QFC haul.

I went to QFC.    Savings was 66 percent, or two thi do off.   I also got a .75 Ibotta on caramels.   U hoo.  I am at 25.00 and get a Amazon gift card!     Basically, that more than makes this weeks haul FREE,  

Ok. Free angel food cake
Ritz bacon crackers 1.69
Werthers original candy retail 2.99 paid .99 less the .75
Sausage, 2.99 less 1.00 on the five for five , less a dollar coupon on the meat.   Nets 100 for two meals.
Goldfish parm crackers retail 2.50, paid .99
Raspberries (2) @1.88
Frozen peas .99
Tomatoes .99 lb
Cheerios 4@ .79. 12 ounces.   Whole  grain , honey nut. - for backpack kids
Pickles 2.50
Freschetta pizza 4.29

Savings 46.58
Paid 23.03
66 percent savings.
You are getting  69.61 worth of food for 22.28.
That's how yougert well on three dollars a day.

Tonight we are having shrimp stir fry,    I can't post pics lately because my phone dies a lot and it the only way I can post a picture on the blog.



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

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until they goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the 
locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen )by
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending

Freaky Friday!

Recap  in a nutshell.    The basics of groceries on the cheap in bullets.  

1. Spend less, eat  more 
2. Stock the things that you use on a regular basis when they are at a RBP. 
3. Know your prices on the things that you use in a regular basis and how much you typically use. 
4. Base your stock levels on when things go on sale Hor pick a time- based limit.   If you use two cans of tomatoes a week, and you want to keep a three month supply, you need 24 cans. 
5. Identify the proteins your family likes.    Ours are eggs, cheese, chicken, pork, beef, rice and beans.     
6. Buy the amount you will use  of that protein on a rotation basis based on grocery chain store sales.    In other words, if chicken is .77 a pound, and you eat it twice a week, you need enough chicken to feed your family 8 times.    In our case, that's two chickens.   
7. If  appropriate, when you get home or shortly after, batch cook if needed and portion control in freezer containers or bags , label and freeze.    A standard refrigerator freezer will hold a small families month of food,   It's hard to look at a three pound hunk of ground beef and do something with it frozen.   Conversely. Taking a small bag out of the freezer and making tacos is a lot easier and there is no waste.    
8. Waste not, want not,   Try to use every bit of something,  look for recipes if you are stumped. Berry Crocker on line cookbook is free and you can plug in what you have, and  find recipes when you are bored with the same old. 
9. Set limits.    Don't buy something just because you are hungry for it or it looks good    Have a top dollar you are willing to pay for something : 1.00 for fresh veggies, two dollars for meat, have a target amount on basic things and try to stick at or lower.    .50 for tomatoes, beans, pasta can be had for under a dollar-  with coupons closer to .50.   
10. Food is everywhere.  At overstock stores, and chain stores, and warehouse stores.   Know which ones on your area have the cheapest price on the things you buy.  Our Costco has bananas the cheapest and the price doesn't fluctuate.    Usually a three pound bag has more than three pounds    Look for a bag without single bananas on it. 
11. You No one store has the best buys on everything,   Shop two stores a week if possible,   Some parts of the country inky have one store, so consider carpooling with a friend or neighbor and getting the store flyer on line or sent to you. 
12. Learn your stores layout so you can get in and get out.   Taking another family member is a mistake the more people you take with you the more money you will spend.  Children  are a distraction .   You can't do math with a screaming kid.    When we have grandchild, grampa takes her in a car cart and looks for the sale plus coupon things at one me of the store while I work the produce and meat section.    
13. Use every available means to legally to  reduce your bill.    Sales, coupons, Ibotta, store reward cards, basket savings coupons.   Matching a sale, manufacturers coupon, and basket coupon and spending just the top amount in the basket coupon is the best way to stretch your dollar and  maximize your percentage off.   By using every available means, we had dinner for two of us for .....05.    No typo there, a nickel.    It pays to pay attention. 
14. Percentages off are deceiving,   At a high end store, it will look like you are getting a lot off, but you could be spending what amounts to your regular price   It boils down to the bottom line again    Only buy something if the bottom line is at or less than your target price.  Target price has no relationship to the store with the red balls.    Obviously, you can't skip eggs and a few things, even if the prevailing price is high.   Then your best bet is to use less   This, we eat less eggs on the winter, and more in the summer  After doing this for a while. It doesn't take a lot more time than if you buy weekly for daily groceries paycheck to paycheck and you always have food in the pantry.    We have actually has  bouncing  pay checks before.   Any amount of things can go wrong and a stock of food can bridge a lot.    No child should suffer the insecurity of having nothing in the house to eat.  
15. Make up the difference in time management by using kitchen management.    Cook efficiently. Try to get appliances that help you.   Some things can be bought at garage sales or estate sales, or you can let it known in your circles that you are looking for them.  Someone might find one and tell you about it.   It doesn't happen overnight, but the right equipment really helps.   Save up for it.   More time planning your meals and planning your trip, picking the right stores to shop in and less  time in the kitchen pays off in big savings.    
16. There is something very satisfying about knowing you don't have to rush to the store of you don't feel like it, you can pull ingredients out of the pantry and put  a meal on the table.  

I have read and studied all I could find about cooking and shopping strategies to lower food bills.   I am passing them in for people that may need them.   This isn't a ploy to make money on the Internet.   I'm not getting our food on the backs of someone else that may need it worse.    I, in fact, give to the 

food banks and share information so others can feed more for less.

Why?   Some people may not get it.   The classic answer came from a sweet, pleasantly plump African American woman . She was on the Today show talking about couponing.    Matt Lauer asked her what she would say to Naysayers.  Her reply will stick in my mind forever.   She said , paraphrasing, if you don't understand, you ain't been broke  enough !   

My mother always  said everybody pays  their dues sooner or later.    No one gets throu live life with a free card.   Learning to cope is the key.    I decided when I was a struggling single mother , I was going to write a book entitled. " Cope  is a four letter word spelled HELL.   

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

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until they goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the 
locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen )by
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending

Thursday......

I made scratch muffins from the build your own basic muffin recipe.   I used blueberries and apple pieces to use up my one lone apple and I used 1 cup of f,our and 1 cup of the dollar tree oatmeal.   I figured it was a good way to use it up.   It's still good food value. It's just not what I want to eat for breakfast.    Costco for the same price is a better texture. The muffins were fine.  

I also made the penne pasta with a red cream sauce and sausage.    It was fine.   It's almost like a hamburger helper in technique, which made it easy.   The total cost was 1.08 for the three of us for the meal.   I had it with fresh green beans and a hard roll from the dollar tree.    Total meal cost 1.58.   

I adjusted the recipe to meet our needs.   It called for cream cheese.  Cream cheese is expensive.   I substituted sour cream.  I almost always have sour cream on hand,   I didn't want to open a .58 can of peppers, so I added red pepper flakes.   My husband doesn't like onion pieces on anything, so I used onion  powder.    It still tasted delicious and it kept the cost down.   Little things can make the dish taste the same, but cut the costs.   

The government is bailing out the dairy farmers because they are producing too much cheese and there is an abundance of it.   That's good news for people going to the food banks, but bad news for the consumer.   Less cheese means the price in dairy will go up.    I have a stock on hand and I will try for another five pounds or so.   That will soften the blow.    Another reason why stocking helps.   

We use a lot of cheese ,but  my daughter went vegan, so we probably will use  a bit less of cheese and sour cream. 

Groceries on the cheap just means you have to reinvent and be flexible.   Our great grandmothers did during the Great Depression, and we can too.    Incorporate anything that is in Abundance that  is healthy and avoid the things that are not.    Unfortunately, once for any reason , a food product goes up in this country it seem it never goes down.  Coffee went up after the coffee shortage of the 70's , beef had a drought several years ago.  The prices are still really high.    We adjusted by using less.   Beans have taken a hike.   It all about supply and demand.    With people getting in the vegetarian and vegan bandwagon, the demand is higher.     We used to get two pounds of pintos for a dollar.   The new packages at the dollar tree are a pound and a half.    That is still cheaper than Winco bulk.    I'm not seeing a lot of dry beans at Kroger for any price.    You can still get them at grocery outlet and in bulk at Costco.    The price at Costco has risen also.  

For saying that the Feds seem to think that the seniors COL hasn't rise , our mandatory bills have risen  1600 dollars and the price of food is going up.    Three tenth of one percent isn't going to cut it.      Because we get a raise, they can raise the amount of Medicare premium too.    It's just going to take a lot of imagination and ingenuity to make the ends meet.   We can do this as the commercial says.     Maybe things will improve of the right person gets elected.  LOL.  We were supposed to get a supplemental bonus, instead, they balanced the budget on the backs of the old people by raising Medicare and Medicare deductibles.    Enough complaining. I this is supposed to be about stretching a buck.    

Go with the flow, make meals from the foods that are abundant and healthy.    Find the RBP of the foods you eat.    Buy on bulk when it's the lowest as long as you can keep it from going bad.    Recognize the eating habits of your family and portion control.    The RDA of protein for a normal person is 6 ounces a day, part of which is supposed to be eggs.   Balance protein and starch to make for more healthy diet.    Moderation is the key and you might even loose a little weight in the process.  

We can do this.   It's all about not paying  top dollar for your food.    The fancier the store, the more you are going to pay.   Know your prices of the items you buy in a regular basis.    Stock when the prices are low.   

The big argument with this is that of you don't have enough money, how do you do that?   If you are laying 1/2, you get twice as much for your buck.  It snowballs.  Buy an extra can of something one week when it's 1/2 price. . Buy another thing because you aren't buying the first thing. Just buy basics at first.    Don't let your children gorge themselves on so,etching just because you have more.   I have seen mothers lock the preferred food up.   I've also seen some give  each child a box of cereal for a specific time frame, mark it with their name and when it's gone, it's gone.    Some clever mother that wanted to make the Christmas cookies ahead, but feared her children. Would eat the, if they saw them, wrapped  them up on butcher paper and marked them LIVER!    

Whatever works.   Children don't need to gorge themselves in something they like and. It eat balanced.   It's not good for them. Or your budget.  Portion control.  No child needs to eat an entire two pound roast!    They don't need to gorge themselves on everybody's share of what they like and not leave some for the rest of the family.   Have plenty of food so no one goes hungry.   I met a family once that said, everyone was welcome to second helpings. But up I had to take a little bit of everything.   I also have taken to giving my granddaughter a small portion of everything.  If she wants more, she  can have more.   Also, don't serve big  glasses of juice at meals.   The sugar fills you up and then they don't eat a good meal.    The nutritionist when my children were little told me not to feed the children nice at all.   She said they were better off with the apple than the apple juice.  The dentist will tell you that apple juice in a tippy cup is really bad for their teeth.    Stick to a adequate amount of milk, and water or herbal tea without sugar.    

I hope this helps people.   Take from it what you can use.    It's free and I'm not getting paid for doing it.   LOL.   

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

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until they goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the 
locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen )by
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not hard.  

Wicked or wonderful wednesday

This is zone cleaning day and I need to bake something.    I'm toying with the idea of trying the basic muffin recipe .  We have dried strawberries and blueberries.    Sausage with a red cream sauce directly from Pinterest.  

We are rapidly approaching the load day for coupons.    It's the first of the month and the good coupons will go fast.  You can print two of each coupon.   Resist the urge to print them all; you will just waste paper and keep someone that really might need one that you throw away.  
Be polite.    This is the most time consuming part of couponing.   The rest is a few , and sometimes very few minutes a week.    The rewards can be great.    I almost always find cereal, pepperoni, yogurt, and sometimes a coupon for pork  tenderloins.   There are always surprises.    Those I print and clip and file.  The inserts come in the Sunday paper and one in the mail.    Procter and gamble comes in the paper on the first Sunday of the month or sometimes  the last of the previous month.   It's good for tissue or laundry soap.   The toilet paper coupons are a joke but there is usually a coupon for puffs that you can get at the dollar tree.  

The coupon themselves are a savings.   But, if you can match them up with a sale and/ or a basket coupon you can hit pay dirt.   That's when the 58-78 percent savings come in,   QFC and Fred Meyers (Kroger) have a free thing every Friday.    Sometimes  it's garbage that we would never eat, and I pass unless I know someone that can use it. One time it was cat treats and we have a grandcat.  
Every little bit helps.   We, actually, with coupons and Ibotta and a generous neighbor that shared her vegetable gardens bounty can have a dinner for..........05.    No typo here , that's a nickel.  

Ibotta is a ap that you can have on your phone or tablet that allows you to get rebates on food items: some specific brand things and some basic necessity items like milk, bread, fresh veggies and cheese.  
When you have enough money built  up, you can cash it in for a gift card or pay pal will deposit it on your bank account.  I, personally, don't want to give  anyone my bank account number, I have been compromised too many times.   I will opt for a Amazon gift card.   I have done  it for a year and I'm almost (.70 short ) at 25.00.    Hey, that's 25.00 I didn't have yesterday,   I don't read Ibotta and base my purchases on it and I don't buy expensive  wine or beer .  I check it after I shop and post things while we are putting the food away,   I also, don't buy a lot of name brand prepared food.  

Favado is another app.  It tells you what's on sale at a lot of chain stores.   It also tells you of there is an Ibotta , or a coupon and directs you to the coupon.    Unfortunately, they are not always correct and you have to exercise some  due diligence.    It's a good start.   I file my inserts by month in file folders in a cubby of the computer desk.   When they tell me where a coupon I want is, I can pill or quickly.   All of this sound like it takes a lot of time, in actuality, it's just a few minutes.   But, you can save a lot on your grocery bill.   The same food as the next guy, but you pay half as much.   This allows you to eat eight dollars a day and only spend  four.  


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

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until they goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the 
locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen )by
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending

Wednesdays ads

Alberways is a lesson  this week on what's it to buy,    Last week, there were many good buys.  This week, not so much.  Retailers are banking on people by habit going to the same store week after week.  One week they may have good buys and the next they jack the prices up to make up for the week before.  That's why it is necessary to study the ads and lock the two best stores us inking the criteria of what you may need and the prices.  

First, why you aren't going to Alberways this week, or better said, why knowing prices and taking advantage of good buys even if you don't necessarily need that item exactly that week,   If it isn't a perishable that you can adapt into  your meal plan, bit, rather a staple item you can store or freeze, get it.  Get enough to last you until you find a sale, or a reasonable amount. The operative word is reasonable amount.   It's ride to clear the shelves.  Be polite and, leave  some for the next guy that may need it more than you do.  

Berries 2/5 ( they are 1.88 at QFC)

Five dollar Friday
Meat balls 20 ounces 5.00 ( with a coupon they are 1.25 for almost a pound.  
Ground beef 5.00 a pound.   A that's really self explanatory.   My mother would have called that higher than the proverbial balls.  

One actual sale item : London broil 3.99.  

General mills cereal 2.50 --- it's 129 at QFC $$
 Tomatoes in the vine 1.49 -- they are .99 at QFC

Enough said .   Other than the London broil, this is not a good week for Alberways,  

QFC
Berries 1.88
Tomatoes .99
Corn 3/.99

Chicken .87 ( note it is .77 for Foster farms at Fred Meyers )

Buy 5 save 5 prices are net prices

Cheerios 1.29 - note there are coupons out there for multiples.   Should bring that price closer to a buck.   Cinnamon Toast Crunch also.  

Daves  killer bread  2.99.  Not something  I usually buy, but I recognize the buy,  

Goldfish crackers .99

Freschetta pizza 4.29

The crackers are a good fill in to make your five If you need them.   Snacks!  Good as a garnish in soup.  

Depending on your stock and how many children you are feeding, stocking cereal may be a good time.   Coupons could make really cheap.  


So, it breaks down to this.  

Veggies, with the exception of berries are best at Freddies.  
Chicken at Fred Meyers is the Best Buy ever....Foster farms.  
Cereal is really good price at QFC of you can find coupons.   They are quite prevalent .
Winco had hummus in a very large container for two dollars.    Meatballs for 1.25 with a coupon.   And chicken noodle soup for .75 and there are coupons out there to lower the price.  
London broil is 3.99 at Alberways.  




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

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until they goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the 
locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen )by
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending

Terrific Tuesday.

It's  PT day.   Busy day, I've posted  a zone cleaning schedule, we'll see how good it works for us,    It's a good way to schedule your cleaning and chores so that life doesn't get too overwhelming,    That doesn't take into consideration the major projects we need to do  before winter sets in.   LOL.

O was reminded yesterday about a muffin basic recipe.    It makes the baking of muffins super easy and let's you use  whatever you have on hand to design your own muffins.   It is very flexible and is a good go to recipe-- one  of those keep it on the refrigerator recipes.   I have several of them in a large magnetic clip on the refrigerator.    Beer bread, split pea soup, rice crispy treats...things I should know by heart, but I have them at hand in case someone else needs them or I have a brain  fart.    I am getting old...I think.....

Yesterday was kitchen management day.  I did a lot making bread crumbs and cleaning the fridge out.   I had already made a double batch of chicken enchiladas filling, so all I had to do was assemble a casserole, and make another batch of sauce.    I'm loving the new white sauce mix recipe.    It is, however, more fat than it prolly should be.    My first rendition is low salt and low fat,,,    Surprise, it doesn't taste as good.    LOL.   I had already got a head start the day before cooking chickens.  

I'm all about easy recipes.    I don't have the stamina that I did when I was younger, and when I was younger, I had  a house, three kids and two jobs to juggle.  I want to cook good, nutritious food from scratch and still grocery shop in an efficient way and net my food at 1/2 price.     I feel like if I pay full price, I'm wasting my money. We all have to eat, we all need to eat nutritious meals; but, if I get food for 1/2 price, we can have something else in life besides food.    

I am on a mission to cook scratch food easy.    Whatever your reason, many of us will benefit from easy, cheap  scratch food.  


Here's the high five for the day.....
Five easy quick meals.    

1. Split pea soup, beer bread .    I can get split peas for under a dollar at grocery outlet .  Beer bread is four  ingredients. The soup can be made in about five minutes in-passive time either I'm the slow cooker  or the pressure cooker.    The bread on the oven.   Bisquick, beer, sugar and top with butter.    Dinner with 15 minutes effort.    
2. Bean vegetable soup is a dump and run in the slow cooker.  Add an apple dump cake.  Three ingredients.  
3. Sausage and oven roasted veggies.   Drizzle olive oil on a baking pan with sides.    Add cut up potatoes. Washed cut up carrots, radishes .  Toss with a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper.   Place them on a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes or Intel vegetables are soft.  Torn them 1/2 way through.  The last 20 minutes, add sausages while, or cut into pieces depending on what kind of sausage you buy,    Costco has really good chicken sausage.    
4. Shrimp or chicken stir fry.    I always have frozen shrimp, and bulk cooking chicken leaves pieces of chicken I keep in the freezer.   Pour a small amount of olive oil in a large fry pan.   Add stir fry veggies  ( I got Kroger for .66 last week) stir  until almost soft.   Add cooked shrimp or chicken and some hydrated top ramen noodles . Season with soy sauce or teriyaki sauce .   You can thicken the liquid with cornstarch slurry if you like .   Mandarin oranges are a dollar for a large jar at the tree   
5. Meat ball subs and salad.   Make a green salad with lettuce and anything you have to add to it.    Slice lengthwise and hollow  out a baguette enough to accommodate the meatballs: saving  the bread for bread crumbs . Use a baguette you have made  or brown and serve from Costco or French bread from Winco (sometimes .88) . The  brown and serve is about .95. You own takes time, but it's cheaper- a little bit.   Use  cooked ,frozen meatballs and place them in a microwave safe bowl and add a little BBQ sauce to baste.   Heat until warm.    Place meatballs in hollowed out bread and top with a little fried cheese.   Toast a few minutes under the broiler until the cheese melts. Top with the other side of the bread. Under a three dollar dinner for three.   

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

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until they goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the 
locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen )by
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending

Winco.

Hadn't intended to go near a grocery store but my daughter had used all the onions.  Of course, I can't blame her that I walked out of the store ten dollars poorer.    I guess if you want to look at it that way,   We are also a lot richer in food.    Cantaloupe was .28 a pound.   I also used my last coupon for meatballs that,netted almost a pound for 1.25.   I surely can't make meatballs for  1.25 a pound.    A large tub of hummus was two dollars and chicken noodle soup was .75 and  I had coupons.   It's granddaughters most favorite thing to eat and has been since she was tiny.   It's a good go to when she doesn't want our dinner or it isn't appropriate for her to eat what we are having.   I picked up a tomato sauce for our penne pasta later in the week, and oh, yes, I did remember the onions.    LOL

We are well stocked.   We had chicken enchiladas for dinner.    I was listening to a lady that was talking about five dollar dinners for their family of seven.    It made me well aware ofmthemfact that food costs vary between coasts and in different parts of the country.  With communications so great, you forget that there is still things that enter into making food prices different in different parts of the country.   Still, the principles of groceries on the cheap don't change.  It all works.    Snap is suppose to take into consideration the COL index for your part of the country.  

Meal plans.

What to do with what you got,   

I cooked both chickens yesterday.  I would have to say hands on these the pressure cooker chicken was easier,   I cooked the slow cooker chicken 4 hours,  mis calculated  and should have cooked it for six.    It wasn't done.   Always check the temp of the meat,   It was 160 degrees. I took it out of the slow cooker and roasted ot off on the oven for another 45 minutes.   Another hour would have done ot on tjems,or cooker, but this gave it a nice crispy crust.   

We had chicken, mashed potatoes with parm, and green beans for dinner.   

Meal plans for Monday through Sunday this week : 

1. Sausage with penne pasta and red cream sauce ( Pinterest) . 1/2 the free sausage, 8 ounces of penne .37, sour cream .22, tomato sauce .50.   Free chicken stock from cooking the chickens - total 1.09.   Green beans from the neighbor.  Free.    
2. Pizza.    Crust   .30, pizza sauce .16, cheese (1.58 a lb ) .40 , pepperoni .25 total 1.11
3. Chicken enchiladas.  Tortillas .50, filling 1.30.  Cheese sauce .20. Total 2.00
4. Sausage, Oven roasted veggies.    Sausage free, potatoes .40, carrots .30, radishes .25 , cauliflower .25 .   Total. 1.20
5. Shrimp stir fry :  stir fry veggies .66, shrimp 2.70, rice .10. Total 3.46
6. Mac and cheese : macaroni .55, white sauce (staple) cheese .60, breadcrumbs free , peas and carrots .33.   Total 1.48 
7.   Breakfast for dinner : 6 eggs .40, English muffins .42, fruit 1.50 ( oranges and blueberries ) total 2.32

Notes:  this is for three people.    It does not include staples that that are took all on qualities to price.  It also doesn't include  bread or salads.     Add 2 breads ( .88) and 2 green salads ( 200) or 2.88 total 

Total for the week.    15.54 or 2.22 a meal or .74 a person.   

If you have bigger eaters, you can still double that and still be well within a four  dollar a day budget.    

None of those meals are terribly time intensive.    Assuming you inky have a limited time to devote to getting food on the table, spending less time cooking and more time planning your grocery trios and going to two stores a week really pays off.    

Not everyone will find the same buys I did unless you are in the Seattle area.  We, however, have one of the highest COL in the nation.   I suspect some of that is housing,    Watching food hauls. I have seen less expensive  food, and more expensive  food and a lot of junk food.   It's no surprise that junk food will jack your food cart up.  

I can't say this enough "If it doesn't have food value, don't buy it. "  read labels.   

Speaking of reading labels,    We have seen a great influx of trendy foods all touting the healthy lifestyle,    Please use some common sense.  It used to be that convenience foods started with the letter $$$$.   Now, convenience foods sometimes are cheaper than making scratch and "trendy" foods start with the letter $$$$. And, yes, I know $ is a symbol.    The point  is, not all trendy foods are 

actually good for you.    Coconut oil and milk is full of saturated fat.    Read your last dos and use 

common sense.   A well balanced diet is always better than a trendy one.  You body needs a host of nutrients to work.    I remember a few years back when a liquid diet was all the rage.   People died from being on a liquid diet. Use common sense and eat balanced.   It is a well known fact in all the healthcare professionals I have seen to eat less fat, sugar and salt is a good thing.    Fake is fake; real is better.    Avoiding large amounts of saturated fats and hydrogenated oils is important.   That usually means avoiding a lot of processed foods.   I usually keep our processed foods down to once a week or less.    This week I have two because we don't eat a while sausage and I don't want to throw away 

food.   Next week, we can have none to balance it out.    Moderation is the key.  

Fake fat makes you fat.   Fake sugar makes you fat.  What do bread is that the body doesn't know what to do with it so it sticks to the fat cells and makes them fatter.    Fake butter often has hydrogenated oils.    Palm oil is bad for you.    The only vegetable oils that are not hydrogenated are olive and canola.    Safflower oil isn't either, but it's not good for you.     A lot of trends are started by someone  trying to make a buck.   Look at information with an evil eye. Is there real scientific evidence behind the trend.    Is the "bad " thing in enough of a quanity to really effect your health. 

I avoid trends.   Trendy clothes come and go and you pay the price, changing out a wardrobe that is perfectly good, but not in style.  My take is to stick with the tried and true.   We are living longer than ever before.  Eat balanced. Eat  in moderation,   And eat as close to scratch as you can.  Limit your processed foods, salt, sugar, amd fat intake- especially saturated fat and hydrogenated oils.    Scratch cooking has gotten a whole lot more efficient with the advent of kitchen appliances and new recipes.    You no longer have to rely on a box or bag to cook efficient meals.   Stick to the basics on appliances.   No need to a hot dog cooker.   I use certain appliances a lot and they are worth their weight.  

1. Popcorn popper, air popper: it makes a more healthy snack than chips etc.   
2. Coffee pot 
3. Toaster 
4. Slow cooker - who can't love an appliance that allows you to come home from work to dinner cooked and the house smelling glorious.   
5. Rice cooker.   I paid 16.00 for a black and decker one.   The bigger ones are too big for a 
6. regular family rice and beans have a very short fridge life.
7. Electronic pressure cooker.   Cooks rice, beans, and meat in record times.    Things are more flavorful because slices are infused into the food.   An insta pot works as a rice cooker, a pressure cooker and  a slow cooker.  It's more expensive , but well worth the price for its efficiency.   
8. Food processor.   You can use it to make bread crumbs and a multitude of other things.   It makes fast work of making beans into non fried refried beans and chop or slice, or grate almost anything. 
9. Kitchen aid mixer.    Pricy , but well worth it.   You will have it for generations.    The meat grinding attachment will pay for it alone.   Sometimes a roast will be cheaper than good ground beef.   If you grind it yourself, you can control the fat.   Also, baking and making mixes.   
10. Bread baker.    A lot of help.  I hear you can find them as cheap as three dollars at thrift stores.    

I have listed these in order of expense, the lowest  first.   It takes time, one thing at a time, but all win save money and make a kitchen more efficient.    Garage sales where grandma is going to assisted living or estate sales are your best bet for finding used. 

Fred Meyer haul.

The budget for Fred Meyers was twenty dollars.   That dos not include non1food it's,s that are in a separate budget.   I do this because I want to separate real food from other things like it is of you are on food stamps.   Since I have about 43.00 left in the budget for ten days, I opted for an arbitrary twenty bucks.   After all, I have already been to Safeways, QFC, amd Winco in the last two weeks,   It's not like we are going to starve any to,e soon!  LOL.  

I spent 19.95 

I got two five pound chickens.   We went early, and it was a good thing because there were only about ten of them out.    They may be restocking a little at a time.   I thought no they do that to limit their exposure.    Both chicken s are cooking --One in the slow cooker and one on the pressure cooker.  I am anxious to see which is better...... Back later.     

Vegetables and fruit:  zucchini, radishes, corn, naval oranges, nectarines, 

Milk, regular and chocolare 

Pop cicle (2) 

Cinnamon rolls - tube

Crescent rolls - tube 

Haul total food, including Popsicles 19.95 

Cooking dual chickens 

Difference between Costco Quaker and dollar store oats.   Same price.   

Sunday August 21.2016

How many people  can say that their food budget is right on track and they have a house full of food on a food stamp fidget.   No, we are not on food stamps.    We just act like we have that budget so Can teach people how to eat the very best you can eat on a low, limited budget.   It doesn't have to be beans and rice every night or hamburger helper, but it's not organic vegan either.   It's just good nutritious food keeping in mind the fat, salt, and  sugar content.  

Basically, it  boils down to portion control and good shopping skills.  My granddaughter came in from school the other day and informed me she had made good decisions that day.   I think she had decided to behave herself, but making good decisions is always a good thing,  

I have about forty two dollars left in the budget and nine days,   Out fridge and freezer, amd pantry are almost full.  The pantry is beyond full.    Fred Meyers has a good oriceprice on fruits and be veggies.    We are shirt in that department.    I have an apple, blueberries and 2 under ripe pears.    I do have cucumbers from the neighbor, celery, carrots, baby romaine, cantaloupe, some cauliflower.

My intention is to get two .77 whole chickens and cook one on the pressure cooker and one in a slow  cooker to compare.    .77 is about the best price I've seen on chickens in a long time.  I will pick up some  of the 160 count tissue for a dollar ( not in the food budget) and a corn , peaches, radishes, zucchini, and a few oranges if they look good,    Have a plan, get in, and get out,   My usual grocery slip is about twenty dollars and about 46-54 percent savings, so the store calculates.   Percentages are deceiving because the regular price at one store can be a lot different than the regular price at another.
My goal is to spend close to twenty dollars.  


I have target ( nothing to do with the red ball store) prices for things.   Unless it's something like eggs that I am pretty much stuck with paying the price, I just don't buy something if it's too high.   Of its a lot lower, I buy multiples.    Even if there isn't a limit on something, I onky buy six or so usually.   Unless, it's something I'm buying for charity,    I still don't clear the shelves.    That's just plain rude.  Leave something fir the next guy, they may need it worse than you do.  


I got blue box pasta for .55 this week.   I got extra fiber and pronto for that price.   I have lots.   It has a very l o n g shelf life.   It's a good staple to have in a pantry.   That price was 67 roughly percent off.   That's the kind of shopping that nets you a low food bill.    It's also the kind if shopping that allows you to go to the pantry at the end of the month and still have something you can make a meal of and not just a jar of mustard.  


BGroceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspectives. 

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until they goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen )by
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending

Hands down, fastest way to cook a whole chicken

never buy costly roasted chicken again...

1. Put down a barrier between the countertop and the chicken.   I save the insides of cereal boxes etc or you could use a plastic grocery bag or even a paper one,    This saves  some disinfecting clean up.    
2. Cut an onion and peel it: all you need is to half or quarter it.      This is for the "rack" .   Don't skip it, it's really important,    The onion is discarded and no one sees it.    Place it on the bottom of the slow cooker.   Leave the lid off.    
3. So far you have no chicken cootie hands.    Place the chicken on the barrier, amd clean out the insides if needed.    Place dry rub in a coffee filter or on a paper towel.   This keeps the bottle clean.   
4. Dry the chicken with paper towel.  Sprinkle the skin with a dry rub.  There are many recipes for dry rub and you can make them ahead when u r making spice mixes  or probably use seasoned salt from the dollar tree.    
5. Place chicken over the onion.    Discard the barrier.   Wash your hands . Cover the slow cooker and set it for an hour a pound on high.  Disinfect anything that has touched raw meat or your chicken cootie hands have touched.   

Chicken should be a temp of 179 and the lefts should remove easily.   

Done in five minutes .    

Deli chicken : three pounds : useable meat 1.5 pounds : purchase price 5.00.  Net cost of  useable meat 3.34 lb.  

Cooked chicken : five pounds : usable meat 3.5 lbs:purchase price 3.85 : net cost of useable meat 1.10 lb 

Difference 2.24. Or, in other words, savings 67 percent roughly.    

You spend the most percentage of your discressionary income on food.    Of that, the most costly part is protein.  Saving 67 percent on protein goes a long ways to feed your family well on four dollars a day.    

Freddies ad for tomorrow

Freddies ad for tomorrow.  

.88 cent sale

Peaches
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Corn 3/.88

***** rotation alert ****
Foster farms whole chicken .77 limit 2

Milk .99@@. Includes chocolate, oj

.99 veggies
Zucchini .
Oranges
Green peppers (2)
Tomatoes
Cucumbers , radishes


Ten for 10. You don't have to buy 10
Frozen treats 10/10
Suddenly salad $$
Crescent rolls , Bisquits
160 count tissue




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

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until they goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen )by
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending

Suddenly Saturday.

ok, hubby went to get the Sunday paper somfreddies ad will be posted later.     I hate to repeat myself, anyone that has an idea for a blog post so welcome to comment .    New ideas would be nice.    TIA.

Following the five series..   Or a little tto more....

Five ways to maximize a basket coupon.    We have been seeing a lot of basket coupons lately.   QFC had ten dollars off of forty.   That's twenty five percent.    Safeways had five off of twenty five - or twenty percent.   There are ways to get th most bang for your buck.    QFC always has one of the best coupon policies of all the stores.    They let  you post the basket coupon first, amd the. The other coupons.    Safeway will not.  

Ok.  Five ways to maximize your coupon.

1. Look through the ad and circle things you buy that are a good price.    
2. Check your coupons for a matchup or two.   Look on line for electronic coupons also.   The more coupon stacking you can find the better.    Electronic coupons can't be stacked, but you can still use a basket coupon.   
3. Keep your eyes peeled for discount merchandise and unadvertised specials.   I found shrimp and stir fry veggies.   
4. Bring a calculater and keep a running total.   Husbands and kids are a good resource for this.   The closer to the dollar amount you can get, the more you save.   You want the whole percentage off.   Buying more lowers your percentage.    
5. 
   
6. Watch for freebies.  Don't bother with something you are not going to eat.....let's not waste, but if you can use it or know someone that can, go for it.   I get cat treats because I have a grandcat. I took advantage of twenty five percent off for basically a food bank purchase.    

It takes a little planning, but the reward is good , nutritious food for little money.    That's how you can put a meal on the table for less than four dollars-- you just buy your food for 1/3 to a 1/2 of what other people pay for it.   You are not eating cheap; you are eating smart!   

Example : Alfredo sauce on a jar 1.00, pasta .55, frozen peas (1/2bag) .33, chicken pieces .50. ( part of the rib portions of de-boning chicken breast.    Total.  2.35.   I bought extra fiber pasta.    

Pasta sauce 2.00

Pasta 1.59

Peas (1/2) .78

Chicken 3.00 

Total.  7.37

Difference 5.02 

68 percent off.    Think of it as getting two more meals for free.  

Trust me, if you are on a limited budget, that is HUGE and well worth some time  and effort.   

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

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until they goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen )by
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending

QFC haul.

Let's do the math
Safeways  And Costco 53.95

QFC 30.27 less husbands jerky meat is 9.22 totals 21.05

Total weekly spent on budget food 75.00 less 6.90 for backpack tuna is 68.10

QFC haul.  

ACTUAL  COSTS
Ore ida potatoes  32 oz 1.12
Tomatoes 1.00 lb 1.03 
Stir fry veggies .88 or .66
Stir fry veggies .88 or ..66
Barilla pasta (5) 4.00 - actual price 2.75 or .55
blue bunny cones (2) 2.99  or retail 4.00- 1.50 ea 
Shrimp 3.91 or 2.95 
Hillshire farm sausage free retail sale 2.99
String cheese 1.00 - fill in  .75
Pie 3.99 - 2.99
Cookies 2.49 187 
Tuna .69 .52 
Milk .99 was .74 

All of this was also 25 percent off.    Net prices are in bold

Store calculated savings 55 percent

Freaky Friday : five series : proteins

I got up early and hit the bricks so to speak.    I watch Jimmy from "she's in her apron" o. U tibe.  She is really a motivated.   Sometimes it's all I need to get my sore butt out of bed and move.  I cleaned the bedroom.   Hubby shampooed the carpet in spots., cleaned the kitchen and started dinner.   Cleaned the dining room and the deck.  

I still have some more of dinner and clothes to fold and need to finish eight cards I started last night.  

On to food related.    We are having shrimp salad tonight and rolls,    It so very hot here and will be for he next few days- a salad on the deck sounds good to me about now,  

Shrimp is me of the most expensive proteins we buy, but because I shop thrifty and we can average, we can still afford it.  

here we go ...move cheap proteins

1. Eggs:   Lately they have been under a dollar a dozen.    Even in the dead of winter at two dollars a dozen, they are a bargain in nutrition.  Scrambled eggs, omlettes. Quiche breakfast burritos.    
2. Sausage.   I have got bulk sausage for as little as two dollars a pound.    It's always inexpensive   at Costco in a three pound chub.  You can add crumbles to a soup, make depression stew, make a quiche, pit it in red sauce for pasta.... 
3. Cheese.   Grated cheese is the least exoemsove these days.   I just paid 1.58 a pound for Mexican blend,   Mexican blend goes good with a lot of things    Cheese added to beans and rice makes burritos.  Grated cheese makes the best toasted cheese sandwiches.   The possibilities are endless  my target price is 2 .00  
4. Pork loin : can be sliced for pork chops, roasted, or cubed from the end pieces.   Cubes can be a meat pie or stew or braised on rice  or mashed potatoes.    My target price is 1.69
5. Chicken : whole, thighs, or split chicken breasts.    Whole chicken can be made into four meals : 1/2 breasts, dark meat, amd the bones for chicken soup     Thighs can be used as BBQ thighs, or the meat for tacos. Or pulled chicken sandwiches .  You can de-bone chicken breast for boneless, skinless chicken breast and use the rib  portions for soup stock and pull the chicken pieces.   It makes boneless, skinless, chicken breast a dollar instead of six dollars a pound.   Quite a savings for a few minutes work.    I only buy PNW grown chicken- Foster farms is best.    The Internet and cookbooks are full of chicken recipes.    
6. Beans and rice.    Just beans and rice.    Again, the possibilities are endless.   The thing that stopped me before was cooking them.  I invested in a 14.00 baby rice cooker and a pressure cooker. 

And one not so cheap:

Hamburger is not so cheap these days.   In actuality, ground turkey is about the same price and doesn't have the same nutritional properties. Turkey has a few grams less fat.   Beef has some amino acids not found  in any other meat.   I buy 7 percent fat usually and de-fat it.   De-fating is supposed to take up to 17 percent of the fat  away.  I don't know how that translates to  7 percent hamburger. LOL .   It can be crumbles for red sauce, taco meat, hambirger pie, sloppy joes, cheeseburger macaroni.   A meatloaf so a treat.  I have been buying meatballs because they come almost a pound in a package and with coupons they are as low as .98 .   I can't make them for that.    You can make a host of recipes from meatballs.   Speghetti, over rice with sauce, over mashed potatoes with gravy, meat ball subs. Another versatile protein.  

My life is all about set it and forget it.  I love passive cooking.   When I was young it was because I was working two jobs and had three kids at home and a house to keep.  Now, I have a granddaughter, a house and I'm old and feeling older everyday.   Physical therapy is helping greatly, but with one plastic hip and one screaming one, standing for long periods of time is not an option.   

Hauls -

file under don't do as map, do as say....lol.  I did break some of my rules.    Having a few things that are for emergencies are good amd I'm not cranking up the oven on a ninty degree day here.   Safewaysmhas good desert for five dollars.   I got dove dollars off of twenty five basket coupon,   I spent 20.61.

1. Danish - 4.00 
2. Uncle Bens Spanish rice 1.33
3. 40 tortillas for 4.00 
4. 2 lbs grass fed beef patties at 2. 99 a Nets 2.39 lb 
5. 2 pounds Mexican blend cheese at 1.98 a pound nets 1.58 lb 

All of which was twenty percent off.    

No pics , the only way I can put pics up now so from my phone and it's dead. 

Costco 

Celery 

Small romaine 

Blueberries 

Bacon 

Garlic 

Total  33.34 

Total 53.95 

Terrific Thursday : easy Peasy

Good morning.....

Part of the mantra of groceries on the cheap assumes we are all busy and have a limited amount of time to spend on kitchen management and providing meals for the family.   Is one of the most important part of keeping a noise besides paying the bills.    Everything else can wait-- a little while anyway.   LOL.

With a limited amount of time, making planning a shopping trip and purchasing groceries a priority and cooking efficiently to make up the difference  in time consumed by cooking efficiently pays in the long run.   The basic need is to feed your family good nutrition that they will eat.    Doing it on the cheap means you can have more food for less money.   It's even more important ofmyoumhave limited resources.  

That's a long winded way of saying this is an article about efficient cooking.   It took me a long time to figure out that cooking the thing that takes the longest time to cook first  is more efficient.   It took even longer for me to figure out that if I cooked met in batches and portion controlled it, dinner time would be less hectic.  

You can scratch cook fast.   It takes prepping when the house is more quiet and planning,   You can plan almost anywhere , all it takes is a piece of paper and a pen -- waiting for the kind do to get out of school......waiting in the doctors office..waiting for anything-- soccer practice!  

Bullet time: things you can do quickly to make meals more efficient. Many can be done while you do the dishes.  

• Bake eggs.  Just place eggs in a muffin tin and bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for 30 minutes.   Dump in an ice bath and dry off and put in refrigerator.   
• Wash veggies in vinegar water.   Doing all of them at the same time makes one mess to clean up and preps you for the entire week.    
• Frying hamburger or ground sausage or both when you get home from the store or shortly thereafter , means the meat can't get away from you and be stuck on the back of the fridge, and it's cooked and ready for any number of meals.    It also means you can take the time to de-fat it and make it healthier.   The meat is usually the part of dinner that takes the longest to cook.  It makes the busy meal hour less hectic.   
• Cooking a whole chicken or chickens when they are less than a dollar a pound can be super easy, take almost no time and save a lot of money.  Cut up the cooked,chicken into the dark meat, the breasts, and bag the vines for soup stock.   To cook a whole chicken fast: place a quartered, peeled onion in the bottom of a slow cooker.    Rinse the chicken and clean out the insides. Rub the outside with a slice rub that you have pre made, and put the chicken in the pot over the onion,   Cover, amd cook for 1 hour a pound on high heat.   Non- passive time. About five minutes.   Clean and disinfect everything that raw meat has touched including everything you touch with chicken hands. Prepping your work station helps.  Place slow cooker insert on the counter beside the sink, place the slice rub in a disposable coffee filter. You can place the onion on the slow cooker. Wash the chicken, place ot on the slow cooker insert, and  dry rib it.   Wash your hands and disinfect the sink and counter., place the insert in the slow cooker and cover and program the slow cooker. Five  minutes tops! 
• Make your own mixes when you have free time.   Children can help , it can be a good lesson in counting or fractions.   Smaller children just like to stir or push the food processor or blender buttons.   It's good for them to see what things have in them.   Food doesn't have to come out of a box or bag.  
• Non fried re-fried beans are a fraction of the cost  of refried beans in a can and have no fat!   They can be made in a slow cooker with a potato masher or with a pressure cooker and a food processor.    
• Save bread heels and either grate them on the largest side of a box grater or in a food processor.    Why pay someone upwards of 2.00 a pound for their dry bread and throw yours away!   
• Minutes to make a cream soup base mix.   Many dollars and less preservatives ahead.    
• It takes minutes to make oatmeal in the microwave and it's a lot less expensive and more nutritious than the packaged mixes.  Leaving a measuring cup in some things saves a lot of time.  Measuring cups are at the dollar store.  A 1/2 cup measure is always in my oatmeal canister.    I buy oatmeal by the ten pound box at Costco.   It's also a dollar a lime at the dollar tree.  Good source of fiber and protein.  
• I cook pasta in  the microwave.   Anything that has little non- passive cooking helps.  A watched pot never boils? Set it and forget it means you can make the rest of the dinner while the noodles cook.   Sauce in a jar or can (cheaper than scratch on sale ) and pre made by you meatballs or crumbles and a salad or green beans makes dinner.  
• Or cook elbows in the microwave while you make cream soup mix on the stove and add grated cheese.   Homemade  Mac and cheese not from a box.  More nutrition and  better taste.    Remember cheese whey is what my grandmother used to sell to the farmers to slop the hogs.   You add the milk to make it back to cheese-- just eat the cheese!   FYI. Annie's box of Mac and cheese has exactly the same nutrition as the Kraft box.  But, Annie's has more fat!   Because pasta comes in a pound box doesn't mean you have to cook the pound box.   
• Which brings me to......hambirger helper I tested had just over four ounces of pasta in it.   I never pay more than a dollar a pound for pasta and frequently pay .75 or less.  I have paid .38 before.   You can also get pasta with a serving of veggies in it and double Dover for discounted prices too.   Pasta is a buck for 1.5 pounds at the tree.  It's not necessarily the best quality.  I prefer the blue box or rotini.   
• By the way, the "cheese sauce that had no cholesterol in it was 1.57 ounces.   It calculated out to 13.00 a pound.   I never met a cheese I didn't like, and I never met a cheese that didn't have cholesterol.   LOL.  You can buy mighty good cheese for 13.00 a pound.   
• Put your macaroni in the microwave to cook.  Put already fried hamburger in a pan.  Add some frozen mixed veggies or peas and carrots, and a can of drained chopped tomatoes, reserving the juice.   Drain the cooked macaroni, add to the pan and stir add in enough reserved tomato juice to make the right consistency heat to warm it up and add grated cheese.  Turn off the heat and cover to let the cheese melt.   Stir.  More food, better taste, less money.     

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

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until it goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen )by
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

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Alberways - the ads

QFC must be a two week ad because I didn't get an ad in the mail.  All wemgotmt not the mail this week is Alberways.  


Cantaloupe  .99 each

Eggs .99@@
8 ounces cheese .99@@ limit 4 total between eggs and cheese



Five dollar Friday
Foster farms breaded chicken
Berries 2/5



Buy 5 save 5

Coffee 6.99
Tabasco .79

About it.    I don't know about you, but we don't need five bottles of Tabasco.  
Not much there.  

food date labels don’t mean what you think — NOVA Next | PBS


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

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until it goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen )by
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

Pizza pizza,pizza

My daughter looked at the ingredients for pizza crust that I had sitting on the counter.    Is that all my t takes, she said.     She had just bought a vegan pizza at one of those 42 percent profit stores for ten dollars.      It never ceases to amaze me how they can omit  the most expensive ingredients in a pizza ( the meat and the cheese) and still price a pizza at ten bucks.   

The cost of a large pepperoni pizza at home is about 1.50.  The flour for a pizza crust is .30.  Add water, 2t olive oil. Salt, amd yeast.   I buy yeast at Costco  on

in a bulk bag.   You can buy it at Winco by the scoop if you don't want to make the investment.   I don't price anything under 2T that is kitchen staples.  It's too much like hard work.   I have pieced and broken down basic things like beans and flour.  

It takes about five minutes to make the dough and another rest time of ten minutes.   You can. E chopping and gathering the ingredients for the topping during the rest time.   

The pizza sauce is a dollar at the dollar tree.   The same brand as you will find in other grocery stores for 1.50.   I open the jar and pour it into my ice cube trays and freeze it in the ice maker.   Cover it with something first .  It takes three ice cubes to make a pizza.    There are 16 cubes  in a tray.  So, for about .18 you can spread sauce on a pizza with a pastry brush.    Pepperoni is .50 with a coupon at the dollar tree.   Coupons are almost every month at coupons.com 

In the time it takes you to wait for the pizza guy or go pick up a pizza from the store, you can have a pizza ready for the oven.   

Flour for crust .30 

Sauce .18 

Cheese 1/2 cup .25, full cup .50 

Pepperoni .50 

Total  1.48 of you use a whole cup of cheese.   

That is 15 percent  of the cost, and you are getting cheese and pepperoni.   

Terrific Tuesday.

The ads are not here yet.   I did check Winco, but don't see any major bargains.    I did see that there are no blueberries.    I used the last of the coupons that were die to expire on anything that we would use and was a good buy,  

I did pick up a recipe book for cheap.   It helps to spice up things every now and then.  I have been reading Pinterest and u tube for inspiration,    So,emthingsmworked be good ideas of they pertains to our family unit.    Some mixes we don't use a lot of, but homemade mixes are a good way to avoid the       Preservatives in ready made.   You can sometimes avoid the hydrogenated oils too.  I have heard all the hype about cocoa it oil. So, I read the nutrition on organic cocoanut oil at 7.00 a pint or so.    It had a but,old of saturated fat.   .....so, don't eat meat because of the saurated  fat, eat cocoanut oil  at over thirty dollars a gallon.    Doesn't make much sense to me,

On to taste of home summer slow cooker recipes.   Been eyeing it for weeks now.   Since it is discounted at Winco, I decided I finally would get it.

Recipes

1. Chicken chop salad 
2. Pizza pancakes 
3. Sausage with jalapeño potatoes 
4. Orientation sausage skillet 
5. Parmesan chicken bites 
6. Chicken ranch flatbreads - sounds like it could be pizza too
7. Spinach gets chicken penne 
8. White beans and bow ties 

Many more.    A good resource,    

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

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until it goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen )by
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

Food prep day

Today  took three hours.  I had to wash dishes in between  and the counters were full, I had to juggle appliances.

I :
Took inventory of fresh produce

Cleaned vegetables with vinegar water.

Peeled and sliced cucumbers and put them in a green container.

Washed radishes for oven roasted veggies

Cut up cantaloupe and put in a green container

Made watermelon juice from the last of the watermelon

Washed,peeled and sliced zucchini and put inthe dehydrater

Made sausage patties and froze them

Made a apple dump cake

Made non-fried refried beans

Made cinnamon sugar

Made pizza dough

Made seasoned bread crumbs.

Listed prep work for the weeks meals.

Washed and cut romaine for salads and tacos

Washed romaine 

made prep list  for the meals 

wash veggies and prep for storage  and inventoried 

Apple dump cake 

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

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until it goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by 
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

Everyday

Everyday I do a blog.   I have been following a lady that is very inspirational and helpful on getting your butt up and doing what needs to be done.   Lots of good ideas.    Today she talked a little setting up areas of your home and deep cleaning that area for an hour a week.   Pick a day.    It keeps you focused.    I usually see so,ethnic no that is bugging me and hit it for a couple of hours when  I feel up to it.    But, those areas that I don't see everyday , just don't get done.   The reality is I'm not the only person that lives here,   And everyone needs to do their fair share.    LOL.   Like that's going to happen.  

Today is the day I clean the fridge and prep meals for the week.   I'll probably run the  damp mop over the floor and clean off the counters.   

 I cleaned the pantry the other night at two in the morning when I couldn't sleep.   It gave me a good overview of what we had and what may need to be supplemented soon.  I'm looking for a diced tomato canned good sale,   It was .60 a can at Freddies last week, I want fifty cents.   They are .58 all the time at Winco.    I was over stocked and didn't buy any for a long time. Now we are lower than my comfort level.    I plan to eat down canned beans and transition to some canned and some dry.    I still want canned in case I'm in a pinch or we need them in a emergency situation.   Our power goes out , sometimes  for days in the winter.    We are a small pocket on the electric grid and they fix the larger grids first in order to cover as many people as possible.   We have a BBQ and a fireplace, but dry beans would take a l o n g time!    

That was a long explanation to say I will replace some of the bean shelf with tomatoes.    I filled some of the tomato shelf with my own mixes and canisters of dried beans,   I also took a small crate from the dollar tree and pit all those little jars etc of baking things in it.   It makes it a lot easier to find what you need and I don't have to take every little bottle of flavored vanilla , baking powder etc out to find why I need.   It's contained.    Life's easier and less cluttered of what you need is contained.    

OK.   Pizza dough. Non- Fried  refried beans, rice, clean veggies and put them in green containers, make green salad.    Clean off the fridge door.    

Type a master list of cleaning chores.   

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

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until it goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by 
cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck.