No spend October meals

1. Hamburgers, french fries, salad 
2. Soup, beer bread
3. Pizza 
4. Hamburgers, oven fries, salad 
5. Stuffed baked potato bar. 
6. Tuna casserole, peas and carrots, apple dump cake 
7. Hamburgers, french fries, veggie sticks 
8. Pumpkin pancakes, turkey bacon, fruit 
9. Sausage and cheese quiche, broccoli
10. Potato soup with bacon , rolls 
11. Night out 
12. Pizza
13. Spaghetti with meatballs  
14. Fish and chips 
15. Egg mc muffins, strawberries 
16. Soup, bread
17. Sausage patties, hash browns, fruit 
18. Pot roast soup 
19. Sausage., eggs, fruit 
20. Salmon, rice medley, broccolli, blackberries
21. Potato cheese soup, peasant breads
22. Quiche, fruit cup 
23. Chicken and noodles 
24. Pizza
25. Tacos
26. Pizza
27. 
    

Monday Kitchen Managemenat

Kitchen Management is a tool you can use to save time and some of the stress of dinner time and rotation  chores for deep cleaning.

Review of meal plans:

1. Pork stew, w potatoes and carrots, bread 
2. Pizza
3. Chicken and noodles, carrots and peas r
4. Enfrijoladas 
5. Chicken parm 
6. Salmon cakes, rice medley, broccoli 
7. Breakfast for dinner 

• Wash and disinfect kitchen counters and sinks and drains. 
• Wash kitchen floor. 
• Wax east side cabinets. 
• Clean drip pans 
• Clean out fridge and incorporate anything that needs to be eaten soon in your meals. 
• Wash potatoes and carrots.  
• Make refried beans if necessary . 
• Check mixes and make any that are low. 
• Bake hard cooked eggs with the remainder of the last batch of eggs. Place an egg in each muffin cup of a muffin pan , bake at 350 for 30 minutes.   Immediately , dumps eggs into a bowl of ice water.   
• Bulk cook any rotating meat if necessary.  Ours is sausage that needs to be fried and de-fatted.   
• Wash fruit .   
• Precook dinner if appropriate.   

Mini Hauls

Yesterday we went to Winco  and Dollar Tree.    At Dollar Tree i purchased a lined , white board that had the capital and lower case letters on it.  It is so granddaughter can practice her letters.

I also got :
4 cans pumpkin
1 package chocolate covered graham crackers
(Because everyone needs chocolate!)
1 package pepperoni -didnt have a coupon.

At winco we just bought a bag of potatoes.

Planning to get blackberries and eggs at Fred Meyers.

Meal Plans

A note on perspective —we have a ton of carrots to use up because we had a vegetable try last week . Some meals didnt happen last week, we had alternatives so they are reappearing on the meal plan.   Pizza and breakfast for dinner are staples in this house.  

1. Pork stew , with carrots, potatoes, celery.   Bread 
2. Pizza
3. Chicken and noodles in the insta pot.  Add carrots and peas 
4. Enfrijoladas. Greens, tomatoes, salsa,sour cream
5. Chicken parm, speghetti, greens, bread
6. Salmon patties, rice medley, broccolli 
7. Breakfast 4 dinner. 

Notes: 

1. pork stew meat comes from the end of a pork loin.  Pork loin is 2.00 this week.   A little higher than I like to pay, I have some in the freezer that I got for 1.79.  Using up carrots.   
2. Pizza costs 1.04....a little cheaper now that we got cheese for 2.05 a lb.   
3. trying chicken and noodles in the insta pot—four minutes.   
4. Enfrijoladas are a new to me Tex mex dish from Betty Crocker.  
5. Chicken parm is a good go to when you dont have a lot of time.   Pasta was purchased on sale for .72 and sauce for .59.   
6. Salmon patties from canned salmon from costco bought on sale for 3.00 off a ‘case” .  Aka stack.  
7. Breakfast for dinner.  Eggs are .78 at FM (kroger) .   

Getting virtually everything on sale at as close to 1/2 price as I can and limiting the diversity of products is how I feed us on about 40 percent of the USDA stats for “poor” people.   They call it thrifty.   We eat well.  We eat balanced.  There is always fresh fruit in the house of some kind.  This week it’s will probably be bananas, apples, blackberries, blueberries, and grapes.   I make our own bread sometimes.   I also have been getting orowheat bread , double fiber, for a dollar at the DT.   

I limit my meat purchases to split chicken breast (foster farms). Whole pork loin that I butcher myself, and extra lean (7-10 percent ) ground sirloin and we eat meatless about 2 times a week.   

Fred Meyer Sunday ad

Ground sirloin (10%) fat 3.77

Apples 1.49

Eggs .79

Blackberries .99

Sour cream 2/4

Red Barron 2.88. $$

Hebrew National hot dogs 3.49

Pumpkin pie 3.99

Half Pork Loi. 1.99 (top of my target list price )



My vote for the best place to shop this week would be Alberways .   Safeways has a just for you basket coupon for 5 off of 25.  If you stay close to 25, thats 20 percent.

They have diced tomatoes , greenbeans and corn for .49. Which with a basket coupon.makes them .39.   A good time to stock up for the winter.   Diced tomatoes are the most versatile of the tomato products and I saw BPA free cans at Safeways.

Don’t underestimate the close out bin at qfc.   I got pasta sauce for .79.   Our QFC had a 25 percent basket coupon that made it .59.   Add sale Barilla pasta, some parm cheese, and a can of green beans and a loaf of peasant bread and you have a meal for four at a cost of 2.30. TOTAL. Not per plate.
You can still use coupons on the closeout baskets.   One time I got low sodium beans for free.

Using every available means of discounting food is a way to cut your grocery bill dramatically.  We are averaging less than 55.00 a week for the first three quarters of the year/.  Last year it was 72.00.   Since then, I bought a  insta pot and that allowed me to scratch cook rice and beans and make scratch cooking easier.   I spend an hour to an hour and a half on Mondays doing kitchen management . But, I rarely spend more than twenty minutes at dinner time making dinner.  The  55.00 includes maintaining a small stock.

Peasant Bread

3 cups flour
1-3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp yeast
1-1/2 cups warm water. 105-110 degrees

Mix ingredients.  Cover.   Let rest on counter 12-24 hours

Turn onto floured counter.  Fold on itself to shape into a round or loaf

Heat oven safe Dutch oven in 450 degree oven until oven comes up to temp.

With very good oven mitts, remove lid from pan in oven .  Place bread dough in pan.  Cover an bake covered for 30 minutes.   Again, with very good oven mitt, remove lid and cook an additional 10-20 minutes or until bread is 200 degrees.

Extremely easy recipe.  The hardest part is to be every careful and use proper oven mitts so you don’t burn yourself.   Always have a designated safe place to set hot pans.   It’s helps to make a sling out of parchment paper to drop the dough into the pan,

What to do with what you got.

Leftovers in refrigerator

Part of a veggie tray:

Broccolli

Baby carrots 

Grape tomatoes 

Celery sticks 

Some grapes 

Strawberries 🍓 looking a little old. 

Lettuce, designer and regular 

Cucumbers 

Cooked turkey bacon 

Cooked sausage including patties 

Refried beans 

1. Sausage and potatoe stew with carrots 
2. Penne with chicken and broccolin. Uses the broccoli in the veggie tray  
3. Salad , with cucumbers, tomato
4. Dry strawberries 
5. Pizza with grape tomatoes, sausage
6. Taco pie uses the leftover refried beans 
7. Bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches 

Safeways and qfc haul

Total savings were a minimum of 53 and 55 percent.  

Safeways
Basket 20 percent coupon. (5 off 25)
Saltine crackers .97 lb. .77
12 green beans at .49 ea .39
12 corn at .49/.39
24 diced tomatoes, 12 w jalapeño, 12 with Italian at .49/.39
2 lb green grapes .99/.79
 Basket coupon for 5.00

Total 21.41.

QFC
Buy 4, save 4
10.00 basket coupon
2 lb pkg bulk sausag 2.40 less .62 nets 1.87
V8 juice (2) 1.99 save 1.00 plus .50 off
6 closeout pasta sauce from 1.29 to .79 plus 20 cents off
Goldfish .99 plus .20 off
Tomatoes 1.14. Less .28
2 lb cheese less 25 percent is 5.49 plus 20 percent 2.05 a lb
Sausage ,on closeout 1.99 or 1.50
Blackberries and raspberries 3/5 or 3/3.75
Brawny paper towels 4.99 or 3.74

Total spent 30.79 less 3.74 for non food is 27.05

Total is 48.46



Total product 121.89

Chain store ads

I have a ten dollar off basket coupon for qfc, but I cant justify using it with this weeks ad.   

Black and raspberries 3/5

Tomatoes on the vine .88

Progresso soup - buy 8.  .99 there are coupons, but I only have one, need two. 

Nathans hot dogs 3.49

Buy 4, save 4 

Brawny towels 4.99

Goldfish .99

V8 juice 1.99

Alberways 

Grapes .97

Bread .67

With in ad coupons 

Chunky soup .99

Saltines .97

Case lots:  you have to buy the case 

Ragu 12 only 1.19 total 14.28

Diced tomatoes 12 only .49 total 5.88

Green beans/ corn .49. 5.88

Refried beans 24 only .59 total 14.16 

Beans 12 only .49 total 5.88

Taco Pie

This is a taco pie recipe that I used to make all the time.   

I used a round pie type pan with straight sides and a lid.   Almost any baking dish will work   —just cut the tortillas to fit.   

Layer in a  greased baking pan. 

• Tortilla 
• Refried beans 
• Tortilla 
• Taco meat, cooked 
• Chees
• Repeat:   

Top with salsa.   

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until the cassarole is heated through .   

Top with sour cream, salsa, lettuce, tomato, peppers, whatever you have and prefer.   

See Dinner, Better, cheaper , faster,

Dinner: better, cheaper, faster

  Www.janefrugalfood.blogspot.com

Meal Plans week of 10/16

Meal plans are the first start in kitchen management.   They take away a lot of stress and avoid the take out gremlins.  

1. Soup/ bread 
2. Pizza
3. Pork stew/ rolls 
4. Insta Pot Chicken and Noodles , carrots 
5. Salmon, rice medley, mixed vegetables 
6. Tacos re-fried  beans
7. Breakfast for dinner.   

Notes :    

• Soup is a good meal when people are coming home at different hours.
• Pizza is a mainstay and cost 1.04 each 
• Pork stew is made from the ends of the pork loin where they taper down.   You can get two small roasts, stew, and center cut pork chops from a whole pork loin.   Cost is between 1.49 and 1.79 for RBP.   Its 1.99 for a half loin this week here. 
• Insta pot chicken and noodles.  - four minutes, thicken the stock after cooking.  
• Rice medley is a homemade mix with chicken stock and herbs.   
• Taco shells were purchased on a sale, basket coupon and coupons for .66
• Eggs have taken a hike, but we have dehydrated eggs.  Alternative is pancakes or waffles, a breakfast meat, and fruit in season.  Strawberries are really cheap here this week.

Fred Meyer ad for Sunday

Not much, but some of it is good,

Foster Farms Whole Chicken .87
Grapes .99
Tomatoes on the vine .99
Butter 2.99
Pork Half Loin 1.99

Tri tip steak.4.99


The pork loin is at the top of my RBP amount.
Chicken is a good buy .

The basics

Groceries on the cheap takes a different approach to purchasing food and getting food cooked and on the table.

Assuming we all live busy lives and have a limited amount of time to manage the get meals on the table, the approach is to spend more time planning and shopping, and less time cooking scratch food. It sounds impossible to spend less time scratch cooking, but it is entirely possible.
We call it efficient cooking.

The concept boils down to five segments.  Some are easy fixes and some will take a while.   One step at a time.   The basic concept is rather than going to a store an buying just what you need for one week, you go to the store to replenish a pantry of items you use on a regular basis.   You cook from your pantry.   The simpler the list of ingredients, the better.

1. The simplest ever. Go to multiple stores.     If you are going to one store and buying just what you need for a weeks worth of meals, the odds are against you.  The monetary odds are rigged in favor of the house just like when one would go to a casino.   Study the ads and pick 2 chain stores that have the  best prices .  This gives you the advantage of two sets of sale prices and two options for fresh produce.  Don’t overlook overstock stores or the Dollar store.  
2. Bulk buy what makes sense for your family when the cost is dramatically different.   It just makes sense to buy things you use on a daily or almost daily basis in bulk.   For us , it is oatmeal, flour, rice.  We don’t eat enough beans to use a bulk bag before they go bad. Not everything at the warehouse stores is a great buy  
3. Know your prices.  Find the rock bottom price on the things you buy on a regular basis.  Most families have a list of ten or so different meals.  List 10 -14  meals your family likes that use inexpensive sources of protein .   Make a list of shelf stable or frozen ingredients that you will use to make these dishes.   Its a project that you only have  to do once.   Now , find the RBP on these things.  Simplify.  The less things you have to buy, the less prices you have to remember.  Use a small spiral bound notebook if you need to.   (They are three in a package at the Dollar Tree). My mother used to say “ Some people could have a bargain get up and bite them in the butt,and not see it”. Don’t be that person.   When something is at a RBP. Buy as much as you can, as much as the store will allow, or as much as you need to fill in your stock, whichever comes first.  Stock a set amount of items.   Base the amount of your stock on how much you need for a particular number of meals .  Say three months, or enough to last you until you think they will go on sale again.   Its easier for me to set a particular amount of shelf space and when I see white shelf, its time to look for a sale.  The object is to NEVER PAY FULL PRICE FOR ANYTHING.  
4. Every chain store has a ‘loss leader protein” on their ad, usually on the front page.   If you buy enough  bulk ‘meat’ to last you for a month to six weeks of that meat, you will be better off.   In other words, if you eat hamburger once a week, you need enough hamburger to feed your family 4-6 times.   Simplify the cuts of meat you buy.   Pork loin, hamburger or ground turkey, chicken breasts or thighs, or whole chickens are an example.   When you get the months worth at home, portion control per meal portions, and freeze.  Butcher yourself if needed, and cook hamburger, defat, and put in portion controlled bags.  It helps if you put smaller bags in a gallon bag and label with date and description :  GB 10/17 Pick cuts that are cheaper and versatile.  
5. Waste not, want not.   Keep track of things in your refrigerator.   Use up anything that is going to expire soon.   Cookbooks on the web have search engines that will give you ideas.   
6. Learn the basics of scratch cooking—making bread, muffins, a white sauce etc.  Having the tools helps too.    Find recipes that take few ingreients and take little hands on time.  Pre-made  things cost money for others time.   There are many appliances and recipes that take little hands on time.  Pinterest is full of them.   

To sum up.  Keep a stock and replentish your stock.  Cook meals from your basic stock on hand.   This allows you to be prepared if the bleep storm happens and you can’t  get to the store.   Its piece of mind.   Waste not.   Scratch cook as much as possible.   A few things are either way too time consuming, or scratch is a lot more money than readymade.   Pasta sauce come to mind.   

Spaghetti Carbonara

Basic ingredients that we almost always have in the house.   ... a good pantry dish.                  

1 lb thin spaghetti 

8 slices bacon , cut into small pieces 

1/2 cup olive oil 

1/2 Medium onion, chopped 

4 T butter, cut into pieces.  

1/2 cup chicken broth 

Salt , pepper

2 beaten eggs 

Parsley 

1 cup parm

1. Cook spaghetti. Drain 
2. Cook the bacon and drain on paper towels.   
3. With oil, cook the onion until limp.  Add broth, butter, salt and pepper.  Do NOT boil.  Cook 2 minutes until warm. Remove from heat. 
4. Toss spaghetti with the sauce.   Ad eggs and continue cooking until sauce has thickened.  
5. Add parsley and cheese and toss. 
6. Crumble bacon on top.   

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