The nuts and bolts of it.

I usually post the basics around the first of the month. Since its a holiday weekend next weekend, I thought I would do it a little yearly. I feed us on 1/2 the stats for thrifty cooking per the USDA. that's what they base food stamps on. we eat a well rounded normal diet. That is to say, It is not organic, fat, salt and gluten free. I try for the middle of the road on salt and fat.

So, here are the basics.

1/2 price meals takes a three pronged approach.
1) plan and organize
2) shop wisely, I want 1/2 price
3) cook from scratch

1) plan and organize

Like any project you encounter, planning is essential. First, develop a recipe file of main dishes that use inexpensive sources of protein. Tuna, pork, chicken, beans and rice,cheese, hamburger and some cuts of beef. Beef is getting harder since I am seeing double the price since last summer.

Now , identify a list of staple pantry items that you use often. For us it would be cheese, beans, refried beans, pasta sauce, diced tomatoes, some canned veggies, black olives, mashed potatoes, some canned soups.

Start a price book or spread sheet. Label the food, the size of the package, and then track the date, price, and store you got it from. Pretty soon you will have a good idea what the lowest, rock bottom price is.

Plan your meals when you get home from the stores. Nothing too time consuming, just the main dish will do. Plan any easy meal for the days you know are going to be busy.

2) Shop wisely

you want to pay 1/2 price or less. When the target foods are at rock bottom, buy :
A) as many as you can afford
B) as many as the store allows or
C) as many as you need to replenish your stock.

this is not about hoarding. if I use something once a week, I keep 24. if I use it once a month, I keep six.
Besides not paying top dollar for your food, you have a stock to back you up if an emergency arises. there is a sense of security knowing you always have food in the house.

When the ads come out for your local chain stores, take a piece of computer paper ( or a piece from the recycle bin) divide it into four. List the store on top of your quarter sheet. Now write down anything that is on your target list, and anything that is in the fruit and veggie or meat list that is cheap. now cross off anything you don't need or anything that is higher priced elsewhere. Pick the TWO lowest priced stores. plan your trip, get in and get out of the store. the more time you spend in a store, the more money you will spend. I can hit two stores and maybe the dollar store in a little more than an hour.

Never just hit the chain stores. there are some food items at the dollar store, Big Lots, Grocery Outlet, . n other words, the overstock stores are a good resource. Just always check the pull dates. that is a good bet for any store. one time, every item on the baby food shelf was outdated at a grocery chain store. OOPS!

if you can save a dollar a can on your target items, that adds up fast.

the bread outlet store is a great resource. Ours is two towns away, so we go once every six weeks or so. Also, WinCo is a good staple store, it too is a fair ways away so we go every six to eight weeks. I still made the trip in an hour. One trick is to leave the kids at home. They are a distraction and something's just jump in the cart!LOL.

if you don't have storage on the kitchen for canned goods, improvise. I have known people that store them on flat boxes under the bed. I used to store them in a rattan ottoman in the family room when I had a small apartment.

one of my catch phrases is " if you spend more time on the front end of the get a meal on the table train, and less time on the back end, you will be better off. " you get paid for shopping, not for cooking. it is an abstract that some people can't see. if you spend 75 dollars a week less on food and you spend an additional hour shopping, you have just made 75 dollars an hour. And you have to earn 90 to spend that 75.00.

3) Cooking from scratch

there is no room for mixes and ready made food in the 1/2 price budget.
that being said, there are a few things that are either cheaper, or they take such a long time to make that ready Made items are worth it. Refried beans, taco shells, mashed potatoes are some that come to mind. I buyncannedbeans and rinse them well to reduce the sodium. Beans and rice have a very short fridge life. it's not to practical for me to make scratch.

it doesn't have to take a lot of time to make scratch foods. there are tricks. I cook ground meats soon after they are purchased. I can take the time to cook and defat the hamburger when I'm not rushed. I usually buy it when it is buy one get one for 7 percent hamburger. if I can't find 1/2 price hamburger with low fat, I make my own from a roast or London broil that is on sale for less than hamburger. If you defat a hamburger, it has less fat than a boneless skinless chicken breast. I cook a meatloaf, meatballs,hamburger crumbles for pasta sauce or pizza and taco
meat.

I roast a chicken on the weekend and separate it into four bags. Two breasts, the leg portions and the leftover bones for soup. You NEVER want to buy a chicken less than three pounds. The ratio of bone to meat is too great.
deli chicken is usually two or three pounds. At five or six dollars, you are paying 1.66 to 2.00 a pound. I have been getting northwest grown chicken for .88 a pound. that's half price plus if you get a five pound chicken, you are Getting more meat because of the meat to bone ratio. it takes me ten minutes to put a chicken in to roast.
Do the math. 6 pounds of deli chicken is a minimum of 10.00. Six pounds of .88 is 5.44. Almost 1/2 price. if it takes you ten minutes to get it ready to roast, that is 1/6 of an hour. 4.56 savings times six is about 27.00 an hour.

I make a roast of pork loin or beef . Have the roast one night, and slice the rest in meal sized portions for sandwiches. Either bbQ pork or a jus.

Taco seasoning packets are expensive. Taco seasoning mix recipe is on a previous blog as well as almost free pizza, a easy pizza crust recipe in the food processor .

The slow cooker and food processor are youngest friends in the kitchen along with a good sharp knife.
Cooking meat ahead of time makes meal prep on weeknights faster.
The slow cooker is a real life saver when time is short.

Not having a plan is the easiest way to derail your budget. it's too easy to answer the what's for dinner question with order pizza when you have had a long hard day. if dinner is waiting for you, or you can have tacos and refried beans on the table in 15 minutes it makes life so much easier. remember, you can delegate some of dinner. a husband or older child can help a lot. Set the table? Open the can of refried beans. we have a bunny can opener that unseals the can rather than cutting it and leaving sharp edges.

Bread crumbs are easy to make. Dry the heals of your bread loaves in the oven. The oven doesn't have to be turned on. Just put them on the broiler pan to dry. When you have enough, whirl them in the food processor. Even a older child can do that if you deal with the blades. why pay big money for someone else's dry bread? Ditto stuffing mix and croutons.Same with grated cheese, however, I have been finding grated cheese cheaper than the bricks lately.

Check out no brainer pasta on an earlier blog. I dissected a hamburger meal box . The results are remarkable!

K

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Jane

Saturday

Before I talk about our shopping trip, I want to talk about oneweb sites.

The one is www.canyouID.me. It is a Washington law enforcement site with pictures of people wanted by the police. The boot bandit I want to catch is on it among others. Everyone thinks that it isn't their problem. But, shoplifting and identity theft is a multimillion dollar " business " that hurts us all with higher prices for our merchandise and higher taxes for police. Some of these perps steal thousands of dollars. The boot bandit has outfitted herself as ms. Got rocks on someone else's money. Diamond bracelets, platinum and diamond rings, Armani purses etc.

Now, on to shopping. Went to Safeways and got 7 percent hamburger for 2 for 1. Also salads and salmon. Grapes and strawberries.

WinCo was a lot more productive. I got pork spareribs and replenished the canned goods. broccoli and tomatoes were cheaper.

Smoked dinner sausage was 2.28
String beans.33
Olives.88
Pasta sauce .88
Cream of mushroom soup .75
Green chillies .69
Applesauce cups 6/1.58--baby's lunch
Mashed potatoes .88
Taco shells .98
String cheese 1.88 -- baby lunch

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Jane

meals from the ads

Yesterday I went to work. Imput chicken soup stock on to cook in the slow cooker. When ingot home Inboiled noodles and veggies and added them to the soup after I pulled out the bones and picked off the meat. We had soup, cheese bread sticks and blueberry pie.

Hamburger is on 1/2 price at Safeways again. Will make meatloaf, Salisbury steaks, meatballs and taco meat. ll save the meatloaf for a weekend meal and the rest I will break down into meal sized portions and freeze for fast dinners.

We had bought chicken sausage last week and taco shells for .65.
Scallops are on sale at Safeways


Formula
2 beef
2 chicken or pork
2 vegetarian
1 fish

1- tacos
2-meat ball subs

3- chicken soup
4- chicken and stuffing

5- Mac and cheese
6- spaghetti with mushrooms and spinach

7- seafood chowder



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Jane


ill post again after I go shopping

The ads for March 21

I guess I'm not outdated , the "Food on the table app doesn't have any sizes of the merchandise. That makes it a hard task to compare prices.

Safeways

BiGi
Round steak, 7 percent beef. Pork shoulder,chicken, breast. they don't give prices, so buyer beware.

Grapes 1.88
Salmon 5.99
Cake mix .99
Flour 5 lbs 1.99...read the label for size of package

5 dollar Fridays
Strawberries
Scallops lb
Cheese 2/5....read the label, you want 8 ounces

ALBERTSONS

Strawberries 4lbs/ 6.99. Coupon
Apples .88--sometimes a bag is another 1. Off
Salmon 4 ounce portion 1.00 ( quality?)
refried beans and taco shells BiGi..no price listed ????

QFC

Buy 5
Ritz or nabisco nets 1.79
Bagels or pan bread nets 1.99
Buyers ice cream 2.69

Milk 2.50
Yo plait .50
Roma's .99


TOP

Pork loin 1.97
Ham 1.97
Green chilies 1.00
Hagan cream soups .80
Ground beef 3.00 for 15 percent.

That's all. It's getting harder to find really food buys. Some of the buy one, get one do not tell you the regular price. You have to do the math at the store.

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Jane

Wednesday

It's mid week, time to inventory the fridge and use anything on the edge.

Chicken stock

Cover chicken bones with cold water. Bring slowly to a boil. Remove scum.
Add 1-2 cup each of carrots, celery, and onion. Add Parsley and salt.
Simmer 3 hours. Strain.

Chicken noodle Soup. Bring 1 quart of stock to a boil. Add 1 cup of noodles , and carrots, celery, and cook 10-15 minutes. For a clearer soup, simmer the veggies with the stock and cook the noodles separately. Add the two together. ( leftover noodles from stroganoff or tuna cassarole?)

I am reading a 1950 cookbook. I actually saw lard at Costco. I would serve a cheese biscuit made from low fat bisquick or a apple muffin with chicken soup. Or,perhaps a cheese sandwich using tortillas for bread.S

Some of the meals back then, my mother never made. I don't think that today's family would bot be anamoured with them either.How about spaghetti with Vienna sausage! YUM?!?!
I remember a meal plan in the 70,s of clove-studded bologna.
My, we have come a long way.

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Jane

Food on the Table

I found a new app. It's free. It gives you the ad for your chain stores. Costco is on there, but they don't have any data. It is supposed to take you through meal plans and a grocery list. it doesn't have any cheap button! LOL

I prefer the hard copy add, but when it's a holiday, it would come in handy.

We went to Costco yesterday. There were a few things that we buy that basically are a years supply. Regular Costco has seaweed, but no cornstarch. We had to go to the restraunt supply Costco.

I got new pizza screens because ours were bent . They really help when baking a pizza because the air circulates around the pizza and you get a nice brown bottom crust. They also have better than boullion and dry mustard and parsley. I use a lot of parsley. It makes white foods more appetizing. The other Costco was ,mostly non food items, meds, razors and soap. I have a Lysol soap dispenser that you don't have to pump. It's great for not cross contanamenting when cooking chicken and beef.

Sausage was 3 pounds for 6.99. It was 6.18 this summer. That's still a good price. You can defat it. Use it in quiche, bean soup, on pizza, in an Omlette. A little goes a long ways. sausage bean soup uses about 2 ounces a person. I get four or five meals from a tube of sausage.
Still well under 5 bucks. 9 percent hamburger was 2.09 a poumd and they had lots of cheese for a little more than 2.00 a pound. Most of it was grated.

With effort, you can still make dollar meals that are healthy.
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Jane

Monday madness

I cooked sweet and sour pork yesterday. I used the pork "chops" that I got at Safeways. They really were more like a steak. I cubed them and browned them in a frying pan and then braised them until they were done and tender.
in a separate pan, I sautéed mushrooms, peppers, ginger and added the sauce that I posted for veggies yesterday.
I drained the meat and combined the two pans. I made brown rice.

I had to use flour as a thickener because I went for my 1/2 gallon of cornstarch that I have had for years and it was GONE! Seems the cornstarch fairy used it for slime for the sensory table at work. I'll bet those kids had a ball! I just wish the cornstarch fairy had told me so I bought a new box. LOL

My granddaughter turned her nose up at rice when I tried to give her a bite. I usually try to give her bites of anything that I have that's new for her to introduce her to a variety of foods. She was sitting next to me eating her turkey. She reached over with her tiny fingers and picked up a couple of grains of rice. She liked it. She then reached for another, I got her a bowl of her own. Apparently, she just has to discover new tastes on her own. LOL
If you have a picky eater, just keep trying.

When you are shopping, ,don't get locked in to a particular meat. When the pork chops weren't what I expected, I improvised. That's why it is a good idea to have a basic idea of what you are going to eat for meals when you go to the store, but don't write it in stone until you are home from the store.

I had been looking for a teriyaki sauce recipe for a long time. I think that I found it yesterday. It is so much cheaper and more convenient to make your own as you need it.Ginger is cheap at grocery outlet; my husband renamed a few small oranges for me. Orange juice in a bottle is expensive and we don't usually drink orange juice.

Sunday, we went to Grocery Outlet and Big Lots.
I found green tea, and facial tissue for 600 sheets for 4.00. Less than 1/2 of the cheapest price I have found--except the .50 that Safeways didn't have!

At grocery outlet I found coffee, sliced smoked Gouda, chicken sausage with Gouda and apple and chicken sausage with motts and artichokes. YUM! peppers are a big bag for 3.99. Pink oranges were cheap.

I still want to try speghetti with mushrooms and spinach. I have to pick my day, its something my daughter and grandaughter will eat, my husband, not so much.

I try to use all of something. So with the leftover pineapple ...
pineapple cilantro rice. Maybe, with chicken.

Cook rice. Add roasted onions and pineapple. Fluff rice and add cilantro.


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Jane

Life's short--eat desert first

I have pretty much ignored desert. Many people are on diets and we don't have desert everyday.
but, there are special occasions.

Cakes are really expensive in the bakery. cake mixes are sometimes a buck.

Carrot cake

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1.5 cups vegetable oil

2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp soda
.25 tsp salt
.25 tsp nutmeg
2 cups grated carrots

Frosting
1/2 cup butter
3 ounces of cream cheese
3-3/4 cups confectioners sugar
1. Tsp vanilla
2 T milk
Chopped walnuts

In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, sugar and oil. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Beat onto egg mixture a third at a time. Stir on carrots.

pour onto greased and floured cake pans. bake at 350 degrees 35-40 minutes or u til toothpick inserted on center comes out clean. Cool on racks,before removing from pans.

frosting

Cream butter and cream cheese. Gradually beat in confectioners sugar and enough milk to make it spreadable. Garnish with nuts. Refrigerate leftovers.

Lasagna

no cook Lasagna noodles
Pasta sauce
6 ounces Cooked ground beef
2 cups small curd cottage cheese
1 carton frozen spinach, very well drained and squeezed dry
1 pound of motts, grated
1.5 cups parm

Mix beef with pasta sauce. Warm.
Mix spinach with cottage cheese
Layer

Sauce, noodles, cheese mixture, motts, and parm. Repeat until 9X13 pan is full.
Set oven to 350
Cover and bake for 40 minutes, uncover and bake 10 minutes longer.

Note
This can be 1/2 recipe on a 9 inch square pan. it is expemsive, but not as expensive as the frozen version. Probably a good company dish. If you were really frugal with the cheese and use a little fresh spinach cooked and drained for colour, you might cut the cost to a five dollar dinner.

Veggie Stir fry

Sauce
2 T cornstarch
2 T sugar
1/2 tsp ginger
1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup soy sauce

Stir fry

1 tsp garlic minced
2 carrots, cut into small sticks
1 cup broccoli , bite sized pieces
1 cups cauliflower,bite sized pieces
Olive oil

Add mushrooms
Snow peas

Add sauce until heated through



Serve over rice.

Note You could add leftover pieces of cooked chicken. The sauce recipe CPU
D be used for sweet and sour pork with pineapple and peppers.

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Jane

Saturday

I only spent 28.00 at the grocery store this week....and part of that was a pie because it was cheaper than I could make it.

It was not a good week for specials.. chicken was on sale cheap at Safeways. It really ticked me off because they offered a seasoning bag for chicken FREE and a liquid crystal light for free. They don't carry the crystal light! What's with that!! Guess they won't be giving away many of those. Kleenex was .50, but they didn't have any of that either. Did get a rain check.

The bag with seasonings for chicken was 2.59. I wouldn't have bought it. That's over 1/2 what the chicken costs. not a good plan. the pork chops at Safeway were more like steaks. I think I'll make sweet and sour pork on rice instead.

we went to QFC because I needed meds. I picked up some apples and the pie.

I have an ear infection so I wasn't exactly in the mood for shopping.

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Meals from the ads

My formula for meal plans is
2 beef
2 chicken or pork
2 vegetarian
1 fish or seafood

I try to vary our meals so that we have a balanced diet. Then whatever the diet police say is bad for you at the moment, you are pretty much covered! LOL

Corned beef and cabbage, boiled potatoes.
Roast Beef

Sausage, eggs, hash browns fruit
chicken Burritos

Do brainer pasta
cheese quiche

Salmon

Notes
Corned beef is on sale because its St, Pats day. Chuck Roast is 2.77 a poumd.
Chicken is left from last weeks .88 a poumd chicken
I got hash browns on sale at Safeways. They continue to be on sale. also at the dollar store.

Pasta was .80 at big lots. Add .80 for pasta sauce and some cheese (5.12 a 2 pound package. Finely grated cheese goes a long way. Dinner and lunch the next day is 2.85. Add a salad and you are still well under five dollars.

Salmon is on sale at top.

Fruit is still affordable. Bananas are a bargain, full of nutrition and 1.39 at Costco.
You can still get apples for a buck.

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Jane

The ads

I just got the ads..

TOP

Chuck Roast 2.77
Ground beef 20 2.77

QFC

Dryers ice cream. 3/10
Mini carrots 1.00.
Raspberries, blackberries 2.99
Apples .99


SAFEWAYS

Pork cops 1.49
Ribs 2.49
Chicken . 99
Apples .99
Milk 2.59
Yoplait 10/5


5 dollar Friday
Shrimp

Frozen food sale still on.

ALBERTSONS

cantaloupe .38
Yo plait 10/5

Red potatoes 1.99. 5 pounds

Weekend only
Mayon1.99
Tuna 2/1.00


That's it. Safeways continues to be the best prices. A good week to hit the warehouse stores instead.
Or not shop at all.

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Jane

The bread store

Yesterday we had an appointment in a town near the bakery outlet. Since we hadn't been for a long time, we left early and stopped by.

We got 3 loaves of double fiber bread for 5.50. I got two loaves of fiber pme bread for two dollars each. A box of baby cinnamon rolls for 3.50. Smaller ones are 5 dollars.

I got bread sticks and hard rolls. The total of all of this was 18.00. They gave us two packages of dinner rolls and
A package of whole wheat English muffins.

This is enough to last us at least six weeks.
it was a good time because we didn't spend all out allotment this week.

Tomorrow, I will make sausage bean soup and we can have bread sticks with it.


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Jane

Terrific Tuesday

In my research, I am seeing a lot of comfort foods kicked up a notch.

braised beef with hot peppers, taco seasoning, beans and corn.

Peppers with pork and sweet potatoes and cornbread

Brownie ice cream sandwiches with caramel ice cream topping.

Mac and cheese made with sharp cheese.

meatloaf and mashed potatoes ( my mother would make a oven meal. Her version of wick before microwaves and crockpots. Meatloaf, baked potatoes wrapped on foil and acorn squash cut and seeded , with butter, brown sugar.
All baked in the oven at 400 degrees.

Chicken pot pie
pot roast in the slow cooker
Chicken and dumplings
grilled cheese with tomatoes


All from January Family Circle. Look on line or at the library.



We had chicken pot pie last night. I kept it simple because our grandaughter was eating it.

Sometimes, adding one over the top ingredient can make a big difference. Make the difference between low cost hum drum and special. Presentation makes a real difference too. The difference between a " family " restraunt and an upscale one often isn't the menu, it is the ambiance and the presentation of the food. A few fresh herbs ( grow them yourself) or some capers make a big difference.

We eat very well for well under the USDA guidelines for Thrifty meals. Remember, they count real food, not paper products, magazines, or other stuff you can get at the grocery store.

My mother only bought chips if it was for a particular meal. And she wouldn't allow pop or Kool aid on the house. We had milk, water, or tea. When we were older she bought lemonade frozen in the summer when it was .33 a can.
We had breakfast, lunch and dinner. Snacks were almost nonexistent. If we didn't eat our dinner, there was always breakfast. I didn't miss many dinners! LOL. we weren't poor, we had karastan rugs and real china and sterling silverware. She didn't want to waste money, She always wanted to have something to show for her money. She grew up during the Great Depression, she went to work as a teenager to pay the rent, not to buy herself a car. There was no such thing as food stamps, you just had to forge food as best you could. She just believed in plenty of good basic food. My parents thought junk food, was bad for you, even before someone coined the word junk food.

In the sixties, she spent forty-five dollars week on food for five of us. I don't know what the USDA stats were then, it would be fun to find out.

PS. I wrote the USDA. he got back to me really quick. Our family growing up had stats of 30.00. I am sure that some of difference was because we had basically beef and fish ince a week. my Dad didn't like chicken and my mother was afraid of pork.

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Monday madness

I thought that I would talk about salad dressings. Some salad dressings are just best bought. We use a lot of ranch dressing. There is a recipe for smashed potatoes using ranch dressing. it is really good. Vinaigrette, however is really simple and can be made at the time you make the salad.

Basil Vinaigrette

1/4 cup olive oil
1 -1/2 tsp vinegar
1/4 tsp ground mustard
1/4 tsp basil
Pinch of garlic powder
Salt and pepper

Mix. Whisk together before dressing salad.

Pantry deserts...


Lemon Pudding

In a bowl, combine
2/3. cup sugar, 4 tsp flour

Stir in 2/3 cup milk, 4T lemon juice

Separate 2 eggs. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Fold egg white into lemon mixture.

fill four Ungreased custard cups. Place in baking pan, leaving room around sides of custard cups. Fill baking pan 1 inch up. Bake pan in oven at 325 35-40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.
Serves 4.

I would serve with whipping cream and lemon zest if I had it. Otherwise, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

This is a good go to when you want a really cheap desert. When I was a kid, we girls would do the bakimg.
There were a few cookies that took things that my mother always had the ingredients for. Walnut squares were one. If we didn't have walnuts, we didn't use them. The recipe is in the Betty Crocker cookbook from the 50s. The one with red check cover. The other one was snicker doodles. Sometimes, peanut butter.

When we are having breakfast for dinner, I sometimes make yogurt cups.
Layer plain or lemon yogurt, fruit, and granola if you have it or have recently made it.


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Jane

Suddenly Sunday

Don't forget daylight savings ...spring forward !

I purchased the women's day magazine yesterday while grocery shopping. It has 20 meals you can make from pantry items. It is a little misleading because there are fresh ingredients, but most of them I have in my pantry. It would be a good go to if you we're trying to get by with what was in the house at the end of the month.

Also, they have recipes for trifles. The article on money saving has to do with organizational skills in the kitchen,

Yesterday, we went grocery shopping. We hit four stores in a three mile round trip. I dropped off some paperwork at the pharmacy, got groceries, stopped at a store for supplies for my business, and went to another grocery store and checked for supplies at another store. We were gone from home about an hour. I spent 37.00. I spent 95.00 last week because I found a lot of my target foods at a very low price. Stocking your freezer at Safeways is very fruitful and is still going on this week.

One of the things I bought was a bag of lemons. Lemons are a versitile fruit on the kitchen. Besides using them for salad dressings and to liven up sauces , you can make lemon pudding-- a really inexpensive desert that uses a few inexpensive staples you have in your pantry. Lemon bread. A lemon with some salt disinfects a cutting board and cleans a copper pot.

Meals from the ads

2 beef
2 chicken or pork
2 vegetarian
1 fish

1) Spaghetti and meatballs (pasta was .75 on JFU at Safeways )
2) Beef and Bean Burritos
3) roast chicken (.88 at QFC)
4) chicken soup
5) Mac and cheese (use up bits of cheese). Cheese was 5.12 on JFU
6) pasta with mushrooms, spinach and garlic ( mushrooms were on JFU )
7) Dagwood sandwiches (artisan bread on JFU)

I got fruit juice for free at Safeways JFU.


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Saturday notes

I finally got my reader up and running, after a grueling week of stomach flu and trouble shooting so I am back in business.

I think it is interesting when the chew talks about frugal meals, they are talking about 5 bucks a plate, not five bucks a meal. I do realize, that they are in NYC and they don't have the space in their homes that people in the suburbs have. Every house my parents had, no matter how small , had a storage room in the basement for food. Having bench marks for the amount you are going to spend on a meal, or meat and veggies helps you to keep a budget. I spent two bucks a meal in the 60s when we were two adults and 1 small child. It increased when we had two teenagers in the house to three dollars. We are back to about two dollars again. The kind of meat has changed a lot. We don't get much steak nowadays.

Yesterday, they cooked a flattened chicken breast and a fried greens and polenta. This could be doable for close to five dollars shopping wisely. I got couscous cheap at big lots. Boneless chicken breasts are 2.66 per pound this week. And greens are always inexpensive. I don't count basic staples in my meal costs. I do count them in my total food budget. a lot of more sophisticated dishes can be doable by watching prices and substituting some expensive ingredients.

Today, I am cleaning out the fridge, dumping hopefully not much that is dead. ( with all of us with the flu, we have not eaten quite what I planned.) and using up bits and pieces. I think we will have Mac and cheese , carrots, and a fruit and cream dish for desert. It's a lot of fat, but probably not as much as if we ate a beef dish. rationalizing?!? Not all our cheese is high fat content. Portion control.
grocery shopping didn't happen yesterday. We spent the day getting a new reader.

I am seeing a lot of pasta with veggies and a little meat sometimes. I think it is a great way to compensate for the skyrocketing meat costs. I am still finding chicken inexpensive sometimes, but beef is about double.
mushrooms and spinach sounds interesting to me. That wouldn't go over we'll with my husband, however.

soups continue to be a good go to especially if you are going to have a hard day and you know it, or you know the family is going to hit home at different times. They can be hearty, satisfying,and hold well in a slow cooker.

I love salads,and summer is coming. You can still get shrimp for five bucks at Safeways often, vegetables are cheaper and you can plant a garden or pots on the back porch.

Often, traditional winter meats are cheaper in the summer. Just wait for a colder day. That's not hard in the pacific NW some summers!!!LOL

I tend to use parsley a lot. it just seems to make anything with a colorless hue more appetizing. I mix bread crumbs, Parmesan or another hard cheese and parsley to top Mac and cheese. Make your own bread crumbs from your crusts. It's easy and you aren't paying big bucks for someone else's garbage bread.
A older kid can do it if you set up the food processor and deal with the blades. kids like to push buttons. Grating cheese is another job kids can do in the food processor. Just set things up and you deal with the blades.

I learned a lot from watching my mother. How to economize on food is a good life skill. No matter what your lot in life is.

There is a movement out there for people to cut their grocery bill for one week and give the savings to the food bank. I guess to help to end hunger and enlighten us. There are people that can't get food stamps or are temporarily unemployed or taking mandatory days off and that is I am writing this blog. There are also people that don't know how to put good food on the table on snap and still have food at the end of the month. there are, of course, other reasons to want to economize on food and people tell me they get other ideas from the blog. It is my intention to help people.



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Jane

Oops forgot Safeways adds

Safeways

Pot roast 2.69
Blues or blackberries 2.99
Shrimp 5.00

Just for u
Cheese 2/5.12

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Jane

Friday

I saw a segment yesterday on The Chew. It was about little children eating top ramen and potato chips for breakfast, lunch and dinner because it was all they had. There isn't much I do about that. But, I'll bet those little children are not too worried about the race car drivers having a track. Someone should remind their congress people that they are working for the people, and necessities come before Luxeries.

I can, however, do something about the people that are lucky enough to get food stamps and can't make them last all month. That's what this blog is about. Many other people are reading for time saving kitchen management tricks, or are saving for somethimg they really want, or just don't feel the need to waste money or like beimg reminded of an new recipe to wake up dinner.

No child should be denied a good meal and nomchild should wake up to no food in the house. This plan is doable. All of us run into obstacles, but With some creative problem solving can overcome them. My sister in law and I went to the grocery store together when she onlynhad one car and we both had toddlers. It was easier and more efficient to leave the little ones at home and go together. when I lived in a low rent apartment house, we all banned together and helped each other. We had a community vacume cleaner, the guys took the garbage out so we girls didn't have to deal with the rats. We shared paperbacks, and babysitting.



Spanish Omlette

Potatoes, cooked and sliced
Onion, bell pepper, garlic, green olives, oregano,

Mozzarella cheese, grated

6-8 eggs
Salt, pepper

A good use of leftover potatoes, or stair step them

In a greased skillet, cook the onion, peppers and garlic until wilted. Add the potatoes. Cook until heated through. Add olives and oregano. Remove from heat. Stir in cheese.

Mix together the eggs, salt and pepper. Cook 4 omlettes with the eggs.

Place heated vegetarian mixture inside Omlette.


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Jane





How

Thursday notes

This might be a short post. I am still having connectivity issues and it just erased my first post.
There are not a lot of good buys this week. It may be a good week to make a WinCo trip. If you go, wear your walking shoes and bring a buddy and your price list. They don't have weekly specials, but some are really good.
The place is HUGE. My husband swears it is bigger than Costco. And you have to bag your own. Two people means you can watch the register, and bag too.

I'm watching the chew I heard a new word. Passive cooking. I really like that word!

Since our house is sick bay this week, I thought a soup recipe would be in order.

Tomato soup

8 ounces of tomato paste
Onion powder
1 T butter
pepper

Mix together and heat in pan.

Add 2 cups milk

Heat through.

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Jane

Is it Tuesday or Wednesday?

Between me having the flu and the wifi not working, I missed Tuesday altogether.

The ads

TOP

Drumsticks .97
Ice-cream 2.99
15 percent beef. 3.00


ALBERTSOMS

Oranges .50

Weekend only.
Chunky soup 1.00
Ragusa .99
Milk 2.49. Coupon
Craisens 1.69 coupon

QFC

Chicken .88
Grapes 2.49
20 hamburger 2.66
Deli chicken 5.99
Butter 1.88