Chain store ads

QFC was a two week ad last week.

Grapes 1.77
Milk .99
Blues and rasp. 2/5


Alberways

Strawberries 2 lbs 3.88

Mayo. 2.88@@@
Chicken of the sea tuna .58@@.

Pepperoni 3.49 look 4 coupon

Not a good week for bargains.  

Justifying a 25 lb bag of flour

The last quoted price of flour at Costco is 6.90 for 25 pounds, or 8 cents a cup.  
Things that more than give you a good return on your investment.

1. Pancakes cos 3.00 a bag.   Two bags almost pay for the 25 pound bag. 
2. Muffins cost .35 plus any fruit you add.  The cost of a dozen muffins is 5.00.
3. Peasant bread cos .25 to make.   He equivalent loaf of bread is 3.00 and up. 
4. Magic mix makes a cream soup base.   The cost of a can of cream of mushroom soup is well over a dollar. 
5. Pizza dough costs 1.50 to 2.00 /  it takes about three minutes and cost .19.

Monday Kitchen Management

Kitchen management is a tool that saves time and stress during the hectic dinner hour.    Prepping for meals makes dinner a snap and keeping the kitchen clean on a rotation basis is a good thing too.


Meal plan reminder:

• Pork chops, dressing, veggies
• Pizza
• Salmon, seasoned rice , peas and carrots 
• Chicken Parmesan, salad 
• Meatballs and gravy , mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables 
• Stir fry chicken and rice, mandarin oranges 
• Breakfast for dinner 

1. Wash kitchen floor 
2. Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead. 
3. Wash and disinfect countertops and kitchen sinks and drains . 
4. Thaw pork chops 
5. Make pizza dough 
6. Make sure seasoned rice mix is made 
7. Straighten pantry.   

Pork chops are browned and put on top of dressing and finished off in the oven.   

Pizza is a family favorite and cost about 1.05 for a cheese pizza.  Add toppings from leftovers.   

Salmon was 5.00 a pound at winco and wash frozen/ 

Chicken parm.....spaghetti noodles cook in the insta pot for 2 minutes in a quart of liquid.  Instant release.

Meatballs are two dollars for almost a pound at winco.  

Chicken breast is cooked in the insta pot from frozen in 8 minutes to 12 minutes depending on the thickness of the chicken.   Probably less if using flattened chicken breast coming in a frozen bag.   

Breakfast for dinner this week is egg muffins, bacon and fruit.   

Fred Meyer haul

Total 21.39

Buy 5, Save 5

4 v8 juice at 1.89
1 peanut butter at 1.99

Romano cheese 4.99
Granny Smith apples at 2.08
Organic green peppers 2/1
Blueberries 3.77


—————

Meal plans

Meal plans take away the anxiety.of answering the question:  What’s for dinner?   It just makes things more organized and when you add a kitchen management hour, life is a whole less hectic during the dinner hour.  

• Pork chops, bread stuffing with craisens and apple, broccolli 
• Pizza 
• Salmon, seasoned rice, peas and carrots 
• Chicken Parmesan, salad 
• Meatballs and gravy, mashed Potatoes, mixed veggies 
• Stir fry chicken , rice, mandarin oranges 
• Breakfast for dinner.   

Notes:  

1. Pork chops are from a pork loin bought for a dollar a pound.   Bread stuffing is from day old bread.   Appples were bought in a bag with a discount from qfc.   They are lunch box apples, that is, they are small enough to put in a lunchbox and with children, there is less waste.   
2. Pizza is one of the least expensive meals you can make if made from scratch.    
3. I purchased salmon from winco.  It is peppercorn salmon and was five dollars a pound package.   
4. Rice can be double duty so you cook once, eat twice. It is purchased in bulk at costco.  Thecost is two cents a serving.    Chicken was purchased for 1.77 a lb for boneless, skinless breast.   However, my next purchase is .99 a lb at Zaycon .   
5. Chicken parm and meatballs are part of our freeezer eat down program.   Both easy meals. 
6. Breakfast for dinner is a favorite here.   Its a sunday everyone cooks family event.   

This blog is written on the premise of a four dollar a day budget.   That is supposedly the amount of snap money.   We live in one of the seven highest COL cities in the nation.    There is always a way to cut costs and still keep within a budget.   The premise is that if you can do it on four dollars a day, spending more is not hard.   I have fifty years of experience, having lived through double digit inflation and no raises for three years as a single mother.    I have been published in Woman’s Day and Taste of Home  magazines.   My husband and I raised three children.   

Fred Meyer ad for sunday

Ground beef alert .....1.99 for 80/20 limit 4

Blueberries 3.77

Country oven bread .99

Mandarins 5 lbs 4.49

Pork 1/2 Loin 1.99 (that is the top of the RBP.

Cantaloupe 2/3

Sour cream 4/5
————
Buy 5, save 5

Cheese 4.99
Peanut butter 1.99
V8 1.99
Kind bars 1/99

Recipe: vegetarian pizza

Not vegetarian...just add chicken pieces

Pizza crust;  par bake for a few minutes

Brush dough with olive oil.   Sprinkle with dried basil.   Use 1 Tbls each

Topping:

2 medium tomatoes, sliced thin and deseeded
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced thin
1 cup frozen broccolli, thawed and drained.
Salt, pepper,
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until crust is done.
Add 1 cup (4 ounces ) mozzarella cheese
Bake an additional 10 minutes or until cheese has melted.  

Add ins;  RED PEPPER FLAKES/ AND OR DICED COOKED CHICKEN

Ideas from the ads

Cheese is 2.50 a lb (the top of the RBP) at Fm.  You have to buy 5 things,   It is like  1.28 for 8 ounces at Winco,   Chicken is .87 at FM and it’s washingtin grown.   It’s almost always a better deal to buy chicken that is local.   A lot of fruit is a buck at FM .

Milk is 1.79 @@ at safeways.  Hot dog buns are .79.  @@ Hamburger is 80/20 is 2.49.  @@

The last page I missed because I was doing it with the on line ad.   Holidays make the paper ads late in the mail.  

Alberways
Cheese, 8 ounce bags 2.50.   They are more money than Winco, but you dint have to buy 5 like FM.
That’s about all on the last page.  
Green beans are 75 cents.     Winco has a case of 12 for 5.00.  It’s not what you buy, it’s when and where you buy it,  

Meals

• Pizza    🍕 a kid favorite and can be super cheap.   A scratch crust costs .19.   With cheese at 1.25 for 2 cups or 1.28 at Winco., cheese should cost .65.    Add part of a DT jar of pizza sauce ( makes  5 pizzas) and top with keftiver veggies and or chicken bits or pepperoni .  The DT has pepperoni for a dollar and you can use 1/2 a package with other toppings.   Total cost 1.54.   
• Chicken , potatoes, a vegetable and bread.    A five pound chicken costs 4.35.   Even a family of six should be able to get 2 meals or more out of a chicken .   Roast chicken , chicken pizza or chicken cassarole, and chicken soup.    Figure the first meal 2.35.  Add potatoes at .20 cents a pound ,40 for four, a bag of frozen veggies is 1.00, and bread .25.   Total 4.00
• 
  

Chain store ads

Alberways

Pork loin chops .99
Grapes 1.99
Boneless chicken thighs or breast 1.69
Pasta sauce, Classico 1.99
French bread 🥖.99

QFC

Saturday only, digital coupon.
Yoplait yougert mega pack 8
1.99

———-
Grapes 1.77
Milk .99
Pie 2.99
Fresh berries , blue, raspberries 2/5
Note this time of year, the frozen is a better buy,  
———-

Buy5, save 5

Fruit, frozen 2.99
Kraft singles 2.99
2 pk cream cheese 2.99
Skippy peanut butter 1.99
————

Wednesday Notes

Last  night we went out for snacks with friends,   I had a flat bread with chicken, bacon, so,e chopped tomato and a drizzling if a sauce.   It would make a good meal with a salad and would use leftover chicken and bacon.   Not that we would ever have a piece of leftover bacon.   😆

Ideas for non conventional meals are all around us.  Pinterest and u tube are great sources of inspiration.   I have found that life is so much easier when we have a small stock of food on the house and snow doesn’t clog up our wheels.    I don’t have to go out if I don’t want to.   It makes life a lot easier.    Getting to that point takes a little time, but in the long run it is a lot less stressful. Now I go to the store to fill in what I need — mostly fruits and veggies and dairy.  I always check the pantry before heading out and can see at a glance if we are running low on something and know  to watch for a sale.

Getting there is easy, but takes a bit of time if you don’t have an influx of extra cash.  Its a good way to use a few dollars of an income tax return.    Otherwise You can take baby steps.

1. Start with a less than 25.00 purchase of staples at Costco or your warehouse store    Here, we can get a 20 pound bag of flour and a twenty pound bag of Quaker Oats.   That alone saves a bundle    Add a 3.55 bag of yeast. 
2. Start setting aside five bucks a week for a stockpile.  Make a list of your top 10 easy, eco omical meals.   Now list the ingredients you use for those meals. We, like a lot of families  eat a lot   Of Italian and Tex mex.   
3. Watch sales and buy anything you use in a regular basis to make meals.    Our list would be cans of green beans , cans of corn, diced tomatoes , pasta sauce, pasta. I add diced green chillis from Winco for .66 and sliced black olives    A few instant mashed potatoes are good because they work in a pinch when you are short of time or the potatoes are bad.    Little by little, it will grow   After you master that, go on to rotation protein.  
4. Choosing bulk meats that are versatile for meal planning.   At our house that would be boneless skinless chicken breast  , pork loin, and hamburger.   Add cheese and beans .   I want to average less than two dollars a pound    I’ve been getting pork loin for between a dollar and  a dollar and sixty nine cents.  I got chicken breast for a dollar, but they are 1.77 a lot of times at Fred Meyers (Kroger) .  I like nine percent fat hamburger, but recently bought 80/20 for 2.66.  We eat beef once or twice a week.   It also helps that we eat vegetarian meals twice a week. Rotation protein is a concept where you watch for a RBP on you chosen meat and buy enough for a month to six weeks.  The next week, you find a different deal .  If you eat pork once a week, you need enough for 4-6 meals.  Then watch for a chicken or beef good sale .  When you get it home, portion control the batch and freeze.   Cook it if it makes sense .  Some people make freezer meals .  I dint want to fill the freezer with food that didn’t have to be frozen in the first place.  I cook hamburger and de-fat it and freeze it in portion controlled bags.   I use cheap  quart bags and put them in a labeled gallon bag. 
5. Buy dairy when it is on sale. Some pull dates are out a month.   Fred Meyers usually has it for cheap once or so a month.  I buy Costco butter unless I can find it cheaper.  QFC has had it on a digital coupon for 2.00 lately.   Watch for coupons  I got Darigold for 1.50.  
6. Learn the RBP for the things you buy on a regular basis.   Don’t  buy anything if it isn’t your price unless it is a dire necessity.   Prices cycle,  if you get enough for a month to six weeks, you can just about bet you will find another sale.  The exception will be seasonal items.   Baking items are best bought at Christmas holidays and Easter  .   Ditto cream of mushroom soup.   BBQ sauce and suddenly salad along with ketchup will be on sale at picnic time.

If this is over whelming, take one step at a time.   

Costco and Winco haul

we are at 55.00 a week for feb.   less for January.   We have a good start on next week.  

Costco

tortilla  chips 3.59
Bacon. 4.  13.49
Bananas 1.39
Romaine 3.79

Total 29.05

Winco
Tomatoes 1.28
Cucumbers .33
Cream cheese 1.46
Parm 2.18
Peppercorn salmon 4.98

Total 11.72

Costco has no regular eggs.  The tomatoes and cream cheese were too expensive .  It seems as though Costco is catering to the wat we used to call yuppies.

Why buy a 20 lb bag of flour.?

If you are trying to lower you food expense as far as you can lower it, buying a bag of Costco flour can save a bundle.   There are lots of recipes for mixes that save time in the kitchen.  Bread recipes are out there that make a loaf if bread in 10-15 minutes hands on time.    The savings are remarkable. The last bag of flour cost me .08 a cup.  

Costco large muffins Re a dollar a piece.   A batch of muffins cost .45 dozen .  It can be cheaper, depending on what you put in as an add on,  

Bread can cost between .25 and .30.   The same bread can cost 3.00.  That’s a remarkable difference.  

Pizza crust.    The dough can be 1.50-2.00 at the grocery store.   It costs .19.  

Pancakes are pennies, they cost upwards of two dollars at the store ready made.  
Ditto waffles.

In short, the difference between homemade and ready made is remarkable and can save tons of money.

Got 20 pounds of flour, now what do I do.?

Yesterday, I made a dozen blueberry muffins.   It took just a few minutes and used 3/4 of a cup of blueberries .   I could have added Apple and cinnamon, or raspberries and a crumble topping,  

You can make a baking mix with canola oil or butter.   Today, I have pancake mix.   Pancakes,a little turkey bacon, and fruit in season makes breakfast for dinner,    Turkey bacon is a at the dollar tree— name brand,

Pancake mix

4 cups flour
3 Tbls baking powder
2 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
3 Tbls sugar

Stir all ingredients together and store in a container with a tight fitting lid,    Attach the directions to the container,  

To make

1 cup mix
1 TBLS oil or melted butter
1 cup milk
1 egg

Mix wet ingredients,
Stir dry ingredients , measure mix,
Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients,  dint over mix,  

Drop quarter cup of batter onto griddle or frying pan that has been sprayed with oil, or is non stick.  Cook until sides are dry and bubbles appear on top .  Flip and cook the second side.  

Serve with powdered sugar dusting. Or syrup.

Getting started

This concept of just buying what you need to supplement what you already have sounds overwhelming esiciakky if you now barely make it from payday to payday.   It is possible.   It takes time,   I maintained and built our stock last year on 55.05 a week fir 3 of us,  my daughter pays for her daughters food, we just supply her groceries that are meat and dairy because she is vegan.  

First, take some baby steps to lower your food bill with the idea that you can use the “found” money to stock.   Try cutt8ng out any pop and snack type chips etc.. Buying  a whole jar of applesauce and a few snack cups from the DT that have screw on lids will help.  

• Buy a bulk bag of flour, rice, and oatmeal .  This is about 25.00 at Costco.  
• 
  
• This is a breakfast go to that costs eight cents a serving and feeds a family of six with a little fruit for a buck.   
• 
  
• Rice is dirt cheap per serving.   I use the insta pot, but my mother used the microwave to cook it.  Rice pudding, rice with either a Chinese , American, or Tex mex flair works with a lot of meals.  At two cents a serving, it stretches your starch budget.  
• Flour is a good versatile means of cooking.   pancakes. Waffles. Muffins,   Bread, cookies. Noodles , pizza dough,    The last calculation for Costco flour was eight cents a cup.  That makes pizza dough nineteen cents.   My daughter paid two bucks and she still had to roll and bake it.    It takes about three minutes and you do t ha e to knead it.    My granddaughter at 4 could roll a crust,  you can also pat it into imdividual pizzas 🍕 or into a large circle or rectangle to fit a cookie sheet or baking pan.   Muff8ms are a great go to for breakfast.  They cost pennies vs dollars fir ready made.  
• 
  
• Next, use what you saved on inexpensive shelf stable food that your family will eat and that you use on a regular basis.   Right now, Winco has green beans and corn fir five bucks a case.  That’s the price of a big bucks coffee.    That’s 41.5 cents a can.   I saw them well over a dollar at FM this week.   
• Anither mainstay at this house is diced tomatoes.   Watch for a sale. I paid as little as 39 cents.  I only buy diced.  You can put them through the food processer or blender and make sauce,  reserve the “juice” and replace the water when you make rice.   You can use the drained tomatoes in salsa oron top of nachos instead of fresh in a pinch.   I use them for stock with vegetable or chicken stock in soup.   I want .49 or less 
• Invest in beef boullion and chicken boullion .  The price of about three boxes of stock will give you many cups of stock .  Another pennies vs dollars.   About 3.50
• Pasta sauce can be really expensive.  Look for sales and sales with coupons.  Coupon.com has a new load the first of every month.  You are allowed to print two coupons.   Check them early for coupons.   I want close to a buck. 
• Try to set aside five bucks a week.  No room ?    Use the flat free boxes from Costco and put them under the bed if you have to 
• Keep you eyes peeled for inexpensive meals your family will eat that scratch cook efficiently.  If it takes all day, it isn’t sustainable.   

DT and FM hauls

Dollar Tree

Cranberry, whites chocolate cookie mix
Thomas Bagels
12 grain bread
Hoagie rolls
Pizza sauce
Total 5.00



Fred Meyers

Cantaloupe 1.50
Prego pasta sauce 3/5
Granny Smith apples   2.01
12 English muffins 1.67
2 pears 1.07
 bacon  4.49
Strawberries 1.67

DT bread


Total.    18.10

Total 23.10

Meal plans

Meal  plans make it easy to stay on track and avoid the take  out demons.  


We are still trying to eat down the freezer in preparation for a bulk meat purchase.  

• Sausage bean soup. Bread 
• Pizza (sausage) you guessed it, hold from the soup for a second meal 
• Baked potato bar - chicken, sour cream, sauce
• Chicken fettuccine, green beans
• Tuna cassarole with peas
• Tacos, refried beans, Spanish rice 
• Breakfast for dinner 

Notes 

1. Sausage was FREE at QFC.  Hold some (1/4 ) pound fcooked for pizza
2. Pizza....scratch crust .19 cents. Use cheese for two dollars a lb . Fm has it 2.50 buy5, save 5 and Winco had it fir 1.2X an 8 ounce bag last i was there 
3. Baked potato bar.  Use cook once, eat twice chicken and sour cream .  Potatoes were 1.99 for 10 lbs at Winco last 
4. Chicken fettuccine-recipe on blog 
5. Tacos use cheese and taco meat already cooked, Spanish rice usessome tomato boullion or sauce from cut to,atoms you saved. Scratch refried beans - insta pot or slow cooker.  Freeze leftovers 
6.  Tuna cassarole, use homemade soup base and frozen peas 
7. Breakfast for dinner - anything you want including quiche, salad, or pancakes or waffles.  Turkey bacon is at the DT. 

Meals to cook when you have nothing to cook.

Its no secret, the basis of Groceries on the cheap is to stock when things are at a RBP and rotate what you buy.   It takes a while to get to that point, but you can do it even on a low budget.   The key is in the budgeting and not buying junk food.    Oh, cue the groans from the junk food lovers.  Lol.    Hey, it’s not even good for you!

Having the luxury of knowing there is always food in the house 🏡 takes a lot of stress away,   They have proven that poor people have a shortened life span because of the stress.   No child should have to grow up wondering where the next meal is coming from.


 Oh,  what do you do before you commit to a life change ?

There are meals that use ingredients that are really cheap,  it helps to set yourself up with the basics
and a few appliances as soon as you can that make life easy.  This is especially true of people that are trying to juggle many hats.  An insta pot and food processer are basic tools that make kitchen life efficient,    I saved enough to pay for  the insta pot just not having to buy ready  rice and canned beans.

Let’s get to it

•  Potato soup with or without bacon or ham 
• Cheezy potato soup 
• French toast.  There are oven recipes out there 
• Mac and cheese 
• 
  
• Spaghetti and meatballs 
• Omelets - fill with cheese and any vegetable you have
• Frittata - rice, eggs, corn, cheese 
• Impossible pie 
• Cheese and bean enchaladas
• Hot dogs and oven fries , veggie sticks -if you are really short, make dough and make pigs in blankets.   Buns aren’t hard to make, but they are time consuming,   
• Baked potato bar 
• Fried rice 
• Burrito bowls 
• Rice and beans 
• Soup-  any but vegetable bean costs out at about 2.50 for 6 quarts.!  

One if the first bulk buys I would make would be a 20 ish pound if rice and flour and a ten pound bag of oatmeal.  I buy ours at Costco, but I’m sure sams club has  them if there are still sams clubs around.    Of you don’t have a membership, you can usually find someone that will help you that does. 

A serving of oatmeal costs  .085 .  That makes six servings less than a buck including a splash of milk and a little fruit.   

Beans are a penny a serving and rice is three cents.   Buy them at the DT, 

If you can make your own pizza crust and a quick dozen muffins, that saves bundles too.   A pizza crust with Costco bulk flour costs about 19 cents,    It takes about 3 minutes,   My 5yo granddaughter can do it,    Muffins can be done in about 5 minutes and any child over ten or so as long as they are able to handle the oven without burning themselves, can bake muffins,   My mother had us baking at 9,    

Unless it’s in sale  elsewhere, buy bread at the DT.  They also have brown and serve rolls.   Not the best ones I ve ever had,  it they work if you have to.   Learn how to make peasant bread,   It’s easy, again a older child can do it, and it takes no kneading. I would handle the oven.      It is rustic like the name Implies , but it is a good accompaniment to a good bowl of soup or stew.

  I want food I can make with not much hands on cooking.  It was that way when I was holding down sometimes 2 jobs with three kids and a house to run, now it’s that way for health reasons.    It just works.    

Saturday night, I have six people and 60 bucks.

Fred Meyers has chickens tomorrow for .87.  Get a five lb one,    This should yield you 2 legs, 2 thighs, and one breast cut in two for a meal.   Add potatoes and a veggie .

Take the broth and rice (DT) and some veggies and make soup in the slow cooker.  Add rolls or biscuits .

Pizza casserole or pizza

Mac and cheese , vegetable

Rice and beans
spaghetti sauce and spaghetti
————-
Fred Meyers
Chicken
Milk 1.79
Check the spaghetti for .50 spaghetti
Prego 3/5
Check the space by the eggs English muffins should be a huge package for 1.67. (3/5)

Total 12.93



Winco

Carrots 2.28 fir 5 lbs
Potatoes 10 lbs 1.99
Celery .99
Peas 1.00, sometimes .88 and corn
2 cans diced tomatoes .58
4-8 8 ounce pkgs of cheese at about 1,28 a pkg.   I think they are Winco brand.   Get regular and pizza cheese if you can
1 pkg meatballs 2.00

20.82



Dollar tree
Pizza sauce
3 pizza crusts - unless you can make it yourself -  pizzas are 2  indiciduals to a package, cost of home made is .17.
Rice
Beans
Macaroni - try to get a value added box.    Normally I would have bought boxes when I can get them for .76 with coupons.
Bread -5

Total 12.00

Total 46.75

Add eggs 2 dozen where ever they are close to a buck.  Winco did it lasts week.  Add some fresh fruit at a dollar a lb or less .  

Following the on the cheap way gives you the luxury of not being stuck.  If I had a few bucks, I would buy a case of green beans at Winco.  

Chicken Alfredo

Chicken Alfredo  - serves 4

1 lb chicken breast , cooked and cubed.
1/2 lb fettucini
1-1/2 cups milk
5 T butter, cut into small pieces
Dash of nutmeg, pepper
3/4 cup parmesean cheese

• Cook the pasta according to package directions, 
• Bring the milk to a boil in a skillet, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes 
• Remove skillet from heat , add drained pasta to skillet
• Toss, add chicken, spices, and most of the cheese. 
• Toss again and pit remaining cheese on top 

FM Sunday ad

buy 5; save 5

2 lbs cheese 5.00
Frozen fruit
Snap peas .99
Skippy peanut butter 1.99


Strawberries 3/5
FF chicken whole or thighs .87
Milk 1.79

.99 sale
Apples
Pears
Oranges
Blood oranges


Prego 3/5. Look for coupons

Feeding hungry mouths on a budget

Protein and grains stay with you.  Carbs go into your bloodstream quickly.   Fat fills you up.

Ideas you can use,   Kids, especially growing teens just can’t get enough to eat.

1. Have a number  - like maybe 4 - things that are FREE.   That is to say, they can make themselves and eat when they are hungry provided it isn’t an hour before dinner,   With my children it was air popped popcorn , ramen noodles, beef and bean burritos, and  PBand J. I would change the ramen out to a baked potato 🥔 these days,   They are things that get protein into the children and aren’t garbage,   
2. I would buy a bulk bag of flour, rice and oatmeal.  @@Costco. That would be about less than 25.00.  You can make bread for as low as .25.  Easy bread.   You can get orowheat with healthy grains and bagels, buns, etc at the dollar tree.  There are some coupons out there.   Save the inserts.  If you don’t get the later, it’s a dollar at the dollar tree (DT) and you can get it Saturday.   Mark the date on the front.   Rice in bulk calculates to a few cents a serving.   Oatmeal is less than ten cents a serving and fills a kid up.   Use 1/2 cup per serving.  We add fruit and a splash of milk.   
3. Buy meat  in bulk and limit your choices to things you can get for an average of 2.00 a pound,   Buy limiting to a pork, a beef and a chicken, you can buy in bulk and rotate what you buy based on RBP sales.  Recently we got pork loin for a dollar at Fred Meyers.  I got chicken for a buck in bulk at Zaycon.  I get boneless skinless chicken breast at FM for 1.77.  You can almost always get whole chickens for a buck a pound.   Hamburger is more expensive, we just eat it once a week.  If another cut is cheaper, we grind our own.   Not serving a piece of meat is always a stretcher.   Sloppy joes go further than hamburgers.   Serve children smaller portions and offer seconds if they eat the first portion ...and their veggies .    
4. Eggs are a good source of protein and I can still find diktat a dozen eggs.   My family loves impossible pies.   A good dinner that stretches.  
5. Growing up, we never saw a can of pop, a bag of potato chips , a specialty child food., or a fresh piece of fruit except bananas that were given to us.  No kool aid.  We just didn’t see junk food.   I do always have fresh fruit in the house fir granddaughter.   Snacks didn’t happen.   
6. A lot of child friendly recipes can be made cheap.   Cheese pizza cost 1.05.  Burritos can be made with a combo of meat and beans,  
7. Beans (pinto) are cheapest  at the DT.  Made in USA, no gmo. 
8. Hearty soups can simmer a,omg in a slow cooker and are a good , cheap meal.  
9. The more cheap, efficient, scratch meals you can make the better, the less ready made foods the better.  

Its not what you buy, it when and where you buy it.

Winco haul

Note that cases of corn or green beans are five bucks.   That’s less than 50 cents a can.  

Sour cream 2.22
Hot dog buns 1.07
Milk 1.49
Olives .88
Strawberries 1.98
Tomstoes .99
Potatoes 10 lbs 1.98
Total 11.37

This month sitting at 50.00 a week
2016. 72.00 week
2017  55.00 a week
2018  50.00 a week

Includes building a small stock.

Chain store ads...finally

Our world has been crazy the last month.  It f8nnally caught up with me.     ......just got the ads last night .


QFC

Chuck roasts or London broil BOGO, no prices here, you have to judge when you get to the store,

Strawberries 2/5

DIGITAL COUPONS - YOU MUST DIWNLOAD BEFORE YOU GO TO THE STORE.

Lean cuisine 4/6
Cheerios 1.79
Chobani 10/8
Tide 3.99
Spaghetti .50
Frizen  fruit 2.99
————
Grapes 2.49
Pears .99
Avocados 4 ea 2.99


Alberways

Apple juice .99@@
Bread .79@@
Greek yogurt .88@@

Oranges 3 lbs 3.47
Apples .99
V8 2.50
Digiorno 5.49 $$.  There are paper coupons


Friday only
Dijorno 5.00$$

@@ means with in store ad , you can’t match with a manufacturers coupon
$$ means there are paper coupons you can use out there.  Usually in an insert or on line at coupons,com

QFC Haul and lesson learned.

QFC Haul

5 lbs gala apples 5.99 less 60 cent coupon or 5.39 Florida 5 lbs or 1.078 a lb

2 blueberries, , 2 raspberries 2.50 each

1 lb sausage free.  

45 percent savings


The lesson

Its not what you buy, it’s when and where you buy it.  

BC cake mix was supposed to be free with a coupon at qfc.  Somehow I messed up the download.   The reality became clear when the charge for the cake was 2.39.

Here is  the reality

QFC reg price 2.39
Safeway reg price (dec) 1.79
Winco price twomweeks ago .88

Same brand, same mix
Swing is 1.50.   That’s a lot of money.
The upshot of that is that you can compound your savings by using that 1.50 to buy something else that is at a RBP.  

Tuesday notes

it is Tuesday and my keyboard is still broken .   They told me how to fix it, but I already tried that.  I’ll try again,  

I was watching a video about a 1940 kitchen,   Having been an antique dealer, I have a few 1940 things,  the interesting thing about this video was that it was set in England and it showed war rations and the food that was on their list.   Those homemakers had to do a lot of improvising to make a balanced meal.   It must have been a far cry from the vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, dairy free, carb free, diets we choose these days to be on today.    Just an observation

Our lives need to be balanced.   When we deviate from balance in our lives, we fail.   You can’t work and sleep and work, you need down time.   You can’t play all day. You need to do a certain amount of work. Meals need to nurture our bodies in a balanced way.  

Taking one food group at a time and finding ways to cut your costs.  Get one tackled and start on another.   Its a life long learning process.  

• Meat can be purchased in bulk from the farmer.  Haven’t done that yet, but I’m working in it.   You can also purchase meat in bulk when it is in a good sale,   Rotate your meats,   Portion control.   If you have a monthly allotment, set a budget,   My budget for meat is 2.00 a lb.   it was 2.00 a meal in the early  70s and I had the same sized family,    We just eat different adjusting for COL.   
• Dairy is on sale at least once a month at Fred Meyers,   I got it free last time with cereal.   I 
• found yoplait for .25.   Sour cream 1.25.   
• Bread is cheapest right now at the DT.   I’ve even seen bagels, dinner rolls. And hamburger buns,   They are several dollars elsewhere.  You can also make your own for pennies.   Anthree dollar loaf of artisan bread can cost as low as a quarter.   
• Vegetables can be frozen, canned, or fresh.   Fresh in season is good, but frozen can be fresher because it is frozen soon after it is picked,   Cans are shelf stable and a good fall back on item. 
• Making your own waffles, etc is a real money saver.  Muffins can cost as low as a fifty cents a batch.   

• 
  

Monday, just Monday

It would be Monday, Kitchen Management day. But I need to know if people want that subject.  So, we’ll try something different.

Taking some time every now and then to take inventory and straighten an auxiliary freezer is a good thing.  We did that yesterday.   I use baskets from the dollar tree to organize my freezer.   It makes life simpler to know where things are.    And, you can tell at a glance what you may need to watch for a sale to replentish.

Dollar tree now has 200 count tissue and it’s not sandpaper.   Lol

Go tos at the DT are :

• Office supplies, notebooks 
• Tissue not toilet paper 
• That being said , I get one TP from the DT for emergency.  Putting it in the back of the cabinet tells us that we need to go to costco. But we are never in a pickle.   
• Pizza sauce.   Its a name brand, less than any other sauce. As cheap as homemade.   You can get 5 pizzas out of a jar and we freeze the rest of the jar after the first pizza in ice cube tray and put the cubes in a zip lock.  One jar fills an ice cube tray 
• Tortillas - they are cheaper and not made with lard. 
• Orowheat bread .  Sometimes they have buns and bagels.   There are coupons out there. 
•  Chocolate   striped shortbread.   - cheaper than the GO. 
• Suddenly salad with coupons. 
• Sugar free applesauce for school lunches 

Not to be a broken record, but the key is to know your prices.  The cost of food can be made cheaper just by knowing what is the RBP and where to get it.   No one store has the best price on everything,   Making a list of what you do use and finding where it is the cheapest goes a long way to cutting your food costs.   You don’t go to five stores a week, you buy enough to carry you through until you find it cheap again or you have run out.   There are a few things that you need on a regular basis.   So,e things can be skipped until you get a cheaper price..

In our area, Winco and Fred Meyers are the cheapest overall.   QFC is a Kroger store , but almost everything is about 10-20 percent more than other stores.   They work on mega sales and coupons,  

Grocery outlet and the dollar store are side by side at Kenmore and north Seattle.   Grocery Outlet (GO) is good for some things,  you do have to know your RBP.   I can almost always  get designer cheeses for reasonable.   Sometimes yogurt, condiments are usually a bargain.   It is a treasure hunt.  Some things are always there, some things are surprises.   

Safeway/Albertsons (Alberways ) is giid when they have a case lot sale But, when a cake mix is 1,79 and the same brand is .88 at Winco...well.....Barilla pasta was 2.00; it is a dollar when they have it at the DT and it’s little more than a dollar at Winco.    There haven’t been coupons lately.  

The specialty type whole paycheck stores are  pretty much off limits for those trying to feed their family for 1/2 the USDA stats for poor people.    The USDA stats are published by the USDA every few months,   Google “cost of food at home USDA” for current list.   Note there are adjustments for sizes of your family.  

Being open to all avenues of saving :maximizes your savings.  

• Know your prices of things you buy on a regular basis 
• Use coupons 
• Scratch cook
• Buy in bulk when it makes sense 
• Stock up when things are RBP- shelf stable foods that have decent pull dates.  Decide on a stock plan.   If you use something twice a wwe, and you want a six week supp,y, you need 12 cans or packages.   
• Cut waste, start step leftovers.  If you drain a can of diced tomatoes, save the juice for stock. Etc. 

The more you do, the more money you can save.  Learn tricks to maximize your time.  

Meal plans

Meal plans are a necessary part of the time planning and shopping 🛒.  It saves time and money and makes your life easier,   No more answering the question what’s for dinner?

This week we are still on our let’s eat down the freezer mantra.   We have one month until our bulk meat comes .   Lol

• Split pea soup with ham - baguettes
• Pizza bbq chicken ( use a batch of chicken for pizza, burritos, and stir-fry. 
• Spaghetti and meatballs , bread, salad ( save some spaghetti fir stir fry )
• Chicken stir fry 
• Salmon cakes , oven potatoes, carrots 
• Chicken burritos ( tortillas are from DT) no lard 
• Breakfast 4 dinner ( use the rest of the ham ) 

Notes

Using slow cooker part of insta pot.  NEVER use the regular insta pot! It just spells MESS!

Cooking 1 batch of chicken in the insta pot just saves time.

QFC haul

5 butter at 2.00
4 soup at .55 coupons stacked
Nathan’s hot dogs
Tortillas 1.00

Fred Meyer ad for Sunday

• Butter is two dollars a pound today only with andigitL coupon at qfc . You can have 5

• WTH F only w digital coupon. Shrimp 5.77 and salmon fir 5.77
• Petite sirloin steaks 2.97
• Grapes 1.68
• Apples 1.47

DIGITAL COUPONS 

Lean cuisine 4/6

Cheerios 1.49

Breyers ice cream 1.99

Cream soups 4/2

Pasta .50

Best foods 2.99

Peanut butter .99

———————

Ground turkey 2/5

80/20 beef 3.49   Not a good buy 

Apples .99 🍎 apples 🍏 

Note insta pot is 79.00 and vets or service get 10 percent off on Thursday.  Bring the ads 

Sloppy joe recipe. .....scratch

It’s almost as cheap to use the can, but there is some samvings and you can tailor the recipe for picky eaters.  


Sloppy joes -serves 4

• 3/4 lb of ground beef, cooked **
• 1 can diced tomatoes, drained, reserving juice 
• 1/2 of a pepper, chopped -green is good or u can use what u have 
• 1/2 medium onion , chopped 
• 1 clove garlic , chopped 
• Tomato paste as needed 

• In the insta pot on sauté, put the peppers and onion.   Cook until somewhat soft . 
• Turn off sauté function and add cooked ground beef, 
• Put diced tomatoes threw a sieve or pulse in a food processer.   Add to pot. 
• Add seasonings.  
• Add tomato paste until you have the desired color and consistency,  about 1 Tbls
• Slow cook 4-8 hours.  

Notes :  I used the juice from the tomatoes for part of the water in rice.  Also used a yellow pepper because that was what we found on sale at GO.  

We always cook ground beef when it comes home from the store.  Its a real time saver to batch cook and portion control the beef.  It means you can find time to de-fat and when it’s tome to cook dinner, you are half way done.   

Dinner in the slow cooker means all you have to do is make oven fries and get out your ore made veggie tray,   Easy dinner,    

GO haul

GO is our discount overstock grocery store.  Its no frills and the stock is limited to overstocks.  Some things are almost a,ways there, but the rest is a treasure hunt.  Be sure to watch for  pull dates .

Caramel cookie blondness - a takenoff of Girl Scout cookies    ,99
Hot sauce  .69
Mini marshmallows .89
Thin mint cupcake mix .99
Ketchup 1.59
Dill pickles, 1.99

6 English cucumbers 2.99
Peppers 2/1.00

Sliced cheese 1.99
Smoked rope sausage 1,.99
Bacon 2,99

Total 22.08.  Still under budget

Weekly ads

Its a holiday ! Usually the ads for regular  food are not great on holiday weeks,  
No exception.  


QFC

Saturday only, digital coupon, 1.99 butter

Draper valley whole chicken .99


Digital coupons you have to load them on your card can buy 5

The coupon guru says that you can use a paper coupon with digital when it is a store digital

Campbell’s soup 4/3. Or .75 each.   Coupons out there

General Mills cereal 1:79. Coupons

American beauty pasta :50

Best foods 2.99

Kleenex .99 when u buy 1

HF smoked sausage 1.99

Frozen fruit 2.99 when u buy 1

Tide 3.99.when I buy 1 there r coupons out there , but it depends on what kind of a coupon the first one is,   If the coupon works, it would make it 1.99

 __________
Pork shoulder 1:79

Berries 2/5

Alberways

Bacon 3.99, in 2 lb pkg. @@

The methodology...

• Groceries on the cheap takes a different approach to grocery shopping.   Instead  of going to the  store and buying a list of things that you will use to make dinner for a  specific week, you go to replentish your stock.   I have a dry goods pantry and a freezer.   I have done this without my upright freezer, but I have to admit that having a freezer helps.

Once every quarter or less , we do a costco run for the bulk purchases of flour, oatmeal, and rice.

Weekly, I usually hit two stores after I study the ads and share them with you. I am going looking for

• The rotation protein that is a RBP I have identified in an ad. Sometimes this happens, sometimes it doesn’t.   
• Dairy:   I almost always have yoplait yogurt coupons.   I am looking for a sale on sour cream, milk, cottage cheese sometimes, and cheese.  I want milk, sour cream, cottage cheese for as close to a dollar as possible.   Cheese I want for two dollars a pound, but never over 2.35.  Don’t overlook the cases of yogurt, I got a case for 1.98 yesterday.   I have a buy price for eggs at a dollar and butter for 2.50.   I have bought butter for as low as 1.50 and eggs for ass low as .7.  When eggs were .78 I dehydrated them.   
• Fresh fruits and veggies in season.   Always check multiples.   One pound of carrots was a dollar yesterday, 5 pounds were 2.28.   Carrots have a every long fridge life.   Carrot sticks are good for a veggie tray.  Glazed carrots with honey, butter, and ginger are delicious with chicken or pork.   Baby carrots are just carrots that they BLEACH and cut small.   One pound is a dollar. Another drastic price difference.   
• Anything on a good sale that the dry pantry is in need of.   The pantry has shelves an my designated limit of storage of a particular product is mapped out.   I can tell at a glacial if I am short of a particular item.   It has to be a very special price, or I don't buy it.   We do have the luxury of diced green chilies that I get at Winco for 1/2 the price of the national brand an sliced black olives that I got at GO for .69 last time.  Winco has a price of .72 usually.   FM is a lot more.   Making things look and taste good makes groceries on the cheap sustainable.  

Stocking: the what and when of it.

First of all, stocking is not hoarding if it is done with some thought.    None needs a coat closet full of sodas.   LOL.  One does not need 150 bottles of hot pepper sauce.

What:

Things like mustard, mayo, catsup and coffee can be stocked for one ahead.   Look for a sale when you pull your backup unit off the shelf.   That way you never run out of something in the middle of cooking.   If you are efficient you should never have to run to the store or the neighbours because you dont have a much needed item.

As for any other food stuff, it depends on how many of that product you use on a regular basis.   Decide how much of xxx you use on a weekly basis.  Now decide how many weeks you need ahead.  This often is predicated on how often there are sales on something.    Shelf stable items can be. Stored up to a year or more depending on pull dates.   Some things are good past pull dales, depending on the item.  There are good articles out there that will give you good clues.   Pasta is supposed to have an eight year shelf life.    Beans , and anything with an acid content do not have much grace period beyond the pull date.

Some canned goods have taken a large hike in cost.   It really is a benefit if you keep enough stock to last you until you find a good sale.    Green beans can be over a dollar a can.   They can also be five dollars a dozen in a case lot.    The difference in cost means that you can eat three times instead of one.


A list of canned items that are a good thing to stock ( provided you eat and use these things on a regular basis ;

• Green beans 
• Corn 
• Diced tomatoes 
• Some canned beans 
• Salad dressing 
• BBQ sauce
• Dehydrated potatoes 
• Pasta 
• Some soups 

 Keep a few of : 

Black olives 

Mild green chilies 

Pepperoni 

Top ramen ( emergency rations )

Dry milk 

Flour 

Sugar 

Brown sugar 

Water:  emergency rations 

Back up salad oil 

Back up catsup 

Back up mustard 

Back up coffee 

Tea 

The key is to know how much to keep.   You don’t want to have the pull date get away from you, but you don't want to get stuck paying full price either.    

This can be done on a shoestring budget.  It takes time and a skill set to buy things whether you need the immediately or not when you find something o a RBP.    You dot wait until you have a fire to buy a fire detector.   Plan.   If you know you are going to go through a financial crisis, or a month where the expenses are great, save for them, but having a full part can also tide you through.   

We know we have a donut hole to ride through the third to fourth quarter of the year.   Maybe for you, you know you are having a baby and aren't going to feel or have time to shop a lot, or maybe not feel like shopping.   Maybe you know you are gong to have surgery or your spouse is going to have to go away for work and you are carrying the full load.      Whatever it is, plan for it.   There is a wonderful sense of satisfaction knowing you always have food in the house.   No one should have to carry the stress of not hang anything in the cupboards.   That stress lowers your life expectancy.   And it is a terrible hardship on children.   If you have any steady food money at all, you can stretch it to cover a small stock.   Sometimes it takes a can or case at a time.    But you can

do it.    

Winco Haul

Winco Haul -some good buys

Maxwell House Coffee 6.48
Nalleys chilli .99 less 20 cent coupon is .79

Stir fry veggies 1.51
Leaf lettuce 1.58
2 grape tomatoes 2.56
Strawberries 1.98
Celery .98
Blues 3.98
Bc cake mix .88
Pickles 1.88
Yoplait yogurt 8 pack 1.98. -thats .25 a carton

Bacon 2.98

5 lbs carrots 2.28
Ham 2.48
Hamburger buns .78
Case of green beans 4.98

The real scoop....on 80/20 hamburger

On a recent U tube, a gal did a sorta scientific experiment on which hamburger was cheaper, 80/20 or 93/7.   A lot of her information was flawed.   Here is the real scoop.


Package w hamburger weighs 1.33 lbs.
Package weighed .39 pounds
Net hamburger less than 16 ounces.

Tare weight of the shy 1 lb hamburger is 11.25 ounces.
80/20 hamburger should be 12.8 ounces
Tare weight , drained and de fatted was 11.64 ounces

11.64 ounces / 1.99 is .17 an ounce.  

Kitchen Management

Kitchen management is a tool that enables one to be organized and keep the kitchen clean on an ongoing basis.   By doing one small deep clean chore a week on a rotation basis, the kitchen stays clean with little work.    Prepping meals for a few minutes one day can save countless stress at dinner
Time.  

Reprint menu:

• Split pea soup/ bread 
• Pizza
• Chicken stir fry , rice , mandarin oranges 
• Tacos , Spanish rice , 
• Sloppy joes, oven fries, veggie platter
• Salmon, potatoes, broccolli 
• Breakfast for dinner 

1. Wash kitchen floor 
2. Wash and disinfect counters, sinks, and drains 
3. Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead. 
4. Wash stove drip plans. 
5. Wax south side cabinets. 
6. Wash veggies:  celery, carrots, potatoes 
7. Chop carrots for split pea soup
8. Start bread rising 
9. Thaw chicken 
10. Make sloppy joe filling 
11. Fry hamburger and measure for scientific experiment 
12. Make a veggie tray .   
13. Straighten pantry. 

Meal Plans

Meal Plans are a useful tool to keep you on track.   If you are organized even a bit, you can avoid the takeout demon.

• Split pea soup    Bread 
• Pizza
• Chicken stir fry  rice , mandarin oranges
• Tacos, Spanish rice 
• Sloppy joes , oven fries, veggie platter 
• Salmon , baked potatoes, broccolli 
• Breakfast for dinner.    

Notes:   

1. I finally found split peas.   Seem like I was hunting forever.   Add vegetable stock and carrots.   Garnish with bacon.   The bread dough is hanging in the fridge. A very cheap dinner.   
2. Pizza is a mainstay. The cost is less than a buck when you get your cheese for two dollars a pound.   We make our own crust for .19 and save veggie pieces for toppings. 
3. Chicken stir fry is easy....make double rice for stair stepping into taco day. J
4. Salmon is in the freezer.   We are going to eat down the freezer so we are ready for a bulk meat delivery in spring   Baked potato’s uses up the excess potatoes.   
5. Breakfast for dinner is always a favorite and can be as inexpensive as you want it to be.   
6. Taco shells were .50 for twelve.  That makes 2 meals for us.   
7. Sloppy joes are scratch.   With hamburger for 1.50 a lb, its also a cheap dinner.   Oven fries are a bit more complicated than the frozen ones, but we have potatoes to use up.   

Fred Meyer ad for Sunday

Usually , the ‘holiday’ ads are not a good time for bargain hunters.  This time there is not a lot, but what there is can be good.

My pick for rotation meat would be either 10 FF boneless, skinless chicken breast or 2) kroger 20 percent hamburger.   When you figure the best price for hamburger , calculate the price times 1.xx with xx being the fat content.   This makes sense to me.   There was a person on a u tube that somewhat thought she was doing an experiment. But, it didnt make my accountant logic test. LOL
20 percent at 1.99 equals 2.39 a lb ; angus ground sirloin cost 4.14 a lb.   Now, I did get sirloin for 2.39 a lb and ground it myself.   You can reduce fat by as much as 17 percent by de-fatting it.   Seniors get the ground sirloin on Tuesday for 3.39 or net 3.73

Mandarins -5 lb. 4.77
Blackberries .99
Milk .99

Digital coupons -your qfc card works here .
You cant pair a digital coupon with a paper one.
Net prices

Tide 3.99
Sour cream .99
HS sausage 1.99

Kleenex tissue .99 -   You can get 160 count tissue at DT most of the time.  Sometimes you can get 210 at winco for a dollar.  

QFC Haul

QFC has a mega event.  I’ve seen better, but coupled with the 2 day sale, it netted me over fifty percent off .  


5 -1 lb 80/20 hamburger @1.99

Roma speghetti .49. Given to the foodbank

Digiorno pizza 2.99

Chocolate milk. .99

Goldfish crackers .99

Tillamook ice cream 3.00

Total 22.77 minus the dollar food bank. 21.77

Still umder budget.

Crunchy Baked Chicken

Any meal that you can fix and put in the oven to finish cooking is a good thing.   No watched pot.


1 egg, beaten
2 T milk

1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup grated parmesean cheese
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
Salt
Pepper

3-4 lbs chicken pieces
1/4 cup olive oil

1. Beat egg and milk 
2. Put all dry ingredients in a shallow bowl and stir.  
3. Dip chicken pieces in egg mixture and then in breadcrumb mixture.  
4. Place chicken pieces in greased baking pan.  Drizzle with olive oil. 
5. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes or until chicken tests done and juices run clear.   

Thursday bullets: substitutions

It is a real bummer to start a receipt and discover you don't have an ingredient.   Don’t let that deter you.   Yes, I guess if you don’t have the chicken for your chicken salad, that would be a problem.  But, not having tomato paste can be rectified.  

• Baking powder:  1 tsp. 1/4 tsp soda, plus 1/2 tsp cream of tarter 
• Bread crumbs :   Crushed crackers 
• Buttermilk:   1 cup. Plain yogurt or 1 cup milk plus 1T lemon juice or vinegar.  Let stand 5 minutes.
• Cake flour :  1 cup regular flour minus 2 T .
• Unsweetened Chocolate:  1 ounce equals 3T cocoa plus 1T butter
• Sour cream:  1 cup equals 1 cup buttermilk plus 3T melted butter.
• Heavy cream:  1 cup equals 3/4 cup milk plus 1/4 cup melted butter. 
• 1T mustard equals 1 tsp dry mustard 
• Tomato paste can be substituted with ketchup 
• 1 small onion equals 1 T dryed minced onion 
• 1T fresh herbs equals 1 tsp dried.  
• Tartar sauce  -1/2 cup equals 6 T mayonaise plus 2T sweet pickle relish