Meal plans.

The first step in meal planning is to take a quick inventory and note anything near a pull date or that looks like it needs eating soon.

Next, use a matrix to assure variety of meals.    So,e people use a theme based matrix, some a protein based matrix,  whatever works for you.   It's important to have a plan, even though you might not always use the plan.   Yesterday I went to Safeways to get a few things that were on sale.  I foimd so,e I had t seen, and had coupons to make things better, and I found shrimp with yesterday's pull date at 1/2 off.   We were supposed to have salmon for dinner, it wasn't much of a stretch to substitute shrimp.   I was already 1/2 way there when I had to go to the imaging clinic.    I don't travel ten miles to save .25.   LOL.

I digress - meal plans -  not nexessarily on order

• Sweet and sour chicken , rice, mandarin oranges 
• Pizza 
• Chicken tortilla soup 
• Sausage and saurkraut , apples and bread 
• Speghetti and meatballs , French bread 
• Split pea soup , crescents
• Breakfast 4 dinner 

Notes :   A batch of chicken breasts can be cooked at the same time for sweet and sour chicken and chicken tortilla soup.    I'm still working on dollar a pound chicken.    

Pizza is veggie 

Sausage was bought for a dollar.   Apples cut the sharpness of the saurkraut.    Bread sticks can be made from pizza dough easily.   Make dough. Let rise once ( 10 minutes.) flatten out in a baking sheet with sides,  dish with melted butter or oilive oil. Sprinkle with garlic powder and oak cheese.  Bake as pizza dough.  Slice into sticks with a pizza cutter.    

Speghetti and meatballs.  Meatballs are already cooked.  Speghetti sauce is as cheap as .58 and never more than a dollar on glass or .88 on cans.   Orontonsoegjetti was .75 with coupons.   

Tuna  casserole.     I have been weighing out the noodles, with only three of us eating them, I have been making a 8x8  pan of a casserole instead of the 9x13.   Less waste.    I got albacore tuna , wild caught for 1.25 at grocery outlet.    I make my own cream sauce mix, and cook whole carrots.   

Breakfast for dinner is a given.    Scrambelled eggs, fruit and some kind of starch: pancakes, waffles, English muffins ( cheapest at FM) or regular muffins,    Muffins can be made for less than a dollar.    It a good take and go breakfast too.    

Four dollar a day budgets allow for a dollar a plate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and a dollar for snacks and staples like oil, flour  etc.    

My breakfast consists of a bowl oatmeal made from a bulk oatmeal box from Costco and a banana.   I got a cog box of ancient grains cereal on a sale at grocery outlet o might swap out for some variety.   Less than .50 including the banana.   Bananas are cheapest at Costco.   Look formwhole hands, not singles put on the bag.   Most bags I have found are closer to 3.5 pounds,   If they add 1 banana they are going to be closer to the three pounds.   

Lunch is leftovers or a sandwich or soup,    I got chicken noodle for .45 and progresso  chinky for .75 

That will feed two of us with crackers or bread.  

Having less expensive lunches frees up money for a stock.  Stocking is the  backbone of eating on the cheap.   Good food cheap -  not cheap food.  

10 things never to buy and 5 things that are worth buying.

Ready made on a strict budget is usually a bad thing,  

Ten things never to buy

1. Salad kits .   It's so easy to put a quick salad together.  
2. Microwave popcorn---how many ways can we spell nasty!   Air popped popcorn is a lot cheaper and healthier.   
3. Cookies -   Easy and inexpensive to make 
4. Salad dressings - you can  control the type of oil ( not hydrogenated ) and cut costs too.
5. Bread crumbs, : why pay for  someone else's dry bread.   
6. Spice Mixes - easy, Peasy and a lot cheaper.   
7. Croutons - the dry  bread again 
8. Ready made tea. -- tea is really cheap.   Why pay ten  times the amount for a little work.   
9. Pizza crust - another simple , easy recipe that's so much better,    
10. Refried beans- simple recipe, better nutrition, no oil.    

Five things to buy 

1. Tortillas 
2. Tortilla chips. 
3. Pasta sauce : with coupons and sales, it's cheaper than scratch 
4. Salsa - unless you can grow your own, tomatoes cost more than the ready made.  
5. Pasta   You can find good pasta , some with double fiber and  pronto for anywhere between .38 and .75 a pound,     It's not worth the effort to make it scratch,  

Safeways and Fred Meyers.

I did go to Safeways after my  appointment at the lab.   They had grated cheese, shirt included for 1.25, limit 4.   Inakso got origressonsoup, for .99 and had a coupon for 100 off 4 - the amount if quality for the  discount.   They had shrimp for 1/2 price with today as a pull date,    We were going to have salmon for dinner, I'm switching it to shrimp.   It oays to be flexible,    Tortilla chips were 3/5 and we were about out,  

Fred Meyers for tomorrow.  


Honey crisp apples 1.68
London  broil 2.99 - portion control, but at 2.99 it would make sense to grind your own hambirger.  
Pears .99

Freschetta 3.99

Yoplait 3/1 limit 6@@
Ice cream 1.99 limit 2@@

That's all for bargains.  

Grocery Outlet and Dollar Tree

We did go to grocery outlet and dollar tree.    We had DDG with us,    I'm always just looking for anbargain that I will and can use.   

Grocery outlet 

Split peas .99

Coffee 4.99

Four cans of wild caught albacore tuna 4.99

Tomato paste .39

Original grains cereal.  1.59

Crescent rolls ( 4 ea in roll) .25 

Pepperoni  1.50 ( spices) 

Spent 21.00 saved 56.00

Dollar tree 

Name brand enchalada sauce 3/1.00

Taco shells 1.00

Pronto pasta 1.00. Barilla 

And you have what in your pantry?

I will admit that we have a great deal of stock in our pantry.   It was well thought out.   The banks are giving me less than a half of one percent on my money.    I know that we have extraordinary expenses during the last quarter of the year.    If I have a large pantry of food that I have paid fifty percent less on  the dollar for, I can restrict our grocery spending and have more money to pay for the meds.  

I don't like having to spend  money for meds to keep me alive but it's a fact of life and I have to deal with it the best way I can.   End of story.  

It just makes sense if you have a limited amount of money for food to lay as little as you can for good food.  It isn't hoarding  if you have a controlled amount and develop places to keep it.  Now, of you are buying 69 bottles of red pepper sauce that you can never use in your lifetime before it goes bad, that's not being rational.   Buy a controlled amount of the things  you use in a regular basis that you can make a meal out of.   Buy them in themcheaoest sake you can find and use coupons if you can.   Our pantry looks like this, You might very well pick different foods.   Writing a list of typical meals using inexpensive sources of protein helps give you a basis .  

1. Chicken noodle soup.   A good staple, especially if you have children . 
2. Tomato soup
3. Beans : kidney, black, garbanzo, white, pinto ( canned ) - limited supply for emergencies and when time is restricted.   
4. Dry beans : white , black, pinto, kidney 
5. Diced tomatoes.   Diced tomatoes can transform into a lot of things, anything from salsa. Pasta sauce or a base for soups.    
6. Pasta sauce :  you can get it for as low as .59 and it can make a quick dinner, or part of it can be topping for a pizza in a pinch.   
7. Pasta : a good staple.   I have got it for as cheap as .38 and it has a very very long shelf life.   
8. I keep a limited supply of - Mayo, catsup, mustard, BBQ sauce, a few salad dressings, a back up olive oil.   
9. In the freezer I keep frozen veggies. Cheese, a few back up pizzas, 

A few things can make a lot of meals.   It covers you when there is a disaster,  be it a snow storm, or just sick kids that make it hard to get to the store.   

No child should have to suffer the insecurity of having nothing in the house to eat.   

Food will do you no good of you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.    

Four plus one is five : 4 people, 1 meal, 5 bucks.    

Better, cheaper, faster 

The rest of the story ...ads

Finally.     

Alberways 

Mix or match when you buy 4 

Cheerios. And other cereals 1.49 $$

Just 4 you coupons. 

Yoplait .39

Forgets coffee 6.99

Five dollar Friday 

Skippy peanut butter 3/5

Pork loin chops 1.99

Milk 199@@

Apples .99

Mission tortilla chips 3/5

Red Barton 3/10

Greek yogurt .88

About it.    

The ads

I still don't have the ads.    I picked  up QFC ad when I went to the pharmacy.   

Strawberries 2/4 

Mandarines 3.99

Honey nut Cheerios  1.99$$ 

Ground pork 3.99

Medicare pays for flu shots, they are free of you are on Medicare.    If you get your flu shot at Fred Meyer or QFC, they give a meal to the hungry.   My sister belongs to group health, and she still good get her shot at QFC.    

$$ means there are coupons for them on line and in inserts.    

The strawberries are at the end coffee their season.   They didn't look so good when I was there.   

The best meat deal this week is at Winco.   With a coupon in the entrance, you can get 1.50 off a pound of ground turkey, of you buy two la Victoria taco sauce or enchilada sauce.    The enchalada  sauce is 1.58  and there is a dollar Ibotta on two.   The turkey I bought was three dollars.   

1.58

.58

1.50 

Total 3.64 for all.    That's less than the price of the turkey elsewhere.  

There is no limit , and it's good into November.    I don't know how long the Ibotta is good for.    

Werther's original carmels are 2/4 at Fred Meyers.   There is a insert coupon for a dollar  and an Ibotta  for another .75.  Watch your package sizes.   

Sugar free chocolates are 4/5.00 at FM.  Usually 2.59-279 

160 count tissue is 1.00 at FM.  

This comes from Dr Oz., so consider the source.    According to him, there are preservatives and msg in Costco rotisserie chicken.    

Where you buy something has a great impact on the orice you pay for the same item.   The same brand and the same size package can be 50 percent or more at another store.   CIP- the same box of of pepperoni at winconfir 1.69 is a dollar at the tree and with a dollar coupon  on two, ot is .50.   

This is the case on many things.    

You don't have to go to five stores a week to accomplish this,   Go to two stores a week.  Mine  lately  have been FM and Winco.    Then, hit the alternative stores when you are in need of the things they are notorious for having the best prices .   

Dollar tree - all regular brands ( the same as the other  grocery store. ) 

Pepperoni 

Pizza sauce 

Pretzels 

Grocery outlet 

Cheese 

Coffee - check prices 

Nuts 

Anything really cheap close to the pull date.    ( just adjust your meal plans to compensate for the pull dates) 

Enchiladas

I am going to make enchiladas today for dinner,    Onfond that if I make dinner in the morning when I am fresh, I am more likely to cook scratch,    The last thing I want to do at 7 o'clock at night is to make a scratch dinner.

I make meals that are about 1.00 to 1.25 per person.    If younfacor in the fact that there are certain staple items,s every kitchen should have - like olive oil, slices, yeast etc.    you,need to stay at  close to five dollars or less a dinner to stay on track for a four dollar ore day per person budget.    Five dollars is based in a Proverbial  famiky of four   Two adults and two school aged children.  

I watch a lot of grocery hauls to get a good feel for food costs.   I study trends and things that will effect food prices.    Seattle is one of the highest  COL in the nation,    We do have the luxury of an economical car and the major chain stores within a five mile radius or less.   Bit by bit, imhave collected the tools I need to make my life easier in the kitchen.   I'm old and I do a lot besides a blog and cook.    I want easy!    I want cheap!   I want good nutrition.   I want it all.  And, I have found a way to get it.  

If you are new, the mantra is to avoid the f word at all costs -- full price.
There are a lot of legal tools you can use to cut your OOP cost of good, nutritious food.  

I digress :

Enchiladas.
You will need

• Enchakada sauce.   I got it for $1.10 a 28 ounce can.    I will probably not need that much sauce.   The rest I will freeze for another dish . 
• Meat: I precook hamburger and portion control it in quart bags and out the quart bags in a gallon bag so it's easy to get out of the freezer.  If something is hard, you will likely be tempted not to do it.    
• Beans - You can use canned beans, drained and rinsed thorally ( reduces the gas quotient, and reduces the sodium. Or, you can cook beans,   I have been using the pressure cooker.  It's a lot easier and you don't have to presoak.    
• Cheese : I usually have a mixed cheese lock n lock on the fridge.    

That's it,   Easy, good protein.  I might ad chilies ( Winco has the best price ) and I'll ad lettuce and tomatoes and sour cream .   I use low carb tortillas and defeat 7 percent hamburger.   Themcheese and a little sour cream garnish is all that is fat.    

Total cost for 2/3 of the pan- the rest can be for a lunch the next day.    3.15.  That includes more cheese than you need and does not include the oil spray for the pan.    Those that want slice can add red pepper flakes or hot pepper sauce.    

Gather ingredients 

Mix hamburger, cooked and de-fatted, beans, rinsed and drained, and 1/2 can of green chilli 

Mix in cheese, grated , a couple of handfuls. 

Spray pan with cookin oil.  Cover bottom with sauce.  

Place filling on tortillas and roll.   Place seam side down in sauce lined bow,  

When all your tortillas have been assembled (6) . Pour remaining sauce over them and sori me with cheese. Garnish with rest of the chilies.  

You can make ahead and remove cover to bake at 385 degrees until heated through and cheese is me,ted.   Probably 30-45 minutes.  Everything is either cooked, or can be eaten raw at this point . So you are just cooking until the sauce is hit and the enchakadas are heated through.   

Grocery shopping hints.

This is something I wrote a while back.   This week I am taking classes for business and am nit feeling well.    Hope this is informative.

OK! Grocery shopping is my game,  finding the ,west orices os my thing.    

1. Cheese.  As of now, two dollars a pound is my target price ( nothing to do with the store with the red balls.) The USDA bought a huge quantity of cheese because the dairies had more than they could sell and it kept the price low.    I suspect that the result will be higher prices in the near future.    It's a good time to stock and freeze.   Grated cheese freezes well.    If you grate your own, add a little cornstarch and shake in a bag to keep it from clumping,    When you measure cheese, a cup of cheese is 4 ounces of cheese.  You can figure that whatever once is in your recipe for grated cheese. You will use 1/2 in actual poundage.    I.e.:   A half a cup of cheese that is grated is 2 ounces.   
2. Spices : they are inexpensive in large containers at Costco if it is a spice you use often.    That would be Italian seasoning here.    I also keep a large canisters of any Mexican seasoning and make my own taco seasoning,   It's a lot cheaper.    Why pay a dollar for seasoning.   The same holds true of seasoning sauces.  Don't pay  more for the seasoning than you do the meat you are putting on it.    Small quantities of slices are best bought in a bulk isle.  Not every bulk isle is created equal.    There is a grace difference between Kroger (QFC)  and Winco.    An example is dill weed.   I needed some to make my own ranch dressing mix.    A smallest container ( the one that is about an inch in diameter and an inch tall.  ) was over 6.00.   Enough to fill that sized container was .18. No, I didn't forget a decimal.    LOL.  
3. Dry pasta is more expensive at Costco than getting it on sale with coupons,     I am getting pasta anywhereI between .38-75 cents.    According to a class I saw in BYU television on food storage, pasta has an eight year shelf life.   I don't think I would keep a eight year supply, but I am well stocked.   It's a good stroke that fills people up and can be very versatile.    
4. Canned goods.   Yes, there is a issue with the lining in cans.   A study using tomato , one of the most acidic foods showed like 6 parts per 3 billion.   All I can say is that I am 70 years old, still kicking, and we ate nothing but canned goods growing up.    That's all there was that was within a reasonable cost.  We had bananas because my dad worked for United fruit sometimes and got them free,    I have target prices for canned goods and buy a select few.    I don't buy canned fruit, I have had it blow up on me and make a mess.    I buy green beans. A small amount of corn, diced tomatoes, some beans, and chicken noodle soup is a mainstay,   
5. Oats : quantity buy.    The individual packages are a lot more expensive than the bulk canister or box.  Costco's box is now .79 cents a pound.  For the same nutrition, you,need to eat three pouches of the microwave stuff.    It is super easy and no more work to make scratch : 1 scant cup water, 1/2 cup oats - 1-1/2 minutes.  Use a larger bowl that you need to so it doesn't boil over.   I add cinnamon sugar and my morning banana and a splash of milk.     You,can also add chopped apple, raisins, craisens, cinnamon, --- dollar store oats are less quality and more money .   
6. Meat :  chicken :   I only buy chicken from the PNW.   I can still find whole chickens for a dollar or less.  I was finding solid breast for a dollar too, but haven't recently,    Then, I would De-bone  them and place the bones in a stockpot with a few veggie ends.    I got six dollar a pound boneless, skinless chicken  breast and a bonus of chicken stock and chicken for a casserole for a dollar a pound.    Whole chicken can be cooked in less than ten minutes Nona passive cooking.    It, too can be purchased for under a dollar.    I recently got foster far,s chicken patties for almost free with coupons.    It s a good go to if you get stuck and cheaper than fast food.   
7. Meat. Beef is expensive.    We have real beef cubes or steak occasionally.   Most of the time, I buy hamburger meat that is seven percent fat and de fat it.   Beef has some nutrients that you just can't efficient get anywhere else.   We eat it once a week.   
8. Sausage is usually cheapest at Costco for Jimmy Dean in a chub.  I have found coupons for it and got it for A dollar and a half a pound recently.   Also, on a sale and coupons made rope sausage a dollar.    
9. Eggs fluctuate in price.   In the winter the chickens don't lay as many so the price is higher.   You can freeze eggs, I'm not going down that road.   We will eat more,abundance in the summer and less in the winter just like we do with so,e fruits and veggies.    
10. Fruits and veggies.   All I can say is season, season, season.  Buy what In season  You will get better quality for less money.   

Monday. Miracles

miracles...I mad it through another weekend,    Maybe..

I have been buying chicken noodle soup at Winco for .75 plus using coupons every time I can find a coupon. That makes it .45 instead of 1.59.  

I have been making a lot of scratch foods, but holding off on a few quick ready made ones,   We all have days when it's just crazy and a few easy things stays off the take out gremlins.   Granddaughter loves chicken noodle soup and it works for those days she doesn't like what we are eating.  

I got chicken patties for .90 by buying three packages and using a 3.75 coupon.   I only buy Foster farms.   Sometimes a five minute dinner or lunch is in order and they are pretty low on carbs.  

We tried a u tube recipe for soup in the pressure cooker,     Im not impressed, the pasta was way over cooked  and even though I cooked and defatted the ground turkey , it tasted boiled.   All I can say is that it cost about a dollar to make and it made four quarts.   We ate it, but I would t make it again that way,    Some things are vest  left to the cooktop or the slow cooker.  

I do the experimenting so you don't have to.    LOL   I did make chilli in the pressure cooker, I just used the slow cooker setting,  

Kitchen management day,  

• Wash and cut up vegetable sticks and carrot rounds 
• Clean the fridge .   Note things to use up 
• Swap out speghetti for pizza.   We have an abundance of pasta sauce.   I got speghetti for .50.   
•  Bake something,    

Most if this weeks meals are easy and need to be prepped the morning of the day we eat them.    

Taking advantage if sales and offers and using coupons and a site like Ibotta lowers your food bill; kitchen management lowers your Prep time .  You are chopping everything at once, and ckeaning up once.    It's a more efficient way of making dinner happen  on the cheap.    

1. Speghetti and meatballs.    1/2 pkg of speghetti, meatballs. 1/2 package, and sauce.    1.63. Add some parm .25 and a salad 1.00.    Total 2.88 or less than a dollar a serving.  If you are not going to eat a whole package of pasta, cook a half a package.    Meatballs are frozen.  You can take out just what you are going to use.   Portion control.    A jar or can of sauce can be split and you can cook part of it and use the other part for pizza  sauce or add it to soup or freeze it.    
2. Pizza crust is a ten minute job.   It costs about .40.   I have got cheese for as low as two dollars a pound and I still see white cheese for that  at Costco.   Stock if you,can.  I have a WAG that you will have to pay more when we get closer to winter.    Chop veggies as you go during the week, and pepperoni is .50 a package at the dollar tree with a coupon.   The same package is 1.69 at Winco.    It pays to watch your prices.    Pizza sauce is a dollar at dollar tree.  The same brand as you get at the other grocery stores for 1.50 or more.    Freeze it on ice cube trays and place it on a zip lock on the freezer.    Take out a cube or two per pizza.    Total cost of a pepperoni pizza.  1.60 vs anywhere from six to ten dollars for a take n bake, and twenty at a pizzeria.   
3. Enchiladas.    I have got tortillas for a dime a piece.   Enchilada sauce for as little as 1.08 for 28 ounces.   Cheese and meat, and chillies.   Cheese is two  dollars a pound. A cup of grated cheese is 4 ounces of cheese.  1/2 lb of beef and turkey mixed is 1.25.   Cost 3.09 for three servings.   
4. Sausage and roasted root veggies.    1/2 package of sausage was 1.00.   Red potatoes were 5 lbs for 2.28.  Carrots were 2.58 for five pounds.    And radishes were .60.    Total 2.50.   
5. Chicken parm noodles.  Noodles .50.   Chicken 1 lb 1.00,    Parm .50. Mixed cheeses .50, peas .22.  Total 2.72 
6. Breakfast 4 dinner.   1/2 dozen eggs .20, cheese .10, muffins .50, fruit cup 1.00.   1.80 
7. Salmon, 3.35 ( 1/2 package) rice medley .10, frozen veggies .40.   Total 3.85 .   

Cost for three servings.   Total seven days 18.44/ 7 =2.63 a meal. Or .88 a plate. 

This does not include staple items like spices , olive oil. Etc.   

Meal plans

Monday.

Turkey vegetable soup with macaroni

Tuesday

Pizza

Wednesday

Beef enchiladas , rice

Thursday

Sausage with oven roasted red potatoes, radishes, and carrots,  

Friday

Salmon , Rice medley , salad

Saturday

Chicken parmesean noodles.  

Sunday

Breakfast 4 dinner

Fred Meyer ad

tomorrows ad

I made turkey vegetable soup with the leftover chopped veggies from last kitchen management,    I had pasta left  from yesterday's Mac and cheese.   Of o take the total of a bundle from Winco and subtract the cost of the enchilada sauce ( a good buy in itself ) the turkey cost .40 a lb.  

A noteworthy blurb -   The coupon book in tomorrow's paper has .40 off of four campbells souls.    I have been dining 1.29 off of four, but not of late,    They are .75 in the first isle of Winco.  Nets 65 instead of the 1.59 that I have seen elsewhere.  

Freddies

Grapes .99
Shrimp 5.99
Peppers and English cucumbers .99
Milk, chocolate milk, or oj is .99

General Mills cereal, or cereal bars 3/5@@.  - match with manufacturers coupons.  $$
Sour cream or cottage cheese 4/5 @@

 Berries 2/5 ( season running down, watch quality )
Cantaloupe 2/4


Not much there.

Free or almost free food.

There's no issue,  free dinner is a good thing when you are on a limited budget.  

I shopped two stores.    We hit grocery outlet when I had to go to a neighboring town for business.  
I spent six dollars.  

QFC
Hummus kit  reg 2.38 -  FREE

Eggs - 1.59.  - FREE

2 Jimmy Dean pound sausages @3.00 less coupons 2.00 nets 2.00 each.

Pork sausage links 1.99

Pumpkin pie.  2.99 ( the pumpkin when you can find it is 2.48 a can )

Total 8.98 - calculated savings 16.46

I always consider it a win if I save more than I spend.

Winco

Cucumber .68
La Victoria enchilada  sauce 1.58 ( less Ibotta )
Ground turkey 1.48 with coupon

Chicken patties and nuggets ( Foster farms ) 4.47 and 8.94 less 3.75 coupon.  Makes a chicken patties  package -3 meals - .72.

White beans 2.36

Campbells chicken noodle soup. (8) 6.00. Less 2.40 in coupons or 3.60 or .45 a can.  1.59 a can  at other stores.

Red potatoes -5 lbs.  2.28

Total 23.72

Total spent 32.70. Less 1.00 ibotta. 31.70.

5 ways to save on food.

FOve ways to save on food.   

• Portion control 
• Use every bit of what you have : don't waste 
• Shop sales ( true sales ) and never pay full price. Stock enough to last till the next sale.  
• Use coupons ( especially stacking with sales ) 
• use a rebate site like Ibotta   

Extreme couponing at QFC

QFC s  bundle sale  is a good coupon winner.    That's usually when you can get a good deal-- when you are buying multiples.  

Buy 4/8.00 and get free milk ( Frosted Flakes or Keebler cookies.  )
Pair with buy 5, save three coupon on coupons.com.  

You are paying a total of 10.00 less 3.00 is 7.00 less 2.50  deducted 2.50  for milk total 4.50 for five boxes of cereal.    Or .90 each.  

Your OOP is 7.00 for five boxes of cereal and a gallon of milk.  




Buy 2 Jimmy Dean sausage at 2/6 Get 1 dozen eggs.  
Coupons,com has a dollar off coupon.  
Two jimmy dram sausage 4.00. Less a dozen eggs for 1.00 is 3.00 net or 1.50 for sausage.  

Your OOP is 4.00 for 2 lbs sausage and a dozen eggs.  

Price Lists and organizing the kitchen.

Back in the day......I developed a price list to track prices of the things that I used on a regular basis.  

I got a small spiral bound notebook and topped the sheets with the product and description.

Line items


Date.      Store.           Price.    

9/1/16.       Fred Meyers.              2/1.00           Coupon in ad


That told me when and where the cheapest  price on that particular item was.
If  prices are in a fluctuation mode, that's probably still  a viable tool.

Since we don't buy a big variety of foods, I have been able to keep the prices in my head.   I have target prices ( nothing to do with the red ball store) .   I know I want to pay .50 for beans and veggies and tomatoes,  I want chicken for a dollar a pound or less.   And so it goes.   I try to buy enough to last me until I find it that price again.   This one thing saves a ton of money.    Dried beans are about a dollar a pound,  pintos are cheaper at the dollar tree.   The rest are cheaper at Winco in the bulk isle.   I have started to use the canisters that pop corn comes in from Costco.  I want the same canister in a row in my pantry shelves.    I bought labels from the dollar store.   They can be removed from plastic.

I helped my daughter last night reorganize her kitchen.   She had a shelf in between her cabinets in her pullman kitchen.   It made it so that she locked up two 24 inch cabinets and the kitchen always looked messy and was not efficient.  We took the shelf out to be used to organize shoes or toys.  We made a cupboard just for lunch makings at a lower level so granddaughter can go in a pick her juice box and her snack.   I bought canisters and we labeled them and put the canisters in a cupboard and a drawer.   We purged glasses down to one cupboard for glasses and coffee mugs and out extra glasses for back up incase one was broken in storage.    Appliances she doesn't use often we put in a cupboard and big canisters of bulk items went in a bottom cupboard.   Her counters now have appliances she uses daily and a counter designated for a work surface with a bamboo cutting board.  She still needs an apartment sized fridge.    Having an efficient kitchen helps  enormously.   Scratch cooking is a lot easier.   It doesn't have to be a huge kitchen.  She has a pullman  kitchen.

Finding zones based on activities makes everything you need for a particular project condensed in one place.  You save steps not running all over the kitchen and it eliminates some of  the chaos of doing a task.   If it's more pleasant, you feel more like doing it.

The ads 9/28

QFC

Apples,199
Pears .99
Yoplait 2/88. **



Bundles :   Thrifty or nay!  

Dijorno pizza 2/10 get ice cream free ( Haagen das)
Frosted Flakes 4/8 a free milk gallon
Jimmy Dean sausage 2/6. Free eggs
Wheat thins buy 3 at 199, free 8 oz cheese.  
Buy 2 5.99 k cups free creamer

Most of those don't sound like a great bargain.   I do not know ifmyou can  use a coupon  on the buy ite,s. But I suspect so, since these specials are not on a coupon.     There aremcoupons for frost d Flakes and sausage.  

Pumpkin pie 3.99

Alberways

Beef roast 3.88 lb

Grapes 1.49


Five dollar Friday's
Pork tenderloin
Barilla 5/5
Bread .88@@


That's about it.  


Grocery outlet had
Cheap on
Seasoned whipped cream cheese ( peach)
Cake mixes 2/1 ( use soon,).
Tomato paste was …39


About it.    

Ways to cut your grocery bill.

Simple ways to cut your grocery bill

1. It's hard to believe, but one study says that we spend 1/3 of our grocery bills on drinks.  Cut the pop or soda oit completely.  It's not even good for you.  We should all be drinking water unless you have medical issues.  Put a pitcher of water in the fridge.   It will taste better because it's cold and because the chlorine will dissipate. When my daughter was small, the nutritionist told me to give her an apple instead of apple juice.   Apple juice is especially bad for children in tippie cups.   Iced tea is cheap and there are all kinds of herbal teas out there.   They still cost pennies a bag.   No need to drink kool aid.    Don't be a coffee snob.  Use the cheapest  you can find.   
2. Don't waste food.   Portion control.   Read packages, they are a good source for portions.   A half cup is a portion for cereal.   Oatmeal or cream of wheat is better than cold cereal , especially sugar loaded cold cereal.  Give a child a small portion of something and give them more within reason if they are still hungry.    
3. Eat foods  high in protein.   I learned at diabetic school that foods high in sugar or starch are processed by your body fast, and leave you hungry. Eat protein with your carbs,  the protein is digested more slowly and you are fuller longer.    
4. Fix  plates in the kitchen.   Or cook with portion control in mind,  it takes 20 minutes for your brain to figure out you are full.   If you eat until you are full, you are probably  over eating. Some teen or pre teen boys will make a game out of how much they can eat.   Don't allow it.   It's not good.   Yes, I do know that growing boys , especially active   ones need more calories.  They don't need to eat a two pound roast!   
5. Use all of your food.   Another study says we throw out 1/2 of our food.   Not so in our house.   If you have leftover meat, go to a website ( Betty Crocker on  line  cookbook is one ) and insert the item in the search box,   Recipes using that item will pop up.    Think outside the box.   Leftover chilli can be chilli dogs .   It's important to have a meal plan; and just as important to deviate the meal plan to use up leftovers.   Lunch the next day.   A lot of husbands don't like leftovers.   Our home Ec teacher called them planned overs.   Give the food a new face. 
6. When you do your kitchen management. Take note of what's left.   Incorporate it into the next weeks meals.  Think vegetable soup, or chicken vegetable soup.   
7. Of your kids don't eat the crusts if their sandwich, cut the crusts off and place them on a sheet pan with a rack or in the food processor so they dry out for bread crumbs or croutons.   
8. Use an 8 inch plate.   You can easily get 4 ounces of meat, 4 ounces of a vegetable, and a starch on an 8 inch plate.   We feel that we have to fill our plates just as we feel we need to fill the grocery carts,   That's why grocers have bigger and bigger carts.   Have you really looked at the size of Costco's Carts! That's why you can't get out of there for less than 100.00.   The size of the carts and the size of the packages is the reason.  A lot of things are close to ten dollars.    Same with your plate.   Phycologically , we fill our plates.    Force portion control.   Your waist line will love you, as well as the waste reduction.  
9. Meal plan to use up whatever's in the fridge.  Have a list of go to meals written down.   As well as a list of snacks.   As for snacks, growing up, we didn't get any.  None of us were fat.   
10. Give children a portion controlled healthy snack.  Apple slices, maybe with peanut butter.  Crackers and hummus,  make muffins ( muffins can be really cheaply made) they are huge and cost a dollar a piece at the store often.   Air popped  popcorn is a good, healthy snack and really cheap in the bulk bins at Winco.   ( about fifty cents a pound ) the bulk at Costco , I believe is better, but it's 1.50  a pound. )  Oatmeal in anything is good. 

Easy Peasy

I am making two pots of soup for a gathering,   I cooked beans yesterday and chopped veggies the day before And cooked ground beef, defatted it and froze it.    It was a cinch to out ingredients in a pot and turn it on.   It makes entertaining easy.  

It's stressful if you are cooking at the last minute.

Chilli in I sta pot as slow cooker.

Vegetable soup 

• 
  

What am I going I do, and how am he going to do it.

How many  times have s have  asked  yourself this ?

I'm not ready to put Halloween  up yet, maybe a few leaves.   I got a gift of the hot psds and towels from the dollar tree.   I picked up the placemats that went with them for the breakfast bar.   That spruces the whole kitchen up for six dollars.    It doesn't take much to make the kitchen table festive!  
Dollar tree has stemmed votives.   I had three kids, two of them boys.  You can have steamed votives and nice things,    Kids can learn to act appropriately .

Some turning leaves  from the dollar store,    A bowl of fake apples collected through the years.   I saw some at the goodwill yesterday,    Votives from the dollar store,    A crystal bowl was a gift, but you could use any bowl, there are always interesting bowls and baskets at the goodwill.








Kitchen management day,    I have already oreoed somemthinfs.  We went to Freddies yesterday,  I didn't buy much food, but i replaced  the meat tenderizer that my husband broken trying to break up some ice and my diabetic candy was on sale.     What's not to like about 1/2 price chocolate without any Carbs!  LOL.

• Cottage cheese 
• La croix -not in the food budget - - more healthy substitute for pop,    
• 4 fire roasted diced tomatoes, and dining 2 dices tomatoes with jalapeños,   
• 5 pounds of carrots, 
• Radishes 
• Butter 

Basically, what was on sale and some carrots and radishes.    

I saw a interesting article about what store is the best store to shop at.   There is no best store.  No store has the best prices on everything.  Certain stores are nitmed for certain items that they sell a lot of and therefore, can price really low.    Shopping sales and shopping multiple stores is your best  bet to find 1/2 price or more.    I used to shop on Friday and hit two chain stores, the ones with the best prices for the week of the products I needed.     Now, our selection of stores has dwindled.  We have QFC ( Kroger) and Safeways/Albertsons that have merged and have one set of prices that we get the ad for on Wednesday.   Fred Meyers (Kroger) we get on Sunday,    Winco and Costco we don't get at all.   That makes one shopping day a lot harder to manage.    I usually group my shopping so we use less gas,   We do have a car that gets 50 mpg.

When you go to the store and just buy the things on a good sale, they call it cherry picking.  The grocers don't like it, because they want you to buy a lot of expensive things they make a big prodit  on.  I don't usually just get the sale items,   I don't, however, get the high priced items.   A lot of profit is made from. Using soaps and sundries that are priced  higher than other stores.   It's convenient to buy everything in one place,but conveniences have a price tag.  A lot of everyday things like toothpaste, deodorant, napkins, tissue, are at the dollar tree a lot cheaper.  . Same brand. Less money.   

I have found .50 coupons for puffs.  That makes them 1/2 price at dollar tree.  It makes the, closer to 75 percent off from regular stores.   We see toilet paper when we were kids.  I have sinusitis.   I use a lot of tissue.   I want it all over the house.   I got some for .69 at Fred Meyers. It was a smaller  tissue but there were over a hundred tissues in the box.   I'm thinking we don't need large tissues.   

The mantra is to never pay full price.    If you take care of the pennies, the dollars will take care of themselves.  There is always that person that buys nothing to decorate the house or try to make it festive or fun.  It doesn't have to be expensive, bit it adds  to your quality of life.   A few things, packed away for another year.   

I digress.    This is about food.    Paying 1/2 price or less is the key to eating well on foir dollars a day.  Think  about it, basically you are eating in eight dollars a day.or almost a grand a month for a family of four.   We eat on an  average of  75.00 a week and have for years. Basically, there are three of us.   And, that also stocks a pantry.    It's full at the present because I am expecting a large expense shortly, and we can eat out of the pantry and freezer and balance the budget.  This is the only place that. Can get fifty percent on my money with  relative safety.

Having a stock is not  hoarding.   It's being prepared.    The young people that have never seen the dark side of broke with no safety net don't  see the need.   We had a big snow one year,  the snow plow came down the street and blocked the driveway with a pile of ice. It wasn't safe for us to be walking.    Without food we would have been in a pickle-- no one want to survive on the pickles in the fridge.  LOL.  Stocking gives you a sense of security , you are prepared of there is an emergency and it can be as simple as having a sick child that shouldn't go out.

No child should suffer the insecurity of haveing nothing in the house to eat.  Now, I have known teens that think because there is no chips and pop on the house and they actually have to cook something means there is no food on the house.   LOL.

With a little sleuthing and food buying skills, you can have a lot of food, for little money.   

.

Meal plans

Meal plans for week of September 26

Mac and cheese. Carrots

Chicken tomato salad , rolls

Salmon, rice medley, peas and carrots

Sausage and sourkraut , apples, rolls

Pizza, salad

Breakfast 4 dinner

Meal plan board from the dollar store.     

Winco and meal plans

after the Winco haul , I did some marathon cooking,    I de-boned chicken breast and made chicken stock and picked the vines for some meat-- enough for soup.  

I cooked the six pounds plus pounds of hamburger amd pit some in small packages for taco meat or a casserole or sloppy joes.     The other I put aside for Chilli.  

We had chicken burgers for dinner.    It's best to make something simple after marathon cooking.  

Today I will do the kitchen management and clean out and organize the fridge.  

The pantry is full and so are the freezers ( the fridge freezer is very small) and my husband. Ought a smaller one when we replaced the freezer.  

The do it hike is coming very soon and we will be eating the pantry down.   I'm sitting at 68.00 a week this month.   I hadn't bought a lot of meat until this week.    We had a lot of meat  and I haven't seen a lot of sales.     My pick for this week would be the while chickens of we really liked dark meat.  
I haven't seen chicken breast cheap for two sales rounds now at Fred Meyers.     I broke down and laid 2.28 for split breast.   That's still a lot cheaper than sox dollars a pound and I got stock and chicken pieces.     I'm still averaging 1.25 a meal so I'm not to upset.  

A lot of thing are forecast to go up about 2-4 percent next year.    I see some evidence of that now.  Beef , chicken, eggs, cheese... To name a few.   We can hedge ot a little for a short time,   Stock so,e chicken and cheese and beef.   Eggs will just have to bite the bullet.    There are some substitutes for eggs in the old war time cookbooks.  

Winco haul

Sadly, the pic didn't work.  I'll post it on Facebook for those that are on my Facebook.    Total spent 57.65  Which included our lunch of 4.77  Total 52.88.

1. White bread 
2. Chicken breast 10.97 ( 8 meals ) 1.25 per meal 
3. Yoplait yogurt (8) 3.58 less 100 coupon 2.58 for 8 or .32 
4. Romas (.98) - 1.41 
5. Enchiladas sauce 1.58 times 2 - 3.16 
6. Ground turkey 2.58 less 1.50 coupon nets 1.08 
7. Hamburger Huns .78
8. 2lns salmon 6.98
9. FF chicken patties 4.47 less 1.00 coupon 3.47!
10. Parmesean, real 2.68 
11. Lean ground beef -close to three dollars a pound.    

Note: there is a coupon in the entrance of Winco for 1.50  off ground turkey if you buy la Victoria taco sauce or enchilada sauce.   I had taco sauce and buy it in a 1/2 gallon jug for about 350 with coupons, but enchilada sauce was 1.58 for a 24 ounce can.   Making it from scratch is a bit of a pain.   Not bad, but I'm not going to wink at buying it for 1.58 when I can get meat for a dollar and eight cents a pound.  

Yoplait is 2/88 at Freddies tomorrow, but this was cheaper.    

Chicken patties is a cheap fill in meal when no one want to cook.     

Freddie's ad for tomorrow

o got the paper.....the ad.      

I'm not finding chicken split breasts!  Darn!  
Chicken thighs, drumsticks, and whole fryers.   .87

Butter 2/5

Jiff  peanut butter 4/5@@

Veggies, tomatoes, beans 2/1@@ limit 6

Yoplait 2/88
Sour cream 2/4
Green beans 1.49

Turkey breast 1.99
Hamburger 10 percent 4.99

Roasted chicken.  2 lbs 12 ounces.  9.99 - 3.63 a pound,  
Foster farms chicken .87 a pound

I would only buy a roasted  chicken if I was in a terrible time crunch.   The sky would have to be falling . And then, I wouldn't buy one that was under three pounds.   That's just a rip off.   At least, I would buy a Costco chicken that's three pounds.

1. Three pounds is the break even number for a chicken. At a three pound chicken, you are laying for 1.5 pounds of meat, and 1.5 pounds of bone.   Or 3.33 a pound for the meat.   
2. If you buy a 5 pound whole  raw chicken, you are paying 1.25  a pound for the meat or a 63 percent savings. 
3.  It takes 10 minutes to cook a whole chicken ( non passive time ) .  
4. 5 lbs of rotisserie meat costs 16.65 . 5 lbs of raw  chicken meat costs 6.25.  
5. The difference is 10.40.   If you spend ten minutes putting a chicken in to cook, you are making 62.40 an hour .    

That's the way I figure out if it's worth making something from scratch vs, buying it ready made,    

What's your time worth?    No one ever paid me 62.40  an hour.    The added bonus is that you can get a rich chicken stock that would cost you an additional dollar or so a can.  

Easy whole chicken cooking recipes are on earlier posts.  

The other thing to consider is, my mothers favorite expression, you don't know where that thing has been.  You don't know where that chicken of from.   I do know that Costco chicken is a drawer valley ( PNW grown, ) it took some digging to find that out.  When I asked, I got an I donnno.    Don't hesitate to ask until  you get an answer. You should be able to tell where something is from.  

Freaky Friday.

I think it interesting to note that just because your finances are low, you don't have to be stuck eating unhealthy food or not getting any treats.  

QFC today has free sour patch candy.    There is a coupon in the coupon flyers that came in the paper for a dollar off of Werthers original carmels.  They are at the dollar store, so basically it a BOGO.  

Of course, your doctor  and dentist will tell you to eat sugar in moderation.  

There are a few things that are not  bargain at any cost in my estimation

1. Fake butter : often has hydrogenated oils in it.  Real butter is cheaper and better for you to use in moderation      
2. Corn oil    :  most corn products have GMO.   The jury is still out.  Most scientists say it can't hurt you.   The doctor I read about says to avoid until there is more information out there   
3. Boxed parm cheese.   It's old, rather than fresh,    It has cellulose in it , which is another word for wood pulp.    Buy your own block and grate it or at least buy grated in the deli and  read the contents. A micro plane is worth the investment, yourmcheese is grated really fine and it stretches the cheese.   
4. Chicken that isn't Washington grown,.  Not going into it here, but it's just better.    No chicken in the United States can have hormones.    Don't let the bragging on the oaxkage impress you,   
5. Hydrogenated oils,   A lot of things have hydrogenated oils in them.  To avoid all of them is nearly impossible.    You can start by only buying olive and canola oil to cook with.    Read the labels of the peanut butter and get one that has the least amount,   If they are reducing the amount ifmhydroginated oiks, they'll be shouting it to the rooftops.    
6. Fake sugar .    Fake sugar makes you fat.    It's better for your diabetic numbers but the fake sugar doesn't know where to go because it isn't natural.    So, it attaches to your fat cells and makes them fatter.   Moderation is the key.  
7. Soda pop.    The fizz strips your bones from calcium.  
8. Cocoanut oil.    Two tablespoons of cocoanit oil have more saturated fat than a serving of beef.  
9. Potato chips.   Fat fat fat. Salt salt salt.   No real food value.    Substitute so,thing else for the crunch factor.    
10. Speciality eggs or egg whites.    Scientists have come to realize that while eggs have cholesterol, the cholesterol is the good cholesterol.    You apparently want to boost your good cholesterol and reduce the bad.  Just use regular eggs.    

Shopping day

I made today our shopping day.    Tomorrow is cleaning day, but we already did a lot of that.  

We went to Safeways and the dollar store.    ( next to each other ) and Winco.  

Dollar store netted a jar of pizza sauce.   The same brand  as the other stores,  but a lot less money .
I freeze it in ice cube trays and then put the cubes in a zip lock.   About three pizzas from a dollar jar.
Savings about 33 percent.  


Safeways netted
linguine for .75 ( 1.29)
Fettuccine for .75 (1.29)
2 cake mixes 1.00 ea ( 4.38)
4 -8 ounce pkg. cheese .98 ( 2/7 at FM)
2 butter 1.99 ( 3.69 elsewhere)
1 strawberries 2.99
Apples .99 ( 1.99)

Savings 48 percent.  

Winco
2 lbs frozen peas 1.88
2 cake  mixes .88
PRego pasta sauce 1.57 less coupon.   1.07
Large eggs .90
Lettuce .99
Tomatoes 1.98

Eggs or cheese were basically a buck at Safeways.   I knew that I probably could get eggs at Winco for around that (.90) so I got all cheese.    Cheese is 2/7 at Freddies and eggs were  .90 at Winco.
Knowing prices and adjusting a shopping trip accordingly can save a lot of money.   My target price for frozen veggies is a dollar a pound.  This was under.

I spent about thirty dollars total.  

Dump cake

I made a dump cake for company.  It's a very easy cake.   Some of them say to dump a can of soda over the top of a cake mix.   I haven't tried those.  

Some call for canned or pie filling.   I'm not too fond of that much  sugar.  The recipe calls for a cake mix, that's enough sugar.  

Betty Crocker has a recipe for pound cake.   Three ingredients.   I think you could add some spices .  
It is very easy,    Apples. Yellow cake mix, butter.    I substituted blueberries for the apples.   That recipe called for a little sugar.  

Honestly. five  minutes from scratch to oven.    A little more of you  have to run the apples through
the apple machine.  

Cake mix is a dollar  at the tree. Lately, it  isn't Betty Crocker.  It's always less than a dollar at Winco, sometimes 88.  Butter  is two dollars   at Safeways.  

New ads

Alberways

Broccoli .99
Cauli,.99

Grapes 3/5!!!Friday only
Ice cream , 2/5 Friday only

Butter 1.99@@
Eggs .99@@
Shredded cheese 8 0z .99@@

Quarters
Tillamook yogurt .50


Folders 6.99



QFC

B4S4

Angus beef patties. 2lbs 7.99
Ice cream 2.99
Pound frozen veggies .99
Freschetta 3.99

About it.  

Terrific Tuesday......coupon edition

I gave a program for a group last night on extreme couponing  --not

Couponing notes 

Why

Why Coupon.   The answer is a matter of saving money,   My dad always said that the price of the coupon was factored into the purchase price, so you were loosing money if you didn't  use the coupon.    

The consensus of opinion is that it takes lots of time and most of the coupons are for a quarter and for things that you don't buy anyway.   Not true now.   I spend about a hour a month on couponing and I save as much as fifty dollars a month.   I get coupons for laundry soap, and staples like yogurt, butter, cheese, pork tenderloin.    

The extreme coupon show has given the concept of couponing a bad wrap.   It wasn't real.   Real people don't coupon like that.   No one needs 90 bottles of red pepper sauce.    No one gets paid to buy things. - except at the drug stores with reward points or when you get a reward for changing prescription to a new pharmacy .   And no one on there right mind would neglect housework and  family time to spend forty hours a week clipping numerous coupons for ninty bottles of red pepper sauce.    

There was a nice lady on the today show that was talking about couponing,   Mat lauer asked her what she would say to naysayers.    She said.     I don't think I'll ever forget it.    If you don't understand , you ain't ever been broke enough.   

Where.   

Coupon inserts are booklets about the size of a half sheet of paper.   There are two companies that print them.   Smart source and red plum.   One of them comes in the Sunday paper  , except for on holiday weekends.   The paper is a dollar at the dollar tree starting the Saturday before .   The other insert comes in the mail.    P and g comes on the first Sunday of the month.   

Coupons can also be found in store ads. On merchandise, ( don't take the coupon  off before you get to the checkouts  and  remind the checker  ) , and on line.   

If you particularly like a product.  E mail the manufacturer and tell them.   They will often send you coupons.   

Coupons.com 

Download coupon drivers once 

You can print two coupons per month of any particular product.   

They come out 1st of the month.   Big dollar coupons go fast.  You snooze , you loose.   

Make sure you don't have your printer on double sided.   You can print on a used one every of paper. And you can print in black and white.    

While we are on electronics.   

Favado 

Ibotta 

What to do with them

I glance at inserts and pull anything that gets up and grabs me.....a dollar off blue bunny...oh, yah, I'm all over that one.   

Then , i file the inserts in a file folder by month,   I keep three months back and rotate the last month for the first.    It helps if you,can remember to put the date of the insert in the front of it.    

The printed coupons. I have in a  binder that has photo inserts  and baseball card holders in it.   If you have few, there is a coupon wallet with dividers at the dollar store.  

Once  a month , I clean out the outdated coupons while watching tv.   

Coupon rules.   

Verbage has to be exact.  The picture doesn't , but the words do.   

Dollar tree takes coupons, buy only 4 per day per household and only  two of them can be printed coupons.   

Big lots and grocery outlet don't take coupons.   

Winco will not stack coupons.   

About anywhere else will take coupons and stack them.   

QFC has the most lienient coupon policy.   They will use a basket coupon before you use other coupons.  Pick your checker.    Old men aren't the best for couponing,   

The most bang for your buck.  Is where you can match, a sale, a manufacturers coupon, and a basket coupon.   A basket coupon is where a store will print a coupon for five dollars off of 25.00.  For example.   You get the most bang for your buck if you stick to only spending the 25.00.   Stacking coupons with a sale can save as much as 78 percent.    It's worth a little planning.   

Sign up for the rewards cards for the grocery stores.   QFC gives  you free stuff and coupons to load electronically.   Just download or make a note of what they are for.   You can't forget, they automatically appear on your receipt.    

Miraculous Monday

miraculous?    I suvived the weekend !  

Prime example of why you stock.   Often retailers will pull a trick of having a big sale on a item just before they are considering a price hike,   Their idea is that you will forget the regular price and not notice that they have either lowered the quanity of the item, or raised the price or both,  

Oh, his true,    My husband Kent telling me every time I bought a 1/2 pound bag of cheese, that we already had cheese.   I knew how much cheese we ha, amd the small packages looked like I was buying an enormous amount,   But I just new with thembuyout ofmcheese from the USDA! It was going to skyrocket.   After all, the buyout was to help the farmers make more money.  They had a glut on the market.  

I predicted five dollars a pound.   It was seven dollars a pound at Freddies yesterday.  I who'd love comments on the proce of cheese  on your area.  

Stocking , especially when you catch wind of an event that will effect the cost of a stable product softens the blow of the price hike.    I can freeze gratedmcheese, we eat a lot,   I, nitmstocking a freezer full, but I probably bought ten pounds,    That will probably take is to the first of the year.  

I can soften our cheese blow to the budget.  But, beef, eggs, and chicken are going to take a hike too.   Probably two to four percent. It's not such a blow.   I still haven't found chicken split breasts for a buck lately,  they missed their rotation.   At the dollar plus that they are at Winco, they are still a good buy considering the cost of boneless, skinless chicken breast.  

When a vegetable takes a hike, you can substitute.   When almost every protein takes a hike, and you have already reduced your consumption, you have to just eat it.    We will probably go vegetarian an extra meal and change our meal matrix.    Watch for big sales.   If people don't buy it, there will be a overstock, and the price will go down.  

When coffee prices went up, I just watched for sales.    We aren't coffee snobs, so anymbrand as long as it's not too strong, will do.    We only drink 1 pot a day and my daughter uses the coffee pod you fill.   I have to drink  some coffee Per my doctor,    The coupons so far haven't been useful; & the prices are too large in the first place.  A coupon will do you no good if the price plus the coupon is more than another brand.   Unless , you particularly love that brand and can't do without it.   Not recommended for a very strict budget.    

Particular no not for a very strict budget.    My mother wouldn't allow certain things on the house.   She used the excuse that they were not good for us which was mostly true.  

1. Pop, Soda. Whatever you call it. The fizz supposedly can strip you bones from calcium, and the sugar can lead to obesity.    If you need pop, buy the water that has no sodium and no artificial sweeteners and  no carbs.    And, drink it in moderation.    LA Croix.   
2. Packaged cookies and donuts,    ( sugar, hydroginated oils, oreservatives.
3. Potato chips ( full of salt ) 
4. Gum 
5. Kool aid 
6. Expensive fruits and vegetables.   Fresh pineapple was a rare treat.   When my aunt came to live with us during the summer , she bought us things that were healthy, but mom couldn't afford.    Those days, fresh fruit , except apples, was prohibitive because we weren't as global as we are now.
7. Almost anything that was ready made.

Almost all of that list is either costly, or bad for you.    

Attitude goes a long ways on cutting your food bill.   Eating healthy is not hard on a strict budget.   Eating fad diets or trendy diets , however is hard.   Wait till the trendy diets become regular diets and have proven themselves to be really healthy.    There was a craze a few years ago that low fat was good for you.   Low fat didn't mean no fat.    We switched to fake butter and fake fat.   Now, they have discovered that fake fat made us obese.    And, fake butter has hydrogenated oil and is really bad for us and a contributor to heart disease.    Fake sugar, too, contributes to obesity.  The fake sugar sticks to you fat cells and makes them fatter.    Try to stick to the real thing in moderation.    

According to at least one doctor. Vegan diets are bad for you.   You may be being kind to animals and the environment, but you aren't being kind to yourself.   If you choose to be vegan, the doctor strongly suggests you take supplements to out back what you took out.   He also said not to go on fad diets, just lower your consumption and stay away from sugar.    

Random thoughts.     

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a diferent perspectives. 

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until they 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 )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 isn't hard

Fred Meyers and Winco

we did go to Fred Meyers and Winco today,   I had things to buy for a gathering tomorrow.     I also bought milk and sour cream and cottage cheese,    The cheese I bought for two dollars oj the last weeks, predictably seven dollars a pound.    I guessed five.  

I bought flour and some veggies.   I didn't buy a lot because we didn't need a lot and I did buy some things that aren't food related.   I did get a bucket of dishwasher detergent and some candy,  

I bought bulk popcorn because my daughter was going to Costco for it and I was going to Fred Meyers and meet her at Winco,    She couldnt find the popcorn,    So I picked up some on the bulk isle at Winco,   It was half the cost of the bucket at Costco,   I still want to get the bucket at Costco because I want to store all my beans in the same size and shape of bucket  for uniformity,    Cantaloupe was .39 a pound.    Grapes looked good, the were the same price as Fred Meyers that were not looking good.  

I cut the bottom off the baby romaine and it's growing.    A good lesson for children and you are supposed to get another head of romaine out of it.

Sunday blog meal plans

This is tomorrow's meal plans for next week.    Busy weekend planned.    Meals aren't necessarily in chronological order.  

1. Hot dogs, salad. Veggie sticks 
2. Pizza - scratch 
3. Fish hobo packets 
4. Tacos, refried beans, Spanish rice.   ( homemade - non fried , refried beans ) 
5. Tomato chicken salad w crescent rolls 
6. Acorn squash, baked , chicken thighs, broccoli 
7. Breakfast 4 dinner.   

Fred Meyer ad for SUNDAY

Oranges .99

Grapes 1.69

Raspberries 2/4

Pears. 99


Milk .99

Cottage cheese/sour cream .99@@

Campbell's soup .79@@ $$) note  it is .75 at Winco on the main isle.  


80 percent ground beef 2.99


About it.   I tried this time to separate food groups.   To make it easier to shop.  
Save time where you can and don't save time where  it counts.    Taking the time to clip a dollar coupon, or plan a meal to ise up what you have , or to find the best buys on the things you use  regularly makes money.    It cuts your food bill.    Spending all day on the grocery store makes you spend more.    The more time you spend in a store, the more money you will spend.   Stats show that the bigger the grocery cart, the more you will spend if you aren't aware  of what you are spending.

Go to the store with a list or a good idea of what you are going to buy.  I know before I ever walk into the store, what I need, what's on sale, amd what I used up so if it's a good price , I need to replenish,  

You can bet that if I go to Winco I will

• replentish the sliced olives if we used them and they are .58 
• replentish the diced milk peppers at .58 - the lowest price anywhere.   
• Check the bread supply 
• 
  
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•  

I know usually, if I need dairy and if there is an Ibotta or coupon for it.    I also know of Fred Meyer has a lower price.   Often they do certain weeks.    

          Vegetables usually have the cheapest prices, cheaper than the fresh food market.   I, too already know of I need something and how much it is at FM.

The only impulse buys will be if something is marked down dramatically and I know it will keep or we can use. It.   Chocolate rice crispies were a dollar off a bag.   I'm all over that.  We use six cups every time we make crispy treats.

My average grocery basket is 25.00 unless I find a really good meat sale.   I haven't found one of those lately. I'm looking for split chicken breast.   They are a bit higher than what they are in sake at FM.  I just haven't seen a sale, they missed their rotation.

Quick ideas for meal plans

List of quick ideas when your imagination took a hike!

• Mac and cheese 
• Speghetti or other pasta with a sauce. Meat or meatless 
• Cheeseburger macaroni 
• Tuna  melts
• Cesear salad with chicken, or salmon 
• BBQ chicken thighs or drumsticks 
• Sloppy joes 
• Hot dogs 
• Sausage and sauerkraut or peppers 
• Quesadilla with soup 
• Tacos or nachos 
• Baked potato bar - - good way to use uombots amd pieces of leftovers.   
• Tuna or salmon  casserole.    
• Any solid precooked meat with oven roasted veggies ( chicken parts, sausage) 
• Salmon burgers 
• Eggs, toast, and fruit 
• Quiche with veggies 
• Impossible pie 
• Chicken pot pie  - Scratch 
• chicken noodle soup 
• Stew with just about anything - depression stew is potatoes, carrots, amd any vegetable or meat that you have a little of. *
• 
  

I found salmon burgers at Winco yesterday.   I didn't buy them because our freezer is full.   But , four burgers  were 3.00.    Not bad considering the cost  of a can of salmon at Costco.   Certainly a treat to cost average your meals.    

*. I learned depression stew from my mother,   My dad had been hurt in the jib,  labor and industries took until the week before he went back to work to send the disability check.  We lived off savings and my mother got really creative.woth meals,   We had liver and depression stew , that I'm sure she learned from her mother during the Great Depression,    We had other things, too, but that was the remarkable things I remember.    I think it's a lesson in there is always something good that can come out of adversity.    Moms had a little bacon, a few baby meatballs. Potatoes, carrots. Celery.  

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspective. 

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. 

Freaky Friday

Keeping track of what you spend  on food is a good way to keep yourself on budget. amsoreqdmsheet in the computer works well,  I can see stats for the last couple of years,   I only went high the month that we replenished the freezer because of the great melt down.  

We have steadily have been hovering at 75 dollars a week for what I think is the equivalent of three people.    My daughter buys some of her own food, but we supplement them.   

The USDA has stats for my husband an I is 92.29 for thrifty.   There are four price structures and this is the lowest. Granddaughter is another 24.80.    But, that is for food EATEN at home.  It does not cover the pantry and freezer stock.   

Stocking at least enough of canned goods ( we all know that freezers can fail,  especially if  the power goes out) .   Dry beans etc may be good during good times, but you still need some canned goods enough to carry you through a few days in case of an emergency.   The power goes out here during wind storms.  We have a lot of trees and a lot of wires.    We happen to be on a short grid.   When the power goes out, the power  company fixes  the grids that supply lots of people first. We are usually one of the last ones.    Stocking just makes sense-- and cents.   

Last night , we had nachos with taco seasoned chicken, tomatoes, cheese, black beans and salsa.   

Tonight we are having fish packets.   

Planning meals , buying your food at 1/2 price or less, couponing when appropriate, and taking advantage of rebates can lower your food bill and take the stress of what the what can I rustle  up for dinner demonds.   

There is something about always having some food in the house that takes away some of the stress of not having a lot of money.   Money or the lack of it is a big factor in stress levels.  Prolonged stress is a big co. Tribute for factor to a host of medical issues.    A little planning and learning how to stretch your food dollars can be a great help.    

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspective. 

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. 

Bargain stores haul.

Today, we had to go into another town for business.    We always go to grocery outlet and the dollar tree at that particular town because they are some of the best managed  stores in the area.    If I go to the bargain stores I can make up the gas money and more in savings.  

Grocery outlet.
Horseradish ( the real thing ) .50
Flour tortillas .50
Star Wars chicken noodle soup .50
Aged Swiss cheese slices.  1.99
Tomato paste .39

Total 6.39
Savings 12.16

Dollar tree
Puffs tissue .50 with coupon
French brown n serve rolls 1.00

Total food 1.00
Winco foods

4 pizza pretzels 2.98
Ragu garden pasta sauce .78 coupon
Eight  chicken noodle soup.  W coupons 3.60.  Or .45 a can.  
White bread
Strawberries
2 lunchables   for granddaughter.  

Total 12 08

19.47 total
The soup also alone would  have been 12.72.   Plus the Ragu is 14.0.