Chain store ads

QFC was a two week ad last week.

Grapes 1.77
Milk .99
Blues and rasp. 2/5


Alberways

Strawberries 2 lbs 3.88

Mayo. 2.88@@@
Chicken of the sea tuna .58@@.

Pepperoni 3.49 look 4 coupon

Not a good week for bargains.  

Justifying a 25 lb bag of flour

The last quoted price of flour at Costco is 6.90 for 25 pounds, or 8 cents a cup.  
Things that more than give you a good return on your investment.

1. Pancakes cos 3.00 a bag.   Two bags almost pay for the 25 pound bag. 
2. Muffins cost .35 plus any fruit you add.  The cost of a dozen muffins is 5.00.
3. Peasant bread cos .25 to make.   He equivalent loaf of bread is 3.00 and up. 
4. Magic mix makes a cream soup base.   The cost of a can of cream of mushroom soup is well over a dollar. 
5. Pizza dough costs 1.50 to 2.00 /  it takes about three minutes and cost .19.

Monday Kitchen Management

Kitchen management is a tool that saves time and stress during the hectic dinner hour.    Prepping for meals makes dinner a snap and keeping the kitchen clean on a rotation basis is a good thing too.


Meal plan reminder:

• Pork chops, dressing, veggies
• Pizza
• Salmon, seasoned rice , peas and carrots 
• Chicken Parmesan, salad 
• Meatballs and gravy , mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables 
• Stir fry chicken and rice, mandarin oranges 
• Breakfast for dinner 

1. Wash kitchen floor 
2. Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead. 
3. Wash and disinfect countertops and kitchen sinks and drains . 
4. Thaw pork chops 
5. Make pizza dough 
6. Make sure seasoned rice mix is made 
7. Straighten pantry.   

Pork chops are browned and put on top of dressing and finished off in the oven.   

Pizza is a family favorite and cost about 1.05 for a cheese pizza.  Add toppings from leftovers.   

Salmon was 5.00 a pound at winco and wash frozen/ 

Chicken parm.....spaghetti noodles cook in the insta pot for 2 minutes in a quart of liquid.  Instant release.

Meatballs are two dollars for almost a pound at winco.  

Chicken breast is cooked in the insta pot from frozen in 8 minutes to 12 minutes depending on the thickness of the chicken.   Probably less if using flattened chicken breast coming in a frozen bag.   

Breakfast for dinner this week is egg muffins, bacon and fruit.   

Fred Meyer haul

Total 21.39

Buy 5, Save 5

4 v8 juice at 1.89
1 peanut butter at 1.99

Romano cheese 4.99
Granny Smith apples at 2.08
Organic green peppers 2/1
Blueberries 3.77


—————

Meal plans

Meal plans take away the anxiety.of answering the question:  What’s for dinner?   It just makes things more organized and when you add a kitchen management hour, life is a whole less hectic during the dinner hour.  

• Pork chops, bread stuffing with craisens and apple, broccolli 
• Pizza 
• Salmon, seasoned rice, peas and carrots 
• Chicken Parmesan, salad 
• Meatballs and gravy, mashed Potatoes, mixed veggies 
• Stir fry chicken , rice, mandarin oranges 
• Breakfast for dinner.   

Notes:  

1. Pork chops are from a pork loin bought for a dollar a pound.   Bread stuffing is from day old bread.   Appples were bought in a bag with a discount from qfc.   They are lunch box apples, that is, they are small enough to put in a lunchbox and with children, there is less waste.   
2. Pizza is one of the least expensive meals you can make if made from scratch.    
3. I purchased salmon from winco.  It is peppercorn salmon and was five dollars a pound package.   
4. Rice can be double duty so you cook once, eat twice. It is purchased in bulk at costco.  Thecost is two cents a serving.    Chicken was purchased for 1.77 a lb for boneless, skinless breast.   However, my next purchase is .99 a lb at Zaycon .   
5. Chicken parm and meatballs are part of our freeezer eat down program.   Both easy meals. 
6. Breakfast for dinner is a favorite here.   Its a sunday everyone cooks family event.   

This blog is written on the premise of a four dollar a day budget.   That is supposedly the amount of snap money.   We live in one of the seven highest COL cities in the nation.    There is always a way to cut costs and still keep within a budget.   The premise is that if you can do it on four dollars a day, spending more is not hard.   I have fifty years of experience, having lived through double digit inflation and no raises for three years as a single mother.    I have been published in Woman’s Day and Taste of Home  magazines.   My husband and I raised three children.   

Fred Meyer ad for sunday

Ground beef alert .....1.99 for 80/20 limit 4

Blueberries 3.77

Country oven bread .99

Mandarins 5 lbs 4.49

Pork 1/2 Loin 1.99 (that is the top of the RBP.

Cantaloupe 2/3

Sour cream 4/5
————
Buy 5, save 5

Cheese 4.99
Peanut butter 1.99
V8 1.99
Kind bars 1/99

Recipe: vegetarian pizza

Not vegetarian...just add chicken pieces

Pizza crust;  par bake for a few minutes

Brush dough with olive oil.   Sprinkle with dried basil.   Use 1 Tbls each

Topping:

2 medium tomatoes, sliced thin and deseeded
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced thin
1 cup frozen broccolli, thawed and drained.
Salt, pepper,
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until crust is done.
Add 1 cup (4 ounces ) mozzarella cheese
Bake an additional 10 minutes or until cheese has melted.  

Add ins;  RED PEPPER FLAKES/ AND OR DICED COOKED CHICKEN

Ideas from the ads

Cheese is 2.50 a lb (the top of the RBP) at Fm.  You have to buy 5 things,   It is like  1.28 for 8 ounces at Winco,   Chicken is .87 at FM and it’s washingtin grown.   It’s almost always a better deal to buy chicken that is local.   A lot of fruit is a buck at FM .

Milk is 1.79 @@ at safeways.  Hot dog buns are .79.  @@ Hamburger is 80/20 is 2.49.  @@

The last page I missed because I was doing it with the on line ad.   Holidays make the paper ads late in the mail.  

Alberways
Cheese, 8 ounce bags 2.50.   They are more money than Winco, but you dint have to buy 5 like FM.
That’s about all on the last page.  
Green beans are 75 cents.     Winco has a case of 12 for 5.00.  It’s not what you buy, it’s when and where you buy it,  

Meals

• Pizza    🍕 a kid favorite and can be super cheap.   A scratch crust costs .19.   With cheese at 1.25 for 2 cups or 1.28 at Winco., cheese should cost .65.    Add part of a DT jar of pizza sauce ( makes  5 pizzas) and top with keftiver veggies and or chicken bits or pepperoni .  The DT has pepperoni for a dollar and you can use 1/2 a package with other toppings.   Total cost 1.54.   
• Chicken , potatoes, a vegetable and bread.    A five pound chicken costs 4.35.   Even a family of six should be able to get 2 meals or more out of a chicken .   Roast chicken , chicken pizza or chicken cassarole, and chicken soup.    Figure the first meal 2.35.  Add potatoes at .20 cents a pound ,40 for four, a bag of frozen veggies is 1.00, and bread .25.   Total 4.00
• 
  

Chain store ads

Alberways

Pork loin chops .99
Grapes 1.99
Boneless chicken thighs or breast 1.69
Pasta sauce, Classico 1.99
French bread 🥖.99

QFC

Saturday only, digital coupon.
Yoplait yougert mega pack 8
1.99

———-
Grapes 1.77
Milk .99
Pie 2.99
Fresh berries , blue, raspberries 2/5
Note this time of year, the frozen is a better buy,  
———-

Buy5, save 5

Fruit, frozen 2.99
Kraft singles 2.99
2 pk cream cheese 2.99
Skippy peanut butter 1.99
————

Wednesday Notes

Last  night we went out for snacks with friends,   I had a flat bread with chicken, bacon, so,e chopped tomato and a drizzling if a sauce.   It would make a good meal with a salad and would use leftover chicken and bacon.   Not that we would ever have a piece of leftover bacon.   😆

Ideas for non conventional meals are all around us.  Pinterest and u tube are great sources of inspiration.   I have found that life is so much easier when we have a small stock of food on the house and snow doesn’t clog up our wheels.    I don’t have to go out if I don’t want to.   It makes life a lot easier.    Getting to that point takes a little time, but in the long run it is a lot less stressful. Now I go to the store to fill in what I need — mostly fruits and veggies and dairy.  I always check the pantry before heading out and can see at a glance if we are running low on something and know  to watch for a sale.

Getting there is easy, but takes a bit of time if you don’t have an influx of extra cash.  Its a good way to use a few dollars of an income tax return.    Otherwise You can take baby steps.

1. Start with a less than 25.00 purchase of staples at Costco or your warehouse store    Here, we can get a 20 pound bag of flour and a twenty pound bag of Quaker Oats.   That alone saves a bundle    Add a 3.55 bag of yeast. 
2. Start setting aside five bucks a week for a stockpile.  Make a list of your top 10 easy, eco omical meals.   Now list the ingredients you use for those meals. We, like a lot of families  eat a lot   Of Italian and Tex mex.   
3. Watch sales and buy anything you use in a regular basis to make meals.    Our list would be cans of green beans , cans of corn, diced tomatoes , pasta sauce, pasta. I add diced green chillis from Winco for .66 and sliced black olives    A few instant mashed potatoes are good because they work in a pinch when you are short of time or the potatoes are bad.    Little by little, it will grow   After you master that, go on to rotation protein.  
4. Choosing bulk meats that are versatile for meal planning.   At our house that would be boneless skinless chicken breast  , pork loin, and hamburger.   Add cheese and beans .   I want to average less than two dollars a pound    I’ve been getting pork loin for between a dollar and  a dollar and sixty nine cents.  I got chicken breast for a dollar, but they are 1.77 a lot of times at Fred Meyers (Kroger) .  I like nine percent fat hamburger, but recently bought 80/20 for 2.66.  We eat beef once or twice a week.   It also helps that we eat vegetarian meals twice a week. Rotation protein is a concept where you watch for a RBP on you chosen meat and buy enough for a month to six weeks.  The next week, you find a different deal .  If you eat pork once a week, you need enough for 4-6 meals.  Then watch for a chicken or beef good sale .  When you get it home, portion control the batch and freeze.   Cook it if it makes sense .  Some people make freezer meals .  I dint want to fill the freezer with food that didn’t have to be frozen in the first place.  I cook hamburger and de-fat it and freeze it in portion controlled bags.   I use cheap  quart bags and put them in a labeled gallon bag. 
5. Buy dairy when it is on sale. Some pull dates are out a month.   Fred Meyers usually has it for cheap once or so a month.  I buy Costco butter unless I can find it cheaper.  QFC has had it on a digital coupon for 2.00 lately.   Watch for coupons  I got Darigold for 1.50.  
6. Learn the RBP for the things you buy on a regular basis.   Don’t  buy anything if it isn’t your price unless it is a dire necessity.   Prices cycle,  if you get enough for a month to six weeks, you can just about bet you will find another sale.  The exception will be seasonal items.   Baking items are best bought at Christmas holidays and Easter  .   Ditto cream of mushroom soup.   BBQ sauce and suddenly salad along with ketchup will be on sale at picnic time.

If this is over whelming, take one step at a time.   

Costco and Winco haul

we are at 55.00 a week for feb.   less for January.   We have a good start on next week.  

Costco

tortilla  chips 3.59
Bacon. 4.  13.49
Bananas 1.39
Romaine 3.79

Total 29.05

Winco
Tomatoes 1.28
Cucumbers .33
Cream cheese 1.46
Parm 2.18
Peppercorn salmon 4.98

Total 11.72

Costco has no regular eggs.  The tomatoes and cream cheese were too expensive .  It seems as though Costco is catering to the wat we used to call yuppies.

Why buy a 20 lb bag of flour.?

If you are trying to lower you food expense as far as you can lower it, buying a bag of Costco flour can save a bundle.   There are lots of recipes for mixes that save time in the kitchen.  Bread recipes are out there that make a loaf if bread in 10-15 minutes hands on time.    The savings are remarkable. The last bag of flour cost me .08 a cup.  

Costco large muffins Re a dollar a piece.   A batch of muffins cost .45 dozen .  It can be cheaper, depending on what you put in as an add on,  

Bread can cost between .25 and .30.   The same bread can cost 3.00.  That’s a remarkable difference.  

Pizza crust.    The dough can be 1.50-2.00 at the grocery store.   It costs .19.  

Pancakes are pennies, they cost upwards of two dollars at the store ready made.  
Ditto waffles.

In short, the difference between homemade and ready made is remarkable and can save tons of money.

Got 20 pounds of flour, now what do I do.?

Yesterday, I made a dozen blueberry muffins.   It took just a few minutes and used 3/4 of a cup of blueberries .   I could have added Apple and cinnamon, or raspberries and a crumble topping,  

You can make a baking mix with canola oil or butter.   Today, I have pancake mix.   Pancakes,a little turkey bacon, and fruit in season makes breakfast for dinner,    Turkey bacon is a at the dollar tree— name brand,

Pancake mix

4 cups flour
3 Tbls baking powder
2 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
3 Tbls sugar

Stir all ingredients together and store in a container with a tight fitting lid,    Attach the directions to the container,  

To make

1 cup mix
1 TBLS oil or melted butter
1 cup milk
1 egg

Mix wet ingredients,
Stir dry ingredients , measure mix,
Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients,  dint over mix,  

Drop quarter cup of batter onto griddle or frying pan that has been sprayed with oil, or is non stick.  Cook until sides are dry and bubbles appear on top .  Flip and cook the second side.  

Serve with powdered sugar dusting. Or syrup.

Getting started

This concept of just buying what you need to supplement what you already have sounds overwhelming esiciakky if you now barely make it from payday to payday.   It is possible.   It takes time,   I maintained and built our stock last year on 55.05 a week fir 3 of us,  my daughter pays for her daughters food, we just supply her groceries that are meat and dairy because she is vegan.  

First, take some baby steps to lower your food bill with the idea that you can use the “found” money to stock.   Try cutt8ng out any pop and snack type chips etc.. Buying  a whole jar of applesauce and a few snack cups from the DT that have screw on lids will help.  

• Buy a bulk bag of flour, rice, and oatmeal .  This is about 25.00 at Costco.  
• 
  
• This is a breakfast go to that costs eight cents a serving and feeds a family of six with a little fruit for a buck.   
• 
  
• Rice is dirt cheap per serving.   I use the insta pot, but my mother used the microwave to cook it.  Rice pudding, rice with either a Chinese , American, or Tex mex flair works with a lot of meals.  At two cents a serving, it stretches your starch budget.  
• Flour is a good versatile means of cooking.   pancakes. Waffles. Muffins,   Bread, cookies. Noodles , pizza dough,    The last calculation for Costco flour was eight cents a cup.  That makes pizza dough nineteen cents.   My daughter paid two bucks and she still had to roll and bake it.    It takes about three minutes and you do t ha e to knead it.    My granddaughter at 4 could roll a crust,  you can also pat it into imdividual pizzas 🍕 or into a large circle or rectangle to fit a cookie sheet or baking pan.   Muff8ms are a great go to for breakfast.  They cost pennies vs dollars fir ready made.  
• 
  
• Next, use what you saved on inexpensive shelf stable food that your family will eat and that you use on a regular basis.   Right now, Winco has green beans and corn fir five bucks a case.  That’s the price of a big bucks coffee.    That’s 41.5 cents a can.   I saw them well over a dollar at FM this week.   
• Anither mainstay at this house is diced tomatoes.   Watch for a sale. I paid as little as 39 cents.  I only buy diced.  You can put them through the food processer or blender and make sauce,  reserve the “juice” and replace the water when you make rice.   You can use the drained tomatoes in salsa oron top of nachos instead of fresh in a pinch.   I use them for stock with vegetable or chicken stock in soup.   I want .49 or less 
• Invest in beef boullion and chicken boullion .  The price of about three boxes of stock will give you many cups of stock .  Another pennies vs dollars.   About 3.50
• Pasta sauce can be really expensive.  Look for sales and sales with coupons.  Coupon.com has a new load the first of every month.  You are allowed to print two coupons.   Check them early for coupons.   I want close to a buck. 
• Try to set aside five bucks a week.  No room ?    Use the flat free boxes from Costco and put them under the bed if you have to 
• Keep you eyes peeled for inexpensive meals your family will eat that scratch cook efficiently.  If it takes all day, it isn’t sustainable.   

DT and FM hauls

Dollar Tree

Cranberry, whites chocolate cookie mix
Thomas Bagels
12 grain bread
Hoagie rolls
Pizza sauce
Total 5.00



Fred Meyers

Cantaloupe 1.50
Prego pasta sauce 3/5
Granny Smith apples   2.01
12 English muffins 1.67
2 pears 1.07
 bacon  4.49
Strawberries 1.67

DT bread


Total.    18.10

Total 23.10

Meal plans

Meal  plans make it easy to stay on track and avoid the take  out demons.  


We are still trying to eat down the freezer in preparation for a bulk meat purchase.  

• Sausage bean soup. Bread 
• Pizza (sausage) you guessed it, hold from the soup for a second meal 
• Baked potato bar - chicken, sour cream, sauce
• Chicken fettuccine, green beans
• Tuna cassarole with peas
• Tacos, refried beans, Spanish rice 
• Breakfast for dinner 

Notes 

1. Sausage was FREE at QFC.  Hold some (1/4 ) pound fcooked for pizza
2. Pizza....scratch crust .19 cents. Use cheese for two dollars a lb . Fm has it 2.50 buy5, save 5 and Winco had it fir 1.2X an 8 ounce bag last i was there 
3. Baked potato bar.  Use cook once, eat twice chicken and sour cream .  Potatoes were 1.99 for 10 lbs at Winco last 
4. Chicken fettuccine-recipe on blog 
5. Tacos use cheese and taco meat already cooked, Spanish rice usessome tomato boullion or sauce from cut to,atoms you saved. Scratch refried beans - insta pot or slow cooker.  Freeze leftovers 
6.  Tuna cassarole, use homemade soup base and frozen peas 
7. Breakfast for dinner - anything you want including quiche, salad, or pancakes or waffles.  Turkey bacon is at the DT. 

Meals to cook when you have nothing to cook.

Its no secret, the basis of Groceries on the cheap is to stock when things are at a RBP and rotate what you buy.   It takes a while to get to that point, but you can do it even on a low budget.   The key is in the budgeting and not buying junk food.    Oh, cue the groans from the junk food lovers.  Lol.    Hey, it’s not even good for you!

Having the luxury of knowing there is always food in the house 🏡 takes a lot of stress away,   They have proven that poor people have a shortened life span because of the stress.   No child should have to grow up wondering where the next meal is coming from.


 Oh,  what do you do before you commit to a life change ?

There are meals that use ingredients that are really cheap,  it helps to set yourself up with the basics
and a few appliances as soon as you can that make life easy.  This is especially true of people that are trying to juggle many hats.  An insta pot and food processer are basic tools that make kitchen life efficient,    I saved enough to pay for  the insta pot just not having to buy ready  rice and canned beans.

Let’s get to it

•  Potato soup with or without bacon or ham 
• Cheezy potato soup 
• French toast.  There are oven recipes out there 
• Mac and cheese 
• 
  
• Spaghetti and meatballs 
• Omelets - fill with cheese and any vegetable you have
• Frittata - rice, eggs, corn, cheese 
• Impossible pie 
• Cheese and bean enchaladas
• Hot dogs and oven fries , veggie sticks -if you are really short, make dough and make pigs in blankets.   Buns aren’t hard to make, but they are time consuming,   
• Baked potato bar 
• Fried rice 
• Burrito bowls 
• Rice and beans 
• Soup-  any but vegetable bean costs out at about 2.50 for 6 quarts.!  

One if the first bulk buys I would make would be a 20 ish pound if rice and flour and a ten pound bag of oatmeal.  I buy ours at Costco, but I’m sure sams club has  them if there are still sams clubs around.    Of you don’t have a membership, you can usually find someone that will help you that does. 

A serving of oatmeal costs  .085 .  That makes six servings less than a buck including a splash of milk and a little fruit.   

Beans are a penny a serving and rice is three cents.   Buy them at the DT, 

If you can make your own pizza crust and a quick dozen muffins, that saves bundles too.   A pizza crust with Costco bulk flour costs about 19 cents,    It takes about 3 minutes,   My 5yo granddaughter can do it,    Muffins can be done in about 5 minutes and any child over ten or so as long as they are able to handle the oven without burning themselves, can bake muffins,   My mother had us baking at 9,    

Unless it’s in sale  elsewhere, buy bread at the DT.  They also have brown and serve rolls.   Not the best ones I ve ever had,  it they work if you have to.   Learn how to make peasant bread,   It’s easy, again a older child can do it, and it takes no kneading. I would handle the oven.      It is rustic like the name Implies , but it is a good accompaniment to a good bowl of soup or stew.

  I want food I can make with not much hands on cooking.  It was that way when I was holding down sometimes 2 jobs with three kids and a house to run, now it’s that way for health reasons.    It just works.    

Saturday night, I have six people and 60 bucks.

Fred Meyers has chickens tomorrow for .87.  Get a five lb one,    This should yield you 2 legs, 2 thighs, and one breast cut in two for a meal.   Add potatoes and a veggie .

Take the broth and rice (DT) and some veggies and make soup in the slow cooker.  Add rolls or biscuits .

Pizza casserole or pizza

Mac and cheese , vegetable

Rice and beans
spaghetti sauce and spaghetti
————-
Fred Meyers
Chicken
Milk 1.79
Check the spaghetti for .50 spaghetti
Prego 3/5
Check the space by the eggs English muffins should be a huge package for 1.67. (3/5)

Total 12.93



Winco

Carrots 2.28 fir 5 lbs
Potatoes 10 lbs 1.99
Celery .99
Peas 1.00, sometimes .88 and corn
2 cans diced tomatoes .58
4-8 8 ounce pkgs of cheese at about 1,28 a pkg.   I think they are Winco brand.   Get regular and pizza cheese if you can
1 pkg meatballs 2.00

20.82



Dollar tree
Pizza sauce
3 pizza crusts - unless you can make it yourself -  pizzas are 2  indiciduals to a package, cost of home made is .17.
Rice
Beans
Macaroni - try to get a value added box.    Normally I would have bought boxes when I can get them for .76 with coupons.
Bread -5

Total 12.00

Total 46.75

Add eggs 2 dozen where ever they are close to a buck.  Winco did it lasts week.  Add some fresh fruit at a dollar a lb or less .  

Following the on the cheap way gives you the luxury of not being stuck.  If I had a few bucks, I would buy a case of green beans at Winco.  

Chicken Alfredo

Chicken Alfredo  - serves 4

1 lb chicken breast , cooked and cubed.
1/2 lb fettucini
1-1/2 cups milk
5 T butter, cut into small pieces
Dash of nutmeg, pepper
3/4 cup parmesean cheese

• Cook the pasta according to package directions, 
• Bring the milk to a boil in a skillet, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes 
• Remove skillet from heat , add drained pasta to skillet
• Toss, add chicken, spices, and most of the cheese. 
• Toss again and pit remaining cheese on top 

FM Sunday ad

buy 5; save 5

2 lbs cheese 5.00
Frozen fruit
Snap peas .99
Skippy peanut butter 1.99


Strawberries 3/5
FF chicken whole or thighs .87
Milk 1.79

.99 sale
Apples
Pears
Oranges
Blood oranges


Prego 3/5. Look for coupons