No spend month : meal plans

It’s time to eat down the pantry and rotate stock.  The new crop will be coming in and the last years crop will hit the case lot sales soon.

• Chicken parm :  spaghetti, sauce, breaded chicken, parmesan cheese, green beans 
• Pizza 
• Taco soup, tortilla chips 
• Fried rice, egg rolls 
• Pork chops, seasoned rice, peas and carrots 
• Salmon patties, oven fried potatoes, peas 
• Breakfast for dinner :  egg muffins, fruit parfaits, ( blueberries, yogurt, granola layered .   

Notes : 

1. We use 1/2 a box of spaghetti and my big pricej for spaghetti is less than a dollar.  omemcan  still get Barilla for a dollar at the DT.  Use real parm, not the stuff on the green box.  You can eat on the cheap without eating cheap food.   Its good food cheap, not cheap food.   We use Foster Farms breaded chicken .   Its always good to eat local chicken .
2. Pizza is a good thing for a cheap meal,   Scratch dough is fast and cost .19.  The cost if dough in the grocery store is 1.50 to 2.00.   You still have to roll it out and fill it.   Pizza sauce is cheapest at the DT and it is a name brand.  One jar will make 5 pizzas,   Freeze it in an ice cube tray and pop the cubes out into a zip lock.   You can take a couple of cubes out while you roll the dough and they will be ready.  Or zap them  in the microwave for about 10 seconds,   Pepperoni is a dollar at the DT for 2 packages of 14.  Pat it with  a paper towel.   This isn’t 
3. rocket science, my granddaughter has been assembling pizza since she was 4 yo.   From dough to ready for the oven.   
4. Taco soup is easy in the slow cooker or insta pot.   Precooking ground meat and portion controlling it in quart freezer bags is a real time saver.   You are more likely to de fat a whole batch than you are to do it on the Herod the dinner hour,   
5. Fried rice is a good use of the chicken pieces you have in the freezer.   Again, the insta pot is a good resource, bit s frying lean works well with leftover rice. 
6. Pork chops are from the middle of a pork loin,   That makes them as low as a dollar a pound instead of 3.50.  Seasoned rice is a homemade mix with chicken granules and herbs,   
7. Salmon patties use a can of salon from Costco.   Oven fried potatoes are easy and veggies se less fat.   Anytime you can use a little olive oil instead  a lot of a hydroginated  oils is good, 
8. Breakfast for dinner is a family affair here.  Everyone participates. Sometimes it’s waffles, pancakes, occasionally  bacon, a quiche, fruit , yogurt parfaits.  We make our own granola.  That way we can control the ingredients .  Real honey, nuts, and  oatmeal that we purchase  in bulk.  

Anything that you can efficiently scratch  cook is always better than things out of  a box with few  exceptions,    There are a few things that take too much time, or cost.  It is cheaper to buy pasta sauce on sale with coupons than to make scratch.   I recently got Classico pasta sauce in a wide mouth jar I can reuse for dried herbs for .50.   That is cheaper than it cost for the jar.   

Investing in good tools if yo7 have the money and space is a good things no,  you are much more likely to scratch cook if you can efficiently scratch cook.  The insta pot is a good start,  it is a slow cooker, a rice cooker, and a pressure cooker,   The larger one makes yogurt.  I, personally am afraid of anything that I can mess up and potentially sicken my family with, so I will pass on the yogurt!. LOL  that being said, the insta pot uses  a smaller footprint than the three appliances it replaces.   And, it does the three things well.   The savings on rice and beans scratch cooked instead of ready cooked pays for the machine in no time.   I never cooked scratch beans because beans and rice have a very short refrigerator life.  They spoil quickly.  It is too much bother to cook 2 cups of beans the old fashioned way,: wash, soak, cook until done.  In the insta pot, you wash and check for any foreign things, ( like stones) , place on pot.  Add water to cover up to your second knuckle, close the lid , lush a lever to seal position, and push the bean button,  done.   Rice is just as simple.   

Simplify your ingredients , buy at RBP, always keep a 4-6 week stock.   

Four plus  one is five :  Four people, one meal, five bucks.

, 

Concept : FOUR DOLLARS A DAY

Feeding a family on four dollars a day is more what it isn’t than it is what it is.   You can’t feed your family on four dollars a day, at least in the PNW, by purchasing a five dollar jar of tahini and a eggplant and calling it dinner.  I also isn’t too practical to go to the fresh food market year round and buy only fruits and veggies an a couple of eggs and eat .  Those things might work for a single person, but for a family, just plain food on a limited budget is a better fit.

Simplify, buy food at a rbp and in bulk when it makes sense and eat old fashioned regular food that has been updated to be less fat, sugar, salt, hydroginated oils, GMO’s and HFCS.

Its not a concept that is romantic enough to sell books, it is just what works.   It has worked for us for a lot of years.   Good basic food;  we have lived on it for years.  We buy fresh fruit and vegetables on season and when the costs are not prohibitive,

In order to make a four dollar a day budget work, you need to maintain a small stock of recipe ingredients that you have purchased at rbp.   By doing so, you always have food in the house and you are able to make a wide variety of things for meals.  Stick to versatile basics.   On another blog, I lost over 40 basic meals that you can make by averaging costs on four dollars a day and grow stock.  Now, we aren’t feeding a 17 yo linebacker.   We hiwever, have grown a stock enough that we are going on a no spend month,   That means, I’m only buying exactly something we need to complete a meal and fresh perishables.  I’ll take you along,   I generously stocked us in fresh fruit and veggies,   I bought milk, but no sour cream or cottage cheese.  We have eggs and dehydrated eggs,   It’s a game.  We need to eat down the pantry and get ready for the new crop to come in.  The sales on frozen and canned vegetables will be hitting sometime September or October probably would be my best guess.

Studies have shown that your life expectancy diminishes if you have to worry about where the next meal is coming from.  I hate to see any child go through that.

Basics:

• Keep celery, carrots  (whole) radishes, lettuce and tomatoes when they are a realistic price.
• Frozen veggies go on sale for a buck a pound at times,   Stock on corn, green beans, peas, peas and carrots, and mixes vegetables, providing your family eats them  
• Buy protein that is low in cost ( my benchmark is an average of 2.00 a pound for meat.  Buy it in a rotation basis when it is at your buy price,  here, we can get chicken for 1.00 a pound at times, also pork loin for between 1.00 and 1.69.   Hamburger is more, but we only eat it once a week.   Pinto beans are .67 a pound when you buy a 1.5 pound bag at the DT.  They are cheaper by about a dime at Costco, but you have to buy too much for our family of four that eats beans.  I want to pay between 2.00 and 2.50 a pound for cheese.  There is supposed to be a glut  of milk in the country but , surprisingly, cheese is as much as 4.00 a pound.  Eggs are cheap now.  
• Buy vegetables and fruit in season on sale.  No surprises here, we have done that for years, 
• Buy your dairy when it is on sale,   Most of the dairy has a month or so pull date.  Buy the months worth, being careful not to overbuy   You can get a good idea of what and how much you will use,   If you are approaching pull dates, make a concentrated effort to use it up.  Make pudding.  Make a lasagna type  dish, butter can be frozen.   Yogurt can be out in muffins. Google the item in the on line Betty Crocker cookbook. It is free. 
• Pasta sauce is cheaper than making it from scratch,   Buy it on sale and watch for sales and Ibotta.  I got it for .50 the other day   
• 
  
• Diced tomatoes are a versatile tomato.  Instead of keeping a stock of a zillion different types of tomatoes, buy just the diced ones.   They can be used in nachos, in salsa in a pinch, and of you need tomato sauce, just put them in a blender or food processer.   
• Canned vegetables are a good back up.   They are the cheapest in the fall, buy I can usually get them cheapest at the discount type  stores.   (Winco here).   Consider buying a case or two depending on your family size.   I usually juice just get green beans and corn.
• Making your own mixes cuts costs dramatically. Baking mix, muffin mix, cream soup mix, white sauce mix, seasoned rice mix. 
• Buy pasta , the best quality you can find when you find it at a dollar or less.  Pasta has an 8 year shelf life.  Its better to use it before that time  but don’t hesitate to buy in bulk if you can .  
• It is a very versatile ingredient that stretches a buck.  
• Remember that in order to feed your family on  four dollars a day, you need to eat on less than four dollars a day so that you can buy enough ingredients.  Just because your meal costs four dollars, it doesn’t cover the staples you use on a regular basis or the fact that you can’t buy 2 tablespoons on an ingredient.    
• Good basic food bought at a rock bottom price.   Try to keep a four to six week supply of things you use on a regular basis.   That means that, for instance, if you eat beef once a week, you need to have enough beef for 4-6 meals.  Things like mayonnaise , and mustard, ketchup, I keep one ahead,  I don’t want to drop everything if I am out of mayo and I’m making a pasta 
• salad.  
• You can eat well on four dollars  a day by shopping wisely and taking advantage of any bargain you see.  You, however, can’t buy your food at the Big bucks food store.   
• Shop two stores a week,  that gives you the best of two worlds.   You get a better access to good produce cheap.   
• Learn to scratch cook efficiently.  Buy yourself good tools when you can.   

I hope these ideas help you to your journey,   Don’t try to incorporate all of them at the same time.  You will burn out,  this has happened for us over time and a lot of trials and tribulations,   Take one step at a time.   I’ve tried to give you the best ideas and not share my disasters. 

Friday : recipe day

Soup is a good meal with homemade bread and it can be very inexpensive,  
It Can be a very fast meal prep and you can oit it in a slow cooker or an insta pot and walk away.  
Bread can be made in ten minutes actual hands on time and that is split between 2 days,   ( peasant bread) .

Bean soup

1 large carrot
1cup sliced celery
Olive oil

1 tsp minced garlic
2 cups vegetable broth

2 cups white beans -1 can or cooked beans . Drain and rinse canned eans, hold out 2 Tablespoons of beans.  
1 tsp poultry seasoning

1 cup broccolli ,  chopped in medium chunks

Directions:
In a stockpot , Sauté carrot and celery with a little olive oil until almost tender.
Add garlic and continue cooking a minute or so.

Add cooked beans, broccolli, vegetable broth and seasoning and simmer 5-7 minutes

Mash 2 Tablespoons of means and add a tablespoon of broth.  Return to pot..   Stir.

Garnish with parmesean cheese .  

Notes:  I always add the celery tops when I make soup.  
Services 4

If you aren't making bread, a cheezy biscuit works too.   Make baking powder biscuits (Bisquick  works ) Roll the dough into a rectangle, cover with grated cheese all the way to the edge.  Roll it up like you would a cinnamon roll, and slice into 1 to 1.5 inch slices .   Set flat side down on parchment lined baking sheet and bake according to the biscuit directions.  

Hauls 8/3

Grocery Outlet

Bacon 1.99
Hamburger buns .99

Total 6.96

Costco
Oatmeal 8.29
Bananas 1.39
Blue cheese 6.74
Walnuts 13.99
Tortilla chips 3.59
 Total 34.00

40.96

Fred Meyers
Milk .99
Cherries 3.85
Corn 1.00
grapes 2.62
Granulated sugar .99
Bbq beef 3.99
Blueberries 4.99
English muffins 1.67

Strawberries 3.99
Total 24.09
Total 65.05

That’s the total .  We are well stocked, we are going on a no spend  month. Its time to rotate stock out and save up for the new crop coming on.

What to do with a split chicken breast.

Washington grown split chicken breast is .88 a pound this week.  

Binkess, skinless, chicken breast was 4.00 a pound last week and I have seen it for as much as 8.00 a pound,  

To get the most out of a split breast.

• Cit the rib portion off the breast,  you don’t have to be perfect.  Just run a sharp knife along the bone,  be careful to hold the chicken far away from the knife.  Use short, calculated strokes.   Slow.   
• Place the rib portion on a container or gallon zip lock. 
• Put the single breast in quart bag.  We use dollar store bags for this,  you aren’t going to use them again. Then, place the quart bags in a gallon bag.   Label with date and freeze. 

1. Before bed, place the rib portions on a slow cooker and cover with water up to an inch from the top.   Add some vegetable scraps and herbs.  
2. Turn the cooker  on low and go to bed. 
3. In the morning, drain the pot into a pan.  
4. Refrigerate stock .  When cold you can remove the fat from the top.  Portion control and freeze.  
5. Pick the bones for chicken pieces, bag and freeze. 
6. Toss the bones. 

Chicken pieces can become soup, enchaladas, chicken pot pie or taco meat.  

Chain store ads

Alberways

Pork loin 1.79
Shrimp 5.99@@


Grapes 1.49
Blues 2.99

Bread .89@@
Milk 1.79@@



Digital coupons
Progress soup 5for 5 u must buy 5
Blue bunny ice cream, 2 for 5 must buy 2
Yoplait 5 for 2.00.

QFC

tortillas 10/10

Buy 5, save 5

Dave’s  bread 2.99
Cheese 2.49 a pound
BREYERS 2.49
Kroger breakfast sausage 2/5

Strawberries, raspberries 2.99
Melons 2/5

Fred Meyers

Avocados 4/5

FF Split breast .88
Blues 2 lbs 3.99
Grapes 2.29
Oranges 3 lbs 3.49
Corn 2/1.00
Cherries 2.99


Friday and Saturday only
Lunch meat 1.99up to 5
Digital only


B5, S5
Cheese 2.49
Jiff 1.49
Crackers 1.77
BREYERS 2.99
Double cream cheese 2.99
******
What I see out of that is split chicken breast for .88
That’s a rotation meat! At FM

QFC has tortillas

Alberways has Yoplait.

How did she do that ....baked spaghetti

We made baked spaghetti in the insta pot/ oven .  It is easily a five Dollar  dinner for six people.   We made the spaghetti by layering a pound ifmcooked hamburger, 1/2 pound of spaghetti, broken in half and spread like you are making a bird nest, a jar of pasta sauce, and 2cups of broth poured around the edge.  Process for 8 minutes.   Quick release.

I then put it in a 9X13 pan and topped with parm cheese.   I’ll bake it tonight until it is bubbly and serve with a salad.

The key here is to buy ingredients when you find them at their lowest price.


Pasta sauce, Classico, .99 less Ibotta .50. .49
Spaghetti, Barilla , DT. 1/2 box .50
Hamburger, Zaycon , 1lb 2.44
Chicken stock -free
Green salad 1/2 bag.  .50

Total 3.94

Monday Kitchen Management

This week is a break from the usual.  I have already washed the kitchen floor, disinfected the countertops etc snd cleaned out the refrigerator.  

We are going into a no spend rest of the month,  there are five weeks this month .  The new crop is die to come on, so the last years crop will be on sale on the coming months,   Rotating stock to keep things fresh is part of keeping a stock.   It can never be bad to save some money . LOL

So far this month, we have had :

• French Texas toast, bacon, fruit 
• Hamburgers, pasta salad, fruit 
• Sausage, potatoes, carrots, radishes -roasted 
• Bbq beef sandwiches, corn on the cob.  
• Baked spaghetti ( use the insta pot and oven for this) green salad.

Today I am going to clean out the pantry and take inventory,   This will take time, but, re,e,her, the excess in the pantry was purchased with the four dollar a day budget— and we still eat well.    I did spend a lot the last week buying fresh fruit because it’s in season and only happens once a year.   The prices aren’t low enough to put much up.   

We got 4 green beans and 2 zucchini coming so far, and we have enjoyed a lot of cherry tomatoes,   

I plan to pull last times inventory and just change the numbers.   I’ll work from the inventory to make meal plans.   Making 2 meals vegetarian helps to cut food costs.   Baking from scratch helps too.   There is a drastic difference between ready made baked goods and bread and scratch,  there are a lot of easy scratch recipes out there. The internet is a good resource.

Follow me on our journey to reduce the pantry and please consider hitting the follow button and sharing.   You never know who you might be helping.   

40 Plus meals

Meatball subs
Tacos
Sliders
Nachos
Burrito bowls
Enchaladas. Chicken
Enchaladas, beef
Hot dogs
Salisbury steak meatballs
Meatballs with mashed potatoes, rice, or noodles
Shepherd’s pie


Pork noodles
Pork roast, sauerkraut
Ham and bean soup
Cuban pork chops
Pork Roast
Pork sliders
Pork chops and stuffing


Vegetable bean soup
Chili
Minestrone
Great northern beans and sausage cassoulet
Potato  soup
Tomato soup
 Chicken  corn chowder
Beer cheese soup
Chicken gnocchi soup
Chicken salad. Pecans, chicken, grapes, craisens. Greens.  
Chefs salad



Shrimp tacos
Shrimp stirfry


Pizza , sausage, pepperoni
Pizza, buffalo chicken
Spaghetti
Baked spaghetti


Quiche
French toast ,  bacon, fruit
Scrambled eggs, English muffins. Fruit
Waffles , sausage, fruit or fruit parfaits

Chicken parm
Chickn pot pie
Chicken and bacon cassarole w tater tots
Pepperoni stuffed chicken breast

Chicken nuggets
Chicken stroganoff

Meal plans 8/5/8

Meal Plans are a tool that saves time and money.  It helps to  manage your food in such a way as to avoid waste .

• Bbq beef sandwiches, corn on the cob, salad 
• Pizza
• Chicken noodle casserole 
• Pasta salad ( potluck) 
• Insta pot spaghetti , baked, salad 
• Salmon, twice baked Potatoes. Veggies 
• Breakfast for dinner 

Notes : 

1. Use bbq beef purchased at FM and leftover buns, 
2. Pizza is cheap and homemade (1.00) 
3. Chicken noodle casserole made with chicken cooked in insta pot. 
4. Pasta salad starts with Suddenly salad - it’s a dollar at winco and sometimes the DT and here are coupons out there. 
5. Salmon is pepper corn salmon from Winco, 
6. Breakfast for dinner is a family favorite and everyone cooks,   
7.  Insta pot spaghetti is one we found on u tube.   

Saturday Concepts: Retailers dirty little secrets

It should come to no surprise that retailers have studied our shopping habits and our habits in order to extract as much money from us as possible,   Knowing their tricks, you can make the best of their strategies .

• 70 percent of our purchases at the grocery store are impulse buys. Its 80 percent in England. 
• Impulse buys means that we are nit logical about our decisions,   This could speak trouble. 
• 50 percent of any given cart is usually liquids and snacks.  Cutting these off your grocery list can save a lot.   If you just have to have the pop and chips, set aside a different ‘entertainment’ budget so it’s really visable  as to how much you are spending,   
• The verbiage  10 for 10 in an ad, is to entice you to buy 10.  Unless it specifically states buy 10, you don’t have to buy 10.   
• It is no accident that the snack attack and bakery items bombard you as you walk in the door.   Its a good idea to not go to the store hungry or uptight.   Your resistance is down and you will spend more.
• Stock to your list. Make a list, or at least know what categories you are shopping for.  Of you shop to replentish stock, take a quick inventory so you have a good idea that you need dairy, and produce, and quite possibly a rotation protein.   Do keep a list of staples that you are noting are dwindling. Watch for a RBP on those things.   
• Don’t impulse buy, but do take advantage of an unadvertised special if the price is at your buy price or below if you can readily use it.   One time I walked onto QFC and Local chicken was .50 a pound because they needed to be cooked that day or the next.  I bought three and went home and cooked them.  It was then that I researched and found the easiest way to cook a chicken.   
• Offering basket coupons is another way to get you into a store. Pay attention to the minimum amount that you need to spend.  The closer to that minimum amount you come to, the more percent off you are saving,   Be sure to include the coupons you may have on items so you don’t come up short.   Only buy things that are at or close to your buy price.   Its not a bargain if you buy things that they have already marked up the 20 percent they are giving you for instance.  
• Manufacturers pay slotting fees to get to display their merchandise in preferable places.  Notably the end caps and middle shelves.  Some chains get upwards of a million dollars for the pro ledge,   You have to know that the companies are going to still make a profit and that cost is going to be reflected in your purchase price.   Look up and down.   Consider the store brand. Those brands are mostly name brands that manufacture for  the stores.   The cost is remarkably different.  Mild green chillies at Winco for Winco brand are .66.  The name brand is 1.28.  
• Knowing where things are on the store helps.   You can, for instance, pass a lot of hamburger buns at Winco until you get to the bread isle and find the cheapest Winco brand buns.   We are talking 1/2 price.   
• If a store is offering hot  dogs on sale cheap especially on a holiday weekend, you can bet the buns will be full or an inflated price.   This is why you shop at two stores.   
• Shopping  at two stores gives you the best selection of produce and with some ad watching, the  best prices on any particular item on your must have list.  That being said, being flexible can save a lot of money.   
•   Certain stores are have a reputation for the best price on certain things.  Fred Meyers has a huge bag of English muffins for 3/5 all the time.   It used to be by the eggs, but now that they remodeled, I will have to hunt it up again. 
• Going with a clear view in your mind of what you are specifically looking for is you best hedge against falling for the impulse buys.

Breakfast for Dinner

Last nights dinner cost .65 a plate.   We had Texas Toast french toast, bacon, and cantaloupe .

The Texas Roast was purchased at the Franz Bread store for 1.13 a loaf ,.  The cantaloupe was 2.00 at Safeway's and it was huge,   The bacon was 2.43 for 12 ounces at Winco.   Eggs are .88 at the Kroger stores.  We have a lot left to incorporate into other meals.   I made extra french toast and froze it so we can toast it for breakfast.   

Our average this year has been less than 4.00 a day and we supplement granddaughter and grow a stock.  Four dollars a day is what we spend totally.   You can’t call it four dollars  a day when you have to spend ten dollars a day to get the ingredients.   What we have left from last night’s dinner, we can incorporate into other meals and still maintain a four dollar  a day budget.   

Its buying what’s on sale and incorporating it into meals.  Not everything on a sale ad is on sale.   Its FOR SALE, but not necessarily on sale,   There is a drastic difference sometimes  just between stores for the exact same thing.   Picking your store for the best prices that week is a good tool in reducing your food costs.   Going to more than one store is essential .  No one store has all the lowest prices.   And, no food is going to do your family any good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.   

French Toast 

Mix eggs with a little water or milk and some cinnamon and nutmeg,   Soak bread in egg mixture,   Cook on frying pan or griddle until browned,  turn and cook  the other side.  I put the toast on a cookie sheet and kept it warm in a 250 degree oven.   

My husband cooked the bacon between paper towels in the microwave while I cut part of the cantaloupe.   

All in all, dinner was really fast, easy, and cheap.    We still got protein, starch, and a serving of fruit. 

Hauls ... 39.78

7/29/18

Dollar tree

3 pasta, Barilla

Safeways

Cream cheese

4 frozen veggies

Green grapes

Spinach

Lettuce

Total

14.33

Total 17.33

8/1
QFC
Classico pasta sauce .99
Beef patties 7.99
Taquitos 5.49
Yoplait .40 with coupons
Ice cream 3.50
Total 22.45

Chain store ads

QFC

Eggs .88
Tillamook ice cream 2/7
Kroger brats 2/5


Buy 5,save 5
Classico .99
Kraft dressing .99
Yoplait 10/5
Beef patties 6.99


Alberways
Cantaloupe 2/4
Lucerne cheese 2 lbs 4.99


Fred Meyers

FF grill Paxks .99
Kroger bacon 3poumds 10.99
Country Ocen bread 3/5
Grapes.99
Cherries 1.68
Milk 1/2 gal .99
Pears .99
Pork shoulder .99
Eggs .88
Strawberries 2 lbs 3.99


DIGITAL COUPONS

Folgers 5.99
Lean cuisine 4/6
Skippy 1.99
Lunch meat 2.49
Classico sauce .99

FRIDAY and Saturday only
Digital coupon
Cereal .99

Another installment of how did she do that?

 Last night we had hot dogs. Oven fries, and a fruit platter.   Its the season and we had grapes, cherries, strawberries,  blueberries and raspberries.

We continue to spend less than our 4,00 a day budget,  I did, however, prorate our case of hamburger purchase,  Zaycon is out of business .

How did she do that!   Meals that are super cheap, especially when you efficient scratch cook

1. Beans, rice, and cornbread .  Rice in the insta pot is easy. Ditto the beans,   Scratch beans and rice save a ton of money,   Bagged Reid rice can be 50 cents a serving,   Homemade costs .02.  Cornbread is another cheap side.  My family doesn’t eat cornbread, so we make beer bread.   It, too, is really easy,   
2. Spaghetti w pasta sauce .   Sour dough bread takes 10 minutes and costs a quarter. 
3. Split Pea soup. 
4. Homemade pizza.  Another one that is cheap and easy. 
5. Bbq chicken (leg portions) and oven fries.  Leg portions  can be less than a buck a pound. Potatoes are a quarter a pound here,  wash potatoes with vinegar water.  We have a dedicated brush,  cut potatoes in eights, dry with a paper towel.  Toss with olive oil and  sprinkle with  desired seasoning,  we use garlic pepper.   Place on sheet pan and bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes,or until done. 
6. Mac and cheese,  scratch Mac and cheese is easy.   Start with a white sauce mix (homemade) add grated cheese.   Cook elbow macaroni until done,   It takes 2 minutes in the insta pot, quick release,   Use a quart of water for a box of pasta.   Have been finding Barilla at the DT.  Put the Mac and cheese in a baking pan and top with a breadcrumb mixture of breadcrumbs, parmesean  cheese and parsley,   Bake at 350 until heated through.  We use homemade breadcrumbs, real parmesean cheese.   You can have real foods and still stay on a low budget. 
7. Stirfry,   Stirfry s t r e t c h e s.   A little meat,    When you are butchering your bulk meat, you can often set aside bits of meat for stirfry,  add veggies and you have a meal.  Add rice or top ramen noodles,  
8. Fried rice, 
9. Cheeseburger macaroni,   Scratch takes no longer than the box and has better and more ingredients,   When we dissected  a box  of mix it had 4.2 ounces of macaroni including the take weight, and a 1.57 ounce package of cheese sauce that didnt have any cheese in it,  It did have a whole lot of things that we couldn’t pronounce .   The recipe is on the blog.   
10. Tuna Melts.   
11. Nachos,   
12. Breakfast for dinner,   Pancakes, waffles, french toast, eggs, fruit,   

The best tip I can give, is to develop a set of meals your family likes that use inexpensive sources of protein,   Keep a stock of shelf or freezer safe foods that you will use to cook those meals,  buy stocking when prices are low,you can maintain a 4-6 week supply of ingredients and you will avoid the pantry is empty and there is 4 days until payday syndrome.   Its a nice place to be.  It doesn’t happen overnight,but it can happen.   

Monday Kitchen Management

Kitchen management is a tool that saves time and energy.  By prepping your weekly food, you do things in big batches and wash up once,  

Reminder of meals,

• Hot dogs , french fries fruit 
• Pizza salad 
• Salisbury steak meatballs, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots, 
• Chicken salad, rolls 
• Salmon, rice, green beans 
• Chicken stroganoff , salad 
• Breakfast for dinner 

1. Wash kitchen floor 
2. Wash and disinfect counters and sinks and drains,
3. Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead.
4. Put stove vent screen in dishwasher, 
5. Wash potatoes and cut french fries, soak in vinegar and put on container for tonight, 
6. Wash fruit and put in containers 
7. Make salad and oit in paper towel lined container 
8. Cook chicken for stroganoff and salad 
9. Check to see of the rice mix is full. 
10. Fill the oatmeal, flour and sugar canisters. 

Notes : 

Peas and carrots were a dollar at safeways,   I bought seven bags including white corn, peas, greenbeans. Peas and carrots and mixed veggies,   This should last us untIl they go on sale again. The new crop should be coming in and I expect about September there will be more sales.  Both canned and frozen.   

Meal Plans -week of 7/30/18

Meal Plans  are a tool that saves time and money. A little time before the hectic week saves  a lot of stress during the hectic dinner hour.

• Sheet pan dinner:   Sausage, potatoes,carrots, radishes. 
• Pizza Bread, salad 
• Salisbury steak meatballs, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots 
• Chicken salad, rolls or bread sticks 
• Salmon, seasoned rice, greenbeans 
• Chicken stroganoff, salad 
• Breakfast for Dinner 

Notes: 

1. Sheet pan dinner:   Line sheet pan with. Parchment.  Cut rope sausage into pieces, wash carrots and potatoes, radishes in vinegar water.  Cut potatoes and carrots in uniform sized pieces so that they cook at the same time.  Add all vegetables to sheet pan and toss with olive oil to coat. Season with garlic pepper or salt and pepper.   Roast at 400 degrees for 45 mnutes or until potatoes and carrots test done. 
2. French bread purchased at .95 is the base for pizza bread.  
3. Salisbury steak meatballs is from Betty Crocker 
4. Chicken salad uses the rest of the bread from pizza bread 
5. Salmon is purchased at Winco for 5.00 a pound.  Green beans are frozen from the sale at Alberways.  
6. Chicken stroganoff is a Betty Crocker recipe . 
7. Breakfast for dinner -everyone cooks, using Texas toast from the bread store and bacon and fruit. 

Grocery Hauls

Winco
Steak fries 1.06
Mama Rosa Pizzas (8) 4.98
Cherry tomatoes 2.28
Beans .96
Rope sausage 2.58
Bacon 3.48
French bread .95
Total 20.83

Fred Meyers

Cherries. 1.88
Butter 2.50 less 2.00 coupons for 2
Tortilla chips 1.25
Classico sauce .99
Salad dressing mark down .79
Diced am 2.00
Total. 11.64

Total. 32.47

Safeways

Vegetables 1.00
Yogurt .33
Grapes 3.54   (1.77)

Total 8.54

41.01

Saturday Concept

For years I have been reading all I could about cutting food costs.  It has been a constant adjustment for rising food costs ,  availability of foods , and a new approach to eating basic food instead of so much processed foods.

Our media blitz is full of store pick up food and ready prepped food.  All this is more expensive than doing it yourself.  Duh!

Groceries on the cheap takes a different approach to buying food.   Instead of buying 1 day, 1 week at a time, you are buying to replenish a small stock.  Sales are on a 4-6 week basis.   By taking advantage of that, you can save a lot of money and still have good basic food.

By sticking to basic food and avoiding a lot of processed food, you can eat better and spend less.  That’s  a good combination.

In addition, buying in bulk when it makes sense is a really good tool in lowering food costs.   Rice in bulk at Costco ( we dont have Sams Club or BJ’s here ) makes white rice 02 a serving.  Oatmeal is .085 cents a serving as opposed to .40 a servingfor instant that takes no less time.   Flour at Costco is .08 a cup.  That makes a batch of muffins even with fruit added less than a buck instead of five dollars.   It makes pizza crust .19 instead of 1.50-2.00.  A loaf of sour dough bread is upwards of 2.50.  It takes ten minutes and .25 to make it.   Other than the dealing with the very hot oven, a child can make it in ten minutes hands on time.

There is something about a hearty bowl of home made soup and hot crusty bread that is nutritious and satisfying.  It is one of the cheapest meals you can make.   It can be one of the most efficiently cooked meals as well.  That’s a winner in my book.

Another concept is simplicity.  The least amount of things in your cart simplifies grocery shopping.   When you buy a rotating RBP protein and stick to one cut of meat per variety, you save money and time.   The concept is to buy one meat or protein source a week and rotate in a 4-6 week interval.  In other words, If pork loin is on sale for .99-1.69, you buy enough to eat that protein a specified number of times a week.   In other words, we eat pork loin in some form along with chicken three times a week.   So we need six servings for four weeks.  That is because if I cut a roast from the pork loin, we have enough for a Sunday dinner type roast meal and a pork slider eat agin sometime in the week.   This saves time an money. The other three days we eat boneless, skinless chicken breast.  It, too is purchased for a dollar or so if possible.   It is possible to purchase bonless, skinless  chicken breasts for as low as .88.  It may take a few minutes to prep and portion control.

Hamburger is purchased at the RBP as well.   We eat beef once a week.  Buying hamburger in bulk, cooking it until it is no longer pink and de-fatting it is a good way to cut fat and costs.   Portion control it in quart bags and put the quart bags in a gallon bag and mark it with the date.

We have a side by side refrigerator.  I have marked the freezer shelves(bins) with beef, chicken, pork, and fish or veggies.   It makes live simpler.  We eat fish once a week as well.   Please don’t buy tilipa.  It is as far as I ca tell garbage fish from china.

If you don't have a side by side, you can by baskets from the dollar tree and label the with a laminated label and put on with zip ties using a punched holes.   Yes, that takes time, but you only have to do it once.

By picking a limited number of meats that are versatile, you save time and money.   Chicken breast, hamburger and pork loin are all very versatile.   The internet and cookbooks have literally a ton of ideas so you wouldn't have to eat the same thing for months.  That being said, the average family eats a variety of 7-10 dinners.

Eating vegetarian two nights a week helps too.   Our family likes breakfast for dinner.   It’s a way to involve the whole family and it can be a cheap meal.   Or not.

Using these ideas,  we can eat an entire week of dinners for the cost of two dinner at your door meals.    And, you still have to cook those dinners and do the dishes.   LOL.

Sample meal plan :

Breakfast for dinner :  french toast, fruit, eggs 

Pizza - vegetables and pepperoni or buffalo chicken

Pork roast, mashed potatoes, vegetable 

Pork sliders, oven fries, salad 

Baked salmon, seasoned rice, green beans 

Vegetarian chili, sourdough bread 

Spaghetti with pasta sauce, sourdough bread with garlic spread, salad 

In concept , you can save money and cut your food costs by :

Simplifying the food that you buy

Shopping at a variety and more than one store. 

Buying in bulk and stocking when prices are low. 

Portion controlling your food.   No one needs to eat the better part of a two pound roast.   LOL 

Planning meals and cooking scratch efficiently 

Eliminating waste by portion control and morphing  leftovers.  

Friday recipe: Italian hamburgers

Sandwiches on the grill and a salad is a good choice for hot days.  The salad can e made early in the day. 

• hamburger buns. Toasted 
• 
  
• 4 ounces tomato sauce 
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce, divided 
• 
  
• 1 egg
• 1 pound ground beef 
• 3 T dry bread crumbs 

• Mozzarella cheese 
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce with the herbs, 

• Mix tomato sauce and herbs in small bowl or the can 
• Mix together the sauce, ground beef, egg and bread crumbs .

• Shape into 4 patties. 
• Broil or grill patties until done and no longer pink 
• Place some sauce and some mozzarella cheese on top of meat patties 

Place dressed patty on toasted bun