

2 pumpkin pies 4.00
Applesauce, no sugar added 1.50
Tillamook cheese 2.00


Winco
8 lbs oranges
10 apples
1head lettuce
5 lbs carrots
1can green chillis

Left 4.70

,

1 st day dinner 

Pork roast, salad, broccoli, baked potato 

Day 2 

 

Oven roasted vegetables and Pork cubes.   

Day 3 

Tacos, Spanish rice.    

I got a taco kit for a dollar at grocery outlet.   Normally I would have bought taco shells for a dollar.   But, obviously, getting two kinds of shells, taco sauce and taco seasoning into is a better buy,   Week will use the hard shells tonight and I'll make tomato soup and chicken quesedas for dinner another night.  Planning meals creates less waste and stretches your food dollar.     

Chop leftover pork. 

Seasoning packet : just add water and stir.    

Cook until flavors meld. 

Chopped lettuce Is cheaper if you diy.  

Rice cooked in the insta pot.   One to one ratio.   Rice button, auto pressure release.    

Dinner finished.  

Purchase : 2 cans progresso soup on sale with coupon. .50.  Milk, half gallon 1.25.   

The truth is in the pudding

I just did the recap of our grocery  expenses for the year.    Bear on mind that we have a full two freezers and a full pantry and I replentished  the frozen meat because we had a freezer malfunction.  

Total food purchased for the year 3777.80 or 72.65 a week.    The acid test will be how far this month we can go on a no spend January.    That figure, by the way is half of what  the national average is for a family of three.  

5 ways to cut your food bill

FIve  ways to cut your food bill.  

1. If something is not on a real sale, don't buy it.     Everything's no is FOR sale.    But is it a real sale.   Know your prices if the things that you use in a regular basis.    Set yourself target prices -  nothing to do with h the store with the red balls.   LOL.   I pay two dollars a pound for butter.   I want real butter.    When mymsupply is low, I star looking for a sale.   Grocery outlet has butter on sale for three dollars.   It's not  a bargain.    Buy in quantity when it is a good sale, so you never pay full price.    Be aware of how much you can use up before it goes bad.  Make an effort to use up things that are nearing their date.    If milk is close, maybe it's time to have pudding or potato soup for dinner.    

2. Set criteria for ready made food.    The less you buy, the better off you are in regards to quality of life and prices.   Pasta sauce is cheaper to buy ready made with coupons and sales,   Tortillas, in my opinion, are too time consuming to make scratch.  I have found them as cheap as a dime a ten pack.   Get your basic appliances that make life easy, one at a time if necessary.   If you can't afford them, look for estate sales or sometimes thrift stores.  Bread bakers can be had for as little as three dollars.   A s,ow cooker is a must have for a economy family.   If you have the right equipment. You are more likely to scratch cook more things.   

3. Portion control.  This is especially true with protein.    Picking a so called loss leader protein and buying a months worth of that protein on bulk is a real money saver.    To clarify, if you eat beef once a week, buy enough for four weeks worth.  Most of the time for us, that is 7 percent hamburger.   If I can't find it for around three dollars a pound and I can get a hunk of lean meat for that, we grind our own,   When I get the meat home, I cook it, de-fat it and portion control packages for the freezer.    You can do the same thing with split chicken breasts ( de-bone, cook the bones for stock, and portion control the breasts.   I wrap each one separately and put all of them on a marked gallon bag.    My target price is a dollar,   Last time I had to lay 1.28.   It is a lot cheaper than the six dollars a pound for boneless, skinless breasts and I get chicken stick and some cassarole chicken as a bonus,    Another  meat to consider is a pork loin.   My target price for that is 1.69.   I paid 1.49 at Costco wholesale this week,   I took it home, cut the uneven ends off and made stew meat, cut Pork chops through the middle and made two roasts.   That's none of our dinners for 15.00.    Sausage at less than two dollars a pound can be cooked, defatted and frozen ready for soups, quiche, omlettes, pizza.      

4. Use every available tool you have to lower food costs.  Ibotta is an ap that gives you rebates on grocery purchases.  - lot is expensive stuff you don't buy or need, but you can also get money back on any brand of bread, milk, eggs, cheese, veggies.   It ads up and takes just a few minutes when you are putting away groceries.  It is easy enough for a tec wavy ore teen to do it.    Coupons can be had for regular food.   Coupons,com is a web site where you can print coupons.   The Sunday paper is a dollar at the dollar store.   Some come in the mail with ads.    Take advantage of everything you can to lower bills.  

5. Meal plan.   If you don't plan, you plan to fail.   Without a plan that has room for that Alexander day, you will be tempted for take out to cope .   The nasty take out gremilins will derail a food budget quickly.    Be flexible, but have a plan.    Take into  consideration, what you have to use up soon .  Making a matrix helps do a meal plan quickly.  Some people have a theme based matrix using soup, pizza, Italian, Mexican, etc for inspiration,    We use a protein based matrix.   1 fish, 1 beef, 2 vegetarian, and 3 chicken or pork.    Most people have about 10 go to meals in their head.   Try new things, mix things up.   Some people go on a three week rotation and use the same meal plans.   Whatever works for you.   

I save about five thousand dollars a year.    I'm not going to say it doesn't take any effort.   But it's a lot less work than what I had to do to make five thousand dollars  tax free when I worked.  

The ads

My expenses  are 7.50.    - pumpkin pie , cheese slices, apple sauce for granddaughters lunches.

ALBERWAYS

3 days FSS

Beef 2.99 - 7 percent hamburger

5 dollar weekend
8 lbs oranges
Salad 5/5

L


Foster farms chicken cooked frozen 4.99@@$$?



QFC

Blues 4.99
Milk 4/5
Tillamook sliced cheese 2/4

Buy 5, save 5
Ice cream 1.99
Salsa 199



That's about it.  

Grocery outlet haul

not much there, but some good buys,  

Pumpkin pies, frozen were 2.00.   I can't make a pumpkin pie for two dollars.     

No sugar added applesauce was 1.50.   Funny how things are more expensive when they don't add ingredients!   

sliced cheese , Tillamook, 2.00

Coffee, maxwell house. 44.5 ounces 5.99

Food 7.50 

Pork roast

We did go to Costco wholesale yesterday.   It was pleasentky quiet.  No line waiting.    I needed food storage.bags and coffee cheap.   I know, nobody NEEDS coffee syrup. But it's mymsolurge.  I use a serving a day the rest if the day I drink tap water.    

Fresh berries were inexpensive as well as broccoli.     Whole Pork loin was 1.49 a pound,  it was two dollars at Safeways,    At a fifty cent savings, we could afford to buy a whole one.    I took it home and cut the first few inches off the ends,  they weren't uniform enough to make pork chops out of thatboart,   I made pork cubes for pie, tacos, burritos, soup?     Imcut the rest if it in half to make it more manageable and cut several packages of pork chops from the middle section.   That left me two roasts.   I got nine  meals from 15.00 worth of Pork loin is 1.67 a meal.    

Costco wholesale  has a few things that regular Costco doesn't carry.   We don't go often, but I stock the things that I can't get .   We don't have to go more than a couple times a year.    

I am still under budget  for the year.    The end of the year  is a good time  to reflect and readjust.    Set new goals.   I don't believe in New Years resolutions,  theynare alwaysmbroken and out unrealistic expectations on yourself.    You can set new goals and strive for better.    

The biggest excuse I hear about nit going to Costco is that everything is in such large quantities.    Something's  are not worth  the effort to bring home,   Some bulk things last forever almost and you just don't have to worry about buying them for a while.    We go through Somethings  on a regular basis.    Some things I like to buy once and forget about them for six months or so.    

1. Zip lock freezer bags. - two packages last about six months and they are better quality than the dollar store.   
2. Oatmeal is .80 a pound,   Better quality and less expensive than the dollar store that is the cheapest price out there.    
3. Butter is the best price.   
4. Sour cream is better quality and lasts long enough to use it up before the pull date.   
5. Tortilla chips are cheapest and we use them up before they go bad.    We don't buy any other kind of chips and nachos are a favorite.   
6. Bulk popcorn is inexpensive, doesn't go bad after and is better quality than bulk Winco, although bulk Winco is cheaper.   
7. Bulk Jimmy Dean snausage is cheaper.   Fry, de- fat , freeze.    
8. Cheese is almost always cheaper.    I like two dollars  a pound or near that.   
9. Bananas are cheaper and you almost always get more than three pounds in a bag.    
10. Blue cheese is  reasonable.    

Portion controlling and bulk cooking saves money because you have less waste.    If you bulk cook sausage or hamburger, you can just pull what you need and don't have leftovers to get shoved to the back of the fridge and hide to grow hair.   

No food can do your family any good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.   

Thanks for stopping by.   I would love it if you would share.    With the new administrations ckimate, I have the feeling more of us will need all the help we can get to stretch our food dollar.   

No spend January

There is a movement out there that is for a no spend January.    Actually, you are allowed twenty dollars  a week for perishables.  

We have a full pantry,   I am going to fill in today with a pork loin.   I wrote a three week meal plan last night.   I know that I will need to add eggs and a few perishables.  Keep a list of anything you might need to  replenish  after the month is done.   Rotating stock  is a good thing.  

On to other items,     One of the biggest obstacles to eating on. A small budget is how to deal with those down days where your world is, it kind and you just done have the gumption to cook a scratch three course meal.  

The thing that will discourage me the fastest is walking into a dirty kitchen,   I hate it when children have cooked and not bothered to clean up after themselves.    I can't cook in a dirty kitchen,    I do keep a few go to easy dinners in my arsenal for days when I am sick, or just sick of cooking,   Foster farms makes  chicken 🍗 Already cooked and with coupons, can be very affordable,   Add frozen potatoes and a veggie or already cut up vegetable sticks and dinner can be made by just about anyone, challenged in the kitchen or not.   A few cans of chinky soup  bought on sale with coupons is another go to.   Or frozen skow cooker  dinners that you have made ahead.    Many recipes out there these days that take a few minutes in the morning to dump in the slow cooker and walk away.  

Planning is the key.    We had Belgian waffles for breakfast yesterday.   I cooked what we were going to eat.  After breakfast and package opening, I made up the rest of the batch.   The mix, was purchased for a dollar at grocery outlet.    I added oil, eggs, and water.    That still made a lot of waffles for about a dollar and a half or less.   The rest of the waffles are on the freezer for breakfast for dinner later in the week.    

Watching waste is another way to stretch a dollar.  

Three weeks of meal plans

Three  weeks of meal plans with almost no shopping

1. Pork chops , apple, cranberry bread stuffing. Green beans 
2. Pizza 
3. Breakfast 4 dinner 
4. Chicken pot pie 
5. Meatballs, speghetti 
6.  Fish and chips 
7. Chicken tacos 
8. Chicken and pasta 
9. Pizza
10. Breakfast 4 dinner 
11. Ham and noodle cassarole 
12. Chicken tortilla soup. 
13. Tuna cassarole 
14. Porcupines, rice 
15.  Pizza 
16. Breakfast 4 dinner 
17. Tomato soup, chicken quesedas 
18. Pork roast , oven roasted veggies 
19. Chicken rice cassarole 
20. Meatball sibs 
21. Salmon, rice medley, peas and carrots 

Based on dump dinners  and dining on a dime cookbooks.    

1. 
   

Christmas

🎄 Christmas  🎄

Christmas is a time for family and joy.      I'm just not feeling it.     I should, I know I should.   We have a lot to be thankful for.    I'm going threw the motions, but it's just not there.  

I'll be back after I kick myself on the butt.  

Merry Christmas

Chocolate covered pretzels

White covered pretzels 

Family project!   

Winco haul

It's always pleasant to find a real bargain .   Winco saves money by not publishing a advertisement.   You never know what you are going to find price wise.  Some things are always cheaperc and you can just about bet they will be in stock.  As apposed to grocery outlet, where pretty much it's a crap shoot- a treasure hunt,  

It pays to be flexible,   I walked onto Winco yesterday and chuck roast was 1.98 a pound,    I haven't seen those prices in a terribly long time,     I bought one and immediately got it on the slow cooker before I even put away all the groceries.  

Total 50. 71
Pumpkin pie 3.48
Eggs .98
Butter 2.00
Cake mix .88
English cucumber .78


And, I'm still under budget.  

Thursday, December 22 , 2016

Almost Christmas.  

We always have Christmas breakfast.    It's a tradition.  

Sparkling cider
Belgian waffles with berries and whip cream or your choice of syrup
Fruit
Bacon

The table is set with a blue tablecloth with snowflakes on it,    There are mirrors down the center with gkass trees ( a collection from years bought from k mart , one tree at a time ) and tiny battery operated lights.   A winter wonderland,  

A few things, even from the dime store ( now the dollar store) or collected from the goodwill make the difference between a meal being special or just another day,  

My Mother  always made it special.   I remember hunting for alphabet macaroni and painting it with fingernail polish to glue names for place favors one year.    Trees from construction paper attached to a round of toilet paper tubes work.   Kids can paint or color paper from the junk mail.   It doesn't have to cost a lot, just use your imagination.   My daughter took plastic ornaments from thendollar store, had children color paper, cut it on strips and curled it and stuffed  it in the ornament.   Melted wax works too for older kids.    Set them on a toilet paper ring.   Pinterest always has ideas.  


The best part of Christmas for me was trying to find that perfect gift for someone that they either really wanted or really needed.  That has  been ruined for me in years of late.    The best Christmas in recent years was the one where my daughter happened on to a family that had been homeless for a year,  they just got housing, but living in your car for a year with three children doesn't leave you much room for household belongings.    My friends and I set to work and made Christmas for the family and found extras around our houses to at least make them have enough to get buy.    It just made my Christmas!    

Making Christmas special is all about creating memories.  I have some sad and some not so sad.    My life has not been a bed of roses.    But, there are always people that have it worse.   You just have to be thankful for what you have and make the best of it.    

Merry Christmas!  

Alberways ad

For some reason  I did not get a - QFC ad.  

Alberways

Potatoes 10 lbs .99
Spiral ham 1.68'

Eggs .99@@
Butter 1.99@@
Pork loin 1.99
Halos 2.88$$
Turkey .99
Tillamook ice cream 2/6
Digiorno 2/5$$

No time to bake for Christmas?

Chocolate or white chocolate covered pretzels are an easy fast desert .  

Use chocolate almond bark or candy melts.

Dip pretzels in chocolate.  Sorinklemwith nuts or sprinkles.

Put on parchment paper or wax paper to set up.  

Monday madness

It's  kitchen  management day.    A few minutes ofmbulk chopping and cooking makes way to a lot shorter time in the kitchen at the hectic dinner hour.  Even if you are tired or sick, when dinner is 1/2 cooked, you have more incentive to finish dinner.

Granddaughter is taking hot cocoa kits to her friends at school today for a special treat.  This year I skipped the snowman soup poem and granddaughter helped to  make the kits.   I think it is important to give children the sense of community.  

There is a grass roots faction out there to have no spend January.  We could very well do that and pare down the pantry.  I have been trying to skip a few doses of my expensive  med, but am to the point where making it to the eom is not too practical.   We, however have managed to pay for the other meds with grocery money,   My average this month so far is sixty dollars.    The budget is seventy five.  

I ran onto a U- tuber the other day that had a different approach to grocery shopping.  She doesn't stock per say.  She buys a bit more of something if it a really good buy.   She hits at least three stores with a ore designated plan as to what she is going to get at each store and how much her bisget for that store is.   After each store, she does the math and adjusts accordingly her budget.   Starts off with a meat market, then two discount type grocery stores.    She does  this after she unloads a truck at Target at four in the morning.  Remarkable feat on my book!  LOL.
I'm not that organized, bit rarely do I go over budget.  

The thing I am seeing is that people with large families especially are more diligent about buying real food instead of a lot of snack type foods.   Expensive cuts of meat and snack foods will de rail your budget quickly.   The other off the track thing would we not staying on top of the fridge and using leftovers or veggies before they go bad.    Simple recipes really help to make things quick and easy and are more efficient when the days get crazy.  

Impossible pie, or poor mans quiche ,is a recipe that can be put together on ten minutes or less and is full, of protein with inexpensive ingredients.   Add a salad or fruit.

1/2 cup bisquick - .25
Two eggs - .20
Ham ( 1.40 a huge slice ) .70
Milk .12
Cheese .50

Total 1.77
Serves 4.  

Add a green salad with fruit,   Or a mixed berry compote .  You are still we'll below five dollars .









.

Meal plans

Christmas week

Monday : moms night out - soup and bread

Tuesday : pizza , salad

Wednesday : Mac and cheese peas and carrots

Thursday: chicken pot pie

Friday : cowboy soeghetti , salad

Saturday : Christmas Eve

Sunday : Christmas Day -  Santa breakfast :  fruit, Belgian waffles. Sparkling cider.

Fred Meyer ad for TOMORROW

Broccoli or green beans .99
Spiral ham 149
 Butter 2/5

Nabisco snack crackers 3/5@@$$
Tillamook ice cream 2:6@@
Campbell's cream of mushroom soup 2/1@@


Barilla 1.00
Marsh mellows, cool whip, jello 1.00
Crescent or cinnamon rolls 2/4$$
Blues or black berries 2/4
Romas .99

About it,  

Note @@ means on ad coupon.
$$ means there is a coupon out there that will stack.  

Very short hauls

Yesteday , I had to go to another town for business.    I stopped at dollar tree and grocery outlet.   I always stop, sometimes I can mak up the gas with savings.  

Not a lot, but I did find a stocking stuffer juicing book, pizza sauce at dikkardollar t fee.  We was looking for one glass I had last year and somehow, it must have been broken.

Grocery outlet was a buy more productive.   Name brand sausage without the sulohiyrs was 1.50 for 6 ounces.   Krustez belgian waffles were a dollar.   And, a full taco kit with two kinds of shells, sauce and seasoning was a dollar.   Old El Paso.  

I usually make taco seasoning from scratch, but when I can get the whole kit for the price ofmcheao taco shells. It's hardly worth it.  

Filling in  with little things helps down the road.   Thinking ahead is key to feeding your family on the cheap.  

Homemade chilli and beer bread

Hey , it's cold outside!   We had homemade chilli  and beer bread last night.  we aren't fond of cornbread.

Beer bread is four ingredients.  The fewer the ingredients, the faster and easier the recipe is to make,  
Bisquick, sugar, beer.   After baking, you melt butter on the top of the loaf pan and remove the bread from the pan about ten minutes after cooling on a rack.   Easy!  

Chilli was made in the pressure cooker,    I cooked pinto beans after rinsing and picking them.  Two cups of beans, raw and dry with enough water to cover about two inches . ( second buckle) .  Cook 30 minutes.   Drain beans,    Add :,

• cooked hamburger (1/2 pound: I used   some my husband ground from a piece of steak.   
• A can of diced tomatoes, not drained,  
• A can of beer 
• 2 cups of beef broth
• 2 T taco seasoning (homemade) 
• 1 -10 ounce can of enchalada sauce.   You could use a 8 ounce can of tomato sauce, but I got enchalada sauces really cheap.    
• 1 small can of green chillis 

Cook in pressure cooker on manual for 30 minutes.   

Done,   You can make the bread and assemble the ingredients for the rest of the chillis hike the beans are cooking,   

Cost 

Hamburger 1.50

Beans .12 

Diced tomatoes .50

Beef broth .15 

Taco seasoning n/a

Enchilada sauce .33 ( old El Paso, dollar tree) 

Green chillis .58 ( Winco) 

Total 3.18 for 4 quarts.   Two meals.   Or 1.59 a meal.   

Note : taco seasoning  is homemade.   You can make homemade bisquit mix that hasmno hydrogenated oils.    I found enchalada  sauce for less than I could make it from scratch.   You could use a can of tomato sauce.  8 ounce cans are as low as .28 sometimes at Alberways or Fred Meyers.  

Green chillis are by far the cheapest at Winco.   You could put any fresh chilies you like in instead,   I like the fact that milk green chilies are predictable heat.   

Fred Meyer haul

fred Meyers had gloves for .79.    I bought three pair for themhmless shelter.    

Blueberries 4.99

Crescent rolls 3/5 less 100 coupon   1.33 ea 

Raspberries, blackberries 2/4 

Butter 2/5

Sour cream 2.00

Grape tomatoes 100

Milk 1.00

Total 32.02.   

Essay on the critics

I think I need to address  this issue once a year.   The biggest criticism I get is that regular food , three squares and portion controls are not "healthy food " .

The basis of this blog is to teach people how to put three good square meals in the table for four dollars a day or less.   There are a lot of food fads out there.   There are a lot of fanatics out there that believe that everything you eat is bad for you.   You need to be special and eat food that someone has said is the new cure  all and there is dirty food.   Wash your food, it's not dirty.

After living seventy years, I have seen food fads come and go,   I have seen study after study that has said that this food is good for you , and then the reversal.

I stick with the tried and true.   There is a lot of information out there. And a lot of it is tainted.  It's someone who has a agenda and wants you to buy or not buy something.

The latest is just plain hysterical.   Coffee will shrink your boobs,   Yah, right,  my mother had big boobs.  She drank coffee every morning,   Lots of coffee.  As a stay at home mother of three children that didn't drive part of our childhood. She would keep her sanity by drinking coffee every morning and talking for  an  hour at a time to her girl friends.   Her boobs didn't shrink.   Coffee, however, according to my doctor that has done studies at the u of w, slows down the deterioration of the liver.  

Healthy food is relative.   I have heard of all kinds of stories of people on snap.  Eating potato chips and top ramen for three meals a day, eating a hamburger meal box and individual packaged
 fruit boxes with 16-20 carbs each.   Or meals with no form of veggie in sight.






We all know, by a preponderance of evidence  that too much salt, sugar, trans fat, hydrogenated oils. HFCS is bad for you.  Trying to buy good food and stay on a four dollar  a day budget and still buy good  food is not easy without some tricks.  And, I can guarantee you that you can't do it buying your food from the whole paycheck food stores.   Can't happen.  It's just reality.

You can, however, with careful shopping, and learning to cook scratch efficiently, cook good food and still avoid the elements of food that are really bad for you.   Salt, sugar, HFCS, hydrogenated oils, trans fats.

Buying eight dollars worth of food for four dollars is a great help.   Portion controlling and eating more of what is good for you helps too.   The RDA on protein is six ounces.   No one needs breakfast, lunch protein portions and a eight ounce streak.   One lady corrected me, her hubby was a body builder.   I have yet to meet a body builder in our group of friends,   LOL

Before you jump on a fad bandwagon, STOP .and give it the logic test.   Is it believable how much data is on it.   What is the percentage of people that have been hurt by it.   Who is writing the information and how may reliable sources are repeating it,   All of what is on the internet is true,   Supposedly, Ms Clinton was running a child  sex ring out of a restaurant s basement.  Not too logical for someone that has been a champion for families. And besides, the restrauant doesn't have a basement!   LOL.

Good balanced meals.   Buy quality food , buy basic food.   Buy food that's on sale.use a coupon, use an Ibotta.   Buy food in bulk.   Buy local and food in season.    It's no secret that baking supplies are cheapest this time of the year.  Picnic supplies are cheapest about summer holiday time,    Make a conservative estimate of what you will use.   Buy as much as you can without sacrificing other foods.

Keep a stock of the things you use on a regular basis bought at the RBP.  Many little things add up to great savings.   That's how you eat healthy, three square meals a day,



Protein, starch, veggie or fruit.
Fad diets are. Fads.   Remember the let rock.   Nordstrom has a rock for 85.00.  You gonna buy onto that too?

By the way, all the cocoanut oil fad?   Read the label.   It has more saturated fat than a steak.fir 2 T.


Haoiy eating
Hope this clears up a few things.

Analysis of the ads

Fred Meyers.   Goes until saturday night.  

Ham 1.49
Mandarines 2.99
Milk ,99
Cool whip, jello, or marshmallows .89@@
Sausage 2:5@@

Crescent rolls 3/5@@$$
Pie crust 2/4
Sour cream 2/4
Cream cheese .99
Berries 2/4
Grapes 1.49

QFC
Ham 1.49
Broccoli .99
Butter 2/5
Cake mix 10/10

Buy 3, save 3
Ziltch

Alberways
Ham 1.68?
Halos 2.88$$

Ritz 2/3@@
Tillamook 2.49@@
Libby veggies 2/1@@
Broccoli .99
Butter 1.99@@
Cake mix .99@@
Flour 1.88@@


Grocery outlet
Belgian waffle mix BOGO
Hash browns 1.99

That's about it.  

Terrific Tuesday

This blog is going to be about low cost dinners.    On a four dollar a day budget, for the proverbial family of two adults and two children. You have 16.00 a day to spend,    Some of your  grocery miney has to go for staples  like flour, sugar, spices, olive oil, and stock.    That leaves .50 for breakfast, 1.50  for lunch and 1.50 for dinner.    I usually concentrate on dinner,   Pretty much breakfast ( oatmeal and fruit ) and lunch ( cheese, crackers and fruit, or leftovers, or a BLT  and fruit ) takes care of its self.   Dinner needs to be less than five bucks.  Thus : 4+1=5.   Four people , one meal, five bucks.   

1. Pork chops  over  bread stuffing with apples and cranberries, green beans.   Use dry bread cubes , or a dollar box of stove top.   Stove top was two for 88 at target last week.   Add cubed apples ( 100 or less a pound ) and dried cranberries.  Add chicken stock if you  are making scratch and herbs of choice.   Brown Pork chops. Out on top of stiffing in bakingmdish and bakemoff on a 375 degree oven until Pork chops test done.   I got Pork chops for 1.50 a pound at FM, or you can slice your own from a pork loin at about 1.79 a pound,   Green beans are .50 a can or less.   
2. Quiche, with sausage and cheese,( Betty Crocker bisquick  cb )  mixed field green salad with mandarin oranges.  
3. Chilli, with cheese, sour cream, nacho chips for garnish.  Beer bread or corn bread .  
4.  Pizza - a family favorite.   Scratch pizza crust ( easy and fast and cheap) pizza sauce (dollar tree ) and cheese ( Costco) or sale.   Add  hopped veggies  and /or sausage and/or pepperoni. Pepperoni is .50 at dollar tree with a coupon at coupons,com.   I never pay more than  two dollars a pound for sausage--a little bit goes a long way.  Veggies can be chopped and saved during the week as you make other meals.   A cheese pizza can be made for a buck.  
5. Mexican sloppy joes.    Buns are .88 at Winco. You can make your own cheaper, or find them at the bakery outlet.    I got marked down for .78 at FM one time,   Use a pound of hamburger (300) and a can of enchalada sauce (.33) and a small can of tomato sauce, taco seasoning.  Cook in slow cooker. Fresh veggie sticks.    

 

Monday madness

Monday is our day to do kitchen management.   It sets us up for a week of pretty much stress less meals.   I have been watching some grocery hauls  and meal plan videos.   It gives me perspective of what other people eat and what prices are in other parts of the country,   Many parts of the country are  represented on U tube,   Almost all of them manage to find a store where prices are low and there is markdown bins.  I don't find many markdown bins, when I do, the markdown is still too high.   I'm still not going to pay five dollars for a  small piece  meat. Don't look at the price per  pound,  look at the volume of meat 🍖 and calculate on your head how many meals you can make.  Portion control.   If you out out five servings for four people, someone  will eat the second portion.   If you don't, they just might eat their vegetables. LOL.  That extra pork chop can be in a stir fry essentially the start of a  new meal.

Food cannot do anyone good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.   

Planning meals and taking a fridge inventory a couple times a week greatly helps the garbage demons.    
Make soup. Make salad, stumped?   Go into Betty Crocker on line cook book or another source  and google the ingredient.   Be flexible.   You need a meal plan. Or you plan to fail.   But that doesn't mean you can't improvise if necessary.  I make meal plans, but don't necessarily eat Mondays dinner  on Monday.   

I guess the bottom line is anyone can feed their family on four dollars  a day per person if they put forth the effort.   

Almost every metropolitan area has a Costco or a Sams club.   If you don't have a membership, you can almost always get someone to take you in.   Our membership is free because we get a percentage back on the things we buy.   If you only have one store in town, consider carpooling with a friend or other family member to another bigger town.   Get the ads off the Internet for those stores or get them to mail you a flyer.  Go when it's a good sale week to make the trip worth your while.  Buy quantities of the food  you will use that doesn't  expire soon.  

When we lived out on the country and it was eight miles to the nearest real chain store, I would shop on the way home from work. Or go in on a Saturday and combine errands.   I got my meat from the little store that was closer because they had cheap meat in a freezer.   There are bargains  if you  look for them.  It's a state of mind.  

Grocery outlet haul

Grocery outlet haul

kippers  .99

Bittersweet chocolate .99

Chocolate pudding mix 3/1 

Taco kit 1.00

Blue cheese and Italian dressings .99

Sliced cheeses 2.39

Greek yogurt 2/1 

Regular yogurt 3/1 

Savings 27.91 

Meal plans for week of December 12-18

Monday

1. Porcupine meatballs ,
2. Rice
3. Green beans 
4. Salad

Tuesday 

1. Pizza 
2. Salad 

Wednesday 

1. Macaroni and cheese (scratch) 
2. Mixed vegetables ( broccoli, carrots, cauli 

Thursday 

1. Chilli 
2. Beer bread 

Friday

1. Stuffed green peppers. 
2. Rolls 

Saturday 

Family party 

Sunday 

1. Pork chops 
2. Stuffing with cranberries and apples 
3. Vegetable salad 

Notes :   

The most prevelant  question I get is do  you eat fresh fruits and veggies.    

The obvious answer is yes.   Do we eat food from mars!   Not quite.   Food from mars is anything that we didn't have in our tables in the 60s.   Ok, we do eat hummus.   We just eat plain good food.   Getting exotic  is a good way to bump your food bill up drastically.    Stay down to earth.   

Right now , we have apples, oranges, bananas, cranberries, blackberries and raspberries.   Peaches in jars,

We have cucumbers, romaine, tomatoes, carrots, celery, potatoes. Onions, broccoli, and radishes. 

We eat well.   We eat normal foods.   I try to watch our salt, sugar, trans fats, hydrogenated oils, hfcs, and a lot of preservatives.   I cook scratch often,  

We don't eat expensive foods.   Beef is limited to about once a week.   We eat vegetarian twice a week.   Processed meats are limited to once a week, or less.    

I use every available means to legally buy food for 1/2 price or less.   Coupons, ibotta, free downloads, sales. Combining  sakes and coupons,   

And, that's how you eat well on 4.00 a day,   Almost every town, or nearby town has discount stores or bulk stores,   You just have to find where they are around your town .   Seattle does not have the cheapest prices.   I watch a lot of food hauls on u tube for research,   There are websites that tell you what prices are  in your area at different stores.   Favado is one of them.    Ask someone that has a lot of kids.   Step out of your comfort zone and look.    You might just be surprised.   

Fred Meyers ad for TOMORROW -not!

There was no ad his week at my source.   I checked my other siurces and they aren't there either.   Sorry.  

We did go to Winco yesterday,  
we spent 46.69 which included a taco rack for two dollars.  

Parm cheese 2.68 less 1.00  coupon 1.68 for a 2 cup container.  
Sparkling coders 1.38 ( Christmas breakfast treat )
Gouda cheese 2.68 pound
Naval oranges .58
English cucumber .88
Green peppers  .48
Apples .78
M and M chips ( Christmas baking) 1.40
Taco shells 1.00
Mini marshmallows. .96 ( Christmas baking )
Belgian waffle mix ( Christmas ) 1.88
Olive oil 8.98
Chicken granules 1.32
Large bottle salsa 4.44
Potatoes 1.98

Notes
A lot of this was Christmas cooking I usually don't buy,   Inalso replentished  the olive oil because I filled the counter bottle with the last of my stock.  Olive oil can't be held too far into the future.  
I also replaced our salsa supply and chicken granules for mixes.  

Last night we had homemade refried beans, Spanish rice, and tacos with hard shells.  

Homemade refried beans can be cooked in a slow cooker, but I like using the pressure cooker better.  
Pinto beans, salsa. Onion, mild  chilies. Taco seasoning , and water or stock (vegetable or meat ) .
When cooked, remove beans from the bowl using a slotted spoon or spider and place on food processor and process until the consistency you desire.  We like our a little lumpy.  Add bean juice as needed.   You can also use a potato masher if you don't have a food processor.  

We

Suddenly Saturday

We wanted to make a couple of Photo calendars for Christmas presents.  I started a week ago and got it all loaded onto the computer and sent to Walgreens.   The code fir the week was for 1/2 price.   I got a phone call.   The printer was  down and they were waiting for the part.  I got a second call. The part  was shipped to the wrong address.    Their  computer  dumped the file.   So, a week later in the middle of the night, I imput another calendar.  Within a few hours of the store opening, ingot an email telling me it was done.  By this time, the 1/2 price codes were gone.   My husband asked if we could still have the 1/2 price code because it wasn't our fault the printer was down.   They gave him 2/3 off. It pays to ask.   This is a learned attitude.    Before we were married, he didn't know what a garage sale was, or there was  was such a thing as a otc generic medicine.   

It never hurts to ask-- nicely helps.    

You can greatly improve your quality of life, if you buy your needs at the RBP.   Consider buying some thing used.   That vase on the dining room table doesn't look any better of you buy it at the goodwill than it would have of you bought it  at home goods. One note, you are buying as is,   Check things very carefully.  

Thanks for stopping by.

Freddies ad next .  

5 reasons to stock.

It snowed today.  Not bad, it won't last long.   We still could get around.   But, sometimes  it isn't  that easy on this part of the country.  We live pretty much  at sea level.   To go anywhere, you have to go up hills.  It snows so seldom, that unless you have amoeroemsktu to ski or family the othermsode of the mountains,  You don't necessarily prepare to drive in snow.  

Five reasons to stock.  

1. If I don't want to drive in weather, be it rain or snow, I don't have to go to the store. Or, if I  have a sick child or am sick myself, I can just stay home.   
2. It saves a lot of money to assess what your needs are and buy the things you eat on a regular basis on sale or on bulk at the lowest possible price.   
3. Instead of making meal plans and hoping you remember everything you need to put on the grocery list, and forgetting the grocery list on the computer stand, you know well before you go to the store, what you are going to buy.  - a protein if it is a RBP, fruits and vegetable in season, any stock item you are low on, and  dairy.   If you don't need canned goods, you can shop the perimeter of the store.   Fast in   and fast out.   
4.  Driving to the store every day or so is exoensive on  wear and tear in your car and gas.   You are better off soending that time scratch cooking and saving more money and eating more healthy avoiding preservatives.   
5. There is a certain amount of satisfaction knowing you aren't gong to starve anytime soon.  It gives you a sense of security and self sufficiency.  There's nothing quite as stress relieving as knowing you can feed your family no matter what happens.   

Alberways

We finally got Alberways ad.    QFC is the same as last week.  

Naval oranges .59
Eggs .99 @@ - note there is a digital coupon for QFC to make them .79
Kellogg cereals 1.99@@$$
Classico 1.79 $$

About it.   Not many bargains.