Kitchen management , June 12

kitchen management is taking a block of time and prepping for the weekly meals,  or saves a lot of time during the hectic dinner hour and I'd more efficient because you are more likely to use your appliances effectively when you are focused.

• Make pasta salad, - add cut tomatoes, seeded, sliced olives, radishes. 
• Open pizza sauce and freeze on ice cube tray. 
• Mark calendar to thaw chicken and pork chops. 
• Wash carrots and potatoes 
• Wax east wall cabinets 
• Wash floor
• Clean refrigerator, note exploration dates.    
• Straighten pantry,   Seal glass jars.   
• 
  

The ugly truth

I have been watching a lot of grocery hauls.  Mainly, I watch to see what people are buying and how much things cost in other parts of he country.   It is dramatically true that we in the PNW have high prices compared to the Midwest  and South.  I surmise that our wages are higher too, however, that's doesn't hold true if you are  retired.   Still, it's more telling of what's in their cart, not necessarily what price they are paying.  The term 1/2 price is relative.  

Basically, half of the average cart 🛒 is drinks and snack foods.    Growing up, we had water, tea, An
and occasional milk.   I always had a allergy problem, and it was thought milk creates mucus.   It has been reported lately that three glasses of milk a day is not recommended for girls because it increases your chance of breast cancer.    Calcium can come from all kinds of dairy, milk doesn't have to be the only source.  

I digress.  

Too much of many carts are pop, sports drinks and kool aid types.   If you stick  to water, coffee and tea, your bottom line will be better off.  If you are concerned about tea with children, use herbal. Some of the fruit  based ones are really good.    Fruit juice has more sugar than pop.    A nutritionist years ago told me I was better off giving my daughter the apple instead of the apple juice.   Apple juice in tippy cups  is really bad for a child's teeth.

Snack foods!    Stop and figure out how much per pound you are paying for things like potato chips or veggie sticks.    Holly ;);)()!    Air popped popcorn is really cheap.   A 12 dollar carton at Costco will last a long time.  Air popping doesn't ad any oil.   The flavoring that they add to microwave popcorn is nasty.  It has made the factory workers that make that stuff sick.    You are much better off health wise and money wise to use an air popper.    We do buy tortilla chips. I watch formthe kind with the least amount of oil.   Some of them just shout oil in the package.   They are cheapest  at Costco.    Salsa is a good alternative to other dips.  

Cutting the drink and snack budget down to a minimum is the first step on lowering your grocery bill-- one step, a lot of gain both for you waistline and your budget.    Sugar free drinks are not the best for you,   I have read that the body doesn't recognize the fake sugar and attaches itself to your fat cells making them fatter!    Ironic.

Next step: finding your protein at the lowest price!   Find your RBP on the cuts of meat that you buy, minimize the cuts you buy.   It just makes life easier.    Less prices to remember, easier storage.   I have a side by side fridge.    I marked the drawers with a meat category: beef, chicken, Pork, and fish and veggies. It makes life simple.  Start with one at a time.  Find the lowest price, buy bulk and butcher it if necessary.   I put each chicken breast in a quart bag and then out the batch in a gallon bag and label with the meat and the date.   I can get quart bags cheap at the dollar tree and use better quality gallon bags .  You can place a chicken breast in the insta pot without ever touching the raw meat.

Now, the biggie. Scratch cooking.   There are appliances these days that cut the work dramatically.   There are also recipes all over the Internet that make cooking from scratch efficient.   You can basically make a dish from scratch just about as fast as buying the mix or meal bag.   Get yourself a binder from the dollar store or goodwill, plastic sleeves for the most used recipes and start a binder.  

One of the ways you can make a big difference is to make a list of mixes you can make yourself and stop buying the pouches.  A taco seasoning pouch can cost a dollar.   There was a coupon on our eggs for a dollar off of four gravy packets.   The packets were 1.25.    How can you spell rip off.   Gravy is flour or cornstarch, meat or other fat,  and water!   The mix calls for you to add the liquid.    A roux is a basic cooking skill.    It's easy!    If you don't have drippings, get better than bouillon or dried boullion.    Baking mix, muffin mix, pancake mix, white sauce mix are all better than the store bought and not very time  consuming.   Teach a older child.    It's a learning experience and frees up your time.  My mother didn't like to bake.   She taught is from about nine years old to bake.   My 5 yo can make a pizza totally from scratch with supervision, of I make the dough.  She loves it.    What a confidence builder.  Wash their hands , don't let them deal with raw meat  until they are old enough to disinfect. No sharp, no hot until they are older.

Mixes make life easier because you are making them in bulk when life isn't as hectic and using them when it is more hectic.   It saves money and you aren't eating things you can't pronounce.

I can tel, you how to cut your food costs to a minimum and still eat well.   I can't tell you that it will be effortless and that food will magically appear on the table.    Hey, if  I could do that on a meager budget, I'd sell the idea and be rich!   LOL.

Meal plans - 6/12/17

meal plans for week of June 12 , 2017

We have some multiples of things that need to be used up over the summer.   Things I got dirt cheap . Buying multiple of a few things that you know can be used up on a short time is a good way  to feed your family good food for cheap money,    The object is to have good  food cheap, not cheap food.

I purchased a Pork  loin from Costco and QFC both for 1.49 a pound.   My last chicken was free.    Usually I pay any  where from .88 to 1.28 for boneless, skinless chicken feast  because I butcher  them myself.   Hamburger is 3.28 a pound frequently at Winco for 7 percent fat.    If I can find a roast cheaper than that, we grind it ourselves.    A little labor can cut your meat bill dramatically,and still have good nutrition.  I always buy fresh fruit and veggies based on seasonal produce supplemented with frozen and some canned.

I think the big thing is portion control.    We eat far too much protein and starch in this country.   I just read where too much coffee, sugar, and meat can ruin your kidneys.  It always comes back to moderation and balance.  

My matrix :  1 beef, 1 shellfish or fish, 2 vegetarian, 3 Pork or chicken.   We have a five  yo in the house, so most of our menses are kid friendly.  

• Hot dogs, corn on the cob, (1/2 ears) pasta salad. 
• Pork chops. Mashed sweet potatoes. Green beans 
• Home made chicken nuggets, oven fries, fruit salad 
• Mac and cheese (scratch) , peas and carrots. 
• Pizza 
• Shrimp stir fry, rice, mandarin oranges, 
• Belgian waffles. Strawberries or blueberries. Bacon

Fred Meyer ad for tomorrow.

Ok, let's just say it's a bust.  Last week was good.  Veggies all over the place at .99.    Some of it was a three daynsake, but if I wanted veggies, I would go today.  

This week is Father's Day themed and when they think it's a holiday, they think you'll spend whatever!  

Cherries 299 lb.  - not great, bit cherries have a shirt window .
Milk .99
Sour cream/cottage cheese.   4/5
Pie 3.49.      Based on blueberries at four ninty nine, you can't  make it for that.

That's about it.   Winco and grocery outlet had better buys.

Winco haul with prices

corn .33 each
Grapes 1.78 lb
Coffee 5.94
Green chillis .58
Diced ham 238
Olives, sliced .68
Suddenly salad .74  coupon
Total 17.35

What to do with what you got

I purchased eleven pouches of sweet potatoes at grocery outlet.    They were 25 percent more product for .33 instead of over a dollar.  That's enough for us to have one a week all summer before the expiration date.    I think they would be good longer than that, but it's a good benchmark.   So, this weeks pork chops will have sweet potatoes subbed for the starch.  When something is dirt cheap at a overstock store, always check the expiration date. Many ones it is on a special package, or a test market product and many times the reason why it didn't fly was because of price.    When the price is discounted, you are the winner.    

Chocolate pudding is a no brainier with a 5yo in the house.    

Suddenly salad is a bargain with coupons and summer means salads.     Some of them have bacon and take mayo, and some take olive oil or veggie oil.  

Getting diced tomatoes for .39 was wonderful.  I can use them for a lot of things and you can make salsa, tomato sauce or even put them  on nachos in  a pinch.   

So, how does a few cents  here and a few cents there add up to savings!    When you consistently get a good price on ingredients you can use to make balanced meals, your food bill goes down dramatically.    When you can scratch cook efficiently, your time is not much more, sometimes less, than cooking from packages, and you can control the preservatives, salt, sugar, and fat.  

• Pork chops, mashed sweet potatoes, peas, salad   Cost ;   Pork chops were 1.49  per pound , sweet potatoes .33, peas 1/2 package .50.   Salad .50 .   Total. 2.46.   That's about 1/2 of what the breakdown of a meal for four dollars a day per person.    
• Pizza : total cost of a scratch cheese and pepperoni pizza 🍕 when purchased at RBP is 1.30 total cost of a take out pizza is at least 5.99 and can be 20.00 from a delivery.   
• 4 cans of vegetable soup can be upwards of four dollars.   The same amount of scratch soup with .39 diced tomatoes cost 1.50
• Summer : hot dogs, buns, suddenly salad . Veggie sticks- raw.    Hot dogs are 2/5 ,   suddenly salad s .75 , add carrot and celery sticks at .50.  Total 2.94 
• Veggie egg omelets, cantaloupe.    Eggs are .78.   Tomatoes, zucchini chopped .94. Cantaloupe 1/2 .50 total for three people 1.83 

Total for five meals / three people 10.03 .  Granted, I would add fresh bread with the soup and maybe toast with the omelettes.   A loaf of homemade bread is another .30.   10.33 divided by 15 meals is .69 a meal.   

All this is predicated on buying your groceries in bulk, on sale, and rotating bulk protein monthly or on a six week interval. 

 

Buying your food at one store and one week at a time, just what you need for one week is rigged against you.  Just like gambling at a casino, the payout is rigged for the house.    Their house, not yours.   

You can buy 1 packet of potatoes for 1.29 , or you can buy  4 packages for 1.33.  One  time , you eat one meal. The other way, you eat four meals.  

Friday recipe - remake

Today's recipe is a remake of a box of tomato 🍅 roasted red 🌶 pepper  soup .   The soup is expensive everywhere unless you find it at Costco,   Then it is about two dollars a box.   Considering it feeds three of us with enough left over  for a lunch, it is not  bad.


1 box of tomato soup.
Add :

Milk or cream
Blue cheese or parm
Basil

Serve with cheesy biscuits or bread sticks, or artisan bread .

Grocery outlet, dollar tree and Safeways haul.

Had to go to a nearby town for business, so we hit grocery outlet and dollar tree.   Our dollar tree had suddenly salad with time sensitive advertising in it and it wouldn't take coupons,  the other dollar tree would take the coupons.   It made suddenly salad .75 .

Dollar Tree
Suddenly salad
Pizza sauce
Dehydrated fruit
Total 7.50

Safeways
Diced tomatoes .39
Eggs .78
Buns
Lettuce .69
Onions .69
Total 6.07

Grocery outlet

Pudding mix - 3/1
BC sweet potatoes 3/1
Fiber one bars .99
Kind bars 4/1
Craisens 2/1

Squash plant .99

Sliced Italian salami 1.99

Total 26.00

Snowballing. : yes it's summer!

Someone once said to my daughter, you saved a dollar, what can you do with that...buy a Mac Donald's hamburger?  

I get that some people just don't get it.   The concept of saving money 💰 is not part of their mental process.    Unfortunately, there are more and more people that I am afraid are going to need to save money.   The current administration is on a path to reduce the rich people's taxes and balance the budget  on the backs of the poor and elderly.  

I am a firm  believer that knowing how to save money on food is a  good skill to have even of you don't need to use it.    If you know how to feed your family on a strict budget, it's not hard to spend more.    Having a small stock on hand of things you can make a meal out of is insurance,    What if, the car gets in a wreck and you can't get to the store?   Or your child is sick and you don't want to take him out, or you are sick, or the road  floods and the grocery store isn't getting shipments....that's not far fetched it happened here a few years back.   If you have a small stock on hand, you are covered.    You can do that with a meger budget if you know how to shop.  

Shopping......walking through the store with a shopping cart and throwing everything that looks good in your cart.    Wrong.........this is especially hard not to do if you go to the store hungry,   Now, of you go to the store extremely full it will backfire and you might get home and wonder what's in the house to eat!  Lol.

I don't go with a specific list.    I have the ad with the RBP items circled.    I know pretty much which food groups need replentishing and if there is a rotation protein that is a RBP.    I rarely spend more than 30.00 at a store.    Probably closer to 25.     That is for three of us.    It would have to be a big sale to have that happen.    Now, I do go to at least two stores a week.    More if I hit the occasional Costco or dollar tree/ grocery outlet.  

The advantage if this kind of shopping. Is that you rarely get home and forget a major item .   You also never pay that nasty F word.....full price.    You are not looking for specific items except the few RBP items.   You are, rather, looking for food groups.    Your mindset is , I need calcium ( dairy) what's on sale.   If you can get your calcium during a dairy sale and buy enough to last you with expiration dates, you will be better off.  Pay attention to the rhythm of the dairy sales.    Here, Fred Meyer (Kroger) will pit dairy at least once a month.   I can usually get sour cream and cottage cheese a month out.    Milk can usually be augmented at oor other Kroger store (QFC) for either a dollar or a dollar and a quarter.    If we have too much nearing the expiration date, its  time to have clam chowder, potato soup, or pudding.

Meat is purchased on a rotation basis.  First you need to make a list of protein that you can make meals of and that your family will eat.  These need to be economical cuts of meat.    For us it is pork loin, chicken, low fat hamburger. Sausage, cheese, and beans.  When a protein is on sale at a RBP, buy as much as you will need to cover a months worth of those meals.   In other words, if you eat hamburger once a week, you will need to buy enough for four to six meals.   This allows you to be on a four to six week cycle.  You can almost bet someone will have hamburger at a RBP sometime  in that six weeks.

I get pork loin for somewhere  between 1.49-1.69 a pound for a whole or half loin .   It only tasked a few minutes to make roasts, stew meat, and Pork chops out of a loin.


Chicken breasts are eight dollars a pound,   Sometimes they are half price.    Split chicken breast that are local grown can be as low as .88 a pound and sometimes 1.28.    It takes a few minutes to cut the ribs off and cook the meat and bones for stock, and pit the breast on quart bags,   I put the quart bags in a gallon bag and date it.   The bones go in a stockpot with herbs and onion ends to make stock and I pick the bones.   I usually get 2 quarts of stock and a quart of chicken pieces from six large breasts.  A quart of chicken pieces can be two to three meals.    And a quart of stock can be two to four dollars a box. Place the stock in   the fridge and scoop away the fat after it has congealed. Chicken pieces can be in enchiladas, chicken pot pie, chicken soup, tacos...

Sausage is up to almost five dollar a chub (pound) .  I have bought it for two and a quarter with a coupon.  It is less in the three pound chub at Costco.   Fry it, de-fat it and freeze it.   You can add it to omelets , put it in a quiche, or soup.

My target price for cheese is as close to two dollars a pound as I can get it.   Never over 2.50.   I buy Mexican blend and pizza cheese.   It is a misconception that shredded cheese is more expensive than brick cheese.   Cheese is cheese.    A pound of cheese is a pound of cheese.     Go by the price per pound.  We toured a cheese factory.   The grated cheese is what is left over from cutting the bricks out of a huge brick.   They place the scraps in a bus boy tray like vessel and it goes to the shredding  machine.

Beans can be purchased in bulk at Winco.   The cheapest price for pinto beans is .67 at the DT.  ( dollar  tree)  they are non gmo and made in America.    The only other place they are cheaper is at Costco and you have to buy 25 pounds.  It would take us too long to eat that many beans.  Lol
I keep them in the containers we get popcorn in. (Costco) .

Pasta at our house has a dollar a pound limit.   I usually pay less.  Some of our pasta ( Barilla) I paid 38 for , some of it was free.   There are almost always coupons for pasta.   Pasta has an eight YEAR shelf life.  Buy it when it is cheap.  Buy as much as you have coupons for.   I just got Barilla pronto for .88 a package and I had a. 75 coupon.   Yes, Virginia, there are coupons for real food.    Like shopping at the goodwill, you have to plow through a bunch of garbage to find the food stuff.  

Every twenty five cent adds up.  The notion that you got food stamps so it doesn't matter how much you pay for the food is shooting yourself on the foot. The more you can buy with your money, the longer you will be able to eat.   Not having anything in the house to eat makes a child feel really insecure.   The stress of no food in the house they have found shortens your lifespan. Learning to stretch a buck in food is important .

Chain store ads : Alberways

this is Alberways only because last weeks ad for QFC was a two week ad.  

Milk gallon 1.79
Tomatoes on the vine , lettuce .69


7 percent fat hamburger 2.77
Berries 3/5
Diced tomatoes .39 @@ limit 4
Eggs .78



My rotation meat would be the hamburger.  
My stock item would be the diced tomatoes.  


You can do almost anything with diced tomatoes.   If you need tomato puree.  put them through the food processer or blender .    Already ready for soups or salsa.  

Tuesday notes : Balancing the budget.

So, why do you even bother with groceries in the cheap?   It's a good question.  Sometimes when  I am getting a zillion (2 or 3 hundred hits from France or Russia that I know don't really want to know who has the best prices  week) , I wonder.    I have written over two thousand blogs .   One a day for almost five years.  

I started this because I was hearing that people on snap were having a hard time making it to the end of the month: running out of money before they ran out of month.    I am finding that that isn't necessarily who is reading my blog.   

I'm trying to out in efficient kitchen management tips, recipe remakes that are healthier or more tasty, the best prices on good food any particular week, even though I have come to realize my blog reaches far behind the PNW and ways to cut your food costs.    

Why!   Because I have discovered that I have a talent. Ha ha.   I learned thrift from my mother and when the going got tough, I got going on learning all I could learn to stretch the food dollar.    There are people that need to know this information.    Social security has had no raises in two years,  last year it was .3 Tenths of a percent and they took it back for Medicare.    That doesn't mean that food orices didn't go up, or insurance and taxes didn't go up.    Food is probably the most expensive discretionary budget item in a seniors budget.    Food stamps are on the chopping block as well as school lunches since the republicans think that adding to their already rich pocketbooks is more important than feeding the less fortunate.    It will be even more imparative to know how to stretch the food dollars.   

• Ibotta is a rebate site that gives you money back on your purchases.    If you are in food stamps, it is a way to pay for the oaoer products that food stamps don't pay for.   Hey, we all need toilet paper.   Lol if you aren't on food stamps, it a way to get something your budget doesn't allow for.   Bottom line, it cuts your food costs.   There are a few more sites that do the same thing,    
• Coupons cut costs.    Many are for things that you can supply cheaper by making yourself, but there are still real food coupons that help reduce costs.   Things like butter, pasta sauce, pasta, laundry detergent, mayonnaise.  
• Efficient scratch cooking.   Not many of us have all day to spend in the kitchen.  
• Plan. Plan, plan.    It's the easiest way to stay in track and keep costs low.   
• RBP! Rock bottom prices.  Few things in the grocery store never go on sale.    Watch for the lowest price and buy as much as you will need for the next month to six  weeks.   You can do this becaise you are laying 1/2 price often and you are rotating the things you buy.  If I buy two packages of mega pack chicken this week, I can buy two packs of Pork loin the next week,   You have a variety of food, but you have laid 1/2 price for it.    
• Be your own butcher.    A pork  loin can be as low as 1.49 a pound.   Cut your own pork chops and roasts.   If the loin tapers down, cut stew meat.   De-boning your split chicken breast saves about 7 dollars a pound.    That's not a bad return on ten minutes worth of work.   
• Portion control.  Obesity is a problem in the US so I'm told.   Portion control is good for the budget and the waistline.  Buying bulk meat and dividing it into meal sized portions is a way to get the meat cheaper and is more efficient. 
• Eat vegetarian one or two days a week.   
• Use less meat and augment your meals with another protein. - add beans to your taco meat. Use less meat in a cassarole that can have a cheese topping.   Have breakfast for dinner.    An impossible pie  can have cheese, eggs, and a vegetable.   Low cost and really good.   

Virtual paycheck

No, you can't exactly take it to the bank.   I guess if you really have mass $$ a week to spend on food, you actually can put the difference you save on the bank.  For many of us, saving on the grocery bill makes it easier to take care of necessities and not go without.

Virtual paycheck is a concept a true realist can't fathom.  

It is used to make a logical conclusion as to wether  or not making something from scratch, or buying it ready made  is worth your time.   You can use it for anything you use your manual labor for.
Of course, other rationale comes into play at times.   Like is homemade healthier?

Here's a couple of senerios  to explain.

Tortillas.   I can buy them for about .10 each,    Or 1.00  for 10.   The ingredients are minimal, but  it would take you an hour to mix, rest, ball the dough , roll it out and cook it both sides one at a time.
The material cost is about .40 .   So, you would  be making .60 an hour . Not enough to make me take on the chore.

Artisan bread 🍞.  The cost of artisan bread in the store bakery is upwards of 3.00 a loaf.   The cost is less than .30.   Difference 2.70.   It takes five minutes per loaf to make the dough,   Another five minutes to shape it  and put it to rise.   Seconds to program the oven .   Total ten minutes a loaf.   Doing the math, that's 16.20 an hour.   That makes it worth my while considering there are no preservatives . No fat, and I get it fresh, hot, out of the oven.

My daughter and I made lemon pound cake and compared it to the cost of a piece of lemon pound cake at the big buck coffee stand.    We figure we made 212.00 an hour!  

Food for thought

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

Just as the odds are against you at a gambling establishment ( it's rigged to benefit the house ) , the odds are against you if you go weekly or daily ti the  grocery store for a weeks worth of food.  

If you don't understand why someone would clip coupons, you ain't never been broke enough.  

Monday kitchen management

Monday kitchen management

• Put stove fan screen in the dishwasher. 
• Clean the microwave 
• Wax the north wall cabinets 
• Wash potatoes 🥔 
• Clean vegetable bin 
• Fill the flour bin 
• Wash and disinfect counters 
• Wash floor 
• Make bread dough 
• Make pizza dough 
• Pull chicken breast to thaw
• 
  

Fred Meyer haul

Fred Meyers and dollar tree.

Chocolate milk .99
Barilla pronto pasta .88 less two .75 coupons.  Basically. We got two boxes almost free.   Who says you can't buy real food woth coupons?   LOL
Nathan's beef franks 2.99


 All .99 a lb inkess otherwise stared
Nectarines
Zucchini
Tomatoes
Granny Smith apples

canteloupe was a dollar a piece
Cottage cheese /large 2.00


Total 17.77 less 1.58 for tissue and tax  is 16.04

Dollar tree I bought the pepperoni with coupons for .50 because the coupons expire tomorrow.   They will not take the suddenly salad coupons because it s a special package.  Promotional.  

Meal plans week of June 4

meal plans for week of June 4, 2017

• Chicken nuggets ( homemade ) dip chicken cubes from breast meat on melted butter, the  bread crumbs with seasoned with herbs and parm,   :  oven fries 🍟, fruit cup 
• Pizza : scratch crust, motts, pepperoni 
• Meatballs and speghetti.  Salad-  French bread with butter, parm and herbs 
• Pork chops. Baked potatoes, oven veggies 
• Chicken pot pie - use cresent rolls
• .Tuna patties, a graitin  potatoes, mixed veggies 
• Breakfast 4dinner . 

Notes

1. Thaw chicken breast for nuggets the day before in the am.  
2. Pizza cost about 130. 
3. Meatballs are already in the freezer.    Speghetti is on sale at Fred Meyers as well as canned pasta sauce,   I'll use a jar I got with a coupon, 
4. Pork chops were cut from the Pork roast purchased from Safeways last week. ( 3 pounds) zucchini is a dollar at FM . 
5. Chicken pot pie is a no brainier,   Use white sauce mix from scratch and crescent rolls on hand or sub baking mix biscuits,   
6. Tuna patties are scratch.   A gratin  potatoes boxed on pantry, and mixed veggies from vegetable bin. 
7. Breakfast 4 dinner : use waffles bought from grocery outlet on sale,    

Trying to use up prepared mixes.   Jars of dried food have no place to go in the transition,   

Vegetable bean soup in insta pot

Process 3 cups of pinto beans.   Pinto beans are cheapest at the dollar tree.   They are non gmo and grown in USA.   ,  wash and sort pinto beans.  Place in insta  pot bowl.   Cover with water to your second knuckle.  Place the lid on the insta pot and make sure the vent is on seal.   Push the bean button.   

After processing,  turn the insta pot off and drain the beans and place in separate pot.   Return the pot to the insta pot machine and turn the pot on sauté.   Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.   Sauté 2 sliced carrots and a rib of celery in olive oil until slightly softened.   Turn off the sauté function and add :   The beans, two 15.5 ounce cans of diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings , two cans of water, a 2 ounce tube of tomato paste and a large pinch of dried parsley.    

Program pot to slow cooker for four to eight hours.   I program it to work for as many hours as I have before it's time for dinner.    

Sautéing veggies 

After adding all ingredients.   

Fred Meyers ad for tomorrow- 6/4/17

First, there is an apendage a 3 day sale, SMT

.99 sale

Peaches or nectarines
Cantaloupe - it doesn't state per lb or each
Zucchini
Peppers ( usually cheaper at Winco )


Regular weekly ad
Nathan's hot dogs 2.99
Strawberries .99
Boneless chuck roast $2.77 –grind your own  hamburger time.  
20 percent fat hamburger is 3.49 **
 Milk $.99.
 Butter 2/5.00
Tomatoes.99


Notes :
* by picking your roast and looking for one that is lean , you can save by grinding your own hamburger.  Hamburger  can  be processed with the grinding attachment on  a kitchenaid, or by using a good  food processor.    Also, there is always the manual ones our grandmothers used. You can usually find them for cheap at garage sales  or antique stores,   Ask around, there may be one in somebody's  attic!  

Another note : Foster Farms split chicken  breast are 1.49 .   A week or so ago they were about .89.  They subbed Draper valley . their butchering job was somewhat deplorable to say the least.  There were extra parts and what looked like liver attached.    I  emailed them and complained.   They sent me ten dollars which was more than I paid for the chicken.  Heritage farm chicken is Arkansas chicken.  The price for boneless is 1.99.   Still, with Foster Farms being fifty cents cheaper, you are better off,  Foster Farms is potentially cleaner and cheaper and chicken stock and the rib meat is an added bonus.    You are always better off buying local chicken and not frozen.  

Another note :  Tuesday is senior day at Fred Meyers.   An extra 10 percent off for anyone over 55.   This includes private brand groceries.  

Friday recipe - healthier tortillas

to get me to try tortillas from scratch there has to be an incentive.    If something takes time to make, it's either got to be a whole lot cheaper , or or it has  to be healthier or both. imdodmrin onto a recipe for tortillas that healthier. I decided to keep it in case for some reason I couldn't get to the store or I wanted to show granddaughter that tortillas didn't just appear out of a plastic bag.   The cost difference alone doesn't warrant the time consumed.

3-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
7 Tbls canola oil

Mix together until a smooth ball forms,  knead.  
Separate dough into two ounce balls.
Let balls rest, covered for 10 minutes.
Roll out to be very thin.
Cook on a flat griddle until browned on both sides.


Cost :
Flour 3.5 cups at .08 cup is .28
Oil - 7 TBLS is .28
Total .56

Makes 15 tortillas
Or .04 each

A package of 10 cost a dollar on sale .   Or .10 each.
The mount of time to make the tortillas is too great to save six cents a tortilla.you are 60.   Itmwould only make sense of you wanted to avoid the lard or shortening,    It's a labor of love.  

Tuesday - notes chicken in depth

Everything you ever wanted to know about chicken.  

Chicken is one of the most inexpensive meats about now.   Some chickens are cleaner than others.    Local chickens are best.  Some southern chicken companies have received permission from the FDA to send the chickens to China  for processing,    

Never buy a chicken that is less than three pounds.   That is the break even point where there is as much bone  weight as there is chicken weight.   In other words, the bigger the weight, the more chicken you are getting for your money.   Most deli whole roasted chickens are three pounds or under.    Do the math, you are paying  far more per pound than buying a raw chicken on sale,    Chicken can be purchased for as low as .88 a pound here.    

There are easy, very efficient ways to cook a whole chicken. (Later) .  The least expensive  to get boneless, skinless breast is to buy mega packs of split chicken breast with ribs.   Cut the ribs off and simmer them with water and some herbs.  You can then have chicken stock and pick the meat from the bones for taco meat, chicken salad, a casserole or enchiladas.    I get almost a quart of meat  of meat from six large split breasts.  That represents two meals.   I individually bag the breasts and out them in a gallon bag and label and date.   This doesn't take long and the .87-1.28 a pound is a lot less expensive than the eight dollars a pound that boneless, skinless chicken breast can cost.   Same brand, less money.   

Chicken breast can be cooked from frozen in the insta pot  in 8-12 minutes depending on the thickness of the breast.   Always disinfect all surfaces that touch raw meat of any kind for food safety.  Some people wear gloves.  Thawed chicken breast can be poached in the microwave. 

A whole chicken can make four meals for the proverbial family of four : 2 half chicken breasts, one from the dark meat and chicken soup from the bones.  Remember your goal here is to provide the RDA of protein for the day.   When you are using a smaller amount for a casserole or tacos etc, you are also adding cheese or beans to supplement.    This is key to keeping a very low price point for your meals.   

It is cheaper  and more efficient to buy meats in bulk and buy enough to feed your family for a month of that meat choice.    In other words, if you have pork once a week, you would buy enough for four meals.   If you buy a different meat or protein each week in a four to six week rotation, you will hit a sale price at least once during that time frame.   Keeping quantities at a four to six week level keeps your meat fresh.  Some people rotate, chicken breast or whole  chicken, Pork loin, hamburger, cheese, brand and rice, and bagged fish or canned tuna or salmon.   Keeping your bulk purchases to a four to  six week supply means unless you have a large family, you should be able to keep it in a regular fridge freezer.