Spot clean the house after the weekend and butcher the pork roasts that I got for 1.48 a pound at Winco. Pork chops were on the menu plan and 1.48 more than fits the two dollar a pound target amount for meat. I did more than my one rotation protein lately, so I'm free for a few weeks. I bought hamburger and sausage last week and white fish, shrimp and pork yesterday. Winco has good prices on frozen fish.
Yesterday we went to Fred Meyers and Winco with my daughter. I replenished our sour cream and cottage cheese at .88 and added a few veggies. The radishes were remarkable! I might have to redirect the food plan to incorporate some roasts root veggies and the green beans my neighbour gave us. Plan, but be flexible.
The last time I roasted vegetables, we had radishes, cauliflower, potatoes and carrots. My hubby turned his nose up at everything but the potatoes and carrots,....all the more good stuff for the rest of us! LOL.
QFC has free downloads every Friday. Sometimes I don't bother because times something I'll never use. I try to avoid anything that is empty calories. In other words, if it has no food value, I don't usually buy it. Groceries on the cheap is all about getting the most bang for your buck.
When you have a limited amount of money for food, you can't afford to waste it on frills. Not to mention that junk food is not good for us. My mothers answer to not having kool-aid, and pop and potato chips was that dad thought it was bad for you, He said, if cola can take the rust off a screw, what is it doing to your insides. Stick to the basics. Don't over eat . Drink water. You will find that you could even loose weight.
You eat first with your eyes. Make things look tasty. We use a lot of parm and parsley. My granddaughter has become an expert at making French bread, We butter it, sprinkle oars key and a hard cheese ( usually parm, but sometimes any hard cheese that is the cheapest. ) Costco has one that I don't know the name of that is 12.oo for huge wedge. I usually just pre grate some of it on the micro plane. Sometimes a tool is a good investment because the return on your money is remarkable. A micro plane grates cheese so fine that it's a good cheese stretcher.
The second real money stretcher is to not waste food. Keeping on top of what's in the fridge and adapting meals to use it up is one way, Revamping your recipes to make less quantity is another. My daughter has decided to be vegan. She used to eat a lot of anything vegetarian that used cheese. I have taken to weighing my pasta to use smaller portions and making an 8 inch square pan of pasta dishes instead of a 9X13 pan. There is enough after three of us eat for a lunch.
Groceries on the cheap has nothing to do with poor quality food; it's more about getting the most bang for your buck. Buy the best quality for the least amount of money. I just picked up a black long skirt marked thirty dollars, for ten dollars. A black skirt can be a good investment because it will take you anywhere. Dress it up or dress it down. Buying basic food is the same.
When something is a really good price. Buy as much as you can use before it goes bad. Incorporate it into your food plan. Eggs were .79 a dozen, So much better than the two dollars we were paying in the winter. I bought the limit. We will have breakfast for dinner every week. I have been eating a hard boiled egg for breakfast. It has no carbs and makes my blood sugar hit slower. It fills you up and sustains you until lunch.
Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from a different perspectives.
The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until it goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you use on a weekly basis.
This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week.
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level.
You often are paying 1/2 price for your food. This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget. You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by
cooking more efficiently.
Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap. My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck.
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