Quick meals

I'm getting a lot of inquiries about horseradish sauce, chicken pot pie, WinCo and split pea soup.

The only thing I haven't seen a lot of is recipes that call for horseradish sauce. It's a strong taste and goes well with beef.

PIZZA PASTA
Sausage, mushrooms, pepperoni, green pepper, pasta sauce, onion, ripe olives, Italian seasoning. serve over pasta of choice.
Note I bought big cans of sliced ripe olives for 50 at big lots. I'll post later as to the quality.

CHICKEN TACOS

Chicken pieces, cooked
Drained diced tomatoes
Taco seasoning

Corn tortillas

Toppings
Lettuce, cheese, tomato sour cream avocado

CHICKEN QUICHE

Sauté 1/2 cup chopped mild onion and 2 tsp chopped garlic in a teaspoons of olive oil,
In a large bowl, beat six eggs. Add :
3/4 cup heavy cream, 2 cups cooked chicken, 2 cups shredded cheese, and 5 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled.
add onion and garlic.

Grease a pie plate and pour mixture in it. Bake at 375 35-45 minutes.

Notes
to reduce the fat!!
You can substitute milk for the cream. Use maybe a half cup instead.you could use turkey bacon and reduce some of the cheese or mix parmesan with cheddar to total 2 cups.


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Jane

Gleaming ideas from magazines

One of my machines needed parts. Had to go to joannes to get it. I picked up the family circle. Magazines are ten percent off. That pays the tax!!!

We also went to big lots. I got fruit pouches for baby for fifty cents. I also got stewed tomatoes for .50 and chicken noodle soup in a larger can...30 percent more for .95.

I thought I would dissect the Family Circle. As usual, the food is in the back. They have a months worth of meals. Woman's Day has been doing that for years.

I won't quote the recipes, but will give you their titles. kinda like you thumbing through it at the checkouts.
chicken stuffed with tomato and cheese
Turkey sausage and spinach Orecchietti
Shrimp and sweet pepper fajitas
Meatballs in creamy dill sauce
Broccoli and onion pie
Pork medallions with apple
Honey soy glazed salmon

Balsamic pot roast
Chicken and hominy chili bowl
BBQ short ribs
Smoky navy bean soup


A lot of these recipes are in their month list.
A lot of sausage, fish, vegetarian, turkey and chicken, and some beef.
Some things I have never heard of, and some my husband wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole...broccoli and onion pie comes to mind. Heck, most of them he would make funny faces about! LOL


Some of these recipes are just to expensive to make. Some you can get into my budget if I find the ingredients on sale. Salmon was on sale this week at Safeways. It was still pricy, but I can offset it withza a couple of inexpensive meals--average. Short ribs are expensive when you consider how much is bone and how much meat you actually get to eat! Chicken breasts are more expensive ,but you can get them on sale, or cut up your chickens and save the breasts up in the freezer. There is a post of things you can do with leg portions. They used to be .50 a pound. Now they are a buck...more than buying the whole chicken. I can find chicken for .88 to a buck a pound.

I don't these days de-bone a chicken very often. I'm not as proficient as I used to be. I am retired, run two businesses, belong to a service club, take care of my granddaughter 10-12 hours a day five days a week and when I don't take care of my granddaughter, I work retail on my feet two days a week. Shopping on the cheap doesn't have to take more time that just going to one store and buying anything you want. Once you are organized, it probably takes less time collectively. Remember, if you spend more time on the front end of the" get dinner on the table train" and less time on the back end, you will be better off. You get " paid" for shopping, not for cooking.

There are ways to cut kitchen time and not sacrifice good food. Box dinners are neither cheaper nor faster. There is a post on that too. LOL. My daughter and I proved that!!
Better, cheaper, faster.

Not everything is organic. Organic can have three percent pesticides and still be labeled organic. Not everything is fat free, or sugar free, or gluten free. Pay attention to what they are putting in those things. It might me penny wise and pound foolish. I think it is interestimg that when our society is turned on to a speciality diet, suddenly even the stuff that never had whatever is being toted as healthy, has a big sign on it's package as fat free or gluten free or whatever. I believe in moderation and balance. They change their mind like some people change their underwear. Remember when liver was good for you?? Drink three glasses of whole milk a day, no don't drink three glasses of milk a day. Eat pasta. No don't eat pasta, you will get diabetes. I really think moderation and balance is the key.

Enough soap box.

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Jane

Sunday and one more day off!!!

I bought salmon, stew meat, and hamburger this week, all in bulk amounts. My husband cooked all the salmon Friday night and I will make a salmon noodle casserole tonight. That leaves me with the stew meat and hamburgernto cook today. I am really hungry for beef barley soup. I wish I had paid attention to how my mother cooked it. I don't remember, but maybe because she started it before I got home from school. Que the Internet!!I have a notion that it had tomato paste, beef, beef stock, carrots...umm

Beef stew
1 pound beef cubes
4 carrots cut into chunks
1/2 pound red potatoes cut in half ormquarters to equalize size.
Red peppers, cut onto chunks
1can diced tomatoes

1/4 cup flour
6 ounces tomato paste
3/4 cup beef broth

1/3 cup additional liquid, water, stock, wine?

Salt, pepper, garlic, thyme

Brown beef. Place beef, vegetables in slowncooker. Add tomatoes over top.
Mix in a bowl, flour tomato paste and broth until smooth. Add the additional liquid, salt and pepper, garlic and thyme. Stir into contents of slow cooker.
Cook on low 6-8 hours or until meat is tender.

My mother cooked stew meat the way her mother did. She dredged it in flour. She then browned it with some oil and added water and braised it.

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Jane

soups..easy, cheap and satisfying

One of the most requested recipes I have is for soups. We all want spring to come, but reality is that http://www.pinterest.com/pin/157907530660665317/ still winter. A hearty bowl of soup fills you up and usually it is healthy.

I bought LARGE bag of split peas at Costco. It was fractions of the price it is at even the grocery outlet. I split them with my husband's siblings.

Split Pea Soup #2

1/2 cup celery, sliced
1/2 cup onion, chopped
16 ounces of split peas
9 cups water
1 cup carrots, diced
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
Parsley, basil, salt and pepper

Your choice of meat, ham , kielbasa,or turkey kielbasa, fake sausage???

Sauté onion and celery in olive oil in a soup pot. Stir in 6 cups of water and the peas.
Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer andncook 25 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cook an additional 25 minutes. Don't forget the remaining 3 cups of water.

I think you could sauté the veggies and dump everything in a slow cooker for 8-10 hours. You could also substitute veggie stock for the water, or chicken stock. Also, you could sneak in some cauliflower. I usually blend all or part of the soup to make it thicker. If I wanted to sneak in the cauliflower, I would the food processor on it first so it blended in better.

Very technical chicken noodle soup

Sauté vegetables - carrot, celery,and onion
Add chicken broth,diced cooked chicken,and poultry seasoning.
Cook til warm. Add a couple of handfuls of noodles and cook until done.

We like anpiece of hard crusty bread with ours.

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Jane

Post grocery shopping

We gone shopping. First we went to the closing sale atmPetosas. They had everything is 1/2 price. I got rice, cream soups, and some sugar free jam. Then off Safeways. Again, there was no 7 percent hamburger. I did get salmon and stew meat. I am hungry for beef barley soup. Mashed potatoes were .90 cents.

I found frozen potatoes and mixed veggies at the dollar store.


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Jane

Finally Friday.

The internet is a wealth of recipes so you don't get stuck in a rut. Betty Crocker has a web site that you can type in what you have and it will give you recipes. Just be mindful that you can substitute a box of ??? For real food.

There are only a few " rules" that will make a real difference on your food bill. It's rather funny to me that my mother a half a decade ago did most of them. There was not then deluge of ready made products back then, or the
Variety of vegetables we have now. The alternative food eaters didn't exist either to complicate things.

I have managed to work around vegetarian. Some of our meals can be adapted, sometimes, she has to make her own.
I have a husband that won't eat vegetables, a daughter that won't eat meat, and I am diabetic, so I can't eat a lot of starch. We all have to co exist! LOL

I digress.

1) never pay full price for anything. Sometimes I get stuck, but it is usually somethimg that never goes on sale. I still try to find the lowest price.

2) Never ( never say never) buy ready made foods. there are a few things that are cheaper ready made andna few that are too time consuming to make yourself.

3)Always shop at more than one store. Stores price some things low, planning on you buying what goes with them at a jacked up price. beat them at their game.

4) Plan your trip, research, make a list. Plan your route,get in and get out.

5) Try to use up everything. Cut the waste. How clever of our great grandmothers to make banana bread!

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Jane

Meals from the ads

Today is usually meals from the ads. Even though I usually wait until after I shop to plan my meals. Sometimes I get to the store and Shay is on sale is in way too large a package or is not good enough or they are out of it.
A couple of weeks ago, QFC had pork loi . Most of it was dark meat and it had large gristle stuff running through it. The strawberries were growing gray hair prettier than mine!

My formula is

2 beef
2 chicken or pork
2 vegetarian
1 fish

Your spread may be different. these are my strategies than have worked for me. Use the things that make sense for
Your world now.

It seems as if the same cuts of meat are on sale . Trying to mix it up is a challenge. my mother seat one mealmplan and we coldntell what day of the week it was by what we were having for dinner. Pizza.. It must be Thursday. Roast, it must be Sunday. Hamburgers was Saturday!

1- steak, baked potatoes, horseradish sauce mixed greens with strawberries.
2- tacos

3- chicken noodle soup - scratch.
4- pork loin sandwiches with lettuce, tomato, cheese, broiled.

5- Mac and cheese
6- pizza

7- salmon, oven roasted root veggies, salad


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Jane

The ads

It's that Timel of the week.

The ads

Safeways

7 percent hamburger 2.99
Chicken .99

Apples -99
Salmon 5.99
Milk 2.59
Nathans b1G1
Blues,blacks 3.99


QFC

grapes 1.99
Chicken .88
Breyers ice cream 2.99
Klondike bars 2.99
80 percent beef 2.66***

TOP

Sirloin tip B1G1. 2.75 net


ALBERTSONS

Klondike bars 2.60
Chicken .88
Apples .88
Oranges .88
7 percent beef 3.49***

Note the spread between the hamburger prices and the chicken prices.

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Jane

Tuesday

It's time to take a quick look at the fridge and incorporate anything hanging around too long. We mare goimg tp have breakfast for dinner to use the berries I bought Friday. Maybe blueberry waffles.

Hreycvv. (Baby Dear is helping! )

A thrifty kitchen always has ground beef or turkey or textured vegetable protein. It's usually inexpensive and versatile.

Beef Stuffed French Bread

1 poumd ground beef
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 large baked potato, cubed
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Mushrooms
1tsp parsley
1/4 tsp dried onion powder
Pepper
Dash of red pepper sauce

Hard rolls

1cup cheddar cheese, grated

Cook beef and onion until no longer pink. Drain.
Add potato, soup, mushrooms and rest of ingredients except bread and cheese.

Cut a slice off the top of the bread and hollow out center, leaving a shell. Make bread crumbs out of the pieces. Add one cup of the crumbs to the beef mixture. Stir on cheese.

Fill bread shells replace tops. Wrap in foil. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving

From Taste of Home booklet.

Notes. I would use already cooked and defatted beef. Instead of a can of mushrooms, I would use fresh so I could control the amount. A good recipe to use that leftover baked potato. Safeways has hard rolls in a bag. 8 for three dollars. Our TOP has them in bulk bread bin.
Can be made ahead of time and frozen. Thaw in fridge and bake for 20-25 minutes. I like things that I can
Put in the oven and finish dinner while it cooks. Maybe a green salad or veggie sticks.


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Jane

Shopping Trip and $5.00 Dinners

Good Morning. After I get home from any shopping trip where I buy groceries, I post to a spread sheet. Recording my grocery purchase totals keeps me on track.
If I see that I have spent more than my 75 dollar limit, I know I can back off the next week. I typically spend less on some weeks, and spend more the weeks that I find a good price on my stock items or a bulk meat.

Last night we had Pork Loin Roast, Mashed sweetpotatoes, green beans and salad. It would be a five dollar dinner --actually 4.50.

I got Ragu sauce for 1.00 and pasta for a buck. Add some meat and a salad and you have well under five dollars.

Sausage was buy one get one. Sausage and eggs and fruit and toast would be less than five dollars.

Split Pea soup and toasted cheese sandwiches would be less than 5.00.

Chicken Pizza would be less than 5.00 with a salad.

Tacos come in at less that 5.oo.

Pork sandwiches and coleslaw. The trick here is to find buns for a good price. Sometimes, the bread store or Grocery Outlet.

One of the tricks for keeping your food bill low is to group your meals in such a manner that you use all of what you purchased. If you buy spinach for a spinach salad, then you can use some spinach on a pizza. If you have cottage cheese left, make lasagna or stuffed shells. Leftover bread can beoome dressing for chicken or pork , or breadcrumbs for meatloaf or a thickening agent for soup. Cooked to much pasta...make pasta salad for lunch or to go with a sandwich for dinner. Fridge management cut down on the amount you have to throw away. The average family throws out a lot of food--like thirteen pounds a week by one account.

Pot Roast was on sale at Safeways. I am pretty well stocked, so I didn't opt for 18.00 worth of pot roast. If I hadn't been well stocked, I would have divided it into four pot roasts and frozen three of them.


My very technical recipe for pot roast in the slow cooker. Dump the pot roast in the slow cooker. Slice an onion and spread over the top. Salt and Pepper.
Pour a 12 ounce beer over the top. Add enough beef stock to almost cover the roast. Cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours.

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Jane

Is anybody out there?

Is anybody out there? Yesterday I posted recipes for pizza that were different than the hum drum pepperoni...most of them a bit more healthy. I don't know are looking for because I am not gettimg any comments from anyone. There is an anonymous button on the comments section.

It's Sunday and I have to go to work today. That's six days this week, ugh! Soup is a good go to for days like this.

Burger Beef Soup

12 ounces cooked, defatted ground beef

1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup carrots, diced
1/4 cup celery, diced

1 can diced tomatoes
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Salt, pepper
1 tsp Italian seasoning

1 cup uncooked noodles


Brown onions, carrots and celery in a little EVOO.
Stir in remaining ingredients except noodles.
Heat to boiling. Stir in noodles. Simmer 10-15 minutes until noodles are cooked.
Serve with hard crusty bread or croutons.

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Jane

Suddenly Saturday

It's Saturday finally a day and a half off. Yeah! Saturday is a pizza kind of day.

Pizza crust is recipe is on a previous post. It's really easy.
Sauce
1 can tomato paste
1 scant teaspoon EACH of grated onion and minced garlic
Pinch of Italian seasoning
Salt,pepper

Toppings
1.5 cups mozzarella, grated
2 ounces diced ham
1 small red or green pepper, diced
1/2 can sliced black olives, drained **
onion
Parmesan
Basil

bake crust at 375 for 15 minutes. Spread withnsauce and toppimgs and bake an additional 15-20 minutes.

chicken pizza toppings
Chicken chunks
Onion
Garlic
White cheese
Diced peppers
Smoked Gouda

Note : smoked Gouda isnat grocery outlet, chicken strips are buy 1 get 1 Safeways thisnweek. I have not calculated the end cost of those. peppers are cheap at grocery outlet as well.

Mexican pizza toppings

Black beans
Onion, chopped or grated
Peppers, chopped
Tomatoes, chopped and seeded
Garlic, jalapeño, chili powder, cumin
Spinach, cilantro
White cheese

Pizza crusts like bomboli are 2.18 at WinCo. Or pre bake the crust recipe.


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Please share. I am trying to help people eat better for less and save time in the kitchen.
There are still people that are under employed, unemployed or just want to get ahead.

Jane

Bake accordimg to your crust instructions.

Comfort Food

Comfort Food seems to be a topic I see lots. I also see inquiries about chicken pot pie, split pea soup,Tex Mex WinCo vs Costco.

Before I start talking about comfort foods, my daughter told me somethimg worth repeating. Costco green beans have 300 less grams of sodium than some of the other green beans. Their price is comparable except for the .33 ones I purchased from WinCo.

ORZO stuffed Tomatoes--6 servings

2/3 cup uncooked ORZO
6 medium tomatoes
1T butter
1/2 cup shredded swiss cheese, reduced fat
1tsp basil
2tsp parsley
Salt, pepper

Cook pasta. Drain
Cut a thin slice off the top of the tomato.
Scoop out the pulp leaving a shell. Invert tomatoes on a paper towel.
Cook butter in a saucepan. Add ORZO, the tomato pulp without seeds,drained and the remaining ingredients.
Spoon into tomatoes. Bake at 350 for 15 - 20 minutes.


3 T butter
3 T flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1-1/2 cup milk

4 ounces shredded cheese
3 cups grated potatoes.
1 cup grated carrots
2 T onion.

Make white sauce with the butter, flour and milk. Remove from heat and add HALF of the cheese.
Add the vegetables. Transfer to an 8 inch square baking dish. Cover and bake at 350 for 1 hour. Uncover, add remaining cheese and bake an additional 15 minutes until cheese is melted and potatoes are tender.

NOTE

I think you you could use less cheese. You could also grate all of the veggies in the food processor and drain them. Good with roast chicken.


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Jane

Notes on Wednesday

Today is the day that I usually make a list of meals from the ads. I'll do that, but I found a recipe booklet at the dollar store that is well worth the buck. it is called America's Cookbook. It has shopping tips, recipes and the history of some foods. it is a great educational tool for children.

They have tips for shopping most of them I have already posted and knew. A couple of them I forgot about.

Never go to the store hungry. Everything looks good and it's to easy to impulse buy. Watch the scanner for errors. I was charged twice for the same thing the other day. Finding it after you leave the store is a hastle to rectify.

Beer Bread

3 cups flour
1T baking powder
1tsp salt
2T sugar
1- 12 ounce can of beer
1/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 375

Mix together dry ingredients. Add the butter and beer. Fold together just until well combined. Batter will be sticky. Pour into greased pan. Bake for 45 minutes or until bread tests done. Cool and turn out onto a wire baking rack.

This booklet is a wealth of information. History of foods, nutrition facts, measurement table, a lot of good basic recipes.


Meal Plans

I usually use a template to plan meals.

2 beef
2 chicken or pork
2 vegetarian
1 fish

I try to stick to this plan so that we are balanced. Beef has some nutrients that no other meat has. If you pick your cuts and cook it properly, it can have less fat than a boneless, skinless chicken breast. Even Dr Oz says twice a week is OK. The two days are balanced by chicken, pork, and vegetarian and fish. When a family member only ate chicken and pork. They had to go to the hospital for an operation and he was so anemic he had to have blood transfusions before they could do surgery. I think the trick is moderation.

Tacos, refried beans
Pot Roast, red potatoes, carrots, salad

chicken pot pie
chicken soup

Potato Soup
quiche

salmon

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Jane

The ads. Again

I hit the wrong key and the entire blog erased. Basically, there are not many good buys this week.
QFC has good buys on dairy and Safeways has round steak and petite sirloin for 2.69.

QFC
18 coumt eggs 1.99
Butter 2.49
Cottage cheese 1.67
Strawberries 2.00

TOP

Oranges organic .89
Strawberries 2.00
Eggs1.50
Apples .99
Blues 18 oz 5.98
Salmon 7.00

Safeways
Round steak 2.69
Petite sirloin 2.69

Blue and blackberries B1G1
oranges .88
Buy 6: brownies or cake mix .99
Sausage B1G1. JOHNSONVILLE or chicken strips.
Ragu pasta sauce 2/3 plus get 1 pasta for free.

Albertsoms is just a bust. White breadnis .88, but I don't buy white bread.

Note.
Good ground beef is 3.99 a pound. Your best bet is to get round steak and grind your own. You can control the fat. If you don't have a grinder on your mixer, get the manual kind at a garage sale or a antique store or raid your grandmothers kitchen.


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Jane

Tuesday

I am researching my old personal cookbook. One of the ways to bust the budget is to buy seasoning mixes. Spices are a buck all over. For spices that you only need a little of, the bulk isle is your best bet. Basil is really cheap at Costco in a Large container...share!! We eat a lot of Tex Mex. I can make it and still accommodate the vegetarians without cooking separate entres.

Chili seasoning

4T chili powder
2 -1/2 tsp ground coriander
2-1/2 tsp ground cumin
1-1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Store on airtight container is a dry place

3 tsp for 2-1/2 quarts of chili.

Taco Seasoning
4 T chili powder
3T + 1 tsp paprika
3T cumin
2 T onion powder
1T + 2 tsp cayenne pepper

Makes 1 cup

Use 2 rounded Tablespoons per pound a meat. in cook the meat until no longer pink. Drain in a colander. Pour boilimg water over the meat. Return to pan with a little water and add seasoning. Bring up to temperature. Cool slightly and bag.


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Jane

Monday madness

I ran on to meal plans that I did In 2002..some ten years ago. You can tell the adjustments made for the rising cost of food and the more health conscious climate. This was for the month of May and assumed you would add the appropriate veggie and starch.

Pizza, salad
Meat balls
Ham quiche
Hamburgers
Meatloaf
Dagwood Sandwiches
Tuna Cassarole
Beef Briskit
BBQ Beef Sandwiches left from yesterday)
Pizza, ham, pineapple, peppers
Hot Dogs
Roast Chicken
sloppy joes
Chicken pot pie
Tacos
Shrimp muffins, potato soup
Pizza, chicken, olives, onion
BBq spareribs
roast Pork loin
Shrimp fettichini
Pork stir fry
Bacon quiche
Tuna casserole
Pasta bake
Top round steak
Roast chicken
Hamburgers
London broil
Pizza
Chicken casserole
Spareribs

I'm not seeing much difference, except the large beef meals are a thong of the past most of the time. Steak is ten dollars a pound!

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Jane

Suddenly Sunday

Good Morning.

I just realized that I hadn't done meal plans for this week. I pretty much didn't buy much this week because most of the specials were all about expensive snack food and booze. it's just another good reason to stock. I still have enough food with the exception of fresh food to cook all week. I am using up the perishablesmthat are in the fridge so my split isn't as diversified as it usually is.

1) ribs, oven roasted red potatoes,green salad
2) Mac and cheese. ( uses up the odds and ends of the cheese) and green beans
3) quiche with ham cubes, strawberries
4) pizza, green salad
5) chicken stir fry
6) sausage and bean soup, brown and serve sourdough from Costco
7) Tacos, refried beans


Notes
Ribs were on sale at Safeways Friday. I buy lots of variety of cheeses because we like it. Cheese was 5 dollars for 2 pounds Safeways again. Ham cubes need to be used up. They work I'm pizza and quiche.
Chicken Stirfry is from chicken in the freezer pirchased at a dollar a pound. Sausage and bean soup and tacos use cans that I purchased for .50 last week. Total cost, rounding is 33.75 dollars divided by 7 is 4.82 a meal.

I could have substituted chicken for the ham on the pizza, but I want to use the ham up so it doesn't go to waste and it doesn't freeze well.

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Jane

Dinners

I spent 40.00 at the grocery store this week. There just wasn't much there. I spent considerably more last week because it was a good stocking week. This week most of the ads were about the big game party food and booze.

I mostly bought fresh veggies. My husband went ton the grocery outlet and bought green peppers and sliced cheese.

When it is cold or when I know that it's going to be along day, I like to putna pot of soup on or put it in the slow cooker.

Sausage and Bean soup

1 quart of water
1 medium potato, sliced and cubed
1/2 pound sausage, cooked
2cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2cans diced tomatoes
1/2 a small onion, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
Salt and pepper

Bring water to boil in stock pot. Add potato and cook for 10 minutes until potato is tender. Add remaining ingredients. Reduce heat to simmer and cook another 10 minutes or so until veggies are tender.


Creamy Chicken Soup

sauté in oil in a stockpot until soft

1 rib celery chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1/2small onion chopped
1/2 tsp minced garlic

Add 3 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup of left over rice
Salt, pepper

Cook om low until heated through

Add 1cup cream or milk
And 1 cup diced chicken

Mix 2T flour with 2T butter to form a paste.

Add to soup stirring until soup has thickened and soup in appropriate temperature. Do not boil.
Over storing will make the chicken tough or stringy.

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Jane

Outsmarting the retailers

As I have said before, the retailers have spent considerable money to research our habits and find ways to get us to spend more money.

Advertising multiples, when you can only by one item is one trick they use. Because something is 3/1.00 doesn't mean that you have to buy three.

The longer you spend in a store, the more money you will spend. That's why some retailers change things aroumd frequently. Costco is notorious for it. If you have the mind set that you are on the clock and want to get the most bang for your buck, you'll spend less time. It's a game. I want to save as much as I can in the least amount of time.

Impulse buying is the retailers profit. They figure that 70 percent of what we buy is impulse. Often it is the most expensive things in the store that you don't really need. We want the retailers to prosper but they can do it on someone else's dime who can afford it.

Create your own path through the store, if you don't need anything in an isle, don't go there. The true necessities are on the outside perimeter of the store.

Sometimes, what is truly on sale isn't the featured items up front.

Exercise the hands off rule. Studies say that if you touch it, you are most likely going to buy it.

It's a well known trick that if prices have to increase, the manufacturers will reduce the size of the package instead of outwardly increasing the price.

Know your prices, the bulk isle isn t always the cheapest price.

Keep in mind that foods are sold other places other than grocery stores. Many time you can find overstocks at the dollar store, big lots, Bartells and almost anywhere. Keep your eye open, and know your prices.

Pick your grocery store based on the prices, not how friendly the clerks are or how fancy the store is, or how uncrowded it is. think about it, there is a reason why the store is crowded. Either they have just forecasted that dreaded S word, or it's because they have the best prices. You go to the grocery store to purchase your food.

Stores charge manufacturers slotting fees. Basically they charge rent for the eye level shelves. You can just bet they are going to pass on the cost. Look UP and DOWN for the best buys.

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Jane