I digress.
Chicken grill packs were a buck a pound at Fred Meyers. There were several veggies and fruits that were quite reasonable also. I stocked with pork tenderloins and grill packs. I like to debone the chicken breasts and cook the rest for shredded chicken that can be used for BBQ sandwiches. Tacos, or I had jalapeño chicken Mac and cheese the other day at our happy hour. It was really good.
It doesn't seem logical with meat prices rising, that the legislature would cut snap. But, like Mr. Echelbarger, the legislature doesn't always think logical in my opinion. I am not fond of the attitude that the rich can get richer and the poor can get poorer.
The whole idea of groceries on the cheap is to give people tools to feed their families well on a meager budget. If you can do that, doing it on more is a piece of cake and you have learned to make educated decisions on your grocery purchases.
Protein is the biggest expense of the grocery budget. Protein seems to be the one thing who's price is rising the most. If we can average protein costs and watch the perishables and stock at the lowest prices the staple items, we can still keep to a rigid budget.
Of you are on snap or a fixed income, your budget is rigid. The social security raise did not cover the amount our necessities ( insurances and food and utilities) have risen.
Averaging protein works with the addition of vegetarian meals a couple of,nights a week. I am still able to get cheese for two to three dollars a pound. Eggs are also a cheap protein, With coupons, some ready made meats ( sirloin tips) continue to be a cost effective alternative. Chicken is still a buck a pound on sale, which helps average the cost so we can afford a piece of red meat every now and then. We still need red meat to keep our iron supply up. So far, the only thing that we are deficient of is vitamin d. That is because we are not real milk drinkers and sun is not a big commodity in the PNW! LOL. We do eat sour cream and cottage cheese and regular cheeses.
To recap
- Average your protein costs
- Strive for five dollar dinners ( typical family of four)
- Watch your fruit and vegetable costs and buy in season
- Buy dairy when it is on sale, and buy what you will use before it goes bad.
- Buy cheese on sale. Grocery outlet os a good source of unusual and inexpensive cheeses.
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Jane
Protein is definitely one of the biggest obstacles to budget meals and I know I will get arguements, but I believe it is intentional because it coincides with the dietary guidelines both now and the hints of the ones to be released in 2015 that we should all it less meat. There is a growing trend that meat is not sustainable. Many say that meat prices are rising due to drought and I am sure it has some effect but I don't believe it has as much effect as we are led to believe. In Texas drought, which is more times than not, when there is not enough grass to feed cows, the ranchers break out the pear burners and burn the thorns off the cactus for forage for cattle. I too, digress but I think they are playing up the drought thing much more than necessary because it suits their end game which is to get us to eat less meat. What can we do but deal with it and look for cheaper cuts, pork is cheaper now and my family eats more chicken and pork than anything else.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. We eat far too much meat. I do think we need some red meat in our dote, but we have cut our consumption drastically. Pork has taken a 33 percent hike, beef has doubled here. Chicken is stable, but my husband hates it. I'm trying to make things with it that have a lot of flavor
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