While watching these, I discovered a very interesting pattern. These are on the same week of purchase. One lady bought Classico pasta sauce on the regular jar in Utah for .58 from a Kroger store for .58 if you bought five. Our Kroger stores (QFC) in Seattle has it for 1.50 each of you buy 5. Some other lady in another city, paid like 2.16 for the same jar at Wallmart in Indiana.
That's some price swing! It goes to reiterate that your quality of food doesn't have to go down to eat on the cheap. You just have to find the lowest prices on things and buy them when you are low. You buy five pasta sauces, and don't buy the green beans that you found on sale the week before. You still eat pasta and green beans, you just eat more days for the same money spent.
Last night we had spaghetti and meatballs. Tonight we will have either salmon or breakfast for dinner.
My focus , now that I have got to the point where I can serve good meals for four dollars or less a day, is to work harder on reducing our fat, sugar, and salt intakes. It was never bad, I just want it to be better. It's something to work towards.
I went to Winco yesterday. I got a lot of veggies and lettuce that was on my list. I also got brown rice in a bag. Yesterday morning I found a microwave recipe for brown rice that comes out in grains rather than sticky rice. I found a white rice recipe too that I will try another day. I was using instant and figure that the bagged rice will be cheaper and probably more nutritious. I cleaned out the vegetable bin and bread basket before I left so I know exactly what we were short of. This should do us until next week, or the week thereafter.
Put 1 cup of washed rice in a microwave safe bowl with three cups of water. Cook uncovered in high for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 50 percent power and cook an additional twenty minutes.
I sometimes use chicken broth or vegetable broth for the water.
Albertsons has purchased their stores back (33) of them in Washington state. Other companies have purchased stores in Oregon and California. Haggens will close their last store. I am saddened because Safeways was the better store here. The prices were lower and it was a lot cleaner. Only time will tell of there is an improvement. The prices while Haggens had control were way to high, we will have to see if things improve. Fortunately, we have Kroger stores and Winco for other chains and grocery outlet. Costco, and SAMs club. Competition breeds lower prices.
I will be glad of things go back to having a grocery ad on a regular basis. It's hard to compare. I know some things are consistently cheaper at some stores.
- Sliced cheese in a lot of varieties are almost always 2.39 at grocery outlet. Coffee, if you aren't particular, is cheaper at winco and grocery outlet.
- Tomatoes and beans are cheapest at Fred Meyers and Winco. Lately it has been Fred Meyers.
- Green beans are cheap at Winco. Low sodium ones are best at Costco for about .66 a can.
- Refried beans are cheaper at Costco, but there is,no variety. Winco has vegetarian ones close to the same price.
- At any point in time, I can usually find Foster farms whole chickens for a buck or less a pound.
- Periodically, I can find 7 percent hambirger at Winco for around three dollars
- Fred Meyers is cheap on dairy about once a month. You can stock that week because most of it has a month pull date. Sour cream, cottage cheese, and milk.
- Costco , unless there is a sale, is cheapest on butter at 2.50 a pound. Sales sometimes bring a better price, but like this week, you have to buy five and there is nothing else on the buy five list that is a good price and no coupon match ups. You are laying more for some things to pay less for others. No 75 percent off this time.
- Vegetables are a crap shoot. Windows are sometimes good......watch! Grocery outlet sold me a whole bag of apples that were written inside and wouldn't do anything about it. I watch very closely before I buy any vegetables from them. Costco is good especially on bananas. Watch the bags, if even one piece of fruit is bad, you haven't saved anything, Their prices are fairly consistent through the the year. That means, that at the height of the growing season, they may be cheaper elsewhere. It also doesn't pay you of you don't use that quality. We never, unless we at pot lucking, use a whole box of spinach. Tomatoes and berries are eaten most of the time , or I can freeze blues.
- Black olives are cheapest at Winco. Hands down!
- Frozen veggies are cheapest at Costco wholesale or Winco or Fred Meyers on a coupon, Bigger bags are better for us because I can take out what I need and save the rest for another meal. Dollar store potatoes ar good. Check the country of origin. Five pounds of French fries are around three dollars at Winco. Rarely can I find cheaper with a coupon.
- I can almost always find yoplait for fofty cents and I can always I can find a coupon for an additional ten cents off. Yoplait is the lowest in sugar I can find.
- Pepperoni is always a dollar at the dollar tree and sometimes a coupon makes it BOGO. Ditto Betty Crocker potatoes and they have mashed sweet potatoes. Uncle bens rice is another BOGO when you have a coupon. Hunts pasta sauce is always a dollar. Watch, they are coming out with smaller cans. It is sometimes cheaper at Winco or Fred Meyers. My target price is less than a dollar. I have got ot for as low as fifty cents, but most recently .75. Pineapple is a buck and there are coupons out there. Name brand turkey bacon is always a buck ( check pull date) .
- Bread and buns are cheapest at Winco.
- Instant mashed potatoes at cheapest at Winco and coupons can make them as cheap as .60.
That's a good run down. If you have questions on the Seattle area on another inexpensive ingredient, please let me know on the comments.
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