Terrific Tuesday

No ads yet because it's too early for the mailman.  QFC was a bi weekly ad and wonco doesn't have an ad , so what I expect so What I can expect is Alberways.  

In the beginning......I started this blog four years ago to help people on a limited budget (snap) make good grocery shopping decisions.  I had heard that some people on snap were having a hard time making the money last to the end of the month.   While I was never on snap, I was a single mother during the recession of the 70's.   One paycheck went mostly for daycare and one mostly for rent.  Since I didn't get much child support if any at all, I had to make it on what was left.    I used the skills my mother had taught me by example and started reading everything I could get my hands on to hone  my skills.   Some things worked, some things didn't.  I never could get soy beans or lentils to come out less than rocks.    Buy trial and error, I managed to tweet the plan and adapt to changing times.  

The result is groceries on the cheap.   I am reminded that cheap is not a very good descriptive word, but it gets the point across.    I don't want cheap food; I want good food cheap.  

I buy quality food.  I just don't pay full price for it.    I want 1/2 price.  If I can find or use a sale and coupon stack even better.  We spend about 75 dollars a week for two adults and supplement a darter and granddaughter.   We , subtracting the stock on hand, eat about 6300 a week this year, amd 68.00 a week last year.    I used very generous assumptions in those calculations.    We probably spent less.  

We eat well balanced meals. We always have fresh fruit and veggies in the house.    The pantry and freezers are full.  

It is my opinion that no child should suffer the insecurity of an empty pantry.  With a small budget it is possible to keep a pantry and still eat well for a lot of people.   In extreme cases, the plan won't work, but it will work for a lot of people.  
The USDA has stats to tell a person how much food at home should cost.   We eat on 75 percent of the four dollar a day estimate that snap is.   The USDA current  figures are on their website.  

You can ad up the figures for different age groups that best represent your family.   Don't forget to add or subtract the percentages for the size of your family.   These figures are for real food.   They are not for pop or multi bags of chips or what can be called junk food.   It's for good nutrition.  

After I mastered buying good food cheap, I added trying to cook scratch food easy.    I already was mindful of salt, sugar and fat reduction, but I have added trying to avoid hydrogenated oils and partially hydrogenated oils.  

My mantra is to spend more time planning a shopping trip to maximize savings and less time cooking by using recipes to cook more efficiently.

I am hearing that people that don't watch their bottom line at the grocery store are using the blog to cook more efficiently and stay out of the hot kitchen.    A lot of people find dinner time the most hectic time of the day besides the time when family  gets off to school and  jobs.    Making dinner less stressful, makes the dinner hour more pleasant.  

I have my granddaughter ( 4yo) with me at dinner.    I try to prep when I have a quiet time.   I out the golden oldies on the radio or tv and chip away at the prep work for dinners for the week.   If I have time in the morning, I cook what I can.  We batch cook meat when I come,Es hole from the store if it is appropriate.  The end result is that I can make almost any dinner in twenty minutes or less without resulting to boxed or bagged dinners.  

Whenever I cook, I bring the granddaughter on to help.   My mother always said that  if the children weremhelpingmylu,mthe won't be making a mess for you to clean up.    Truer words were never spoken! LOL

The other day, we were having sausage with roasted root veggies and French bread .  While I chopped the potatoes, carrots, amd radishes for the roasted veggies, my granddaughter buttered the French bread that I cut in half for her.  We washed her hand thorally and I gave her a bitter spreader so ot wasn't sharp. Then, I helped her with the parsley and parm cheese.  I wrapped it on used foil and put it in the oven with the root veggies.    She is learning how to cook age appropriate things and I'm not cleaning up a mess.  A win won situation in my book.  

I keep the heels of the bread in the food processor until they are dried out.   Then I make breadcrumbs.  Why pay someone upwards of two dollars a pound for their dry bread?  
One  day, my daughter neglected to tell me that she was going to be indisposed for a while.   I was on the back 40 of the house.   I heard my daughter yell, get her, I hear the garbage disposal.   I rushed into the kitchen.   What are you doing!     The response was, I'm making bread!    She had pulled a chair up to the counter and was pushing the on button of the food processor.    I guess you know, we communicate better, and I unplug the food processor now.    lol.

I think that it is important that children learn that all food doesn't come from a fast food line or a box.
There are a lot of things that can do supervised that are safe.   Stirring, buttering.   Dumping the ingredients in the bowl. I got stainless steel bowls with rubber coated bottoms, so the bowl doesn't slip.   But, you could also put a damp rag under the bowl.

By the time we were nine years old, my mother had us baking.   It was something she did t like to do.
She didn't trust us with the real dinner, but we all learned to bake.   We had home Ec in school as a required course.  I dont think that happens these days.   A lot of young people don't know how to cook.   That's why I do picture walk through a sometimes.   It was estimated that 38 percent of college student don't know how to boil an egg.  

Learning to do things builds self confidence and self sufficiency.   My goal is to teach her how to make a simple meal by the time she is old enough to safely handle a pan.  

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 mend 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.