I stayed up late last night reading Comey’s new book. It is an interesting read. I don’t agree with the people saying it’s just a way for him to make money. There are a lot of life’s lessons in there. I find it interesting that someone that came from a family that appears to be of modest means could rise from it to be where he is . It seems more about his upbringing and attitude than money or status. I would have to say from experience that instilling a good sense of values and a good sense of self worth in a child is more important than money. It is amazing how suttle attitudes can be picked up by children .
This is about food. I digress .....
Attitudes make a big difference in our lives. Motivation is a good thing. After hearing that the one thing I was good at could help people , especially children, I set out to write this blog to help people
S t r e t c h their food dollars. I Learned a lot in the process. I still want to reach more people, I know I can help people eat better and spend less. Having food in the house goes a long ways to make people feel more secure in their lives. Security is a step up from wanting to sit down and give up.
They say adversity builds character; personally, I don't think I want more character. LOL
Trying something new for dinner is a good thing. It breaks up monotony. Even working with a small budget, you can make things fun. How about a meal that all starts with the same letter. Kids could have a fun time thinking of things to eat.
There’s inspiration. Everywhere. We got a magazine fro QFC last week that is full of recipes...and coupons. The internet and pinterest is full of them. You can get magazines from the goodwill for .50. Read them and return them . Food has changed , but its still food. I have recipe books from WWII. They are real money savers because certain things were in short supply and the recipes compensated for that.
I got more ideas from the little 1/2 page books you can get at the supermarket. They are usually full of ideas.
Overnight Maple French Toast. A good recipe for Sunday morning. It is made the night before and cooked in the morning. Or, make it in the morning and have it for dinner . We like breakfast for dinner. Ditto a puffed pancake. Breakfast Burritos.
Buffalo chicken wraps
Pork chops with sour cream sauce.
Pork, onion and apple hoagies - rolls are often at the DT- orowheat
Chicken Primivera
Mediterranean Pasta with beans
Lemon basil vegetables and rice.
Strawberry Vinaigrette
Pillsbury mini cookbook.
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Monday, April 16, 2018
5 things that save pennies.
It is the mindset. Save pennies, make dollars. You would be surprised what can be made from those things that people normally would shove in the trash..
- Last week, we splurged and bought chicken wings for 1.00 a pound. I say splurged because i had just paid the same amount for boneless, skinless chicken breast. I cut the “drums” from the “thighs” and there was the wing left. Not much meat there. I threw them in a bag and put them in the “garbage “ door shelf of the freezer. When I have enough chicken bones , I will make chicken stock overnight.
- There are always scraps . We wash the carrots and celery in vinegar water. Vinegar is 4.26 a two gallon pack at costco. The peelings and the tops and bottoms of the celery can be frozen and saved for stock. Stock, when purchased can be 2.00 a quart. Its a no brainier to dump saved chicken bones and veggie scraps into a slow cooker with water to within a inch of the top and let it go all night. Pour it through a sieve or colander in the morning. Let cool and freeze.
- Freezing the pizza sauce in an ice cube tray and dumping the cubes into a quart bag is a good addition to the ‘garbage” door shelf. That makes a pizza sauce (2 cubes ) for a medium sized pizza .20.
- Anything that can go on a pizza that is left from another meal can be frozen for a pizza. The smallest amount can be used . A little sausage, peppers, ham cubes, mushrooms, chopped onion, anything you put on a pizza.
- It goes without saying that you can use the heels of the bread or any extra hamburger or bot dog buns to make bread crumbs. Put it through the food processer with a plastic blade and the children can make them. Or, if you dont have a food processer, let the bread dry in the oven and grate it with a box grater. I used to do that out on the deck with a sheet pan under the grater. Again, bread crumbs are often 2.40 cents a pound. There are better uses for your 2.40.
- The ‘juice’ that is left from draining the diced tomatoes can be used to flavor rice instead of the water. Sometimes I also add some vegetable or chicken bouillon . It s more flavor and maybe just a little nutrition .
- Many cooks put a little pasta water in their sauces.
- That little bit of peas and carrots in the frozen bag can be added to a cheeseburger macaroni cassarole....homemade.
- I save the coarse salt that my daughter doesn’t use from their frozen pretzels.
- Leftover cornbread can be the base for a chilli bowl.
- Leftover black beans can make their way into a salad or hamburger used for enchaladas.
- Leftovers dont have to be just the same thing heated up. I cant tell you how many men are against eating leftovers. I have heard it many times. I suspect if they were the ones cooking and doing the cleanup, they might not be so opinionated .(hows that for being snarky LOL) but, reimagining a bit of leftover, can solve the problem.
- Bits of cheese make their way into mac and cheese in our house. I stole that idea from a happy hour menu!LOL. They are a rich source of ideas. Flatbread comes to mind...and it doesn’t have to be burned and like a cracker.
- We had two strawberries left from our fruit plate the other night. I threw them in my oatmeal just before my husband go to them to throw in the garbage disposal. “No food is going to do you any good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal. HHA HA /!
Kitchen Management
Kitchen management is a concept that goes a long way towards being organized and saving valuable time during the hectic dinner hour. I remember those days when I got home from work, and had hungry children and the mail, laundry, and dinner staring me in the face. All I really wanted was to put my feet up and watch the news with a cup of nice tea. LOL. Reality.
Prepping for the weeks meals and zone cleaning the kitchen makes life so much easier the rest of the week.
Prepping for the weeks meals and zone cleaning the kitchen makes life so much easier the rest of the week.
- Oven Roast Broccolli
- Make pizza dough and freeze /refridgerate
- Cook chicken breast in insta pot.
- Wash salad greens, potatoes, carrots and celery
- Mark meal plan calander to thaw chicken
- straighten the pantry, fill canisters.
- Wash kitchen floor
- Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead.
- Clean countertops and sinks and drains with disinfectant
- Wax island cupboards.
- Make breadcrumbs .
- Post food purchases to spread sheet
I started this blog almost six years ago because my children encouraged me to. My daughter had taught children from low income families for a number of years and one of her students mothers had reached out to her because she was running out of money before she ran out of month. My daughter told her that I knew how to s t r e t c h a buck. It seemed like a good idea to write a blog so that I could help people. I had been studying the subject for some fifty years.
It wasnt until my daughter and I set out to give a class on cutting your food bill in half that I did the math and realized I had changed enough habits to feed us on less than four dollars a day and grew a stock and supplemented granddaughter. After I started this blog I decided to work at every angle I could find to further the concept of cutting the food bill.
Simplify, lower your costs, always have food in the house.
Four plus one is five. Four people, one meal, five bucks.
No food is going to do your family good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.
Waste not, want not.
My mother used to say, some people could have a bargain get up and bite them in the but and they wouldn’t see it. Don’t be that person.
Saturday, April 14, 2018
Meal Plans for wk of 4/16/18
Eat well when you make a plan. It takes away the answer to the question “ What’s for Dinner”
- Potluck : broccolli
- Pizza
- Chicken Chimichangas
- Speghetti and Meatballs
- Sloppy joes
- Stuffed Chicken Breasts
- Breakfast for dinner
Notes:
Pizza is a easy way to make everyone happy.....cheap . Homemade pizza is about a dollar. More to add toppings of meat.
Chicken chimichangas are easy and quick. They can have Spanish rice and beans for sides.
No Brainer: Spaghetti and Meatballs. Easy, quick and a crowd pleaser.
Sloppy Joes use the buns we got from the DT. Fresh potatoes.
Chicken breast stuffed with spinach and cheese and topped with a breadcrumb mixture that is homemade.
Fred Meyer mini ad and beyond
There is a mini ad in tomorrow’s paper for FM. There isn’t one for Alberways .
Cantaloupe is a dollar each.
Mandarins are 3.99 for 5 pounds.
TWO pounds of rotisserie chicken is 5.99 when you buy 5, save 5. That means that you are paying six dollars a pound for chicken. Not of my money. LOL.
Buy 5, save 5, is only good if the prices are at RBP and especially if you can match with a coupon. Seems like coupons are drying up. I found a coupon for mandarin oranges in glass jars. Period.
There is one for toothpaste.
Simplify, spend less, and always have food....the reason to grocery shop on the cheap.
By simplifying your grocery list and buying multiples , you save time and money. buy versatile things that make good meals. Last night we had salmon, smashed red potatoes, and honey ginger carrot coins.
Spending time to teach your children 👶 how to cook and shop by observation is a good thing. The gap between the poor and the rich is shrinking . We never know what the future will bring. If you know how to stretch a buck, you will always be able to cope. It’s not hard to spend more. It is not always the fact that you don’t have money. Sometimes, people want to save for a particular project. A special vacation , a rental unit to make money for the future or ?????.
Cooking is a good life skill. My mother taught us how to bake , I think because she didn’t want to.
She was less generous with her teaching of dinner items, I think because she couldnt afford it if we messed up. LOL. Besides, I was so slow and deliberate, dinner would have been past our bedtimes! LOL. I had to learn to cook what I didn’t learn in home ec. I don’t remember learning anything about meat. It was probably more than their budget. I remember making a roux and potato soup and muffins. I remember “planned overs” .
I have always been busy. We had three children and a house, boat, yard, and cars to keep up. A lot of the time I held two jobs. I learned to make efficient dishes. You can scratch cook and spend less time in the kitchen. With the inventions of good kitchen appliances, you can cook almost anything and not spend hours on your feet. Some basic appliances can more than pay for themselves in a few months. The difference between cooking beans in the insta pot and buying canned. Beans is remarkable. Even at my buy price of .50, scratch is saving 95 percent. The time involved is minimal. Rice is more savings. Pinto beans are cheapest at the DT and they are grown in USA and non GMO. Rice is really cheap at Costco and its not a huge investment to buy a bulk sack. If you don’t use a lot, consider splitting a bag with a neighbor or friend.
Rice and beans are a staple. They are also a good go to if you are flat broke or there is nothing in the house and you cant get to a store or the stores have no food. Not a pipe dream by the way. One not so distant past christmas, the main road (I-5) was flooded and trucks couldnt bring the grocery stores food. It’s not a good idea to buy groceries one day at a time and not have a minimal at least stockpile even if you have tons of money.
Look at the menus at the neighborhood’s eateries. When the cost of food jumped up, especially beef, the chefs used their creative assets to come up with meals or snacks that were delightful, but less expensive. Flatbread, baby meatballs, tacos , sliders.....
Anyone but me wonder why the cost of beef went up drastically
because of a year of drought, and it never went down. We just limited our beef consumption to one or two nights a week if we needed to use leftovers (Planned overs) . My husband had to learn to like chicken. LOL. His main objective to chicken was that it had no flavor. I started to look for flavorful chicken recipes. Fortunately, even the 6 yo likes spicey foods.
Simplify, spend less, always have food.
Cantaloupe is a dollar each.
Mandarins are 3.99 for 5 pounds.
TWO pounds of rotisserie chicken is 5.99 when you buy 5, save 5. That means that you are paying six dollars a pound for chicken. Not of my money. LOL.
Buy 5, save 5, is only good if the prices are at RBP and especially if you can match with a coupon. Seems like coupons are drying up. I found a coupon for mandarin oranges in glass jars. Period.
There is one for toothpaste.
Simplify, spend less, and always have food....the reason to grocery shop on the cheap.
By simplifying your grocery list and buying multiples , you save time and money. buy versatile things that make good meals. Last night we had salmon, smashed red potatoes, and honey ginger carrot coins.
Spending time to teach your children 👶 how to cook and shop by observation is a good thing. The gap between the poor and the rich is shrinking . We never know what the future will bring. If you know how to stretch a buck, you will always be able to cope. It’s not hard to spend more. It is not always the fact that you don’t have money. Sometimes, people want to save for a particular project. A special vacation , a rental unit to make money for the future or ?????.
Cooking is a good life skill. My mother taught us how to bake , I think because she didn’t want to.
She was less generous with her teaching of dinner items, I think because she couldnt afford it if we messed up. LOL. Besides, I was so slow and deliberate, dinner would have been past our bedtimes! LOL. I had to learn to cook what I didn’t learn in home ec. I don’t remember learning anything about meat. It was probably more than their budget. I remember making a roux and potato soup and muffins. I remember “planned overs” .
I have always been busy. We had three children and a house, boat, yard, and cars to keep up. A lot of the time I held two jobs. I learned to make efficient dishes. You can scratch cook and spend less time in the kitchen. With the inventions of good kitchen appliances, you can cook almost anything and not spend hours on your feet. Some basic appliances can more than pay for themselves in a few months. The difference between cooking beans in the insta pot and buying canned. Beans is remarkable. Even at my buy price of .50, scratch is saving 95 percent. The time involved is minimal. Rice is more savings. Pinto beans are cheapest at the DT and they are grown in USA and non GMO. Rice is really cheap at Costco and its not a huge investment to buy a bulk sack. If you don’t use a lot, consider splitting a bag with a neighbor or friend.
Rice and beans are a staple. They are also a good go to if you are flat broke or there is nothing in the house and you cant get to a store or the stores have no food. Not a pipe dream by the way. One not so distant past christmas, the main road (I-5) was flooded and trucks couldnt bring the grocery stores food. It’s not a good idea to buy groceries one day at a time and not have a minimal at least stockpile even if you have tons of money.
Look at the menus at the neighborhood’s eateries. When the cost of food jumped up, especially beef, the chefs used their creative assets to come up with meals or snacks that were delightful, but less expensive. Flatbread, baby meatballs, tacos , sliders.....
Anyone but me wonder why the cost of beef went up drastically
because of a year of drought, and it never went down. We just limited our beef consumption to one or two nights a week if we needed to use leftovers (Planned overs) . My husband had to learn to like chicken. LOL. His main objective to chicken was that it had no flavor. I started to look for flavorful chicken recipes. Fortunately, even the 6 yo likes spicey foods.
Simplify, spend less, always have food.
Friday, April 13, 2018
Friday Recipe
Baked Chicken Nuggets
Face it, chicken nuggets are just plain nasty. Most of them are made from reconstituted chicken .
Kids love them, but I offer a adult version. More heathy and tastes a lot better.
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast , cut into 1 to 1/2 inch cubes .
Combine :
1/2 cup breadcrumbs , dried
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped nuts ( walnut or pecan)
1 stick butter, melted split between two small bowl. *
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Dip chicken pieces in the melted butter, then the crumb mixture.
Place on baking rack on a sheet pan and bake for 20 minutes in th preheatednoven or unti the chicken tests done. 180 degrees is my benchmark.
Hint: the bulk food isle (Winco here ) has broken pieces of nuts. You are going to chop them up anyway, so they save both money and time.
* you might not use all of the butter, by splitting the butter between two bowls and adding to the first bowl as you need it, you are not contaminating all the butter. Do not reuse the butter for another purpose.
Face it, chicken nuggets are just plain nasty. Most of them are made from reconstituted chicken .
Kids love them, but I offer a adult version. More heathy and tastes a lot better.
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast , cut into 1 to 1/2 inch cubes .
Combine :
1/2 cup breadcrumbs , dried
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped nuts ( walnut or pecan)
1 stick butter, melted split between two small bowl. *
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Dip chicken pieces in the melted butter, then the crumb mixture.
Place on baking rack on a sheet pan and bake for 20 minutes in th preheatednoven or unti the chicken tests done. 180 degrees is my benchmark.
Hint: the bulk food isle (Winco here ) has broken pieces of nuts. You are going to chop them up anyway, so they save both money and time.
* you might not use all of the butter, by splitting the butter between two bowls and adding to the first bowl as you need it, you are not contaminating all the butter. Do not reuse the butter for another purpose.
Thursday, April 12, 2018
Thursday Notes
Another episode of This NOT That
Butter instead of Fake Butter.
The real thing is just better. My nutritionalist said a skim of butter is better than the fake stuff. Fake butter often is laced with hydroginated oil. Almost all oils with the exception of canola (GMO) and olive oil are bad for you. Hydroginated oil, so they say, thickens your blood. You are better off, in my opinion with the real thing in moderation. Moderation is key.
Roma tomatoes are better than regular tomatoes.
This is just because they have more “meat” and less seeds. Again, no food can do your family any good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.
Real maple syrup, parmesean cheese, vanilla...is better than fake.
It just tastes better. Moderation on the syrup is key. Parmesean cheese in the green can is laced with wood pulp and it is old. If parmesean is more expensive than Romano or other hard cheeses, use he other cheeses. It works the same .
Nut pieces , not whole pieces.
Winco (or Bulk Food isles ) has broken pieces in the bulk section. If you are using it for breading or in a recipe, why pay for whole nuts when you are going to cut them up anyway. Thisnisoe time wen something already done is cheaper.
Insta pot chicken or slow cooker chicken , not rotisserie chicken .
Rotisserie chicken is really , really expensive. Cooking a whole chicken (.88 a lb ) is twice as expensive as one made in the slow cooker. That crispy skin is not good for you anyway. Why ay for it to be pulled off. Both slow cooker and insta pot chicken take no longer than making the special trip to the store. Ten minutes tops and you are saving 1/2 or more if you buy a 5 pound chicken. Three pound chickens are the most expensive chicken . Hands down. And the chicken that is 2 lbs is just a joke.
Homemade coating mix and bread crumbs , not boxed.
Why pay 2.40 a pound for someone elses dry bread. If our 6yo can make breadcrumbs in a snap, you can too. Another , it takes minutes and saves a bundle idea. If I pay 2.44 a pound for hamburger, why would I pay 2.40 for someone elses garbage. There is more food value in the hamburger.
Coupons are a waste of time vs use coupons when they make sense. Don’t take hours clipping every coupon in ten newspapers. Do print coupons once a month and only print the ones for wha you are likely to use. Save a batch of inserts from 1 newspaper you buy for a dollar at the DT and match it up with a sale. Less than a half hour can save you up to 50.00 a month. That’s 100.00 an hour virtual pay check.
Homemade quick breads , not bakery breads.
The operative word here is quick. It takes a matter of minutes to throw a quick bread into the oven. The savings are remarkable and you control the sugar.
Frozen vs fresh blueberries.
There are times in the year when frozen blueberries are a lot cheaper than fresh. If you are makin blueberry bread or muffins or smoothies, frozen is better most of the time. Winco has 2 lb bags for less than 2.00 a pound. That’s almost the equivalent of three 6 ounce boxes.
Butter instead of Fake Butter.
The real thing is just better. My nutritionalist said a skim of butter is better than the fake stuff. Fake butter often is laced with hydroginated oil. Almost all oils with the exception of canola (GMO) and olive oil are bad for you. Hydroginated oil, so they say, thickens your blood. You are better off, in my opinion with the real thing in moderation. Moderation is key.
Roma tomatoes are better than regular tomatoes.
This is just because they have more “meat” and less seeds. Again, no food can do your family any good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.
Real maple syrup, parmesean cheese, vanilla...is better than fake.
It just tastes better. Moderation on the syrup is key. Parmesean cheese in the green can is laced with wood pulp and it is old. If parmesean is more expensive than Romano or other hard cheeses, use he other cheeses. It works the same .
Nut pieces , not whole pieces.
Winco (or Bulk Food isles ) has broken pieces in the bulk section. If you are using it for breading or in a recipe, why pay for whole nuts when you are going to cut them up anyway. Thisnisoe time wen something already done is cheaper.
Insta pot chicken or slow cooker chicken , not rotisserie chicken .
Rotisserie chicken is really , really expensive. Cooking a whole chicken (.88 a lb ) is twice as expensive as one made in the slow cooker. That crispy skin is not good for you anyway. Why ay for it to be pulled off. Both slow cooker and insta pot chicken take no longer than making the special trip to the store. Ten minutes tops and you are saving 1/2 or more if you buy a 5 pound chicken. Three pound chickens are the most expensive chicken . Hands down. And the chicken that is 2 lbs is just a joke.
Homemade coating mix and bread crumbs , not boxed.
Why pay 2.40 a pound for someone elses dry bread. If our 6yo can make breadcrumbs in a snap, you can too. Another , it takes minutes and saves a bundle idea. If I pay 2.44 a pound for hamburger, why would I pay 2.40 for someone elses garbage. There is more food value in the hamburger.
Coupons are a waste of time vs use coupons when they make sense. Don’t take hours clipping every coupon in ten newspapers. Do print coupons once a month and only print the ones for wha you are likely to use. Save a batch of inserts from 1 newspaper you buy for a dollar at the DT and match it up with a sale. Less than a half hour can save you up to 50.00 a month. That’s 100.00 an hour virtual pay check.
Homemade quick breads , not bakery breads.
The operative word here is quick. It takes a matter of minutes to throw a quick bread into the oven. The savings are remarkable and you control the sugar.
Frozen vs fresh blueberries.
There are times in the year when frozen blueberries are a lot cheaper than fresh. If you are makin blueberry bread or muffins or smoothies, frozen is better most of the time. Winco has 2 lb bags for less than 2.00 a pound. That’s almost the equivalent of three 6 ounce boxes.
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Fred Meyer Haul
Because we were just about out of fruit and Ihad money left in the budget, hubby went to Fred Meyers for fruit and veggies. This should keep us Ok for a while .
Gala apples .99
Strawberries
Cantaloupe
Zucchini
Total 10.38
That still leaves us 10.00 under and in very good shape for next week.
Gala apples .99
Strawberries
Cantaloupe
Zucchini
Total 10.38
That still leaves us 10.00 under and in very good shape for next week.
New Chain store ads.
Alberways
2 lbs strawberries 2.99
Extra Lean Ground Beef 3.77
FSSun. Only
Turkey breast .99
Lucerne yogurt 4/1
Chicken of sea tuna .59@@
Eggs 1.49 dozen @@????
QFC
Draper Valley BSCB : BOGO.....no prices here....
BUY 5, save 5
Goldfish .99
Cheese 4.99 - top of buy price
Dreyers 2.99
Note: orowheat bread and Thomas English Muffins are at the DT. So, 2.49 is not a bargain. Cheese is barely over 2.00 at costco business. I paid 1.98 last week at QFC
Oranges .67
Tomatoes .88
Apples, pears .99
Not a lot there ....
FRED MEYER
5 bs mandarins 3.99
Cantaloupe .99
FM cheese2 lbs 4.99 **
JD Sausage 2/7**
Berries ( strawberry, blackberries ) 2/5
Foster Farms
Drums, thighs, whole, and split breast..99
Zucchini.99
**. Cheese is at the top of the buy price.
** jimmy dean sausage is 2.48 at winco.
Split breast is breast with the ribs attached. Cut off the ribs, save for stock, and free in portion controlled bags. I use dollar store quarts and put the quarts in a zip lock with dat and item on it. Put your ribs in the slow cooker before you go to bed with water up to an inch from the top and add eggie scraps. You have stock in the morning to put through a colander and you can pick he ones for another days meat.
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Tuesday Notes
Groceries on the Cheap is not about cheap, inferior food. Its more like buying your food wholesale. I discovered that food from a wholesale supplier is sometimes more expensive than getting your food from a big box store. (Costco) .
It is not what you buy as much as when and where you buy it.
A cake mix can be 2.38 , or it can be .88. Same box, same brand, different store.
A almost pound bag of meatballs can be 2.00 or 3.50. Same brand, different store
A pound of Jimmy Dean sausage can be 6.50 or it can be 2.47. Same package, different store.
You get the picture. Knowing where to buy certain things , makes a big step in lowering your food bill. You dont hae to go to ten stores every week. Just know when you need a certain thing and go there and buy enough for four to six weeks. Freeze what you can.
I know that I am going to buy pizza sauce, taco shells, pinto beans parchment paper , and Orowheat bread products at the Dollar Tree. I check stock before I go. Our Dollar tree is either next to Safeways , or next to Grocery Outlet , depending on where we go. I can make 1 trip do double duty. So, I will tend To base my trip on what else is on sale or things I need that are low prices at other stores. Knowing your prices helps with this. I can go through GO in a few minutes and find the bargains that we can use to make meals in a few minutes. GO is a treasure hunt. You know that there are some tried and true things. I can almost always find sliced cheese, hard taco shells or a taco kit for a dollar. After that, its a surprise. I do know that I can always get pizza sauce, flour taco shells, and a selection of bread at the DT.
Dollar Trees are rated by the franchise. The better rating gets you a better selection of things. I found that out by listening to a u tuber that worked for Dollar 💵 Stores. I suspect it to be true, our towns DT is not as good as the one east of here.
The trick is to buyin bulk and knowing how much your family will eat in a given month, provided that the item is non perishable. Overbuying can be a problem. In any case, finding your food at discount prices goes a long ways to eating well for little money.
Our grocery expense for the last 15 months has been around 55.05 a week. That is or two of us and supplementing our granddaughter. ( Her mother is on a restricted diet and we eat a complete diet.)
This also keeps an pantry so we always have food.
Simplify, lower your food costs, always have food.
Everyone has basic dinners their family likes. I suspect most families with children eat Mexican and Italian a lot. I try to avoid processed foods on a regular basis. We sill eat them, we like them, but moderation. Is the name of the game. We eat beef. Again, I think we need a certain amount for good nutrition. We dont need it 7 days a week. That’s why we meal plan with a protein based matrix. It gives sun variety. We just buy versatile cuts of meat that can be found in bulk for a reasonable price.
Shelf stable and freezer products are a regular part of cooking balanced meals. We all have a list of 10-15 items we buy on a regular basis. Finding the rock bottom price of these things is key to garoceries of the cheap. IF you fin the price and buy enough to cover your family for 4-6 weeks, you usually can find a sale again sometime during that period of time. Organize your pantry or cupboard so that you can see a a glance how much you have of your specified amount. This isn’t about hoarding. Its about buying your food basically wholesale.
Not all things at any one store are ever at a RBP. I is really necessary to know then prices of your key foods. I have a target price of those food in my mind. If they aren't my price, I don’t buy
them. Conversely, if they are below it, I am all over it , being mindful of how many we eat in a particular time period.
I keep 2 boxes of ‘stove top stuffing “ in case I dont have enough dry bread for scratch. When I found some at Winco for .75, I bought one because I knew I had one in the pantry. I didnt buy six.
Now, I did pass o the .99 prego this weekend, because I have enough. Its controlled bulk buying.
I don't want too be caught having to pay full price for anything if I can help it. If I can substitute something else , I will.
I bought bulk ground ref from the farmer. I wont do it agai. 80/20 hamburger was 2.44 a pound. I frie 5 pounds and got 3.5 pounds of meat and 1 cup of fat. I measured it and no doubt, missed some clinging to the drain dish. I defatted it. I am better off finding a 93/7 sale or grinding my own when I find three dollar roasts with low fat. I may change my mind if the next batch I cook is better. Basically, we paid as much meat for meat as if I bought the good stuff. I might try the better quality next year if the price is right.
I haven’t cooked the chicken yet. I’m still using my upstairs stash.
Dairy usually goes on sale once a month at Fred Meyers. Fred Meyers is joining the Wednesday to Tuesday’s ad stores. I am wondering if taheir food is going to match QFC is soon. Time will tell.
It is not what you buy as much as when and where you buy it.
A cake mix can be 2.38 , or it can be .88. Same box, same brand, different store.
A almost pound bag of meatballs can be 2.00 or 3.50. Same brand, different store
A pound of Jimmy Dean sausage can be 6.50 or it can be 2.47. Same package, different store.
You get the picture. Knowing where to buy certain things , makes a big step in lowering your food bill. You dont hae to go to ten stores every week. Just know when you need a certain thing and go there and buy enough for four to six weeks. Freeze what you can.
I know that I am going to buy pizza sauce, taco shells, pinto beans parchment paper , and Orowheat bread products at the Dollar Tree. I check stock before I go. Our Dollar tree is either next to Safeways , or next to Grocery Outlet , depending on where we go. I can make 1 trip do double duty. So, I will tend To base my trip on what else is on sale or things I need that are low prices at other stores. Knowing your prices helps with this. I can go through GO in a few minutes and find the bargains that we can use to make meals in a few minutes. GO is a treasure hunt. You know that there are some tried and true things. I can almost always find sliced cheese, hard taco shells or a taco kit for a dollar. After that, its a surprise. I do know that I can always get pizza sauce, flour taco shells, and a selection of bread at the DT.
Dollar Trees are rated by the franchise. The better rating gets you a better selection of things. I found that out by listening to a u tuber that worked for Dollar 💵 Stores. I suspect it to be true, our towns DT is not as good as the one east of here.
The trick is to buyin bulk and knowing how much your family will eat in a given month, provided that the item is non perishable. Overbuying can be a problem. In any case, finding your food at discount prices goes a long ways to eating well for little money.
Our grocery expense for the last 15 months has been around 55.05 a week. That is or two of us and supplementing our granddaughter. ( Her mother is on a restricted diet and we eat a complete diet.)
This also keeps an pantry so we always have food.
Simplify, lower your food costs, always have food.
Everyone has basic dinners their family likes. I suspect most families with children eat Mexican and Italian a lot. I try to avoid processed foods on a regular basis. We sill eat them, we like them, but moderation. Is the name of the game. We eat beef. Again, I think we need a certain amount for good nutrition. We dont need it 7 days a week. That’s why we meal plan with a protein based matrix. It gives sun variety. We just buy versatile cuts of meat that can be found in bulk for a reasonable price.
Shelf stable and freezer products are a regular part of cooking balanced meals. We all have a list of 10-15 items we buy on a regular basis. Finding the rock bottom price of these things is key to garoceries of the cheap. IF you fin the price and buy enough to cover your family for 4-6 weeks, you usually can find a sale again sometime during that period of time. Organize your pantry or cupboard so that you can see a a glance how much you have of your specified amount. This isn’t about hoarding. Its about buying your food basically wholesale.
Not all things at any one store are ever at a RBP. I is really necessary to know then prices of your key foods. I have a target price of those food in my mind. If they aren't my price, I don’t buy
them. Conversely, if they are below it, I am all over it , being mindful of how many we eat in a particular time period.
I keep 2 boxes of ‘stove top stuffing “ in case I dont have enough dry bread for scratch. When I found some at Winco for .75, I bought one because I knew I had one in the pantry. I didnt buy six.
Now, I did pass o the .99 prego this weekend, because I have enough. Its controlled bulk buying.
I don't want too be caught having to pay full price for anything if I can help it. If I can substitute something else , I will.
I bought bulk ground ref from the farmer. I wont do it agai. 80/20 hamburger was 2.44 a pound. I frie 5 pounds and got 3.5 pounds of meat and 1 cup of fat. I measured it and no doubt, missed some clinging to the drain dish. I defatted it. I am better off finding a 93/7 sale or grinding my own when I find three dollar roasts with low fat. I may change my mind if the next batch I cook is better. Basically, we paid as much meat for meat as if I bought the good stuff. I might try the better quality next year if the price is right.
I haven’t cooked the chicken yet. I’m still using my upstairs stash.
Dairy usually goes on sale once a month at Fred Meyers. Fred Meyers is joining the Wednesday to Tuesday’s ad stores. I am wondering if taheir food is going to match QFC is soon. Time will tell.
Monday, April 9, 2018
Kitchen Management take along
An 18 ounce package of sausage was 1.99 at qfc. We ate three of them
For dinner with oven roasted potatoes and peppers. Peppers were .77. And I saved the
Tops and cut them small for Tuesdays pizza. The sausage was poked and pre boiled to reduce fat.
The rest of it is in a pan and is being cooked.
Fill the olive oil range bottle.
Cutting up the leftover sausage for Tuesday’s Pizza.
Now we have leftover red pepper from the sausage and peppers meal and
Leftover sausage.
Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe.
Chicken cooked in the
insta pot from frozen for 15 minutes. Put in
. Deli containers bought from amazon for 50 cents each.
Cooking rice for 2 nights in the insta pot. Equal parts rice and broth made from veggie stock. Load the instapot and press the rice button.
.
The food is cooked for the next three nights dinners. Prepping saves time. Sweet and sour chicken is almost done. Pizza toppings are prepped . We will add black olives from a can already sliced. We are ahead for the chicken chimichangas.
A little prep work is a great help in cooking from scratch. Cooking from scratch save a ton of money.
Monday Kitchen Management
Kitchen Management is a tool that frees up some time during that hectic dinner hour. It not only preps some food for the week, but it also keeps the kitchen clean as you along.
Recap of meals :
Recap of meals :
- Sweet and sour chicken
- Pizza
- Lemon pepper chicken pasta
- Chicken chimichangas , salad (lettuce and tomato )
- Meatball subs , oven fries, peppers
- Salmon,seasoned rice, broccolli
- Breakfast for dinner.
Kitchen tasks
- Saturday I already cooked and de-fatted hamburger. Five pounds of 80/20 hamburger game us 3.6 pounds of meat and a full cup of fat rendered that I put in a used bag for the garbage.
- I also cleaned and cut red and yellow pepper strips and chopped the tops and bottoms of th peppers for the pizza.
- Make a batch of rice for the salmon and sweet and sour chicken dinners.
- Cook chicken cubes for the three chicken recipes.
- Pull the lemon pepper chicken recipe off the printer.
- Wash lettuce, potatoes, broccolli, and tomatoes.
- Wash kitchen floor
- Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀. (The iPad has this sentence memorized. LOL)
- Wash refrigerator and line drawers.
- Clean and disinfect the counters, sinks, and drains.
- Organize pantry.
Notes:
Precooking meat saves a lot of time. When meal planning, if you have a standard list of menues or a template ( protein based) it only takes a few minutes. Add a few more minutes to prewash veggies and cook rice 🍚 and you save a lot of time. Cook once, eat twice or more. With the salmon menu, all I have to do is put the salmon in the oven to cook, reheat the rice in the microwave, and toss the broccolli with olive oil and salt and pepper and put in the oven with the salmon. Very little hands on time.
Washing all the veggies takes a lot less time than doing it piece meal.
Start cooking the thing that takes the most time, so that you can work while it’s is cooking. The object is to get in and out of the kitchen fast.
Its a nice day here, I want to go walk the beach.
Sunday, April 8, 2018
Winco Haul
Spent 14.39
Large eggs .88
2 cream cheese 2.38
Mandarin oranges .58
10 lbs potatoes 1.98
Lettuce .98
Jimmy Dean sausage 2.48. Elsewhere 6.50
Spinach 1.78
Meal Plans for week of April 9th
Meal Plans are a way to keep organized and make best use of your time. Add a quick hour of kitchen management and your kitchen is clean and you cut your time in the kitchen during the busy dinner hour.
- Sweet and Sour chicken , rice.
- Pizza
- Lemon pepper chicken pasta
- Chicken chimichangas , lettuce and tomato
- Meatballs subs
- Salmon, seasoned rice, broccolli
- Breakfast for Dinner
Notes:
- Sweet and sour chicken is from chicken tenders I cut from the breasts I bought in bulk.
- Pizza is a good go to and everyone likes it. Homemade Pizza cost about a dollar for cheese.
- Lemon pepper chicken pasta is a Betty Crocker recipe.
- Chicken chimichangas are easy and use bits of planned over chicken. (Chicken from sweet and sour chicken )
- Meatball subs are meatballs purchased at Winco and rolls purchased at the DT.
- Salmon is frozen, seasoned rice is a mix that I made, Broccolli is fresh.
- Breakfast for Dinner is a family affair....everyone cooks.
- Our average weekly grocery expense was 55.05 a week last year. So far, we are at or below that including a bulk chicken purchase. We are hoping the bulk hamburger purchase will be absorbed into april and may budgets. That puts us on a less than 4 dollars a person budget and we supplement a granddaughter and build a small stock. It is a good idea to work on a 4-6. week rotation so there is always food in the house.
- We eat a balanced diet of good food. We eat real food. We try to avoid a lot of salt,sugar, saturated fat, hydroginated oils, and HFCS. (Sugar).
- The trick is to avoid the impulse buys that the retailers bombard you with every time you walk into the stores, and buy good food cheap, not cheap food.
- I set out to do that many years ago. It took time to develop a plan that doesn’t take a lot of time, yet maximizes savings. I’m sharing this because there are people that need to feed their families well and dont have a lot of money. We haven’t seen a real raise in Social Security in years. They give it to you and take it back. Many are living in poverty because mnimum wage has not kept up with rising housing costs . For whatever reason, I am hoping that my information can help. I don’t advertise on this blog, my blog is solely to help people.
- Thank you for reading.
Saturday, April 7, 2018
No ad today.......
Fred Meyers is going to a weekly ad that starts on Wednesdays and goes to the following Tuesday.
We picked up our hamburger order today. It came in one pound frozen packages. At least I dont have to package it. I do have to thaw it before I cook some for the freezer. I like to keep a certain amount cooked so that it is simple to make dinner in a hurry. I can have tacos or enchaladas made in a hurry. Tacos from cooked hamburger is a good way to stave off the take out demons.
Chicken can be cooked from frozen in the insta pot.
There is still time for the digital coupons at qfc. It goes through sunday. Cheese .99; ground turkey 1.99., brats 1/99 and prego .99. I have not found a coupon for prego.
Buying things when you dont need them immediately goes along ways to cut your grocery budget. Cheese and brats can be frozen. Prego is the start of a cheap dinner. Add 50 cent spaghetti and some parm that is .99 a 8 ounce container and you have a good start on dinner. Meatballs are 2.00 for almost a pound at Winco. The same ones are 3.50 a almost pound at Safeways.
Its not what you buy as much as it is when and where you buy it.
Frozen blueberries are 3.99 for a pound bag. They are 2.00 a pound at Costco Business. They may be that same price at regular costco, I haven’t checked. That’s half price. Knowing the best price and buying at the best price is way to cut your food bill.
We picked up our hamburger order today. It came in one pound frozen packages. At least I dont have to package it. I do have to thaw it before I cook some for the freezer. I like to keep a certain amount cooked so that it is simple to make dinner in a hurry. I can have tacos or enchaladas made in a hurry. Tacos from cooked hamburger is a good way to stave off the take out demons.
Chicken can be cooked from frozen in the insta pot.
There is still time for the digital coupons at qfc. It goes through sunday. Cheese .99; ground turkey 1.99., brats 1/99 and prego .99. I have not found a coupon for prego.
Buying things when you dont need them immediately goes along ways to cut your grocery budget. Cheese and brats can be frozen. Prego is the start of a cheap dinner. Add 50 cent spaghetti and some parm that is .99 a 8 ounce container and you have a good start on dinner. Meatballs are 2.00 for almost a pound at Winco. The same ones are 3.50 a almost pound at Safeways.
Its not what you buy as much as it is when and where you buy it.
Frozen blueberries are 3.99 for a pound bag. They are 2.00 a pound at Costco Business. They may be that same price at regular costco, I haven’t checked. That’s half price. Knowing the best price and buying at the best price is way to cut your food bill.
Friday, April 6, 2018
DT and GO Hauls
Dollar Tree and Grocery Outlet -
Dollar Tree
Bagels
French Buns
Hamburger Buns
Pizza sauce
Pineapple, Libby’s
Total 5.00
Grocery Outlet
Ancient Grains Taco shells .99
Pancake mix .50
Wings sauce 1.99
Sliced ripe olives .69
Lasagna 1.99
Bacon 2.99
Sliced cheese 2.29
Total 19.51
Dollar Tree
Bagels
French Buns
Hamburger Buns
Pizza sauce
Pineapple, Libby’s
Total 5.00
Grocery Outlet
Ancient Grains Taco shells .99
Pancake mix .50
Wings sauce 1.99
Sliced ripe olives .69
Lasagna 1.99
Bacon 2.99
Sliced cheese 2.29
Total 19.51
Friday - notes
Friday notes : Chicken wings in the Insta Pot is on Dinners: Better, Cheaper, Faster.
Yesterday’s Haul made me go over budget by 5.49. And, I am picking up a case of hamburger tomorrow. I suspect I will not have to buy a lot of anything but perishables the rest of the month. Buying groceries when they are at the optimum price makes you sometimes have to invest and go over budget for. A week. Fortunately, the food is an investment and it will allow us to eat better for less the rest of the coming months. Its all about averaging.
Last night I made chicken wings. We hadn’t had chicken wings for ever because they used to be ten a pound. Then they became popular for ball game fare and the price went up substantially.
That’s ridiculous, they are all bone. I paid the same amount for boneless, skinless chicken breast and I got the chicken for a dollar a pound. It is all local chicken .
Groceries on the Cheap is not about depriving yourself of good food. We have good quality food and we have real, not fake food. We just pay 💰 the smallest amount we can for the food. Buy buying food at its optimum price and adapting to a simpler grid, we eat better for less.
Simplify, pay less, and always have food in the house. Its a winning concept.
By picking cuts of meat that are versatile, you don’t get bored and you still have a limited number of bins in the freezer. Organizing an upright freezer by using baskets from the DT is a good thing to do. You know where everything is and you can tell at a glance what things you need to put on a watch for a sale list.
Its always a good thing when you are not forced to go to the store. Going at your leisure means you can go with a clear mind and the fortitude to avoid the impulse buy traps. LOL.
Please share. I am still trying to grow the channel.
Thursday, April 5, 2018
QFC Haul
Spent 60.00
5 Bratwerst 1.99
5 cheese .99
Chicken wings .99
2 bell peppers .77
Grapes 1.99 lb
Total 24.39
Savings 54 percent.
5 Bratwerst 1.99
5 cheese .99
Chicken wings .99
2 bell peppers .77
Grapes 1.99 lb
Total 24.39
Savings 54 percent.
Thursday Notes
Alberways has cheese for 2 lb for 4.99 or 2.50 a lb. It is two dollars a pound at QFC if you use a digital coupon and you buy it on a specific day. Limit 5, or 2.5 pounds. Costco Business has it for just over 2.00 a pound in five pound bags. Grated cheese freezes well.
Its not what you buy, its when and where you buy it.
Let’s talk leftovers. I cant tell you how many people have told me that their husbands don't want to eat leftovers. By planning your meals and making what our home ec teachers called planned overs , you can cook once and eat twice without dealing with “leftovers”.
Rice and beans have a very short refrigerator life. They go bad fast. They, however, should be good for three to four days, stored in small batches. You have to use your own judgment. That’s the scoop I got off the Internet.
Making one batch of rice for two meals in the insta pot saves time and energy—yours and the grids. You can make Spain’s rice out of 1/2 of it and use the other half for a stir fry.
A batch of beans can be chili and it also can be re fried beans or black bean burgers.
Cook a couple of chicken breasts , and you can make chicken pot pie and stir fry or warm shredded chicken in a mixture of water and taco seasoning for tacos or a burrito bowl.
I always cook bulk hamburger when I get it home. Use the largest frying pan you have and fry t until it is no longer pink. A potato masher or a tool made especially for frying hamburger helps. I found one for six dollars.....twenty six was a bit much for me. LOL. Drain the fat into a pot to discard later and pour boiling water over the meat in a colander over the sink. This de fats the hamburger and looses up to 17 percent of the fat. Put it in portion controlled bags and freeze it. We use quart bags from the dollar store and put the quart bags into a zip lock bag and mark the bag once, not every bag. I bag the amount we need for tacos. Its easy to grab multiples for other dishes.
This saves a lot of time at the rushed dinner hour and you are more likely to go to the bother of de fating if you are doing it once, rather than every time you cook ground meat. It takes minutes to thaw. How many of us have fussed with tryng to cook a block of frozen hamburger?
Bummer.
Tacos can happen in 15 minutes or less. Spanish rice takes hands on time of about 3 minutes.
I am a firm believer in tomato, chicken, vegetable , and beef bouillon . You can get low sodium and it is much cheaper than buying stock in a box or an can. It takes less room in the pantry and is always at the ready. It adds depth of flavor to soups and stews.
Using pieces of meat instead of a slab of meat cuts your meat consumption. Too much meat causes cancer and kidney disease according to some doctors. The portion of meat that is recommended is a four ounce portion. That is about the size of an average palm of your hand. Unless you are feeding a linebacker or body builder, you don't need to serve those portions. You can use less meat in a dish if you are also using cheese in the dish, like tacos, or lasagna.
I have found that the instapot has cut my time in the kitchen tremendously. Rice and beans from scratch are so easy, that I never buy them instant or ready made. That has saved a lot of money.
It costs .0125 a serving for and and .02 a serving for rice. Ready rice is over .50 a serving. A can o
f beans is upwards of a dollar. It has 4 servings .
Pasta cooks in two minutes plus time to pressurize and depressurize. That time is not hands of time.
You can leave it alone and cook your sauce teach when it is cooking. No watching the pot. You do have to catch the pasta close to its depressurize time, it over cooks if left in the hot water. I set the timer.so I can leave the room and come back when I need to manual release.
The insta pot and our food processor are workhorses in the kitchen. They hae more than paid for themselves.
Its not what you buy, its when and where you buy it.
Let’s talk leftovers. I cant tell you how many people have told me that their husbands don't want to eat leftovers. By planning your meals and making what our home ec teachers called planned overs , you can cook once and eat twice without dealing with “leftovers”.
Rice and beans have a very short refrigerator life. They go bad fast. They, however, should be good for three to four days, stored in small batches. You have to use your own judgment. That’s the scoop I got off the Internet.
Making one batch of rice for two meals in the insta pot saves time and energy—yours and the grids. You can make Spain’s rice out of 1/2 of it and use the other half for a stir fry.
A batch of beans can be chili and it also can be re fried beans or black bean burgers.
Cook a couple of chicken breasts , and you can make chicken pot pie and stir fry or warm shredded chicken in a mixture of water and taco seasoning for tacos or a burrito bowl.
I always cook bulk hamburger when I get it home. Use the largest frying pan you have and fry t until it is no longer pink. A potato masher or a tool made especially for frying hamburger helps. I found one for six dollars.....twenty six was a bit much for me. LOL. Drain the fat into a pot to discard later and pour boiling water over the meat in a colander over the sink. This de fats the hamburger and looses up to 17 percent of the fat. Put it in portion controlled bags and freeze it. We use quart bags from the dollar store and put the quart bags into a zip lock bag and mark the bag once, not every bag. I bag the amount we need for tacos. Its easy to grab multiples for other dishes.
This saves a lot of time at the rushed dinner hour and you are more likely to go to the bother of de fating if you are doing it once, rather than every time you cook ground meat. It takes minutes to thaw. How many of us have fussed with tryng to cook a block of frozen hamburger?
Bummer.
Tacos can happen in 15 minutes or less. Spanish rice takes hands on time of about 3 minutes.
I am a firm believer in tomato, chicken, vegetable , and beef bouillon . You can get low sodium and it is much cheaper than buying stock in a box or an can. It takes less room in the pantry and is always at the ready. It adds depth of flavor to soups and stews.
Using pieces of meat instead of a slab of meat cuts your meat consumption. Too much meat causes cancer and kidney disease according to some doctors. The portion of meat that is recommended is a four ounce portion. That is about the size of an average palm of your hand. Unless you are feeding a linebacker or body builder, you don't need to serve those portions. You can use less meat in a dish if you are also using cheese in the dish, like tacos, or lasagna.
I have found that the instapot has cut my time in the kitchen tremendously. Rice and beans from scratch are so easy, that I never buy them instant or ready made. That has saved a lot of money.
It costs .0125 a serving for and and .02 a serving for rice. Ready rice is over .50 a serving. A can o
f beans is upwards of a dollar. It has 4 servings .
Pasta cooks in two minutes plus time to pressurize and depressurize. That time is not hands of time.
You can leave it alone and cook your sauce teach when it is cooking. No watching the pot. You do have to catch the pasta close to its depressurize time, it over cooks if left in the hot water. I set the timer.so I can leave the room and come back when I need to manual release.
The insta pot and our food processor are workhorses in the kitchen. They hae more than paid for themselves.
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Chain Store Ads
Alberways
Cantaloupe 2/3
Cheese 2lbs 4.99 **cheaper at costco business
Bread .89@@
Milk 1.79@@
QFC
Tide buy 2 @ 2/10. Coupons are in the P and G .c 3.00 off tide pods,not simply pods. 1.00 off of tide.
Peppers .77
Grapes 1.99
Milk .99 **cheaper at Alberways
Breyers 2/5
Draper valley wings or drums .99
4 days only TH, F,S, SUN
Digital coupon -5 times
Cheese .99
Ground Turkey 1.99
Italian sausage 1.99
Prego .99
These are store coupons.
Cantaloupe 2/3
Cheese 2lbs 4.99 **cheaper at costco business
Bread .89@@
Milk 1.79@@
QFC
Tide buy 2 @ 2/10. Coupons are in the P and G .c 3.00 off tide pods,not simply pods. 1.00 off of tide.
Peppers .77
Grapes 1.99
Milk .99 **cheaper at Alberways
Breyers 2/5
Draper valley wings or drums .99
4 days only TH, F,S, SUN
Digital coupon -5 times
Cheese .99
Ground Turkey 1.99
Italian sausage 1.99
Prego .99
These are store coupons.
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
Buy this, not that .......
Sometimes, a simple substitution or a few minutes of doing something yourself can save a lot of money.
A do this, not that......you need to fuel your body during the day. Its not good to eat a small breakfast, and then nothing until dinner and gorge yourself at dinner. You are carb loading and don't have time to wear off the carbs before you go to bed. I lost a ton of weight when I was in the rehab recovering from a broken hip. We are a hearty, protein filled breakfast at 8 am. A ‘dinneer’ that was skimpy by all accounts at 12:00 and a snack sized dinner at 5 o’clock. Nothing until 8 the next morning. I survived. But I lost 10 pounds that month and I exercised twice a day. It was controlled. I didn’t exercise for hours, but I also didn’t carb load to compensate for the added exercise.
Buy bread, not bread crumbs. Bread crumbs are the easiest thing to make. My 6yo granddaughter can make them—- all but setting up the food processor. It can be make with the plastic blade. Breadcrumbs cost 2.40 a lb. I got hamburger for 2.44 a pound. Personally, I’d rather eat the hamburger,it has more nutrition.
Buy real Parmesean cheese, not the take stuff in the green can. It is full of wood pulp to keep it from caking. If Parmesean is too expensive, buy any hard cheese. Sometimes we grate our own with a micro plane, sometimes, I buy it shredded . It’s a little luxury that makes a big difference.
Because of the way it is made, it has no lactose, so I read.
Buy butter, not fake butter. The nutritionist told me that using a skim of butter was better than using fake butter. Many fake butters have hydrogenated oil in them. The scientist say that hydrogenated oil thickens the blood. Read labels. If palm oil is supposedly going to kill your children in Nutella, it can kill you in fake butter. Just logic. Ingredients have to be listed in order of volume. There is more of the ingredient first listed, than there is of the things you cant pronounce at the end of the list.
Making your own pizza saves a ton of money . You can make a pizza for less than a dollar using ingredients that are purchased at RBP’s. Its not hard and a 1.50-2.00 pizza dough costs .19. Save up bits of veggies and meat from meals made during the week and keep them in the freezer door. I call it almost free pizza. Its labor free because the veggies and meat are already processed and it takes less time than ordering a pizza and waiting for delivery or standing in line for take n bake. Pizza sauce is a dollar for a name brand at the DT and you can freeze it in an ice cube tray (also at the DT) and pop it out into a quart bag. We use 2 cubes for a pizza. This doesn’t waste sauce. You get 5 pizzas out of a jar of sauce. We started our granddaughter a couple of years ago. She is to the P.O. t where she can take a pizza from the dough ball to the ready for the oven herself if the ingredients are
set out for her. You may get a smiley face with the pepperoni , but what the heck. Too many college graduates are unable to boil and egg. They don't teach life skills in school anymore, I am told. Children can learn little things from the time they are small. We don't let her deal with raw meat, anything sharp, or hot. But, there is a lot of things they can learn and you know what they are doing while you are making a meal.
Not boxed mac and cheese, but scratch Mack and cheese. Boxed mac and cheese is full of preservatives and tsp. Tsp is the detergent that we sold at the paint store so that painters could clean the grease etc off walls before they painted them. You need to wear rubber gloves so that it doesn’t eat your hands. Annies is the same as Kraft except Annie’s has more fat.
Basically, real is always better than fake. If you are worried about fat, or salt, use less of it. We
have processed meats, we just cut back to using them sparingly. A piece of bacon on top of a casserole that feed 4-6 people, is not as bad as a pound of bacon. 1/ 2 of a five ounce package of pepperoni on a pizza give you the flavor, but you can supplement it with chopped peppers, mushrooms, and olives.
A do this, not that......you need to fuel your body during the day. Its not good to eat a small breakfast, and then nothing until dinner and gorge yourself at dinner. You are carb loading and don't have time to wear off the carbs before you go to bed. I lost a ton of weight when I was in the rehab recovering from a broken hip. We are a hearty, protein filled breakfast at 8 am. A ‘dinneer’ that was skimpy by all accounts at 12:00 and a snack sized dinner at 5 o’clock. Nothing until 8 the next morning. I survived. But I lost 10 pounds that month and I exercised twice a day. It was controlled. I didn’t exercise for hours, but I also didn’t carb load to compensate for the added exercise.
Buy bread, not bread crumbs. Bread crumbs are the easiest thing to make. My 6yo granddaughter can make them—- all but setting up the food processor. It can be make with the plastic blade. Breadcrumbs cost 2.40 a lb. I got hamburger for 2.44 a pound. Personally, I’d rather eat the hamburger,it has more nutrition.
Buy real Parmesean cheese, not the take stuff in the green can. It is full of wood pulp to keep it from caking. If Parmesean is too expensive, buy any hard cheese. Sometimes we grate our own with a micro plane, sometimes, I buy it shredded . It’s a little luxury that makes a big difference.
Because of the way it is made, it has no lactose, so I read.
Buy butter, not fake butter. The nutritionist told me that using a skim of butter was better than using fake butter. Many fake butters have hydrogenated oil in them. The scientist say that hydrogenated oil thickens the blood. Read labels. If palm oil is supposedly going to kill your children in Nutella, it can kill you in fake butter. Just logic. Ingredients have to be listed in order of volume. There is more of the ingredient first listed, than there is of the things you cant pronounce at the end of the list.
Making your own pizza saves a ton of money . You can make a pizza for less than a dollar using ingredients that are purchased at RBP’s. Its not hard and a 1.50-2.00 pizza dough costs .19. Save up bits of veggies and meat from meals made during the week and keep them in the freezer door. I call it almost free pizza. Its labor free because the veggies and meat are already processed and it takes less time than ordering a pizza and waiting for delivery or standing in line for take n bake. Pizza sauce is a dollar for a name brand at the DT and you can freeze it in an ice cube tray (also at the DT) and pop it out into a quart bag. We use 2 cubes for a pizza. This doesn’t waste sauce. You get 5 pizzas out of a jar of sauce. We started our granddaughter a couple of years ago. She is to the P.O. t where she can take a pizza from the dough ball to the ready for the oven herself if the ingredients are
set out for her. You may get a smiley face with the pepperoni , but what the heck. Too many college graduates are unable to boil and egg. They don't teach life skills in school anymore, I am told. Children can learn little things from the time they are small. We don't let her deal with raw meat, anything sharp, or hot. But, there is a lot of things they can learn and you know what they are doing while you are making a meal.
Not boxed mac and cheese, but scratch Mack and cheese. Boxed mac and cheese is full of preservatives and tsp. Tsp is the detergent that we sold at the paint store so that painters could clean the grease etc off walls before they painted them. You need to wear rubber gloves so that it doesn’t eat your hands. Annies is the same as Kraft except Annie’s has more fat.
Basically, real is always better than fake. If you are worried about fat, or salt, use less of it. We
have processed meats, we just cut back to using them sparingly. A piece of bacon on top of a casserole that feed 4-6 people, is not as bad as a pound of bacon. 1/ 2 of a five ounce package of pepperoni on a pizza give you the flavor, but you can supplement it with chopped peppers, mushrooms, and olives.
Monday, April 2, 2018
Why?
The why of cutting your food bill in half is a no brainer. Groceries is often the most expensive discretionary item in your budget. The why buy in bulk at the lowest price is another story that may need a bit more explanation.
If you are going to the store many times a week, you are setting yourself up for being bombarded with a lot of retailers phycology to make you impulse buy. Retailers make 70 percent of their profit on impulse buys. Let someone else take the hit.
When you make a list, check it twice, meal plan, and try to remember everything you need for specific meals, you take a lot of time and open yourself up to making another trip to the store because you forgot something..
When you have a particular list that you know by heart because it is simplified and you know that all you are looking for is dairy , vegetables and fruit, and a bulk protein item, there’s no list, and you can get in and out of two stores in record time.
You are making meals from your pantry/freezer and replenishing stock when they are at their RBP. You buy more of one thing, and buy less variety of things. Its just simpler.
Simplify, spend less, always have food in the house.
I made homemade refried beans (aka bean dip) last week. I noticed that the canister ( reclaimed bulk popcorn packaging.) was low. Next time I went to the DT I bought three 1.5 lb bags. Done. Won’t have to do it again for at least three months. I had already noticed that the black bean canister was low and I dont use as much of them. I picked up some from the bulk isle at winco. Winco is a chain that is in the west and southwest. Basicly, I think they are wherever Aldi isn’t. We have Trader Joe’s, but they are more inclined to carry alternative food. I went for bargains, I found a basil plant and a package of gorgeous strawberries that were 1.5 times the price of the berries at the regular grocery stores.
I digress.
The point is, I am not buying beans every week, or even every month and at any point in time, if there was an emergency, great or small, I can make any meal I want from my pantry.
If I dont have russet potatoes, I have dehydrated mashed and sweet potatoes and probably a few scalloped potato mixes. I have eggs, and dehydrated eggs. Milk and dehydrated milk. It works.
There was a day when I had emergency surgery years ago, I sent my husband to the store for a weeks worth of food. He came back with a 12 pack and 2 pomegranates. I sent my college age daughter with a budget. She was more resourceful and came back with a weeks worth of dinners including meat and veggies.
My plan has developed over the years. The last part was cooking more detailed things like bread fro scratch and finding easy , efficient, scratch meals. Having the proper equipment helps a lot. The insta pot and food processer are my workhorses. I have saved more than their costs many times over. Bread crumbs are 2.40 cents a pound. They use basicly garbage. Scratch beans and rice are pennes of the cost of buying ready made in bags or cans. Sometimes a piece of steak or roast is cheaper than 95/5 hamburger and you can grind it in minutes with the food processer.
If you are going to the store many times a week, you are setting yourself up for being bombarded with a lot of retailers phycology to make you impulse buy. Retailers make 70 percent of their profit on impulse buys. Let someone else take the hit.
When you make a list, check it twice, meal plan, and try to remember everything you need for specific meals, you take a lot of time and open yourself up to making another trip to the store because you forgot something..
When you have a particular list that you know by heart because it is simplified and you know that all you are looking for is dairy , vegetables and fruit, and a bulk protein item, there’s no list, and you can get in and out of two stores in record time.
You are making meals from your pantry/freezer and replenishing stock when they are at their RBP. You buy more of one thing, and buy less variety of things. Its just simpler.
Simplify, spend less, always have food in the house.
I made homemade refried beans (aka bean dip) last week. I noticed that the canister ( reclaimed bulk popcorn packaging.) was low. Next time I went to the DT I bought three 1.5 lb bags. Done. Won’t have to do it again for at least three months. I had already noticed that the black bean canister was low and I dont use as much of them. I picked up some from the bulk isle at winco. Winco is a chain that is in the west and southwest. Basicly, I think they are wherever Aldi isn’t. We have Trader Joe’s, but they are more inclined to carry alternative food. I went for bargains, I found a basil plant and a package of gorgeous strawberries that were 1.5 times the price of the berries at the regular grocery stores.
I digress.
The point is, I am not buying beans every week, or even every month and at any point in time, if there was an emergency, great or small, I can make any meal I want from my pantry.
If I dont have russet potatoes, I have dehydrated mashed and sweet potatoes and probably a few scalloped potato mixes. I have eggs, and dehydrated eggs. Milk and dehydrated milk. It works.
There was a day when I had emergency surgery years ago, I sent my husband to the store for a weeks worth of food. He came back with a 12 pack and 2 pomegranates. I sent my college age daughter with a budget. She was more resourceful and came back with a weeks worth of dinners including meat and veggies.
My plan has developed over the years. The last part was cooking more detailed things like bread fro scratch and finding easy , efficient, scratch meals. Having the proper equipment helps a lot. The insta pot and food processer are my workhorses. I have saved more than their costs many times over. Bread crumbs are 2.40 cents a pound. They use basicly garbage. Scratch beans and rice are pennes of the cost of buying ready made in bags or cans. Sometimes a piece of steak or roast is cheaper than 95/5 hamburger and you can grind it in minutes with the food processer.
FM and Winco Food Hauls
Yesterday , we went to Fred Meyers and Winco. They are the two stores with the best prices. No one store has all good prices. That’s why taking a few extra minutes to shop two stores is fruitful.
Fred Meyers
Milk .99
Mustard 1.59
Avacado .88
Apples .99
Naval Oranges .99
Blackberries .99
Total 10.24
WINCO
Mustard .98
Coffee 5.48
Frozen french fries 🍟 1.37
Parm 2.68
Romas 1.39
Turkey lunch meat 2.78
Cucumbers .58
Bananas .56
Broccolli 3.96
Asparagus .98 lb
Blueberris 3.48 - 2 lbs frozen * they are 2.00 a lb at costco. Checking the quality
Total 25.86
We were out of mustard except for the kids kind. LOL
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Meal Plans for week of April 2
Meal Plans keep us on track and save time and money.
- Tortilla soup (chicken )
- Pizza
- Buffalo chicken pie, lettuce, tomato
- Mac and cheese, peas and carrots
- Pork chops , apples, and cranberry dressing. Green beans
- Salmon, seasoned rice, broccolli
- Breakfast for Dinner.
Notes
- Soup is a good go to meal if the house is busy, people can eat on demmand, uses diced tomatoes I need to use.
- Pizza is always a inexpensive , favorite
- Buffalo chicken pie is from the Betty Crocker cookbook
- Mac and cheese is another favorite.
- Pork chops are browned on both sides and placed on top of bread dressing with an addition of dried cranberries and chopped apple. Bake off until pork chops are done.
- Salmon baked, rice medley, and broccolli
- Breakfast for Dinner is another favorite and everyone participates.
Fred Meyer AD——changing
The Fred Meyer (FM) ad is changing to come out on Wednesday’s like Alberways and QFC.
Note 10 percent off senior discount on this Tuesday with coupon .
DIGITAL COUPONS FOR THURSDAY, 4/5 TO SUNDAY 4/8
CHEESE .99
PORK SPARERBS .99
KROGER BRATS 1.99
PREGO .99
YOU CAN USE 5 TIMES.
Blackberries , apples, oranges, pears .99
Pork Loin 1.69 ( i think it is sill 1.39 at Costco Business )
Milk .99
NOT A BARGAIN
Breaded chicken tenders 6.99
I paid .99 a lb for chicken breasts . They were 1.25 pounds for a 1/2 breast. Since there are 3 of us eating meat, I cut the tenders off . Breading is made from bread crumbs. Its our garbage heels add bread that I purchase for a dollar that is going stale. An egg costs . 08 or less. I have dehydrated eggs I got for .065. Basicly, you are saving almost 6.00 a pound.
We, however, like a breading of equal parts of dry bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and chopped nuts....walnuts or pecans.
This is a 10 day ad to accommodate the ad change. If the ad doesn’t come in the mail like the others, we will get it on line.
Friday, March 30, 2018
DT grocery haul
Quick grocery haul before we start no spend april. We have had about a thousand dollars worth of extra bills this month. So, in the interest of balancing the budget, we are going to go for a no spend month. That means that only perishables will be bought.
- 3 pkg pinto beans - grown in USA, non gmo
- 1n pkg bagels -Thomas
- 1 extra large can Campbells spaghetti o’s
- 1 pkg pepperoni, Olberto
Total 6.00
RBP and staple list
One of the ways GOC keeps the budget low is to only buy things you use on a regular basis at a RBP or a target price (nothing to do with the store with the red balls )
Green beans, canned .50 ( I recently paid .39)
Corn -canned, .50 ( this too was .39)
Chili, Hormel .99
Tomato or cr/mushroom, chicken noodle soup .50
Pasta sauce, canned .88
Pasta sauce , jar...1.25 (I have paid as low as .59)
Canned sliced olives .72
Canned diced green chillies .66
Jar pizza sauce 1.00
Salad dressing .75
Mayo 2.50
Diced Tomatoes .50 (Ive got as cheap as .39 with BPA free cans )- and .33 organic. )
Cold cereal 1.00 max -seldom
Instant Potatoes .86
Suddenly salad .75 - (I’ve got as cheap as .50)
BC. Cake mix - 1.00 ( as cheap as .88)
Boxed bread stuffing mix - 1.00 (as cheap as .75)
Pasta - .48-1.00 (free is good)
Bread products are a dollar at the DT- Orowheat, Thomas, Sara Lee.....
Milk -1/2 gallon 1.00
Sour cream 1.00
Cottage cheese 1.00
Eggs 1.00 (1.50 is my max)
Butter 2.50 - i want 2.00 and have got it at 1.50 before with coupon.
Ice cream 2.99 (tillamook)
Frozen vegges 1.00 a lb.
Tomato bouillon.
Chicken bouillon.
Vegetable bouillon.
Beef better than bouillon.
Prices vary, Costco is cheapest .
Lots cheaper than buying those cartons at 1.00-2.00 a box
Vinegar for cleaning. 2/4.29
Hamburger 80/20 2.44 - ( as cheap as 2.00-limited quantities )
Chicken breast , Boneless, skinless - 1.77 ( as cheap as .99-Zaycon)
Pork Loin 1.69 or less ( as cheap as .99)
Sausage is up to 3.50 the last two I got were free. Waiting for a good price. Or we will make our own. (Less sulphate )
Cheese : 2.50 a lb. ( I have got it as low as 1.85) it is close. To 2.00 at Costco business in 5 lb bags. Both cheddar and mozzarella.
Thursday, March 29, 2018
Four Plus one is five.
Four people, 1 meal, 5 bucks .......based on two adults and 2 school aged children.
- Spaghetti and meatballs, green beans.
- Pasta sauce .88, pasta .48, meatballs 2.00. Peasant bread .25, green beans .39. Total 4.00
- Based on GOC prices. It pays to rotate purchases.
- Tacos , refried beans, Spanish rice.
- Taco shells ..49 hamburger1/2 lb 1.22, cheese ,50, lettuce .25tomato .25 Refried beans 1.00, Spanish rice .08 total 4.51
- Based on GOC prices, it pays to rotate bulk purchases
- Chicken breast stir fry, rice
- Stir fry vegges 1.50, 1 lb chicken 1.00, top ramen noodles only, .25, rice .08 total 3.55
- Based on GOC prices . It pays to rotate bulk purchases
- Pizza , green salad
- Pizza crust .19. 1/5 jar of pizza sauce .20., 1 cup cheese .50, total .89. Add 1/2 package pepperoni .50 totals 1.39. Green salad : lettuce 1.00, tomato .55, cucumber .33. Total 3.27
- Based on GOC prices, it pays to rotate bulk purchases.
- Vegetable bean soup.
- Vegetable broth, 2 cans diced tomatoes .78, beans .30, carrots, celery .45, 1.53 toasted cheese sandwiches bread 1.00. Cheese 2.00. 4.53
Totals 3.97 a meal.
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
QFC GROCERY HAUL
THE WAY TO CUT YOUR GROCERY BILL IS TO PAY 1/2 PRICE FOR YOUR GROCERIES . That means that sometimes you need to buy things that you do not immediately need.
Grapes 1.48
Tillamook ice cream 2.99
Strawberries 2.99
Butter 1.99.
Cottage cheese .79
Sour cream .79
Total 16.95.
Grapes 1.48
Tillamook ice cream 2.99
Strawberries 2.99
Butter 1.99.
Cottage cheese .79
Sour cream .79
Total 16.95.
Chain store ads
Alberways
Spiral ham 1.37
Shank ham .97
Strawberries 2bs 3.77
Quaker cereals .99 includes bars @@
Best Foods Mayo 2.49@@
Note: whole roasted chicken 6.49. That’s less two pounds. The break even point on chicken is THREE pounds. You are paying more for bone than you are chicken . Which means you are probably paying 6.49 for about a pound of chicken. Chicken often is .88 a pound. NEVER buy a chicken that is less than three pounds. The optimine size to buy is 5 lbs or just under 5 lbs.
Libbys vegetables 2/1
QFC
Spiral Ham 1.27
Strawberries 2.99 lb
Grapes 1.48
Buy 6, save 3
Butter 1.99
Tillamook ice cream 2.99
Post cereal 1.99
Ritz crackers 1.79
Sour cream or cottage cheese .79
Canned biscuits 1.49 - coupons out there.
April, this ones for you.
Ground turkey 3.99 lb.
LOL
Spiral ham 1.37
Shank ham .97
Strawberries 2bs 3.77
Quaker cereals .99 includes bars @@
Best Foods Mayo 2.49@@
Note: whole roasted chicken 6.49. That’s less two pounds. The break even point on chicken is THREE pounds. You are paying more for bone than you are chicken . Which means you are probably paying 6.49 for about a pound of chicken. Chicken often is .88 a pound. NEVER buy a chicken that is less than three pounds. The optimine size to buy is 5 lbs or just under 5 lbs.
Libbys vegetables 2/1
QFC
Spiral Ham 1.27
Strawberries 2.99 lb
Grapes 1.48
Buy 6, save 3
Butter 1.99
Tillamook ice cream 2.99
Post cereal 1.99
Ritz crackers 1.79
Sour cream or cottage cheese .79
Canned biscuits 1.49 - coupons out there.
April, this ones for you.
Ground turkey 3.99 lb.
LOL
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
How to meal plan
There are different ways to meal plan. Meal planning is a necessary part of a organized kitchen on the cheap. Planning helps not waste food and keeps the take out gremlins away.
A matrix helps too. If you have some kind of an outline, it’s easier to plan efficiently. We use a protein based matrix. 1 beef, 1 fish or shellfish, 2 vegetarian. , 3 chicken or pork. Some people use a standard ten meals—one for spring and simmer, one for fall and winter and make ten meals that they make ver and over. This makes a standard grocery list and makes it easier to bulk purchase food.
Bulk purchasing sources of protein on a rotation basis saves a lot of time and money . Simplify, save money, and always have food in the house.
Having a couple of days that are stable go tos helps too, We have pizza and breakfast for dinner. Breakfast for dinner is a family affair and everyone cooks. Pizza is easy and cheap and a family favorite. Both are versatile .
Pinterest and a good cookbook keeps your meals fresh.
A quick inventory of your pantry and freezer gives you a sense of what needs to be used up soon.
A meal plan can be varied dur8ng the week. Plans can change, but having a plan is a good base.
A matrix helps too. If you have some kind of an outline, it’s easier to plan efficiently. We use a protein based matrix. 1 beef, 1 fish or shellfish, 2 vegetarian. , 3 chicken or pork. Some people use a standard ten meals—one for spring and simmer, one for fall and winter and make ten meals that they make ver and over. This makes a standard grocery list and makes it easier to bulk purchase food.
Bulk purchasing sources of protein on a rotation basis saves a lot of time and money . Simplify, save money, and always have food in the house.
Having a couple of days that are stable go tos helps too, We have pizza and breakfast for dinner. Breakfast for dinner is a family affair and everyone cooks. Pizza is easy and cheap and a family favorite. Both are versatile .
Pinterest and a good cookbook keeps your meals fresh.
A quick inventory of your pantry and freezer gives you a sense of what needs to be used up soon.
A meal plan can be varied dur8ng the week. Plans can change, but having a plan is a good base.
Monday, March 26, 2018
Monday Kitchen Management
We had a houseful of guests last night, so I made the vegetable bean soup and a loaf of bread. A vegetarian soup is a good way to please everybody around here.
Refrigerator Bread is a recipe I found on the Internet . It is King Arthur Refrigerator bread. It takes a matter of minutes and makes multiple loaves. Sixty four cents makes 2-3 loaves depending on the size of your loaf. Or, about 21 cents a loaf. A little more work than peasant bread, but about the same price.
Finding scratch recipes that are efficient and taste good is not hard. It makes a difference in how things taste, and reduces your exposure to those ingredients you cant pronounce.
Your food shouldn’t be a science experiment and your food bill shouldn’t be an arm and a leg.
You can eat well on four dollars a day. I’m not going to tell you that you can feed the 17 yo linebacker on that, but you can do it for a regular family.
Eating and exercising some portion control is a good thing. If you can't see any white of your plate you are probably eating too much. We have a problem with obesity in this country. A lot of it in my opinion is due to portion control. 4 ounces of meat is ample unless you are building muscle for some reason. Que the 17 yo linebacker. Check with your nutritionist. We still eat more than the RDA of nutriments.
Buying your food at a rock bottom price and paying attention to labels and pull dates is a good thing. We got organic diced tomatoes this weekend for 3/1. They have an April 2018 pull date. We ate them last night. I’m sure that food doesn’t go from ok to spoil on a designated date. We should have some wiggle room. But I don't tend to be adventurous. That’s why I suggest a 4-6 week supply of food. That is enough to cover yourself if you have a family emergency, but not too much so that you are strapped for cupboard space and have trouble keeping up with it. There is just some smug satisfaction of knowing you beat the system and have yourself covered when life throws you a little curve ball. Studies have shown that the stress of not having food in the house can reduce your life expectancy. So can drinking sugar laden drinks.
Refrigerator Bread is a recipe I found on the Internet . It is King Arthur Refrigerator bread. It takes a matter of minutes and makes multiple loaves. Sixty four cents makes 2-3 loaves depending on the size of your loaf. Or, about 21 cents a loaf. A little more work than peasant bread, but about the same price.
Finding scratch recipes that are efficient and taste good is not hard. It makes a difference in how things taste, and reduces your exposure to those ingredients you cant pronounce.
Your food shouldn’t be a science experiment and your food bill shouldn’t be an arm and a leg.
You can eat well on four dollars a day. I’m not going to tell you that you can feed the 17 yo linebacker on that, but you can do it for a regular family.
Eating and exercising some portion control is a good thing. If you can't see any white of your plate you are probably eating too much. We have a problem with obesity in this country. A lot of it in my opinion is due to portion control. 4 ounces of meat is ample unless you are building muscle for some reason. Que the 17 yo linebacker. Check with your nutritionist. We still eat more than the RDA of nutriments.
Buying your food at a rock bottom price and paying attention to labels and pull dates is a good thing. We got organic diced tomatoes this weekend for 3/1. They have an April 2018 pull date. We ate them last night. I’m sure that food doesn’t go from ok to spoil on a designated date. We should have some wiggle room. But I don't tend to be adventurous. That’s why I suggest a 4-6 week supply of food. That is enough to cover yourself if you have a family emergency, but not too much so that you are strapped for cupboard space and have trouble keeping up with it. There is just some smug satisfaction of knowing you beat the system and have yourself covered when life throws you a little curve ball. Studies have shown that the stress of not having food in the house can reduce your life expectancy. So can drinking sugar laden drinks.
Sunday, March 25, 2018
Meal Plans
Meal plans keep you organized and on track. They help in kitchen management and make life a lot less hectic come mealtime.
- Spaghetti and Meatballs, salad
- Out , potluck, refried beans (scratch)
- Pizza
- Roast Pork, mashed potatoes, honey ginger carrots , pickled beets
- Vegetable bean soup, rolls
- Pork sliders, oven fries, vegetable platter
- Breakfast for dinner
Notes
- Meatballs are at winco.
- Chicken pizza , -ranch dressing, chicken, blue and mozzarella cheese, red peppers Homemade pizza dough costs .19 and takes less than 5 minutes.
- Roast pork does double duty,
- Vegetable bean soup is made in the slow cooker part of the insta pot. Make beans first.
- Pork sliders use dinner rolls.
- Refried beans are made in the insta pot. Easy.
- Breakfast for dinner is a quiche.
The buying of a core list of ingredients and buying them at low prices , you can always have some food in the house on a limited budget and eat well. Buying versatile bulk meat in rotation based with sale prices affords you the luxury of. A varied diet and low-fat meats.
Our 2017 food costs averaged 55.05 a week. So far , our food costs are at 50.00 including a bulk chicken purchase.
Costco and Grocery Outlet Haul
Costco
Bananas 1.39
Pickles 6.89
Total 8.28
Grocery Outlet
Beets , canned, sliced 3/1
Organic diced tomatoes 3/1
Gingerbread Nature Valley Bars 24 ea .99
Sliced cheese 2.00
Total 8.98
Month total including bulk chicken purchase is at 49.45 a week.
Bananas 1.39
Pickles 6.89
Total 8.28
Grocery Outlet
Beets , canned, sliced 3/1
Organic diced tomatoes 3/1
Gingerbread Nature Valley Bars 24 ea .99
Sliced cheese 2.00
Total 8.98
Month total including bulk chicken purchase is at 49.45 a week.
Saturday, March 24, 2018
Don’t let a “special” that isn’t a special fool you.
Safeways/Albertsons has a coupon “special” in their sunday insert. Think about this a minute.
Get a “FREE” 18 count eggs if you buy 50.00 worth of. Participating food. 18 eggs last week at Winco were 1.44. The percentage of discount is less than 3 percent.
Asparagus is 1.27, its .99 at Fred Meyers.
Canned vegetables are .79....that’s the price at the DT every day. And, they are .50 at winco.
If they are giving you less than 5 peracent and they are charging 30 percent more on their products, you aren’t better off.
File this under when is a bargain, not a bargain .
Get a “FREE” 18 count eggs if you buy 50.00 worth of. Participating food. 18 eggs last week at Winco were 1.44. The percentage of discount is less than 3 percent.
Asparagus is 1.27, its .99 at Fred Meyers.
Canned vegetables are .79....that’s the price at the DT every day. And, they are .50 at winco.
If they are giving you less than 5 peracent and they are charging 30 percent more on their products, you aren’t better off.
File this under when is a bargain, not a bargain .
Fred Meyers ad for Sunday
Spiral sliced ham 1.27
Oscar Mayer Bacon 3.99
Asparagus .99
5 lbs mandarins 3.99
Cantaloupe 2/4
10 lbs potatoes 1.99
Cream cheese 3/5
Marshmallows. 1.00
Buy 6, save 3.00
Cream soup. .49
Butter 1.99
Oscar Mayer Bacon 3.99
Asparagus .99
5 lbs mandarins 3.99
Cantaloupe 2/4
10 lbs potatoes 1.99
Cream cheese 3/5
Marshmallows. 1.00
Buy 6, save 3.00
Cream soup. .49
Butter 1.99
Friday, March 23, 2018
FRIDAY: RECIPE
PORK LOIN IS 1.59 AT COSTCO BUSINESS. THERE IS A 2.00 OFF STICKER ON IT TO BE USED AT THE REGISTER. THAT MAKES A 10 LB LOIN 1.39.
Butchering a pork loin is a matter of slicing it. Cut the ends off up about two inches to make the meat a even cylinder. Cut stew meat or slice for stir fry. Now cut a 6 inch or so roast off one end.
You should be getting to the center. Cut center cut pork chops anywhere between 1/2 and 3/4 of an inch thick until you have another roast left. Bag and label with what it is and when you bagged it. We put portions in a quarts bag and put the quart bags in a gallon bag. I cut the fat layer off of chops , but not roasts.
Pork Roast.
Mix 2 parts olive oil to 1 part ranch dressing mix. ( make your own )
Add a squirt of Dijon mustard and minced garlic.
Use a 1.5-3 pound roast
Spread on roast. Place roast, fat side up in a roasting pan with a rack.
Heat oven to 350 degrees for an hour or until the roast has an internal temperature of 145 degrees.
We use a thermometer with a probe and set it to pork, well done. It just makes our life easier.
Having the right tools makes a big difference in your cooking skills and saves a lot of time. Time is money when you send it plannng a shopping trip or making meal plans. Proper planning can save you 1/2 on your food bill. Keeping on top of what’s in the pantry , freezer, and refrigerator saves a lot of money.
They say that we waste 50 percent of our food. That’s hard for me to believe, but every amount you throw away is something that could have been eaten. Portion. Control means a lot. Give children a reasonable amount. If they want more , give them more. I’m not talking about sweets; but rather the dinner part of a meal. We dont have desert every meal. Its not good for you or necessary. There are a lot of ideas out there on how to reinvent a leftover. A sirloin. Roast can become a roast beef a jus sandwich , That pork roast can become sliders. Cooked chicken can be any number of things.the possibilities are endless.. Pinterest is full of recipes.
Keeping on top of the refrigerater contents is a good way to use your resources.
Butchering a pork loin is a matter of slicing it. Cut the ends off up about two inches to make the meat a even cylinder. Cut stew meat or slice for stir fry. Now cut a 6 inch or so roast off one end.
You should be getting to the center. Cut center cut pork chops anywhere between 1/2 and 3/4 of an inch thick until you have another roast left. Bag and label with what it is and when you bagged it. We put portions in a quarts bag and put the quart bags in a gallon bag. I cut the fat layer off of chops , but not roasts.
Pork Roast.
Mix 2 parts olive oil to 1 part ranch dressing mix. ( make your own )
Add a squirt of Dijon mustard and minced garlic.
Use a 1.5-3 pound roast
Spread on roast. Place roast, fat side up in a roasting pan with a rack.
Heat oven to 350 degrees for an hour or until the roast has an internal temperature of 145 degrees.
We use a thermometer with a probe and set it to pork, well done. It just makes our life easier.
Having the right tools makes a big difference in your cooking skills and saves a lot of time. Time is money when you send it plannng a shopping trip or making meal plans. Proper planning can save you 1/2 on your food bill. Keeping on top of what’s in the pantry , freezer, and refrigerator saves a lot of money.
They say that we waste 50 percent of our food. That’s hard for me to believe, but every amount you throw away is something that could have been eaten. Portion. Control means a lot. Give children a reasonable amount. If they want more , give them more. I’m not talking about sweets; but rather the dinner part of a meal. We dont have desert every meal. Its not good for you or necessary. There are a lot of ideas out there on how to reinvent a leftover. A sirloin. Roast can become a roast beef a jus sandwich , That pork roast can become sliders. Cooked chicken can be any number of things.the possibilities are endless.. Pinterest is full of recipes.
Keeping on top of the refrigerater contents is a good way to use your resources.
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Winco Haul
Winco Haul.....I am still on budget
Pickles 1.48
Salmon burgers 4.28 lb
Pie 6.48
Frozen veggies .99
Frozen veggies .88
Darigold butter 2.98 less coupon 1.98
Hamburger buns 1.07
Black beans , bulk .83 lb
Green grapes 1.98
White bread 1.18
3 lbs onions .98
Total 24.85
Thursday Notes : dispelling myths
The internet is full of myths.....wives tales, ......people’s perceptions .....
Grated cheese costs more than buying a brick and grating it yourself.
Cheese is cheese . A pound of cheese is a pound of cheese. Check the price per pound. Often, grated cheese is cheaper than the brick. You can freeze grated cheese and that allows you to buy it when its on sale. We toured the tillamook factory. They make cheese is huge bricks. It goes to a chopping block where a cutter comes down and cuts the blocks of cheese into two pound bricks. The cheese that is left over goes into what looks like a buss boy tray and is taken to the shredder.
Its hard to make bread from scratch.
There are easy ways to make bread. Peasant bread is a good start because the hardest part is taking the temperature of the water and dealing with a 450 degree oven. Then, you can go on to other breads. Peasant bread takes 10 hands on minutes and they are spread between two days.
You can’t eat good food on 4.00 a day.
Yes, you can eat good food on 4.00 a day. I was trying to cut our food bill down as far as I could because I write this blog. It was a game. I was shocked when I stopped to write a grocery shopping class and discovered that we were actually eating on less and had been for 15 months. This also covered feeding grandchild some ( she eats at home and at our house) and grew a pantry.. We eat good, old fashioned food. Three squares a day. Salmon, pork loin roast and chops, 7 percent fat hamburger, boneless skinless chicken breast from Washington. We dont just eat beans, and we dont shop at the whole paycheck food store. There is a happy medium.
Clipping coupons takes a lot of time and you get a whole quarter back.
It takes about ten minutes to print coupons the first day of the month. Cutting time and putting them in a binder can be done watching TV. Ditto flipping through an insert from the paper and cutting what you are likely to buy. It saves up to 25.00 a month if you aren't a prepared food buyer.
Ibotta and such apps profile you and you loose your privacy.
The truth is, none of us is immune to being profiled. . Everything we do we are being watched —everything from being on Facebook to using a store loyalty card. We don't live in a box.
Grated cheese costs more than buying a brick and grating it yourself.
Cheese is cheese . A pound of cheese is a pound of cheese. Check the price per pound. Often, grated cheese is cheaper than the brick. You can freeze grated cheese and that allows you to buy it when its on sale. We toured the tillamook factory. They make cheese is huge bricks. It goes to a chopping block where a cutter comes down and cuts the blocks of cheese into two pound bricks. The cheese that is left over goes into what looks like a buss boy tray and is taken to the shredder.
Its hard to make bread from scratch.
There are easy ways to make bread. Peasant bread is a good start because the hardest part is taking the temperature of the water and dealing with a 450 degree oven. Then, you can go on to other breads. Peasant bread takes 10 hands on minutes and they are spread between two days.
You can’t eat good food on 4.00 a day.
Yes, you can eat good food on 4.00 a day. I was trying to cut our food bill down as far as I could because I write this blog. It was a game. I was shocked when I stopped to write a grocery shopping class and discovered that we were actually eating on less and had been for 15 months. This also covered feeding grandchild some ( she eats at home and at our house) and grew a pantry.. We eat good, old fashioned food. Three squares a day. Salmon, pork loin roast and chops, 7 percent fat hamburger, boneless skinless chicken breast from Washington. We dont just eat beans, and we dont shop at the whole paycheck food store. There is a happy medium.
Clipping coupons takes a lot of time and you get a whole quarter back.
It takes about ten minutes to print coupons the first day of the month. Cutting time and putting them in a binder can be done watching TV. Ditto flipping through an insert from the paper and cutting what you are likely to buy. It saves up to 25.00 a month if you aren't a prepared food buyer.
Ibotta and such apps profile you and you loose your privacy.
The truth is, none of us is immune to being profiled. . Everything we do we are being watched —everything from being on Facebook to using a store loyalty card. We don't live in a box.
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Chain store ads
QFC
Buy 6, save 3
Marie Calenders frozen dinners 1.79
Cottage cheese. Sour cream .79
Sweet baby rays .99
Pillsbury rolls 1.49 - coupon on multiples 1.00 on three
—————-
English cucumbers..99
Milk .99
Cream cheese 3/5
Saturday only digital coupon
Sugar 4 lbs .99
Safeways
Ham 1.37
Shank half or whole .97
Starkest tuna @@. .59
Bread 1.49 @@
Lean ground beef 80/20 1.99@@
Kens dressing 1.99 - @@ paper coupon, ss, .75 off
@@ in ad coupon store card
Buy 6, save 3
Marie Calenders frozen dinners 1.79
Cottage cheese. Sour cream .79
Sweet baby rays .99
Pillsbury rolls 1.49 - coupon on multiples 1.00 on three
—————-
English cucumbers..99
Milk .99
Cream cheese 3/5
Saturday only digital coupon
Sugar 4 lbs .99
Safeways
Ham 1.37
Shank half or whole .97
Starkest tuna @@. .59
Bread 1.49 @@
Lean ground beef 80/20 1.99@@
Kens dressing 1.99 - @@ paper coupon, ss, .75 off
@@ in ad coupon store card
Tuesday Notes
Its the first day of spring and I want to talk about the snowball effect. Not too strange, we hae had snow this late before. Saving money on groceries to reach a bottom line is like rolling a snowball from a mass that fits inside your fist to the size of a snowman head. It might take some time, but it has a great reward. Savings amass with time.
I priced a jar of ragu for 2.00 this morning at Wallmart on line. We paid .79 with a sale and coupon .
That’s roughly 1.20 per jar. We bought 4 for a total savings of 4.80. Now, if I took that 4.80 and I added .20 cents to it and bought 2 lbs of cheese at safeways, I would have 2 lbs of cheese an 4 jars of pasta sauce for about the same price as I would have if I just went to wallmart and bought the jars of pasta sauce. Stay with me.
I bought pasta sauce and saved 4.80
I added .20 and bought cheese 5.00
Saved 7.00
Now I have: 4 jars of pasta
2 lbs of cheese
Take the 7,.00 saings on the cheese and buy
English muffins, whole wheat
Bagels, whole wheat
Hot dog nuns
Rye breads
Now you have
4 jars of pasta
2 pounds of cheese
A package of bagels
Hot dog buns
Rye bread
English muffins
And you have 3 dollars left/
That buys the hot dogs to go with the buns
Now you have spent 8.00
And you hae
4 jars of pasta
2 pounds of cheese
4 packages of bread
And a package of Nathan’s hot dogs.
Or \another way to look at it is that you got 34.00 worth of food for 14.80 for a savings of 19.20.
I priced a jar of ragu for 2.00 this morning at Wallmart on line. We paid .79 with a sale and coupon .
That’s roughly 1.20 per jar. We bought 4 for a total savings of 4.80. Now, if I took that 4.80 and I added .20 cents to it and bought 2 lbs of cheese at safeways, I would have 2 lbs of cheese an 4 jars of pasta sauce for about the same price as I would have if I just went to wallmart and bought the jars of pasta sauce. Stay with me.
I bought pasta sauce and saved 4.80
I added .20 and bought cheese 5.00
Saved 7.00
Now I have: 4 jars of pasta
2 lbs of cheese
Take the 7,.00 saings on the cheese and buy
English muffins, whole wheat
Bagels, whole wheat
Hot dog nuns
Rye breads
Now you have
4 jars of pasta
2 pounds of cheese
A package of bagels
Hot dog buns
Rye bread
English muffins
And you have 3 dollars left/
That buys the hot dogs to go with the buns
Now you have spent 8.00
And you hae
4 jars of pasta
2 pounds of cheese
4 packages of bread
And a package of Nathan’s hot dogs.
Or \another way to look at it is that you got 34.00 worth of food for 14.80 for a savings of 19.20.
Monday, March 19, 2018
Notes from the grocery class.
Yesterday my daughter and I hosted a Cut your grocery bill in half class. Here are a few bullets to ponder.
- Buy thing in bulk when it makes sense: Flour, rice, oatmeal. That 7 dollar bag of flour can save you a hundred dollars replaeing store /manufactured frozen items.
- Keep a basic inventory of the things you use on a regular basis every week and buy a 4-6 week supply of them when they are at their RBP.
- Keep a small notebook 📓 to record prices of your key items until you find the RBP in your area.
- Efficient scratch cook. Find recipes that are easy and use the instapot, slow cooker etc to minimize your time in the kitchen. You basically get paid for planning and shopping wisely at two stores in the form of savings. You don’t get paid for cooking.
- Use coupons, ibotta, sales, closeout bins and basket coupons wisely to save money any way you can. Coupons.com, ibotta,
- There are some people that are on U-tube that are great sources of information. Betty Crocker on line cookbook is free. Substitute ready made products with scratch if you can. There are more people. Freedom Homestead, Big Famiy Homestead , She’s In Her Apron, April Holly Smith to name a few.
Kitchen Management - March 19, 2017
Its that day again, Kitchen Management, and today is a busy day for us, so something will have to slide until tomorrow. Tuesday is errand day, and we have to do the errands today too. We hae all been there....life is sometimes a juggling act. LOL
This is a good day to put on a pot of soup. I will sub for pizza night. Soup always works when I have a meeting early evening.
- Clean out the refrigerator and dump anything dead.
- Wax the refrigerator
- Disinfect the counters and sinks and drains.
- Wash the kitchen floor.
- Make soup
- Wash root veggies with vinegar water
- Make vegetable platter .
- Straighten the pantry.
- Log the cash for groceries.
I’m sitting at 50.00 this week. A lot of it was pasta sauce because I got it for super cheap with coupons and a sale. That’s under four dollars a day per person.
Reminder of meals : adjusted
- Roast chicken with oven roasted veggies
- Soup
- Spaghetti and meatballs. Salad
- Tacos, Spanish rice
- Salmon, baked potatoes, green beans
- Chix nuggets, (homemade) oven fries, vegetable sticks.
- Breakfast for dinner.
Sunday, March 18, 2018
Meal Plans
Meal plans make life easier and help to state off the take out demons.
- Roast Chicken , Oven roasted veggies
- Pizza
- Spaghetti and meatballs, salad
- Tacos, Spanish rice
- Salmon , baked potatoes, green beans
- Chicken nuggets, oven fries, veggie platter
- Breakfast for dinner
notes:
Chicken is a dollar a pound.
Pizza costs 1.05 a piece for cheese pizza. You can add pepperoni , sausage, or multi veggies
Spaghetti and meatballs are from sales at safeways and Fred Meyers.
Tacos are from .48 taco shells and hamburger with homemade taco seasoning.
Salmon is from winco
Chicken nuggets are homemade by dipping nuggets in butter and dredging in a mixture of dry bread crumbs, parm cheese and chopped nuts.
Breakfast for dinner is a hit around here.
Saturday, March 17, 2018
Fred Meyer ADS for sunday
10 percent fat hamburger 3.77
English cucumbers .99
Grapes 1.29
Berries 2/5
Cantaloupe 2/4
Milk .99
Heritage Farm drums or thighs.../79 Note: this is Tyson chicken.
Cream cheese 3/5 - 1.67 ea
breakfast sausage. Jimmy Dean 2/7 or 3.50. - it has been 6.50 at qfc.
1/2 Pork Loin 1.99 ( not my buy price, but note the differen in price between taking a few cut off a loin and buying the already cut pork loin chops. Remarkable
Note : Pork Loin chop 3.99: as apposed to Pork Loin that was .99 a few weeks back.
Buy 6, save 3, Mix and match, you dont have to buy six of one thing.
Ritz crackers 1.79
Ragu 1.29 - check coupons
Baby Ray bbq .99
Sour cream/ cottage cheese .79
English cucumbers .99
Grapes 1.29
Berries 2/5
Cantaloupe 2/4
Milk .99
Heritage Farm drums or thighs.../79 Note: this is Tyson chicken.
Cream cheese 3/5 - 1.67 ea
breakfast sausage. Jimmy Dean 2/7 or 3.50. - it has been 6.50 at qfc.
1/2 Pork Loin 1.99 ( not my buy price, but note the differen in price between taking a few cut off a loin and buying the already cut pork loin chops. Remarkable
Note : Pork Loin chop 3.99: as apposed to Pork Loin that was .99 a few weeks back.
Buy 6, save 3, Mix and match, you dont have to buy six of one thing.
Ritz crackers 1.79
Ragu 1.29 - check coupons
Baby Ray bbq .99
Sour cream/ cottage cheese .79
Comparing prices....
I just looked at a u-tube comparing boneless chicken to boned chicken quarters. It wasn’t what I would call a scientific comparison. Boned chicken is probably 1/2 bone and 1/2 chicken unless it was a very fat chicken. Our chicken quarters were 1.28 a lb. chicken thighs were 1.00 a pound. It is dark meat. At 1.28 a pound, you are most likely paying 2.56 a pound. The chicken breast at Fred Meyer is 1.99 a pound. The Zaycon chicken is .99 a pound.
You cant comare apples and oranges and come out with a scientific comparison. You can tell which choice is the cheapest.
Its easier to compare like things, We are all about finding the RBP on most of the things we buy. I’m not going to drive miles and miles to find a bargain unless I intend to go once and bulk buy something that makes it worth my while. Zaycon saved me at least 40.00. Heck yes, I will drive five miles to save 40.00 once. I’m not driving 5 miles to save a quarter. Its all about common sense.
No food will do your family any good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.
You cant comare apples and oranges and come out with a scientific comparison. You can tell which choice is the cheapest.
Its easier to compare like things, We are all about finding the RBP on most of the things we buy. I’m not going to drive miles and miles to find a bargain unless I intend to go once and bulk buy something that makes it worth my while. Zaycon saved me at least 40.00. Heck yes, I will drive five miles to save 40.00 once. I’m not driving 5 miles to save a quarter. Its all about common sense.
No food will do your family any good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.
Friday, March 16, 2018
Let’s talk money......
In the year of 2017, we spent on avrag 55.05 a week. 4.00 a day for my husband and I totals 56.00.
But, that amount covered our food, our stocked food, and partially feeding our granddaughter. She eats at her house and our too.
We eat meals from Pork Loin, boneless, skinless chicken breast, hamburger, eggs, cheese, bacon, and beans. No, Virginia, we dont just eat beans......
We can do that by using a variety of tips and tricks to lower our food bill.
Efficiently cook from scratch. Buy buying certain things in bulk, you can save a lot of money. There are easy 5 ingredient or less recipes all over the Internet. A 6.99 cent bag of flour can save you the cost six times over. Artisan bread, 10 hands on minutes, a quarter. Cheese pizza 1.05 , muffins .35 plus the fruit. Pancakes far cheaper than 3.00 a small bag. Or 8 small waffles for over a dollar.
We also buy oatmeal .085 a serving, and rice at .02 a serving. That’s a ton of savings.
Find the RBP on the things you buy on a regular basis to make dinner and buy enough to last you 4-6 weeks at the lowest possible price. Use Ibotta, coupons, and sales to cut your costs
Buy your basic meat at RBP in bulk. Buy enough of that meat to last you for however many meals you will cook it during a 4-6 week period. Bring it home and portion control it into meal sized portions. I cook hamburger and freeze it in meal sized portions in quart bags and then a gallon bag that I label with the type of meat and the date. We rotate pork loin (.99-1.69), chicken breast (.99-1.77) and hamburger 80/20 that we fry and de-fat. ( 2.00-2.44) . If there is a hunk of beef that is low fat and cheaper, we will grind it ourselves.
Plan your meals. Make a plan, or plan to fail. If you plan your meals and keep a stock, you will always have what you need to make your meals. A little kitchen management picks up the slack and preps ingredients for the meal. You can prep, clean the fridge, and rotate a deep clean chore in about an hour. It saves a lot of time at the hectic meal time.
4 steps, they all take a little work, but they all save time and /or money. Master one at a time.
You should cut your food bill. Ours is 1/2 the USDA stats for thrifty. We eat well.
But, that amount covered our food, our stocked food, and partially feeding our granddaughter. She eats at her house and our too.
We eat meals from Pork Loin, boneless, skinless chicken breast, hamburger, eggs, cheese, bacon, and beans. No, Virginia, we dont just eat beans......
We can do that by using a variety of tips and tricks to lower our food bill.
Efficiently cook from scratch. Buy buying certain things in bulk, you can save a lot of money. There are easy 5 ingredient or less recipes all over the Internet. A 6.99 cent bag of flour can save you the cost six times over. Artisan bread, 10 hands on minutes, a quarter. Cheese pizza 1.05 , muffins .35 plus the fruit. Pancakes far cheaper than 3.00 a small bag. Or 8 small waffles for over a dollar.
We also buy oatmeal .085 a serving, and rice at .02 a serving. That’s a ton of savings.
Find the RBP on the things you buy on a regular basis to make dinner and buy enough to last you 4-6 weeks at the lowest possible price. Use Ibotta, coupons, and sales to cut your costs
Buy your basic meat at RBP in bulk. Buy enough of that meat to last you for however many meals you will cook it during a 4-6 week period. Bring it home and portion control it into meal sized portions. I cook hamburger and freeze it in meal sized portions in quart bags and then a gallon bag that I label with the type of meat and the date. We rotate pork loin (.99-1.69), chicken breast (.99-1.77) and hamburger 80/20 that we fry and de-fat. ( 2.00-2.44) . If there is a hunk of beef that is low fat and cheaper, we will grind it ourselves.
Plan your meals. Make a plan, or plan to fail. If you plan your meals and keep a stock, you will always have what you need to make your meals. A little kitchen management picks up the slack and preps ingredients for the meal. You can prep, clean the fridge, and rotate a deep clean chore in about an hour. It saves a lot of time at the hectic meal time.
4 steps, they all take a little work, but they all save time and /or money. Master one at a time.
You should cut your food bill. Ours is 1/2 the USDA stats for thrifty. We eat well.
Thursday, March 15, 2018
Winco Haul
Winco Haul
Green grapes 1.98
Celery .88
Bluebrrries 3.98
Tomato grape .98
2% milk 1.28
Salmon 4.98
Romas .88
Green chillis .66
Black olives .78
Cucumbers .68
Cottage cheese 1.98
Winco stuffing .75
Gala apples. .88
5otal 29.98
Retailer’s Dirty Little Secrets.....
It has been a while since I have addressed this issue. I have been researching a little m,ore for an class, so I have found more....
Food for thought.....70 percent of a stores profit comes from impulse buys. There gai is your loss.
It is no accident that the first thing you see when you walk into a door of the store is something tempting you. Winco has junk food , tons and tons of junk food. Topped off with a bakery cart. They want you to lower your resistance and fill your huge cart.
We have bags that clip on the grocery cart. This instantly shrinks the cart. It also keeps the food off of the bottom of the cart . Studies have shown the a big percentage of those carts have fecal matter on them. Yuk is all I can say.
Their slow music can add 12 percent to your cart.
Bringing family members with you can add 10 percent PER person to your cart.
Face it, you can’t do the math in your head and make good decisions if you are distracted with a child whining they want something that has been strategically placed in their eye level, or how many of us have got to the veggie department to have a child announce that he has to go potty? LOL
Its money in the bank to leave them home with the other parent. If you are single, consider trading babysitting duties with another parent. Or see if you can leave them with a family member.
The best bargains are often in the back corner of the store. After they show you the two dollar plus for six English muffins in the front of the store (Fred Meyers) , they have 12 English muffins for 1.67 back by the eggs. Ditto sandwich rolls at winco.
Manufacturers pay slotting fees. Basically, that is rent for the eye level shelves. When its a big retailer, they can pay as much as a million dollars for end caps and eye level shelves. The retailers no doubt are passing that expense on to you. The grocery stores make more money from slotting fees than they do selling food.
Store brands are cheaper than their major brand counterparts. Often, they are the same item, in a store brand wrapper. Years ago, my sister worked for a frozen food distributor. She got to bring home the transition labeled boxes of veggies. They had two wrappers on them. The .66 milk green chillies that are winco brand are .66 cents. The name brand is 1.28.
In the UK, they figure that 20 percent of the customers give them 80 percent of their profit. Its the customers that fill their large carts.
Stats show that if you touch a product, you are more likely to buy that product.
Non food items have the largest markup. The store cant buy the quantity that other retailers buy. You can be much better off buying that article with a coupon somewhere else.
Eggs, sugar coated cereal and diary have the Biggest markup in the store.
Those fancy stores have a huge markup on everything. To their credit, when you carry a lot of specialty items and a lot of items, it just cost more to keep track of all that. More to stock, more to inventory. You are going to pay for the experience.
Those racks by the checkouts are nothing but a blast of impulse stimuli.
I did see an eyeglass repair kit. It was inexpensive and a real life saver if you wear glasses.
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Chain store ads
QFC was a two week ad last week.
The highlights are
- Oranges .67
- Draper valley whole chicken .88
- Berries 2/5
Digital coupons
You can use up to 5. That should mean that it is a store coupon and paper coupons should be able to be matched. Don’t quote me on that, but I heard that someone cleared that with Kroger.
Cheese 2.49 a lb- my highest target price, but its not bad
Pasta 1.00
Alberways
London broil 2.99
Pasta .48 @@
Pasta sauce 4/5 look for prego coupons @@
Cheeese 4/ 5@@. Thats 2.50 a lb.
My protein rotation would be chicken at qfc and /or cheese .
For the three of us, we can get 4 meals from a 5 lb chicken.
Don’t buy a chicken that is much less than 5 lbs. (4.40)
My stock buy would be pasta sauce and pasta from safeways. That’s 1.75 pus meatballs for a dinner for 4.and an extra meal of pasta. Meatballs are 2.00 a bag at Winco.
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