I need some kitchen management done and I think some long - term meal plans. My object for the next month is to only buy the dairy and produce we will need. This should give me a better picture of what we spend on food we eat, amd what is left on stock without having to take inventory. That's just too time consuming.
Last night we had Mac and cheese and fruit salad. It was requested. Granddaughter helped with the bread crumb topping - pushing the food processor button to grate the leftover bread from speghetti and meatball night. We added Romani cheese and parsley. She stirred. I made white sauce from my mix and added a variety of cheeses. While the food was cooking, we grated another block of Romano and she helped me put the paper towels and toilet paper away. I can bend at the waist and she is just the right height for th bottom shelf. She loves to cook so. Let her do things that are safe for her to do. I got stainless steel bowls with rubber bottoms. They don't move around the counter while she stirs.
Betty Crocker on line cookbook has 15,000 recipes - plenty of inspiration, If something takes an expensive ready made ingredient- Substitute for something less expensive or make the ingredient.
I never buy bread crumbs even at the dollar store. Why pay upwards of 2.40 a pound for someone else's dry bread. We always have crusts . Homemade bread without preservatives goes stale fast.
I pulse it in the food processor. Before I had a food processor, I grated it on the biggest side of the box grater outside on a sheet pan. ( no mess) . White sauce mix is cheaper, and better for you ( no fat) than a can of creamed soup. Soups are really pricey without a sale and coupon.
There is a grave difference between the prices on exact same thing depending on the store and the week. By buying in bulk what you find with coupons and sale prices, you can drastically reduce your food bill.
Example : at Fred Meyers, a box of suddenly salad was 2.99, less a coupon would make it 2.74. At Safeways, it was .99 and with a coupon, it was .75. Two dollars on one item makes a lot of difference. The limit was four. I bought four. Summer is coming and a pasta salad with BBQ is always good. You can make the classic with olive oil.
Tomatoes at Fred Meyers were almost twice the price as Winco. .
Chicken breast was .87 at Fred Meyers. Boneless, skinless chicken breast can be sox dollars a pound. It is an easy chore to de-bone your own and you get the added bonus of chicken stock for soup.
I have heard the expression, I'm not driving all over town to save .25. I group my trips with other errands and plan my trips. And, that quarter compounded throughout the year saves us 3600.00 or more. Certainly worth some time and effort.
Groceries on the cheap is looking at the Put Dinner On The Table meal train from a different
Perspective . The emphasis is on purchasing good food( shelf- stabll/ freezer staples )at the lowest possible cost and purchasing enough to last you until it goes on sale again -- Keeping a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you use on a regular basis. It means that when you shop, rather than purchasing just what you need for a day or a week, you buy a loss leader protein, produce you will
need on sale, a stock item if it's a RBP, and dairy instead. This allows you to put well balanced meals
on the table consistently for a four dollar a day budget per person. You spend more time on the
planning and shopping end of the meal train and less on the cooking end by cooking efficiently.
Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap. My premise is that of you can do it on four dollars a day, spending more isn't hard. You still get more bang for your buck.
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