Yesterday was a hard day. I was exhausted. I cut up and cooked beef tips in the crock pot before I went to work. When I got home, my daughter made a salad, my husband made mashed potatoes, my son took the baby and I made gravy. Dinner was ready in five minutes or so. I ate dinner and went to bed. Have to do the dishes this morning. And make up the studio time I lost yesterday.
On to the subject at hand . I plan my meals after I go to the store. You need a plan. You don't always have to stick to the plan, bit you need a plan. Meal plans keep you on track and scare away the lets order pizza gremlins. LOL. I plan a slow cooker or other easy meal for the days I know are going to be hard. If I have to work the late shift, I want dinner in five minutes or so.
Using the matrix ( rough plan) affords you a variety of meals, makes everyone happy on our family, and makes the project easy. We all have different tastes in this family, I want us to have a variety of meals. So, we compromise and everyone gets some of what they like the best each week.
2 beef
2 chicken or pork
2 vegetarian
1 fish or shellfish
When I buy and batch cook meat I rotate meats using whatever is the rock bottom price 8! The ads. Sometimes I have to be flexible because the meat is not as good as I would like, or they are out of it.
Last week, I used chuck steaks and made stew meat out of it, it was on sale, and I got twenty percent off besides. This week, I won't use the coupon for SAFEWAYS, I hope next week is better buys.
Chicken is a buck this week. I am still well stocked from the grill packs, but it would be my meat of choice this week. You can roast a chicken in ten minutes non-passive time. If you don't have a roasting rack, rough chop carrots and potatoes and cook the chicken on top of them.
The sausage at Costco has been creeping up in price. I suspect it is still less than at the regular stores.
I fry it, de fat it, and break it down to meal sized portions. You can use it in quiche, on pizza, and in soup.
I watch for hamburger to get nine percent for under three dollars. I was getting it at SAFEWAYS. Last time I got it from Costco. It was a finer grind. I would have prefered SAFEWAYS. I make meatballs, meatloaf, crumbles, taco meat, Salisbury steak sometimes. I defat the crumbles and taco meat.
Meatballs are very versatile. Meat ball subs, meatballs and gravy, red sauce, white sauce over noodles,...
I use crumbles in casseroles or on soup or on pizza.
Tacos are a standard on this family. We all like it and I can vary the meal to make everybody happy ( vegetarians and semi vegetarians. ).
I have been getting pepperoni for .50 instead of 3.50 lately. Watch coupons. Since processed meat has got bad publicity, the coupons are on great supply. My mantra is anything in moderation. I try my best to give us a variety of meals and not to eat the same thing over and over. It doesn't always work... Que the three chicken meals on a row last week, LOl, bit it usually does.
When I could, I got sirloin tip roast once a month. I still have been able to get pork loin roast. You can make a Sunday dinner and hot or BBQ sandwiches, pork chops, cubes for stew etc.
I am still trying for two dollars a pound. Lately, it's closer to three for beef. I can still get pork and chicken cheaper to average it out.
Cheese has taken a huge hike. I am still getting it for two to two fifty a pound by watching sales. If it isn't the price I want, I don't get it. I do get it when it is two dollars whether I NEED it or not. The biggest hurdle to get over of you are used to buying your food every two days on a need only basis,is to buy something that keeps wether you need it that day or not. It's a careful balance that buys enough to last you until a new sale, and not buying too much. I have been getting shredded cheese at Costco or SAFEWAYS. Costco's afforded my closer to two dollars a pound. Some cheese is four dollars a pound. It is to your advantage to buy it at two dollars.
If you are lucky enough to have the time to cook beans and eat them the same day, go for it and use dry beans. They are cheapest if you can get with friends or family and split a bag from Costco ( or another warehouse store) . Beans and rice have a short fridge life. I use canned beans because of it. I rarely have time to make scratch beans. I have not tried them in the pressure cooker. Has anyone cooked beans in the pressure cooker before? I get beans for between .50 and .67. At .50 with beans from the regular chains, you break even on cost. I make a sausage bean soup. It takes cans and can be "thrown " in the crockpot in a matter of minutes.
I almost always have a hard cheese in the house. Please, DONT buy parm from a can! Of parm is not cheap, I buy whatever hard cheese is . Grocery outlet is a good source for cheese. There is usually a wide variety of cheeses, some cheaper, some not. They carry a jalapeño grated cheese that is really good mixed with other cheeses for Mac and cheese. I make Mac and cheese often, because, again, I can make one meal and don't have to adapt to compensate for vegetarians. My daughter has started to eat chicken. It really helps, even though gramps is not thrilled with chicken. He eats it, but would rather have beef. I think it is important for health reasons to have a variety of meals.
You are better off with sloppy joes than hamburgers when beef is as expensive as it is now. You use a lot less meat!
To recap, protein is your most expensive item to buy for meals. Getting a good handle on ways to cut your costs with out sacrificing variety and nutrition is a good start on cutting your food bill. Taking advantage of coupons, and sales and stocking saves a lot of money. Watching your stock and not overstocking is essential. You want enough to last you of anything that is non perishable and things you use weekly to make meals. Fruits and vegetables are purchased in season at their lowest cost.
Ready made things are purchased at a minimum, mostly when they are cheaper than scratch.
If you are on SNAP, your budget is pretty much set, if not, the USDA has guidelines based on the sizes of your families and the ages of the members of your family. They have four different budgets, and update it frequently.
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Jane
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