Bread

Bread, they say, is the staff if life,    It is also, expensive  compared to the actual cost of making it. 

Flour when bought in bulk is .15 a cup.    Yeast is inexpensive in bulk at Costco, or you can get it for pennies in the bulk isle at Winco or a store that carries bulk.  Most bread is flour, salt, water, yeast and sometimes olive oil.  Pretty cheap.   Pizza crust is about .40.   ( when I price things, I don't include staples that are less than  two tablespoons.   It's too much work for what it is worth.  )

With the invent of machines and techniques, it doesn't have to be time consuming.    You do have to be home.  But, you can start bread, and go about laundry and house or yard work and come back to another step.  

I used to make a pizza dough in the food processor years ago.    It made a thick crust.   We cooked it partially and then filled it.  The Internet is full of recipes.   We picked one that is super easy and uses the food processor.   You can a,so make bread sticks from the same dough.

Making bread is pretty easy,   I used to be intimidated by anything with yeast.    New easy recipes make it easy.   Bread machines are really cheap at thrift stores these days. The good news is that it tastes sooo yummy right out of the baker or oven.  The bad news is it has no preservatives and goes stale fast.  In our house or doesn't last that long and we can make bread crumbs.  

Bakery items are pricey and you cannot control the ingredients.  They can be time consuming.   I think that's why my mother taught us at an early age, ( 9 yo) to bake.   We had a small list of recipes from the old Betty Crocker cookbook that we used to make on a regular basis.  They called for basic ingredients that mom always had on hand.    Now I would have to find substitutes for the shortening or margarine.   I tend to make apple crisp or brownies.  

A cup of flour has 96 grams of carbs.


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

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

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

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

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

Thursday, still no ads

Thursday, still no ads.    You gotta love holiday weekends.    We changed up the meal plan yesterday because I found ground chicken on sale for a dollar.    I was always afraid  of cooking ground chicken because what I had purchased  before was really fine grained and hard to cook without it looking mushy.  This looked more like ground beef, so I,thought I did t have a lot to loose, of try it.    I fried it and used a lot of my homemade taco seasoning,    I saw no fat  being rendered.  I had come across a cowboy spaghetti pie recipe when I was filing recipes, so I opted to,change from shepherds pie to spaghetti pie.    It was alright, I would add a little more liquid if I were to do it again.   I used a can of diced tomatoes with jalapeños instead of adding jalapeños.   Buying tomatoes  with seasoning added is a good way to save money too.  Not much, but it keeps you in the thought process.  

Saving money is a thought process.  Watching forming that you can make dinner with that are on sale is just a habit.   Once you have the habit, it's just second nature-   Like brushing your teeth every morning.    It's a mindset.    It's easier to save money than it is to make it.   Consider it a challenge-- a game.    How cheap can I find good food and make a dinner out of it.    

Cheap food doesn't mean you have to settle for HFCS or saturated fat, or hydrogenated oils-- you can avoid those things and still get good food cheap.    I don't think itmosmoossiblemon a budget to eliminate all the things people have decided  are bad for you, but you can eliminate or drasticlh reduce your consumption of those things.   

We ate regular food for years.   I never heard of anyone growing up being lactose intolerant, or gluten intolerant; so, what happened?    We never heard the words vegan or vegetarian.   We Jane state and considered ourselves lucky we had food on the table.   My mother cooked clean and simple.    My dad wouldn't allow is to have junk food.   No kool aid, pop, sugary cold cereal, Popsicles, marshmallows were a rare treat.    We got them in our sweet potatoes in thanksgiving.   We could have cornflakes or wheat puffs from a bag in the summer sometimes.     She didn't believe in taking meds, so we just suffered through.  Even my asthma wasn't treated until I got to a life threatening episode.  ots hard for me to understand people going on special diets without their doctors telling them it is necessary for their health.    I get the low salt, sugar and saturated fat and hydrogenated oils.   I'm a diabetic from meds I took for asthma.   I eat a special diet. I just don't scream it.  I don't expect anyone to cook special for me.   I just eat what I can eat.  Just old  fashioned   I guess.   Fad diets are like fad clothes. Only fad diets can kill.    There is some theories out there that when we went to not feeding children anything but milk for the first year of their life , that the children developed an intolerance for some foods.    I didn't do that for the kids growing up.  They got cereal and fruits one week at a time so I knew if they had a reaction, what was the cause of the reaction. Neither of the children have a adverse reaction to food.    Eat balanced. Eat in moderation.  Eat a variety of foods.   

Off the soap box.    

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

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.   

   

Dinners

Cowboy spaghetti - ground chicken  total cost - 4 servings 2.00

Stir fry chicken 1.83

Hot dogs, French fries, fruit salad hot dogs 2.00 for Nathan's,    Used 1/2 .   3.00 for 3 of is.   

White fish, mixed vegetables, Spanish rice 240 for two of us. 

The left overs from sausage and roasted root veggies 

Sausage was a dollar and we used 1/2 .   Add potatoes, cauliflower, amd radishes.   I forgot to take a pic, so what's there was the leftovers the next day.   The pic doesn't do it justice.   

Dinners

Cowboy spaghetti

Stir fry chicken 

Hot dogs, French fries, fruit salad 

White fish, mixed vegetables, Spanish rice 

The left overs from sausage and roasted root veggies 

5 ways to help the less fortunate without spending a dime.

Even if you don't have a lot of money to gove, there are ways to help others on slim budgets without spending money,

1. A random act of kindness.- handing someone a coupon for something in their cart. 
2. Sharing coupon inserts you arcan not going to use 
3. Getting free deodorant and toothpaste with coupons and taking it to the food bank or a women's shelter.  
4. Our Kroger stores are giving meals to the needy with every flu shot.   Many of is don't have g pay for our flu shots making it a no brainer to help a hungry person.   
5. Pass in this blog address : know,edge is power.    

QFC haul - 54 %

QFC haul - it's always good if you save more than you spend.   The goal is 1/2 price.  That means that you need some bigger savings to even out for the things there isn't a good sale on often.  

QFC - .99 sale in lots of three.

2 raspberries at 2.00

2 cream cheese at 1.25

6 grated cheese, asst, at .99

3 - 4 pound sugars at .99

1 bag lemons 4.99

1 acorn  and 1 butternut squash at .99 a pound

2 packages of ground chicken on managers soecial for .99.

I would have bought eggs and milk, but they were the same price at Freddies and I bought them Sunday.

Our rotation protein this week was eggs and cheese.  Last week it was beans.
The chicken bin  is depleating , I'll look for a good sale soon.  

We have been fortunate .  But, I have heard stories recently of people that , like many, love from paycheck to paycheck.   One disastrous event can set you back and  leave you with little to spend on food.   Maintaining a stock of food can bridge the gap until budgets even out.   Spending 1/2 on your food, give you the luxury of having a stockpile and knowing you, when everything else can fall apart, will always have food.  You are getting 50-75 percent on your money,    No bank will ever give you that percentage .

No ads yet

I haven't seen the ads yet.   I did glance at QFC s ads and found good prices for eggs, sugar, and some other dairy.  .    Back when I get the ads.    Safeways just 4 you ( at least mine) has 5 dollars off thirty.   Not a huge percentage off.   I haven't seen the ad, so I don't know what the prices are - the ones on just 4 you are quite comical.   Like I am supposed to believe that twice the RBP is a good deal they are giving me.  Maybe the prices are based in the total money spent there.    That would explain it, because I haven't seen many good prices since Haggen took over and it was sold back to Albertsons.

Fred Meyers and Winco seem to be the best prices lately.   My rotation last week was cheese.  

QFC

Dollar sale

Cheese
Sugar
Cheese
Milk
Eggs - 18.  
MUST BUY 3 - well duh!    


Squash
Barilla -$$

Yoplait 10/5 - $$
Berries 2/4
Cream cheese 2/5

That's the gist of the special prices.  

I'm  going from the ad on line.  It's hard to read in a reader.    I,mstockimg cheese when it's cheap.   I suspect it won't be because if the buyout.    The way it is in sake, I'm suspecting the bags will get you smaller and the price will get larger.    Just a guess, time will tell.   Stocking will soften the blow.  Grated cheese freezes well.  

I got sausage for a dollar last week, it is three dollars this week.   That's what sticking a little will do for  you.  On a tight budget, two dollars is a lot and  they all add up.    I won't drove across town for 8 cents.... But picking the best store to shop at based on prices that week is a key factor in eating well
for less.  

Last night we had pizza.   I made the crust early in the day and put  it in the refrigerator.    It's about five minutes non-passive time and another ten in a oiled, covered bowl on the counter.   Then put it in a zip lock and refrigerate.    Take it out an hour or so before dinner and roll and fill.   A vegan pizza costs ten dollars and u bake.    A pizza crust costs about .40.  Flour, salt, yeast, water and oil.   You can buy yeast in the bulk section at Winco.  I buy it at at Costco and store in an airtight container.  

My daughter added onions, fire roasted tomatoes ( .50). and  black olives (.25) and sauce (.10) total 1.25.   She has tomato sauce, onions, and black olives left for a pasta dish tonight.   A 8.75 savings.  
I can make four dinners or more with ten dollars - not one pizza with no cheese and no meat.  

One way to do it.

Lost, overwhelmed..  You have a hundred dollars a month for food and incidentals.    How do you start.  

Buy basics you can do a lot with.  Buy bulk of those things.  Ifmyoumdimt have enough money for everything bulk in one month, buy one thing bulk, fill  in with a smaller amount of the rest.

• Rice at Costco - 25 pounds is about 8.00
• Beans - they are a dollar for 1.5 pounds at the dollar tree.   
• Cheese.  As expensive as you can find,  buy a Mexican blend to go with everything.    
• Eggs, a whole , Cheap protein that is recommended for your RDA of protein.   
• 2 nice fat chickens.    
• Oatmeal.   It's 7.99 at Costco for ten pounds.       It's a dollar a pound at the dollar tree for a finer grained oatmeal.  Another healthy cheap source of good nutrition.  
• Flour and bulk yeast.    Our Winco has a bulk isle and you can buy it by the ounce if you,need to.    

You can make a multitude of things from these basics.    Take fifty dollars and do your best to get as much of these in bulk.   Take the rest and buy dairy, produce, and canned tomatoes to fill in,  meal plan,   Stair step .   Make small batches of beans and rice so they don't go bad before you eat them up.    

One cup of beans makes three cups.    In bulk, a serving of rice is three cents a serving of beans is four cents.  (1/2 cup at this time) prices fluctuate.   

Scratch cook.    There are recipes in the Internet and on Pinterest for almost everything,   Take easy ones.    

One fat chicken can make 8 meals for two people.    The RDA for protein is 6 ounces a day and that should include eggs.    

• Breakfast : eggs, oatmeal, pancakes, waffles, breakfast burrito. 
• Lunch - leftovers or homemade soup.  Bread 
• Dinner : bean and cheese burritos, chicken soup, chicken casserole with rice or homemade noodles., impossible pie, stirfry, chilli, pizza, sliced chicken breast with rice and veggies. to name  a few . 

By purchasing bulk , even if you have to rotate the bulk per month, you,can stretch your dollars and maybe fill in other meats other months.   Chicken, sausage,  pasta ( I pay less than a dollar - use coupons ) get pasta with extra fiber or veggies of possible .   

Buy fruit and veggies in season.   Don't hesitate to return that bag of potatoes that goes bad in two days.    

• .    

My budget fell apart.- now what do I do ?

Answer to my budget fell apart, now what do I do!

• Don't be afraid to ask for help.   Some cities have a number where you can call for referrals.   
• Coupons are free and you can get them, from friends or neighbors or the recycle bin.   Some come in the mail. With  coupons, you can  get personal  products for free or nearly free.   You do have to pay the applicable sales tax .  
• Food can be greatly reduced with coupons too.   Look for sales. Go  to more than one grocery store.    Look in the bins where they keep managers specials..   Don't overbuy and eat it immediately-- like that day or cook it and freeze it,   
• Rice and beans are a good and can be bought in bulk cheap.   Rice is .03 a serving: beans are four.   
• Soups  are a good way to stretch and feed you for many meals.   
• Overstock grocery stores sometimes are resources for inexpensive  food.   Some is near pull date, but still good.  Use it soon.   
• Scratch cook.   Don't be afraid to De-bone  chicken, or chop meat, or make bread.   There are recipes for ez breads out there.    
• Pinterest is full of recipes and ideas for cheap meals.  
• Know your prices and only buy things that are the cheapest price they can be.   
• Eat foods high in protein and high in fiber for breakfast,  you will stay fuller, longer- like an egg and a bowl of oatmeal.   
• Sign  up for all the grocery stores rewards cards.  Sometimes  they offer free food or basket 
• coupons. 
• Buy the basics first--things  you can make a multitude of meals from -- flour, beans, rice, eggs, cheese. Oatmeal, a couple of chickens on sale.    Add diced  tomatoes and dairy and vegetables as you go.      
• Use Ibotta to get rebates from things you buy.   There are several companies that will give you rebates and you can use more than one.   That would pay for things like socks , personal products , etc.  
• get down to no frills basics.   

Hope this helps !    

• 
  

Dinner , yes chicken dinner.

We had stir fry chicken dinner.   I cooked a pound if chicken breast that Had de-boned  and purchased for a less than a dollar a pound,    I added frozen stir fry veggies that were .66 at QFC and a package of top ramen that I got for .17,   Two of us ate and there is still, enough for two more meals.    1.84 .  

Lunch was a California flat bread pizza that we got for free from QFC.

Chicken stir fry - 1.83 for the pam

Free lunch!   

Happy labor Day!

It's Monday,    Our week is unusual this week, hard to  keep the days straight,   We did go to Fred Meyers yesterday because they have a really really good dairy sale on.    With higher prices looming, I want to be prepared to soften the blow.    That doesn't mean I'm going to hoard dairy; but, rather, I'm going to keep our stock up to the self imposed limit.  

Yogurt is fifty cents and I had a coupon that made it .30.  I bought five.  
I bought the six 1/2 of cheeses that were the limit.    I kept enough to FIL, our cheese canister in the fridge and froze the rest.    I bought amvarietynofmthngsmthatyiumatia had white cheese for pizzas and yellow for casseroles.   1.98 a pound.  
Sour cream was a dollar.    
I bought milk, and  chocolate milk for the granddaughter.    That's 1.5 gallons.    Probably,enough to last us until it goes on sale again.   2.00 a gallon

I had 1-1/2 dozen eggs, and I got another 1-1/2 dozen for a dollar.   We will have breakfast for dinner and I have been keeping us in a desert on the counter.     It usually lasts us most of a week.  

Monday is kitchen management day.   Time to clean the refrigerator and Oreo anything that needs to be prepped.    It makes dinner time a whole lot more manageable.    It's hectic here around meal time like most households I imagine especially,when school starts and kids are anxious to tell all about their day.   I want it all:  good scratch meals and the time to spend with children before the get ready for bed time.   Kitchen prep makes the process smoother.    I'm not flying by the seat of my pants and throwing a dinner together at the last minute: that just spells S T R E S S to me.  

1. Clean the refrigerator door baskets.  I noticed that the condiment one is nasty.   The oven needs a good clean too.    
2. Go over the menu plan and list and prep anything that I can ahead.   
3. Number the things in the fridge.   I saw this on a u tube and it makes good sense.  This when implemented, makes sure you eat the oldest of anything first.    What we used to call grease pencils are cheap at the tree.    
4. Make a desert.   I'm going to make an apple bread and probably take granddaughter along for the ride.  I got apples for a dollar a pound at Winco.   
5. Wash the kitchen floor.    I got a " broom" at QFC for 1/2 price.   It made it about six dollars.    The head is fixed to take any kind of cloth you want to put on in it.  It co,ex with two micro fiber cloths, but I can see a dryer sheet when I need to kick up glitter.    My son and granddaughter glitter  fiends!   LOL.  I don't use dryer sheets, they are supposed to wreck your dryer.    But, I get them from the dollar tree just for when I need to pick up e,bossing powder or glitter.    The stuff is incideous amd multiplying like rabbits.!    LOL.  

Kitchen management is a tool to make your meal time more pleasant and less stressful and still cook from scratch.    Meal plans are a close second.    

Planning a shopping trip is a tool to lower your food bill .    

Four plus  one is five.    Four people, one meal, five bucks.   

Better, cheaper. Faster.    Better food, cheaper food, and get out of the kitchen so you can spend more time with family or doing what you want to do.   

Next weeks meal plans,

Meal  plans are done.    The RDA for protein is 6 ounces, part if which should be eggs.   Meal plans are listed ,but not always eaten in the order listed.    Most generally I use a protein based matrix so that we  eat a varied diet.

1. Breakfast 4 dinner 
2. Pizza    - homemade crust. 
3. Mac and cheese ( homemade) peas and carrots - Barilla pasta is .75with coupons 
4. Stir fry chicken with noodles 
5. Shepard's pie.    
6. Tuna casserole, peas -
7. Sausage and sauerkraut.   Rolls 

Notes 

1) eggs continue to be inexpensive so far.   Keeping a small amount ahead will at least soften the blow when the effects of the buyout may hit.   I found a waffle recipe that uses a cake mix.   We have cake mixes I got on sale.    Orange juice is a dollar at Freddies this week.    

2) Homemade pizza crust is .30 and really easy.   My recipe calls for loading flour, yeast and salt into the food processor, blending for a few seconds, pouring warm water and olive oil into the flour mixture while the processor is working until the mixture forms a ball.  That's it,   Take it out and knead it a couple of times in a floured board or counter, and place in a oiled bowl for ten minutes.    You're ready to roll.    Motts is two dollars a pound at Costco.  Pepperoni is .50 (instead of 3.00) for the same brand at the tree with coupons.   

  It is a misconception that it saves money to grate your own cheese.  Check the prices.    The bigger the sack the lower the price not necessarily true either,   Cheese is .99 for 8 ounces this week at Freddies.   Some packages are six ounces, watch the packages.  Base your purchases on price per pound.   A pound of cheese is a pound of cheese, whatever shape it's in.   We toured the Tillamook factory.   They make big blocks of cheese.   Then they put it in a machine and use what looks like a giant cheese slicer- with metal strings and cut it into the two pound bricks.   Whatever is left over they put into a big bus- boy tray and send to be grated.    

3) Mac and cheese is homemade.  Cheese is another thing to stock while the prices are low.    Grated cheese freezes well and I'm doing a WAG that the buyout will result in higher prices.   I got Barilla pasta for .75 each at the tree with a coupon.    I make a white sauce myself from a homemade mix that has low sodium chicken stock and non fat dry milk.    You can also make it scratch with a mixture of butter and olive oil, flour, and chicken stock and milk to make it more healthy.    Pasta is 1.59 at QFC. Seventy-five cents is less than 1/2 price.    

4) chicken stir fry.   I de-boned my chicken breasts and freeze them individually pin quart bags and then multiples in a gallon bag. a chicken breast cooked in a pressure cooker in 8 minutes.    Stir fry veggies were 66 at QFC a few weeks ago.    Ramen noodles are cheapest at Winco - (.17)  I don't use the flavor packet that is full of salt.    

5) Shepherds Pie - I've never made it, but I see a recipe and I have already cooked hamburger and instant mashed potatoes.    Flavored instant mashed potatoes are a good go to and are cheapest at

Winco.   

6) Tuna  casserole.   I always buy my tuna at Costco.   It's not cheap, but well worth the splurge.    Again homemade white sauce and I add some kind of a green vegetable.   I was in the hospital one time when the children were young,  my husband called me to ask how to make tuna casserole.   I told him to boil the noodles, use cream of mushroom soup, and add drained tuna and something green ( like peas or peas  and carrots ).  Hating green veggies, he took green to be chopped pickles! Lol 

7) Sausage  and sauerkraut.  Sauerkraut in glass jars are cheap at Winco.   I drain and rinse and add apple to cut the acidity.    The sausage was a dollar at QFC with a coupon and the buy 5, save 5.   Not everything in the ad was a good buy, a lot of it was junk food.    But, I used coupons and bought cereal    For a charity .    You could stock cereal of your family ate cold cereal.   We tend to eat oatmeal-- even grandchild.    

Knowing your prices and buying accordingly is the best way to cut your food bill.  You can eat well on four dollars or less.   This week, I must have been in a comfort food mood.    Looking at the plan in retrospect.    I tend to use the tried and true and make it with less fat, sugar, and salt and avoid hydrogenated oils.   

Anything you want  to eat, someone will tell you it's bad for you.  Of you eat too much kale , you can get lead poisoning.

No food will do your family good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.

You eat first with your eyes.  Some of the "healthy " foods honestly, look like someone has already eaten them or like dog poop.    My take is to eat the tried and true.   Just eat moderation and make it as healthy as possible , reducing fat, salt, sugar and hydrogenated oils. It he,so to make as much as possible from scratch.   Grandmas cooking with bacon drippings. Shortening and mass sugar was not healthy.   You can still find that cooking in u tube.   It is possible to cook tasty regular food more healthy and not spend the entire day in the kitchen.   Our grandmothers didn't have a lot of outside activities. They had small houses so there wasn't a lot to clean.  They didn't work outside the home.   They cooked.  all day.  Our lifestyle is not conducive of that.  We do have tools these days to make the job of scratch cooking easier.    And, we can rethink retro recipes to make them tasty and more healthy.    



Better, cheaper, faster 
Four plus one is five : Four people. One meal, Five  bucks.    

Dinner

White fish , mixed veggies and Spanish rice.    

Freddies tomorrow ad

Unlike last week, this Sunday ad is good.

Sunday and Monday only 

Nathan's hot dogs ( note both Nathan's and nneed national have less garbage in them.  Hebrew national has soy based product and Nathan's has corn.   Nathan's is the best of the two evils.    
2/4
Another nite, they  get you with the buns.   Winco is the cheapest on buns, or you can make them pigs in blankets.   

Corn on cob 3/1 

Watermelon 3.99

Some will say all of this isn't good for you.   Perhaps only for picnic holiday and then back to a better diet.   

Regular ad.   

18  eggs .99
Kroger shredded cheese .99 - watch and get the 8 ounce bags!
Milk .99
Yoplait yogurt 10/5 - note there are coupons for another .20 off each
Vegetables, tomatoes,means 2/1 limit 6@@
Sour cream/'cottage cheese .99@@
La croix  water 2/5@@
Foster farms chicken, while or parts .87

My rotation protein would be eggs and beans.   Pinto beans are .75 lb in a four pound bag at grocery outlet.    They are .67 a pound in a 1.5 pound bag at the dollar tree.   Seems Kroger has all but quit carrying them, amd they are a much higher price at Winco, I'm seeing what seems to be a trend and I would be stocking some.

Eggs are one of the USDA bailouts.   18 count per dollar at Fred Meyer is probably the lowest you are going  to see .   Breakfast for dinner is a good alternative.  

Ditto cheese at .99 a half pound,    Cheese freezes.   That is less than two dollars a pound.    I would buy the six limit and freeze.

Dinner - well kinda

What's left of dinner.    I forgot to take the picture before we ate.   LOL.  

We had potatoes,radishes, and cauliflower roasted with sausage.   

2.25 fed four of us,    

Book and sea salt

Testing new pic program.   

Book with many ide as at the dollar tree.   

Also Himalayan sea salt  in a bigger grinder than Costco's at dollar tree.   

Reading the book, I am seeing many recipes that, indeed can be made for five dollars or less.   There seem however, some that cannot.  I think some can be adapted to make them a five dollar or less dinner.   Phyllo dough is too expensive to make a dinner with it and still keep the cost down,   A pie crust recipe should, however, do the trick.    

Rice, brown rice,beans, cheese, hamburger occasionally, chicken, pork, ham cubes, eggs, all sources of protein and  are inexpensive at this point in time.  

Fill in with vegetables in season amd dairy.   

Cooking vegetarian a couple times a week will reduce your average meal cost.   

Book and sea salt

Testing new pic program.   

Book with many ide as at the dollar tree.   

Also Himalayan sea salt  in a bigger grinder than Costco's at dollar tree.   

Hauls......groceries for the week are done.

We had to go to town on another errand or two.  Grandpas flip phone needed a decent funeral.    It just died.   Anyway, we went to dollar tree and grocery outlet.  

At dollar tree I got

•  15 pounds of pinto beans 
• Brown n serve bread.   
• 4 Barilla pasta : paid for three using a dollar off coupon.    (.75) 
• Delicious five dollar dinners book.   

 Total on food 5.00

At grocery outlet I got 

• 4 pounds of pinto beans 2.99
• 2 sugar free cake mixes.    

Total spend 5.00

Total for the week 31.69

Winco haul

Since Winco has no ads, you just have to go and know your prices.  

Eggs, 18 count 1.44.      18 eggs were less than 1.5 times the cost of a dozen.    Since I suspect the cost of eggs to go up, at least maybe I can suspend the sticker shock a little of o keep a supply.  

Green grapes,.99.   They looked really bog and fresh,  

Gala apples.  .99.  Some of,the, had pimctire spots . You have to pick  through.

Whole wheat bread 1.60

Winco green chilies - mild.   .58 - far cheaper than any other store.  - like about a dollar .

Diced tomatoes - .58.   I'd rather lay fifty cents, but far cheaper than 1.59.  After cleaning the pantry, I discovered we were running short.    I rearranged the pantry and made room for more on the shelf and purged some of the beans.

Bottle of lemon juice - 2.14. - by far the cheapest way to get lemon juice.   Lemons are expensive and don't look that great.  

Winco coffee - 5.48 - cheapest price around.   We are not coffee snobs, as you can tell.  

Chicken noodle soup. .75.  Less coupons for .40 off three.  

Credit for bags .18.  

Total 21.6

Cantaloupe continues to be cheap by the pound.
Steak was also very reasonable.  
Sour cream and cottage cheese were pennies different than Fred Meyer sale price .
Canned veggies were 58

On another note. I took some inventory and cleaned the pantry.  Thing were just put in there and I like things in  the pantry and fridge grouped together.    It keeps you from thinking you are out of something and then finding another one in the back corner.    

It told me we have plenty of whole black olives, and not enough of tomatoes.     I reduced the amount of canned beans. I am going to using dry beans since I discovered I can cook them without soaking in
the pressure cooker for as little as a cup that makes three cups.    By rearranging and organizing I got almost everything off the floor and room for canisters of dried beans.    I still want cans for emergencies and times when I don't have an hour to cook beans.    It only takes 28 minutes, but it has to have time to come to pressure, and time to release pressure.  Beans need to release on their own and not be nudged into it!  

Before the pressure cooker. I would have not cooked beans,  it is to time consuming to cook a cup of beans from scratch and we can't use a whole stock lot of beans before they go bad.    Beans and rice
have a very short fridge life.    I'm not going to compromise my family's health to save ten cents and I don't want to waste and throw out.  

A serving of rice costs .03 and a serving of beans cost .04.    I get beans at grocery outlet.    The price seems to be going up and Kroger barely carries them.    They are close to .90 at Wimco a pound and I can still get beans for 1.00 for a pound and a half.    That's down from two pounds earlier im the year.
They are cheaper at Costco in bulk but we can't use a enormous bag of beans.    I do get bulk rice at Costco. We use a lot of rice and it doesn't go bad.  

I spend average of seventy five dollars a week.    Basically for three of us,    The USDA stats for my husband and I is closer to a hundred.    That is for food eaten at home,    I spend seventy five and stock.    I do that by never paying full price for food.   In fact, I usually pay 50 percent less or more.  

We aren't on snap, but we eat for less than snap.    I, not going to tell you that I snap my fingers and food appears in the pantry, catalogued and ready to eat.    I spent  an hour yesterday printing 2 sets of coupons.  That would have been a lot less time , but my computer wouldn't cooperate, it kept hanging and Internet explorer kept quitting .    That will be about it for couponing.    I will glance at the inserts and file them.   Favado at a quick glance before shopping will tell me if there  is a coupon on something on my list.     Ibotta will tell me of something I bought has a rebate.  

I balance my time by spending  more time planning and shopping, and less time cooking,  there are many ways you can cook scratch, without standing in your feet for hours.  

If you have something you want addressed on the blog, please feel free to comment.


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 a month or 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.    

Alberways and QFC

the ads
QFC

Peaches 1.28
Peppers. English cucumbers .99
Watermelons 2/4
Tillamook cheese 5.99


Buy 5, save 5  - net prices

Ritz crackers 1.69
Birds eye veggies ,99
General Mills cereal 1.29
Foster farms crispy strips 5.99

Eckrich smokes sausage 1.99 - plus in the mail with the ads, coupon for BOGO.   Nets 1.00 per package

Raspberries 2/5


Alberways

Grapes .99
Tillamook cheese -2ln 5.49@@


Five dollar Friday
Corn (10)
Hormel pork tenderloin

About it.    Traditionally, holiday weekends are not the best "buy" weekends,  

Whats for dinner.?

Spicy chicken tomato soup .   I added chopped tomatoes because it looked to pasty to me.   Sori joked with parm cheese.   Dinner rolls from the dollar store.    

Winner, winner, not chicken dinner!

Last night we had a taco boat, not fried - refried beans, and rice.    I saved some peppers  and some of the rice for the spicy chicken soup for tonight.  Waste not, want not.

I saw a lady on U-tube make bread sticks from pizza dough,   ( living on a dime ) she added white to the tops. I think I'll add some melted butter and finely grated parm.   It should be a good project for granddaughter and I .   She will probably enjoy rolling them out.    She also loves soup.    The soup recipe is a Taste  of Home.    When I wrote  for them, they posted the recipe on the Internet.    This one could be there.    http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/quick-and-spicy-chicken-rice-soup

I found room for the pinto beans  in the cupboard rather than the pantry because I use them a lot.   The price of beans has gone up.  They are still cheapest at the dollar tree  except maybe Costco in bulk.   I haven't eaten down the canned supply yet, so that's not happening,    I do intend to keep a few cans.for emergency and as my daughter put it, sometimes,  you may not have an hour to cook beans,

Being in transition is hard for the pantry organization.
We are so lucky to have a closet full of food.     I got two packages of pronto speghetti from the dollar tree yesterday.  I did pay a dollar, because you can only use two printed coupons per day, and  door coupons total per family per day.    I used two coupons for puffs.  They are a smaller box count, buy they are better quality and with a coupon, they are .75 .   I have a coupon that is a dollar off of four.    Thinking about this, a .75 box of speghetti, a .85 cent can of pasta sauce, and package of meatballs would put dinner on the table for 2.60 for a family of four.   Add some green beans for .50 and some bread sticks for .15.   Total 3.25.  For the three of us, I can save so,e for lunch the next day. Or freeze some for a dinner.    for granddaughter when we are going out or she doesn't like our dinner.   And, it cooks in ten minutes flat.  

On another note, we did  go to the dollar tree.   I wanted brown n serve rolls for meatball subs.   There are six to a package, they usually come in on Mondays, they are no GMO, no artificial. Easy, Peasy.  They also come in two thin baguettes.   I haven't found a good baguette recipe yet.  

They also have what looks like a light switch.   It runs on batteries and I plan to out it on the utility closet so I can see on there.    I keep the staging things for the dining table, vases, placemats, flower arranging supplies, and  the mops and vacuume cleaner.  
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

Clark Howard and Jesse jones

I love Jesse Jones .   He helped my daughter with a sticky situation with a health club and we truly appreciate it.  

The  what looked like costco article about bulk foods was from Clark Howard.   I can't agree with most of what was said.  To be fair, this person may very well  live in a different part of the country,    I am , many of you know, a big fan of buying in bulk and stocking a pantry.  My mantra  is to pay the very least you can for a product.   Buy quality, buy it on sale, preferably with some kind of a coupon.    Most of what we buy is 50-68 or more percent off. We eat for less than what most people spend on their morning coffee at the big bucks store.   Buying good food cheap is my thing: it's just what I do.

My take on her list of bulk foods to buy

1) cheese.   I almost never pay 2.75 a pound for regular cheese.    Costco has motts for 2.00: Mexican blend closer to 2.35 .  Their blue cheese is a remarkable price.    Today.   All bets are off when the government buy out has happened  and we see the consequences. 
I paid 1.98 a pound last week at Safeways and got a twenty percent basket coupon on it as well.

2) spices.     Some large bottle spices at Costco are a deal especially if it's a spice that you use a lot.   I suspect Italian -and Mexican typical spices are popular as well as Asian in some families. Spices that you use less often and expensive  spices, you are better off getting on the bulk isle at Winco.  A one inch type "jar" of dill was over six dollars.   Enough to fill the "jar" in the bulk isle was less than .20.
 M.

3) dry pasta . Dry pasta, stored properly, according to a BYU class I listened to, has an eight year shelf life. I always stock pasta.   The big, but here is that I usually pay between .38 and .75 a box ( some 12 oz, some 16) for the pasta in the blue box using sales and coupons.  

4) canned goods are not necessarily a good buy at Costco.    The green beans are comparable and have less sodium.   Canned goods are good to stock, but in moderation especially the canned meat or fish that have a shorter shelf life.    They do have a boxed tomato, roasted red pepper soup that is organic and sells for about 1/2 the price compared to a regular chain grocery store.

5) oats.  Hands down the best  buy of oats I have found at a dollar a pound.   They are a dollar a pound at the store with that name, but the quality isn't as good .   We get ten pounds at a time and use it every day.

6) meat:    And, pray tell, when has anyone got ground beef of any quality for two dollars a pound?   Maybe in 1980!   Winco has had it for 3.18 a pound for 7 percent fat.   I don't find Costco meat  cheaper except for sausage in chubs and bacon.    Costco wholesale was cheaper, but I didn't like the texture.

7) grouping together produce: onions and peppers, strawberries and apples.    The strawberries I saw were past their prime and the apples I bought were in fact rotten.   I should have taken them back.   I have had strawberries that were good before, but the price of apples is prohibitive.   I can't pay almost  a buck an apple.   Produce at other places and the fresh food market is cheaper and you can pick your item,so you don't pay for one bad piece, jacking up the price.   Bananas are , hands  down ( pardon the pun) the Best Buy around as well as the baby romaine.   It's less expensive  and lasts longer


Things to stock :  Rice, beans, oatmeal, Popcorn.  Frozen veggies in five pound bags.

Best buys at Costco on butter, cottage cheese and sour cream.

I shop at Costco.   We love Costco.




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

1. 
   

Sugar. ....

we all know that sugar is not good for us, or rather, too much sugar is,not good for us.     A conversation with a friend sparked  my curiosity,      I started researching.     ......
Grams of sugar oj ready to eat cereals.    

Corn flakes.  2.7
Honey nitmxheerios. 9
Cheerios 1.2
Cocoa oops 12
Cookie Crisp 9
Raisen bran. 18
Lucky charms 10
Trix 10
Cocoa Puffs 10
Raisen bran crunch 10.5
Rice crispies 3.3
Rice Chex 2.0


Now, the six million dollar question is how many teaspoons of sugar is a kid going to add to a cereal that has no Sugar?     LOL.  

Making the most of a coupon -- not extreme

Making the most of a coupon does not take extreme couponing,  Couponing  has gotten a bad wrap from the tv show.   No one needs to have a whole room in their basement the  or a closet full of pop; and no one needs to buy 70 bottles of red pepper sauce, more? than they would one on a lifetime.  

Couponing responsibly can seriously lower your food bill.   A lot of coupons are for high priced junk food and things you don't need.   But, there are still high value coupons for things you do need.   It doesn't have to take a lot of time.   Spend 20 minutes or so downloading coupons from coupons,com at the beginning of the month.   Coupons come out the first of the month.  Their is a limit on what can print,   The high value ones go  first.   You snooze, you loose.  

I file mine in a binder. I got the binder from the goodwill and I bought baseball card sleeves and photo sleeves.   If you are an occasional couponer, you can use a coupon wallet from the dollar tree.
Take it to the store with you.  You never know when you find a match.

Grouping coupons is what saves  you the most money,   I usually don't plan a shopping trip.   I look at the ads and make a mental note of which store has the most of what I need on sale for the lowest price.   I'm looking for a rotation protein, anything  I am running low on or perishables I need and any staple stock item that's a really good price.  

I go, walk down the isles that are important to me, skip the baby and dog food isles because I don't have a baby or dog .  That cuts time ,   The perimeter of the store  has the most perishable items.  The rest of the store usually has isles you don't need to go down unless you have a special  need.   Skipping those isles saves time.   Be on the lookout for things you buy on a regular basis that may be at a lower price.   When something you need is at a lower price, check your coupon book.   If I need to look or cut a coupon, I tuck my cart into an isle that is less traveled and do it.  The cosmetic or pet food isle usually works.  

The most percentage off is when you can use a basket coupon, a true sale, and manufacturers coupons.   The five for five type sales are the best.   So,stores, I skip them because they are for expensive  drinks and junk food.  But , occasionally , the stars are in alignment and a basket coupon, five for five sake in real food, and manufacturers coupons all come at the same time.   That's when it's important to plan and act.    I have got as much as 78 percent off.

QFC is one of the best places for that kind of a sale.   They let you use the basket coupon first, and then use your manufacturers coupons , and then the five for five rings up last.   Cha Ching!  

Example :

12 ounce boxes of Cheerios are 2.79.  Sale price was 2.29, less the dollar for the "bulk" sale made them 1.29.  Now, add a 1.00 off two coupon and I got them for .79.
I bought four. ( food bank) .
I added a bag of goldfish crackers for .99.

There is usually a few small items priced at a dollar or so to use for fill ins.   I can use goldfish for a little snack for granddaughter, or to float in a bowl of soup to make it more appetizing.
There was no blanket coupon on this sake, but I have done blanket sales with bulk sales before.    It maximizes your discounts.  

Here's the best one I've ever seen.  My sister did it.

6.99  detergent for HD washers.   On sale , less coupon, less basket  coupon, net 1.10.   WOW


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

Leaf frog or stair step.

One kitchen management or quick cooking tool is to leap frog or stair step your meals.   It's an age old trick.    This week, we are having tacos, rice and non-fried refried beans.   We are also having sliced chicken and rice soup.   I can save some of the rice and some ofmthemoeooers from the beans and use  them in the soup.   We are also having a rox medley or pilaf  if you want to be fancy.   Rice and beans have a three day fridge life.   That might be pushing it.   Rice in the rice cooker is a no brainer.   Not fried - refried beans, not so much. Spicy  chicken soup is from taste of home.    Many times you can google it for the recipe.  

Stair stepping or leap frogging is when you save something from one nights dinner and use it for th mn still nights dinner,  it especially is good if you have a small family and need to use up a whole can of something.   Or you can cook once and ise it twice , as in rice or beans.  

It took me a long time to get the refried bean recipe down to 1 cup of beans,   It's just the right amount for a quart deli tub of product.   There are four of us for anything that is vegetable based.  

Just another way to save time and 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 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. It also means when payday comes, you still have food in the pantry.   

 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

Perfectionist or not so much

moone ever accused me of being s perfectionist.   It's just not my personality,    My Mac and cheese doesn't have to have just the right amount of dark spots on it to be good.    Make look tasty, season it so it tastes good, bit go on to the next thing to do.  I always have a to do list as long as your arm, so perfectionism just slows me down.   

I use spell check. I am writing this in a reader that won't scroll and sometimes I am writing it blind.   It outs words in my mouth.  This thing must have a relationship with chocolate because it says Oreo all the time.   LOL.  I try my best, but I will never live up to the perfectionist.    Ain't gonna happen.    

Today on my list is to 

• Clean myself up 
• Write a blog 
• Do the kitchen management which includes making bread from scratch , washing the f,Ior and fridge, regrouping things on the pantry.    Posting the meals on the fridge.    Posting the sakes slips for food and downloading coupons,   
• Clean my studio and start another inventory section 
• Call the pt and see when my a lot is so I haven't double booked appointments.  
• Find a ride to a meeting 
• Babysit my granddaughter 
• Get the garden cut down and ready for fall.    
• Figure out how a picture works on the blog now that Google changed the program.  
• Figure out how to be able to have both the reader and the printer on wifi at the same time,   Arh!   

Just get it done.    If I had to worry about perfection, I wouldn't get it all done.    I admire perfectionists when it comes to woodworking, or a painting, and we can all strive for it.   But getting things done around the house is not a time  for perfection unless you are getting your house ready to sell.    

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

Meal plans and notes

Walking you through the brains .... Behind meal plans.   Not to brag or make this blog all about me,,, bit, rather to help people that may be struggling with the planning oset of meals on the table,     It's a very important step in keeping your cost down.   Of you aren't on the Seattle area, you can use the methodology to make it work for you,   Watching food hauls from other parts of the country, food prices vary, some things are more expensive , some less.   

My rotation.protein for this week would be a 1/2 pork loin from Fred Meyers or the hambirger at Fred Meyers.    

Using the matrix 

1 beef 

1 fish 

3 chicken or pork 

2 vegetarian.   

I have a work sheet I use,  it tells me what we have in the fridge, because I have just cleaned it and made note of things near their pull dates.    The form has two columns on the right side of the paper,  perishables we have normally, and things we need to buy to complete meals.   The left side has boxes for 7 meals and the matrix printed.    It's a simple form made on excel.   

Take a look at your daytimer and note any appointments that will make for a hectic day.   You can plan meals to compensate.    That may be the day you decide to put a chicken noodle soup on the slow cooker early on the morning, or stage ot in the fridge to place on the slow cooker before you leave in the morning.   Find a few minutes on the weekend, if you work, so you can do some kitchen management and get organized.    Wash veggies and prep anything you can ahead of time.  Of you do that part while you are batch cooking your rotation meat, it doesn't take long.   Enlist help if you can. You would be surprised what even a small child can do.   I don't let granddaughter do anything that has sharp or hot connected to it, but she knows how to do a lot.   She loves to cook.   She can make breadcrumbs, roll and fill an pizza. Stir things, butter and top a French bread, hollow out bag gets for meat ball subs.   Just teach them how to scrub their hands well.   I don't let her touch raw meat either. She can also brush the veggies in vinegar water.    It keeps her busy while o do other things.   

Using the matrix ( makes it easy-- less reinventing the wheel ) write down seven meals that fill the matrix and use what you have to use up and the rotation protein you have in the freezer/pantry.   

I have yogurt we need to use up, and sausage I got for a dollar a package.  I try for onkyone or less processed meat a week,    

1. Pizza 
2. Taco salad, beans and rice 
3. Slow cooker chicken noodle soup and cheezy biscuits. 
4. Sausage and roasted root veggies , bread 
5. White fish, rice medley, mixed veggies 
6. Meat ball subs , salad 
7. Breakfast for dinner

Notes : 

Daughter is making pizza from scratch for the first time.    Granddaughter has done it.   

Baby romaine at Costco lasts longer and tastes better amd is cheaper.    Taco meat is ready made in the freezer from batch cooking.    Rice in the rice cooker, non fried, refried beans from scratch.    

Chicken noodle soup from stock in the freezer and fresh veggies and bulk noodles.   To,e to portion control the noodles into bags.  Cheezy biscuits are Bisquick ( or homemade baking mix) biscuits rolled out like a jelly roll.   Spread with cheese and rolled up like a jelly roll, sliced and baked.   

Oven roasted veggies : potato, carrots. Radishes  sausage was a dollar at QFC.   We will use. 1/2 of one.   Make scratch bread 

Rice medley is rice made from a home made mix ( herbs and chicken stock) frozen veggies ( .33) 

Bake fish 

Meat ball subs - meat balls from batch cooking or from the freezer case I got for .98 a short pound.  

Hallow out brown and serve rolls ( dollar tree, no GMO, no artificial ingredients ) fill with meatballs that are dressed with BBQ sauce ( .55 beginning of season with coupons and sale) Fred Meyers .79 . 

Breakfast 4 dinner.     79 eggs , .30 yogurt parfaits , and English muffins (1.67 a doz -Fred Meyers  or home made muffins.   Scratch muffin formula from Katie cooks and crafts u tube or mix from dollar tree with yogurt or substitute sour cream.  

Variety, good food, easy to make. Cheap?    

Better, cheaper, faster 

4 plus 1 is five. Four people, ome meal, five bucks.   

.

The Freddies ad

Tomorrows ad


Ground beef - 10 percent fat.  3.90

Grapes .99

Goldfish .99

Pears .99

Corn 3/1

Coupons coupons coupons - in ad

Ritz  crackers 3/5
Best foods 2.49
Sweet baby rays sauce .79
Sour cream/ cottage cheese 2/4
Yoban coffe 6.99

Pork loin 1.99 ( I'd rather pay 1.69, but that's not bad.

New ads coming

Let's talk meal plans.   I have an app that I subscribe to called deals to meals.   It's five dollars a month,  I have to pull ot up every time I use it and have forgotten about it,   I'll leave it on my reader now. E  I think it was interesting that they took ordinary food that I already cook and gave it fancy names.    I just cook.    Plain  and simple cook.  I add seasonings, etc, but have never thought to add fancy names to make things look more interesting,    Cheeseburger macaroni is goulash?   A rice medley is rice pilaf?    Go figure.

I am trying to write on a level that everyone, regardless of their educational experience, can understand,   Eating for four dollar or less a day is a lesson in frugality, and imagination.    No, you don't have to imagine the food! LOL.   But, Pinterest and on line cookbooks are full of new ways to cook old food.    It's getting down to basics.    Junk food and processed food is for the most part not part of this life.    That's a good thing.    That kind of food , everyone will admit , is not good for you.  
It forces you to buy basics and cook basics.   Every family has their favorites and I can't address ethnic foods, because it's not my expertise.    I can not address the basics that I know.   Still, the basics of eating on the cheap is based on shopping wisely with every tool you can legitimately use to make good food happen in your dinner table.  

I say legitimately.  Obvious midnight gardening from your neighbors garden isn't legitimate.
There is a fine line.   Some things are legal, but not ethical.    I bought eight boxes of sale cereal this week.  For my own use, it would not be  ethical.    We can't use eight boxes of cereal,they would go
to waste, and someone else who needed them would not get them,   Truth is, I bought them for children that needed food. ( basically a food bank) .   That changes the rules.  

You have to adhere to the coupon rules.    Many stores have rules.   When I wanted to buy multiples of tuna, I asked before if I could because they were going to basically a food bank.   If I was purchasing them for our use, I would have honored the six limit.    Cheating the system just hurts someone else.   You are allowed two coupons per household when downloading from your computer. Some greedy people will have more than one printer set up and print multiples.    It's somewhat legal, but not ethical.

We don't need to take more than we can use before it goes bad.    Check the shelf life and judge accordingly based on the amount you family will eat in a given week.    I tend to stick more heavy than some,   I'm paying 50-70 percent less than a normal price for things.  No bank or safe investment I know will give me 50 percent on my money,   Some seniors on medicare hit  the donut hole : that's where you have used their limit on meds including your copay, and the med bill is on you.    One of my meds is 530.00 a month.   If I stock high, we can eat from the pantry and have the money for the meds.

Don't buy something just because its on sale. Identify the things you need to make the normal meals you cook.   Write a list.   For is it is, black olives. Diced tomatoes , beans, rice, some chicken noodle soup, some boxed tomato soup, pasta, instant mashed potatoes, dried beans, minced milk peppers, small tomato sauce, ramen noodles. Green beans, small amount of corn.,

Some things I just replace when I'm down to two and start looking for a sale,   Some things like catchup  and baking supplies, I buy seasonably - enough for the year because they are at their lowest price once a year.    Some things I have allocated a certain amount of shelf space and when I see white shelf, it's time to look for a sale.


Being flexible with your meals based on a really good sale helps.   I found sausage on a buy 5 things, save five dollars sale.   It was legitimately 2.99.  Less a dollar made it 1.99- the deal turner eas that it had a dollar instant coupon on it.   That made enough meat for two of us for a meal .50.   It doesn't get much cheaper than that unless you count the free one we got last week.
I do try to limit our processed meats to once a week or less.

Incorporating what on sake and produce in season goes a long way to reducing your food bill.