QFC haul -basket coupon

QFC haul with 10 dollars off of Forty coupon and debut 4 , save 4.

3 - v8 juice. At 1.99.    Nets 1.49

2- shredded cheese @ 4.99 nets 3.74 or 1.87 lb

5 Barilla pasta @ 1.00 - net .75 ea

3.72 pounds apples 6.25  nets 4.93

2 sausage @ 2.49 nets 1.86

1 dijiorno pizza 3.99 nets 2.99

Kind granola bars 1.99 nets 1.50

1 cherry pie 2.99 nets 2.24

Total 31.15

Chain store ads

Notes :
DT is Dollar Tree
FM is Fred  Meyer (kroger)
$$ means there is a coupon on coupons.com or in a insert
@@ means there is a in ad coupon.  Usually the ad is at the front of the store.


Alberways
Strawberries 1.37
Milk 1.77 includes chocolate
20 percent ground beef 1.97
Top round 3.99

Yoplait .50 $$. Note .44 at FM
Coffee: maxwell house 5.99
Campbells soup 1.00 $$
Cake mix 1.00
Olives 1.00 - cheaper at Winco

Just 4 you
4 b sugar 2.79
Beans .59
Both of these ar name brands.


Regular prices
Cheese 4.00 lb :  my buy price is less than 2.50
Olives 1.50.  - always cheaper at winco.


QFC (Kroger)


Note :  Westgate mailed 10.00 off of 40.00 coupons to local residence.  If you spend just forty dollar, thats 25 percent off   It pays to plan your trip an use coupons. They register the 10.00 coupon first.

Apples 1.68
DiGiorno 3.99
English Muffins BOGO.  - always 1.68 a dozen at FM
Fruit pie 2.99
Milk 4/5 -safeways is the better buy , includes chocolate
Sour cream 1.25
Orowheat bread 2/5 - note DT is a dollar
Grapes 1.99
Brats 3.99
Barilla 1.00


Progresso soup .99 when you buy 4 $$ for 1.00 off out there

Buy 4, save 4
Mix or match

Cheese 4.99
Sausage 2.49
Bacon 399
Kind bars 4.99
Ice cream 2.49
Apple juice .99
Goldfish .99


SPECIAL NOTE :  
ALBERWAYS HAS DELI CHICKEN FOR 8,99 FOR 37 OUNCES.  

LETS break that down.
37 ounces is 2 lbs 5 ounces.
3 lbs is the break even point on whole chickens .  So, at least 18 ounces is bone . That leaves 19 ounces.   19ounces at 8.99 means you are paying .47 an ounce or 7.52 a pound.   Whole chickens are often less than a dollar a pound.

Bullets; When spending money makes sense

It goes without saying, that buying things on sale or being able to find something at a estate sale is a good thing.  

1. Silicone cupcake liners.  Five dollars buys 12.    Not buying paper saves the planet.   You are’nt greasing the muffin cups and the muffins just slide out.  
2. Insta pot.   Its three appliances in one.   Just cooking beans from scratch pays for itself in a  year if you buy 2 cans a week.   Add not buying ready rice or instant rice and you probably can pay for it in 1/2 a year with savings and have better nutrition too.  No preservatives  or added salt.  It slow cooks, makes rice, and pressure cooks.   Chicken breast from frozen in 8 minutes.   Not that any of us would forget to defrost.  LOL. 
3. A good coffee maker.  Big bucks coffee is expensive. 
4. A good food processor.   Make your own bread crumbs, ground meat from scraps, slice and grate foods.  With the exception of grated cheese, buying processed foods and someone else’s  dry bread is expensive.   In the long run, a food processor with pay for itself.   It makes scratch bread  and pizza dough a snap.   Pizza alone at once a week would be a six month payback.   
5. If you are buying frozen waffles, a waffle iron will pay for itself in a matter of months.  

Kitchen management

Kitchen management is a useful tool that along with meal plans affords you the luxury of a less hectic dinner hour.  

Doing your deep cleaning of the mechanics of the kitchen on a rotation basis makes light work instead of a whole Saturday spent cleaning a really dirty kitchen.  

1. Clean and disinfect the counters, sinks, and drains. 
2. Sweep and wash kitchen floor. 
3. Wax south side cabinets. Howard’s  clean and wax is my favorite.   
4. Wash drip pans on the stove.  
5. Bulk cook any meat/protein that you purchased this week. Portion control for the freezer. 
6. Wash potatoes, and make veggie sticks 
7. Straighten pantry. If you keep all of one thing in the same spot, you ave time looking and digging for what you need.  It is also easier to take a inventory at a glance when something is on a good sale.   
8. Premake dinner if possible 
9. Make a dessert or muffins.   
10. Mark the meal plan to remind yourself to defrost meat when needed 
11. Clean the refrigerator and note things to be used up.   

1. 
   

Winco and Fred Meyers

Alert :  fred meyer is notorious for messing up the sales receipt.  They charged us for our grapes twice this time.    

Fred Meyer total.37.10

Goldfish .99

Grapes 4.40

Chocolate chips 1.79

Sour cream 1.25

Strawberries 1.25

Yoplait yogurt .34

English muffins 1.67

Mini ravioli 1.00

Nathans hot dogs 3.99

Sausage 2.49

Winco 

Cucumbers 1.18 (2) 

Stove top stuffing 1.98 (20 

COFFEE 6.48

Buns .87

Bulk peanuts 1.29

Total 12.65

49.75 

Meal Plans for week of October

Meal plans are a way of being organized and making life easier at the dinner hour.   

Meal plans 

Breakfast for dinner

Pizza

Hamburgers, oven fries, salad 

Chicken and noodles in the insta pot 

Out:  steak, baked potatoes, salad, veggie 

Speghetti and meatballs , salad, french baguette 🥖 

Pork chops with apple, cranberry stuffing, sweet potatoes, broccolli 

Notes 

1.  Breakfast for dinner is a mainstay here.  Everyone likes it and it is an everyone cooks activity ,
2. Pizza is another favorite and the cost is low.   A cheese 🧀 pizza 🍕 is 1.04 for a pizza,   
3. Hamburgers were bought at qfc ( Kroger) for 3.00 a pound.  Winco has buns for under a dollar.  
4. Chicken and noodles cook in 4 minutes in the insta pot.   So the recipe says.   I intend to make it .   
5. Parents night out.   YAY>
6. Speghetti and meatballs .   Bread was purchased at grocery outlet for .75.  You could , of course, make scratch.   
7. Pork chops are from a pork loin.   1.50-1.79 is a target price.  Sweet potatoes were .33 a package at grocery outlet.   

All thee meals would average less than five dollars a meal for the proveribial family of four.  

My mantra is that if you know how to shop and cook on the cheap, spending more isn’t a hard stretch.    

 

Grocery outlet haul

big lots netted pads, a .95 package of marshmallows, 1.00 for applesauce , and 1.00 for pretzel and cheese pots.

Grocery Outlet

Diamond smokehouse almonds 9.99
Roasted garlic and potato soup 1.50
Organic roasted diced tomatoes bogo nets .50
Tomato , grape. 1.00
Yellow onions bag 1.50

Sliced cheeses 2.00
Hummus .99
Pepperoni .99
Smoked Gouda 2.00
Total 28.87
Total saved 51.93

Fred Meyer ad for Sunday

Fred Meyer Sunday

Apples ,99
10 percent fat hamburger 3.99
Strawberries 4/5
Milk 1.79
Buy 4 progresso 1.00 each -check coupons
Yoplait 2/88 coupons out there
Barilla pasts 1.00
Sour cream1.25

Pears .99
Grapes 1.99

Buy 4, save 4
Net prices

Ice cream 2.49
Daves killer 3.29
Jimmy Dean  sausage 2.49
Cheerios  2.49
Goldfish .99
Cheese 5.49 2 lbs

5 things to make instead of buy.

Watching other peoples grocery hauls reminds us of things that we can make easy and save money in the process. 

Five things that take almost no effort and save a lot of money over time. 

1. Jars of gravy.   Gravy is a thickening agent, water, and beef or chicken stock or drippings from cooking beef or chicken.   Take the drippings off the pan , shake flour into the drippings until the fat is absorbed ( off the hear). Now put back on the heat and start adding water a little at a time until you have the consistency you want.  OR place bouillon in a skillet an add a slurry of. Water and flour or cornstarch into the bouillon until it is the consistency you want.  
2. Bread crumbs.   Why pay for someone else's dry bread and throw yours away?    Ditto croutons.   
3. Taco seasoning.   Anything in an individual packet is going to be expensive.    You can tailor your own level of heat when you make it yourself.   Making a bulk batch is quick and easy.   
4. Muffins: Muffins store bought can cost as much as a dollar a piece.   A few minutes with inexpensive ingredients can make a dozen in a snap.   Add any fruit or veggie .   
5. Sloppy joe sauce.   Many recipe out there.   Another simple, quick fix.    

Insta pot chicken and pasta

This is a basic recipe.   Its no secret that I am in love with the Insta pot.   I dont have the stamina that I used to have when I was younger.  Gone are the days that I could make pasta from scratch .   I can remember my aunt making noodles from scratch and delicious little pockets of meat and bread dough.  My dad’s sister loved to bake.   Baking day was Thursday.   She lived three doors up from us.  You could only guess where we stopped after school every Thursday.    LOL.

Insta Pot chicken and pasta.

2 medium chicken breasts, raw, cut into about 1 inch or less cubes.
4 cups chicken stock
1 pkg. small pasta....rotini  , medium shells, penne

Place in Insta pot.   Add enough water to cover the pasta.

Pressure cook on high for 4 minutes.
Manually release.
Drain pasta.

At this point you can :

1) Reserve the stock and make a white sauce or a cheese sauce for a casserole.  Add peas or frozen peas and carrots.

2) Drain and add pesto.,homemade or from costco.

3) Pour drained pasta into a casserole and add cream soup or cooked cream soup base and top with bread crumbs, parm and basil or parsley and bake until bubbly.

4) cool the chicken and pasta base and make a pasta salad.

Non food items that save money at the DT

PS:  DT means Dollar Tree

• Books:   There are hard bound books , some are better than others, but it is always a good place to check .      Recently I got a book on design and one about behind the scenes at the Food Channel.   
• Children’s learning tools.   Flash cards, maps, workbooks, coloring books.   Why pay more.  
• Decorations.   A couple of things can liven up the season.   
• Craft supplies :   Some thing are not cheaper, but a lot are.   Stickers, vases, rocks, pipe cleaner. Etc.
• Parchment paper.   Lots cheaper and a better size for lining most pans.  
• Glasses.   All kinds  including stemware.   
• Steer clear of the linens.   They are not quality and the kitchen towels are basiscally decorations only: they do not absorb water well. 
• Cleaners.   Outside of dawn that is cheaper at Costco, most cleaners and wall scrubbers are far cheaper and do as good a job.   
• Liquid hand soap in bulk.   
• Napkins.   Hey, you use them once, and throw them away.   Huge napkins are a waste for every day.  
• Toilet paper hack.   I got toilet paper for free at qfc last week.  Next best is costco.  But, its a good idea if you pick up a 4 pack at the DT and put it in the back of the closet.    That way, if no one tell they ar taking th last roll, you will never be stuck without any.   Toilet paper is a bad thing to run out of.   LOL.    
• Balloons.....cheapest yet!     Need I say more.  
• Kids sox.   We went through a time when granddaughter would come home from day care with one sox.   There is always the dryer gremlin.   Sometimes you can find six pair for a dollar all the same .  Best sox stretcher.    
• Gift bags.   About anything that is single use is a good buy.  Why pay more when it isn’t a durable item?    

QFC haul

I still have ten dollars off of 40 coupons, but they are not good until next week.

2 tillamook cheese blocks 4.99
Pumpkin pie 2.49
Butter 2.99
Daves killer bread 2.99
Tilllamook ice cream  2.77
Strawberries 3/5

Total 29.98

Chain store ads 10/4

Chain Store ads. 

Every once in a while there is just no rotation protein buy that stands out in the ads.   The best I see is 3.99 for roast at Alberways that allows you to grind your own hamburger.   Pork loin for 1.99 isn’t bad, but that would be the top of the price heap. 

Alberways 

Honey crisp Apple 1.58

Tomatoes .88

Yoplait 3/1@@

Bread .99@@

Old El Paso shells 1.00 $$

Barilla Pasta 1.00 $$

Cream cheese 1.29@@

Note:  @@ means in ad coupon.  You can usually find ads in the front of the store. 

QFC (Kroger) 

QFC:   Westgate only 

Tillamook brick cheese 4.99

Daves bread 2.99

Broccolli .99

Regular ad 

Strawberries 3/5 

Tillamook ice cream 2.77

Perrier water 1.00

Pumpkin pie 3.99

Campbell soups 1.00 -use coupons 

Half pork loin 1.99 

Brats 3.99

Pears .99

Tuesday notes relativity

It is a habit of mine to watch grocery hauls.  Its a matter of studying the shopping habits and prices in other parts of  the country.   Its interesting to note that the same thing can be as low as 28 cents one place and 1.10 another.   Prices can even vary drastically in the same area.   A lot of how much is spent depends on how much money is available and the fact that many people add everything from crock pots to shampoo to their basket.   As a rule of thumb, buying non food items at the grocery store is usually not a good idea.   You are paying a lot more than you need to.   Grocery stores assign a different profit margin to categories of merchandise.   Sundry items are their moneymakers.   

I have seen grocery hauls for as much as 2600 an 942 dollars and as low as 32.00 a week for a family of four.  Setting a budget is the first step.   Kinda like dieting....if you have brownies in the house, you are going to eat them!   LOL.  

There was a time when both my husband and I both lost our jobs within a week or so of each other.  Needless to say, we cut all spending.   We took the mantra that what resources we had might have to last a long time.  We were also building an addition on the house.  Four of u lived in 400 square feet of the basement .  We had a kitchen that was unfinished.   I had a folding table with a microwave and a chopping block on wheels that housed a one burner hot plate.   

One Sunday I started a soup bone in a stock pot on the hot plate.   My son came up to me and asked what was in the pot.   I told him soup.  He took one look and said , well, it doesn’t look like soup.  

Trust me, by dinner it will look like soup.   I proceeded to cook the bone, pull the meat off the bone and add stock and veggies.   By dinner time, it was soup.   

He went to school and told his teacher that he had homemade soup for dinner.   His teacher, bless her heart, told him homemade was sooo much better than anything out of a can.   

Living on a budget and knowing how to stretch a buck is a good thing. Even if you are in a position to live more than comfortably, knowing how is a good skill.   If you know how to live on a dime, living on a dollar isn’t hard to master.   

There are all kinds of recipes out there and u tubers that show you how to do almost everything.  Somethings like making soda crackers, seem fruitless, but knowing how at least would teach children that they just don't come out of a box. Like my son who realized that soup doesn’t necessarily come out of a can. 

I discovered   yesterday how to make sweetened condensed milk.   It is really expensive and you can make it for pennies.   My concern was that you put hot syrup into a blender bowl.   Maybe if you heated the bowl first with hot water.  Or used an emulsion  blender. Its one of those things you usually only use at holiday times.   It is still nice to know how to do in a pinch.   

Needless to say, having basic ingredients in your pantry gives you great flexibility vs having boxes or bags of ready made ...and it does it cheaper as well.  

Buying food efficiently and cooking efficiently has its merits.  

Monday Kitchen management and notes.

Kitchen management is a tool that allows you to prep for the next weeks meals and deep clean the kitchen.   I have a real issue with the new terminology of “clean” food.  If you have a clean disinfected kitchen and you wash your hands didn’t double dip the tasting spoons, don't cross contaminate raw foods, and wash your fruits and veggies in vinegar water, you are  probably clean.   

We have a generation of people that think they need to be special.  Remember the me generation?   This will go down in history for being the “special” generation.    After going through the 70s with double digit inflation and no raises for 3 years as a single parent with no child support, I have little patience for special.   Just eat as healthy as you can and be darn glad you have food to eat.   Not everyone does.    Ps:  I had an ex husband, he just thought playin 36 holes of golf was more important than paying child support.   There is always a reason why we have ex’s.  LOL 

I digress: 

• Wash kitchen floor 
• Wash and disinfect countertops, sinks and drains.  Believe it or not, drains get nasty.   Use a dedicated brush.  
• Wash veggies.  I use a dedicated brush and vinegar water in a dedicated plastic bowl.  
• Make tonight’s soup.  Make beer bread.   
• Wash salad greens and store in fresh containers
• Wash the oven vent screen.  (First of the month) 
• Wash the bottom vent on the fridge.  Scrumbing bubbles in the sink makes it easy.  
• Wax north side cabinets.  (Howards) 

Meal Plans for week of Oct 2

Meal plans help assure you use up what perishables you have.  They are a tool to make dinner time less hectic.   You can schedule easy dinners the nights that you know a lot is going on.

1. Soup, cheezy rolls, 
2. Pizza 
3. Hamburgers, oven fries, salad
4. Chicken enchiladas, rice, beans 
5. Tuna cassarole, peas and carrots 
6. Pork stew over noodles, California blend veggies, salad 
7. Pumpkin pancakes, turkey bacon, fruit plate.  

Notes: 

• Soup is an easy dinner when family has to eat at different times.   
• Pizza is always a favorite. 
• Hamburgers were purchased at qfc for three dollars a pound.  I am anxious to try the applewood smoked ones. 
• Chicken enchaladas are made with chicken from the ribs of chicken breasts.  Sour cream green sauce is easy and inexpensive.   
• Tuna cassarole....make with cream soup base . 
• Pork stew is made from the ends of the pork loin.   Cook noodles once, use twice.   
• Pumpkin pancakes -a fall favorite.    Turkey bacon bought on sale.   

Costs : 

1. 3.00
2. 1.04
3. 4.22 (4) 
4. 2.94
5. 3.15
6. 3.54
7. 5.00

Total 22.89

Fred Meyer Sunday Ad

Some good basics ... the soup and the pasta are always a dollar at the dollar tree.  Sometimes you can find extra product in the soup at the DT.   There are good coupons our there for both.  


honeycrisp apples 1.88
Chuck roast 2.97
Eggs .79
Land of lakes butter 2.97

Campbells soup 1.00 $$
Barilla pasta 1.00 $$

Pears .99
Acorn squash .99

Pumpkin pie 3.99

Friday recipe and blanket coupon analysis.

Its 4 am and I'm writing this in the dark.   I guess fall is here.   LOL

Balsaamic Orange sauce....good for chicken or fish

1 T orange peel
1T balsamic vinegar
1T honey
3/4 tap salt.

I have a basket coupon for QFC.   It is on conjunction with the remoldel grand opening of our local store.   Blanket coupons work best if you can keep close to the limit. ( 10 dollars off of 40) .  September food costs 37.51 per week.

• Le Croiz water 1.99 (4) 
• Strawberries 2/3
• Barilla pasta 2 ea use coupon
• chicken noodle soup (4) w coupon 
• Blues 2/5 (4) 
• Angus beef patties 7.99 (2)

Check back for the results of the haul.  

Total of sales slip is 94.04.  Total spent 34.88

Also got for free

Frappe
BBQ sauce
Toilet paper
Baby wipes
Power bar
cookies
Lettuce
Bread

Chain store ads

Alberways

Bagged salads .99
Refresh water 5/10
Milk 1.79
Radishes,green onions .99
Sour cream 4/5

3 day sale FSS
Broccolli .78
Crackers .88
Chunky soup .99$$
Sirloin 2.98**

$$ coupons out there
** a good time to grind your own hamburger.


QFC

Strawberries 2/3.
Pears .77
Draper valley whole chicken .87
Brats 3.49

Digital coupons
Sour cream .99
Chunky soup 4/4 :  note if you have paper coupons you are turnoff getting itfornthesamprie at safeways because you can't double dip coupons.   An electronic coupon and a paper coupon doesn't work.  

Draper valley is not my favorite.   It is washington grown, but their butchers are not the best in my opinion.  Nasty .

Tuesday Notes : No dinner, ten minutes, no problem.

No Dinner, Ten Minutes, No Problem!

• We are talking actual hands on time.   

Tacos....with rotation meat , hamburger is already cooked and frozen in portion controlled bags.   Take meat from the freezer, place it in a small skillet, add water and taco seasoning.  Place on low.  Meanwhile, gather the grated cheese, lettuce and tomato.  Chop the lettuce and de-seed the tomato and shop.   Heat the tortilla shells.   The meat should be done.   

•  Pronto pasta speghetti and meatballs.   Pronto pasta is an invention of Barilla pasta.   Follow directions, add a jar of Pasta sauce and microwaved meatballs.   
• A jus sandwiches:   Place beef broth in small skillet. Bring it to a boil.  Turn off the heat.  .   Add deli roast beef leave it i a stack.   Barely heat it through  layer on split hard rolls.  Mae a salad from a bag of salad.  
• Toast English muffins in the oven on a sheet pan, or in the toaster if you have a smaller family. Fry eggs.   Make egg muffins.   Fix a bowl of fruit.