Tuesday notes relativity

It is a habit of mine to watch grocery hauls.  Its a matter of studying the shopping habits and prices in other parts of  the country.   Its interesting to note that the same thing can be as low as 28 cents one place and 1.10 another.   Prices can even vary drastically in the same area.   A lot of how much is spent depends on how much money is available and the fact that many people add everything from crock pots to shampoo to their basket.   As a rule of thumb, buying non food items at the grocery store is usually not a good idea.   You are paying a lot more than you need to.   Grocery stores assign a different profit margin to categories of merchandise.   Sundry items are their moneymakers.   

I have seen grocery hauls for as much as 2600 an 942 dollars and as low as 32.00 a week for a family of four.  Setting a budget is the first step.   Kinda like dieting....if you have brownies in the house, you are going to eat them!   LOL.  

There was a time when both my husband and I both lost our jobs within a week or so of each other.  Needless to say, we cut all spending.   We took the mantra that what resources we had might have to last a long time.  We were also building an addition on the house.  Four of u lived in 400 square feet of the basement .  We had a kitchen that was unfinished.   I had a folding table with a microwave and a chopping block on wheels that housed a one burner hot plate.   

One Sunday I started a soup bone in a stock pot on the hot plate.   My son came up to me and asked what was in the pot.   I told him soup.  He took one look and said , well, it doesn’t look like soup.  

Trust me, by dinner it will look like soup.   I proceeded to cook the bone, pull the meat off the bone and add stock and veggies.   By dinner time, it was soup.   

He went to school and told his teacher that he had homemade soup for dinner.   His teacher, bless her heart, told him homemade was sooo much better than anything out of a can.   

Living on a budget and knowing how to stretch a buck is a good thing. Even if you are in a position to live more than comfortably, knowing how is a good skill.   If you know how to live on a dime, living on a dollar isn’t hard to master.   

There are all kinds of recipes out there and u tubers that show you how to do almost everything.  Somethings like making soda crackers, seem fruitless, but knowing how at least would teach children that they just don't come out of a box. Like my son who realized that soup doesn’t necessarily come out of a can. 

I discovered   yesterday how to make sweetened condensed milk.   It is really expensive and you can make it for pennies.   My concern was that you put hot syrup into a blender bowl.   Maybe if you heated the bowl first with hot water.  Or used an emulsion  blender. Its one of those things you usually only use at holiday times.   It is still nice to know how to do in a pinch.   

Needless to say, having basic ingredients in your pantry gives you great flexibility vs having boxes or bags of ready made ...and it does it cheaper as well.  

Buying food efficiently and cooking efficiently has its merits.  

Monday Kitchen management and notes.

Kitchen management is a tool that allows you to prep for the next weeks meals and deep clean the kitchen.   I have a real issue with the new terminology of “clean” food.  If you have a clean disinfected kitchen and you wash your hands didn’t double dip the tasting spoons, don't cross contaminate raw foods, and wash your fruits and veggies in vinegar water, you are  probably clean.   

We have a generation of people that think they need to be special.  Remember the me generation?   This will go down in history for being the “special” generation.    After going through the 70s with double digit inflation and no raises for 3 years as a single parent with no child support, I have little patience for special.   Just eat as healthy as you can and be darn glad you have food to eat.   Not everyone does.    Ps:  I had an ex husband, he just thought playin 36 holes of golf was more important than paying child support.   There is always a reason why we have ex’s.  LOL 

I digress: 

• Wash kitchen floor 
• Wash and disinfect countertops, sinks and drains.  Believe it or not, drains get nasty.   Use a dedicated brush.  
• Wash veggies.  I use a dedicated brush and vinegar water in a dedicated plastic bowl.  
• Make tonight’s soup.  Make beer bread.   
• Wash salad greens and store in fresh containers
• Wash the oven vent screen.  (First of the month) 
• Wash the bottom vent on the fridge.  Scrumbing bubbles in the sink makes it easy.  
• Wax north side cabinets.  (Howards) 

Meal Plans for week of Oct 2

Meal plans help assure you use up what perishables you have.  They are a tool to make dinner time less hectic.   You can schedule easy dinners the nights that you know a lot is going on.

1. Soup, cheezy rolls, 
2. Pizza 
3. Hamburgers, oven fries, salad
4. Chicken enchiladas, rice, beans 
5. Tuna cassarole, peas and carrots 
6. Pork stew over noodles, California blend veggies, salad 
7. Pumpkin pancakes, turkey bacon, fruit plate.  

Notes: 

• Soup is an easy dinner when family has to eat at different times.   
• Pizza is always a favorite. 
• Hamburgers were purchased at qfc for three dollars a pound.  I am anxious to try the applewood smoked ones. 
• Chicken enchaladas are made with chicken from the ribs of chicken breasts.  Sour cream green sauce is easy and inexpensive.   
• Tuna cassarole....make with cream soup base . 
• Pork stew is made from the ends of the pork loin.   Cook noodles once, use twice.   
• Pumpkin pancakes -a fall favorite.    Turkey bacon bought on sale.   

Costs : 

1. 3.00
2. 1.04
3. 4.22 (4) 
4. 2.94
5. 3.15
6. 3.54
7. 5.00

Total 22.89

Fred Meyer Sunday Ad

Some good basics ... the soup and the pasta are always a dollar at the dollar tree.  Sometimes you can find extra product in the soup at the DT.   There are good coupons our there for both.  


honeycrisp apples 1.88
Chuck roast 2.97
Eggs .79
Land of lakes butter 2.97

Campbells soup 1.00 $$
Barilla pasta 1.00 $$

Pears .99
Acorn squash .99

Pumpkin pie 3.99

Friday recipe and blanket coupon analysis.

Its 4 am and I'm writing this in the dark.   I guess fall is here.   LOL

Balsaamic Orange sauce....good for chicken or fish

1 T orange peel
1T balsamic vinegar
1T honey
3/4 tap salt.

I have a basket coupon for QFC.   It is on conjunction with the remoldel grand opening of our local store.   Blanket coupons work best if you can keep close to the limit. ( 10 dollars off of 40) .  September food costs 37.51 per week.

• Le Croiz water 1.99 (4) 
• Strawberries 2/3
• Barilla pasta 2 ea use coupon
• chicken noodle soup (4) w coupon 
• Blues 2/5 (4) 
• Angus beef patties 7.99 (2)

Check back for the results of the haul.  

Total of sales slip is 94.04.  Total spent 34.88

Also got for free

Frappe
BBQ sauce
Toilet paper
Baby wipes
Power bar
cookies
Lettuce
Bread

Chain store ads

Alberways

Bagged salads .99
Refresh water 5/10
Milk 1.79
Radishes,green onions .99
Sour cream 4/5

3 day sale FSS
Broccolli .78
Crackers .88
Chunky soup .99$$
Sirloin 2.98**

$$ coupons out there
** a good time to grind your own hamburger.


QFC

Strawberries 2/3.
Pears .77
Draper valley whole chicken .87
Brats 3.49

Digital coupons
Sour cream .99
Chunky soup 4/4 :  note if you have paper coupons you are turnoff getting itfornthesamprie at safeways because you can't double dip coupons.   An electronic coupon and a paper coupon doesn't work.  

Draper valley is not my favorite.   It is washington grown, but their butchers are not the best in my opinion.  Nasty .

Tuesday Notes : No dinner, ten minutes, no problem.

No Dinner, Ten Minutes, No Problem!

• We are talking actual hands on time.   

Tacos....with rotation meat , hamburger is already cooked and frozen in portion controlled bags.   Take meat from the freezer, place it in a small skillet, add water and taco seasoning.  Place on low.  Meanwhile, gather the grated cheese, lettuce and tomato.  Chop the lettuce and de-seed the tomato and shop.   Heat the tortilla shells.   The meat should be done.   

•  Pronto pasta speghetti and meatballs.   Pronto pasta is an invention of Barilla pasta.   Follow directions, add a jar of Pasta sauce and microwaved meatballs.   
• A jus sandwiches:   Place beef broth in small skillet. Bring it to a boil.  Turn off the heat.  .   Add deli roast beef leave it i a stack.   Barely heat it through  layer on split hard rolls.  Mae a salad from a bag of salad.  
• Toast English muffins in the oven on a sheet pan, or in the toaster if you have a smaller family. Fry eggs.   Make egg muffins.   Fix a bowl of fruit.   

Kitchen management Monday

Kitchen  management is a tool that makes dinner time less hectic.   Anytime you can have dinner partially prepped eliminates time spent in the kitchen at the busy dinner hour.
It makes scratch cooking more manageable.

1. Sweep and wash the kitchen floor.
2. Wash and disinfect the counters, sinks, and drains. 
3. Wash the drip pan for the ice maker.  
4. Mark the meal plans with times to defrost meat. 
5. Wash potatoes with vinegar water, enough for fries and baked potatoes 
6. Make hard cooked eggs **
7. Make veggie sticks 
8. Make rice for tonight's dinner 
9. Wash the microwave. 
10. Straighten the pantry.
11. Make pudding for desert.

**. I keep hard cooked eggs, and veggie sticks for snacks.  If they are on the bottom shelf of the fridge, granddaughter can reach them herself with supervision.   

Holy cow!

I posted on the wrong channel.  

Please use the link.   www.janegrocerysavy.blogspot.com

Ranch dressing mix / one pot pasta

Mix together the following ingredient.  Store in a jar with a tight fitting lid.
Mix with a combination of mayonaise and sour ceam and milk to the desired consistency.

5T onion flakes
2 tsp garlic powder
4 tsp salt
2T dry buttermilk
1T dill
5T parsley

One pan penne pasta


In a large skillet:
Sauté until browned
14 ounces rope sausage , sliced into coins
2T olive oil

Now:
Add:
1 -15.5 ounce can tomatoes
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 can diced green chillies, drained.

Bring to boil.
Then add:

1/2 lb ry, uncooked penne
Reduce heat and simmer 10 mnutes or until pasta is tender

Stir in:
4 ounces of cream cheese
Salt and pepper

This is a good basic recipe that you could substitute just about any meat, or pasta and use some milk or sour cream instead of the cream cheese.   Basically, use what you have.   One pot, less dishes and you can serve it right out of the pan.

Add a salad and you have a balanced meal.    Start with veggie sticks if a salad doesn't work for your child's preferences.  

Meal Plans for week of September 25

Note:  I'm still at 35.00 a week and I even bought a three pound package of good hamburger.   What I failed at was to deplete our stock suffeciently.   So we are going to push on with another month.   Most meals are based on five dollars for a proverbial family of four:  two adults and two school aged children.

Meals

1. Orange Pork with rice and carrots 
2. Pizza
3. Chicken nuggets and oven fries , veggie sticks 
4. Enchaladas, beans or rice, fruit for drsrrt 
5. Split pea soup, beer bread 
6. Salmon patties, baked potatoes, salad 
7. Breakfast for dinner.   

Notes; 

I have a form that I made for meal planning.   It has two columns for listing a master list of perishables, and a column for notes of items needed.   It also has boxes for meal plans and the extra box is for our matrix.   it makes meal planning quick and easy..   Proteins are not listed because we always have the same proteins, just sometimes more than others.   

This was done in excel. 

Breakfast for dinner and pizza are real winners at our house and we eat  a variety of them each week. 

Chicken nuggets are homemade as well as oven fries.   They are more healthy and dont take much time.   Enchaladas are made with homemade enchalada sauce an hamburger and cheese.  We also have chicken enchaladas with a sour cream and chili pepper sauce.   Split pea soup is scratch , cheap, and cooks in the slow cooker.  Beer bread is easy...4 ingredients.   Some of us are not fond of corn bread and this is an alternative.   Salmon patties can be purchased at winco , or made from scratch.   I purchased romaine and head lettuce, so we will be using it throughout the week.   

Dollar Tree and Grocery Outlet haul

Don't have business on the east side anymore, but we did go to Kenmore yesterday.   Its just fun, like a treasure hunt.   

Dollar Tree had two books, one on style that I thought I might get some inspiration from, and one called From Scratch....inside the Food Network.   

I finally found dehydrated peaches.   But, food wise, that was about it.  

Grocery Outlet netted 

• 2 pkg cheese slices 
• 1 package barown and serve baguettes. Very large, one would feed us twice and they were 6.00 for four in the package. 
• Chocolate cookie mix nets three batches and it was 5.00.   At the cost of the chocolate, I thought it was a good buy.  
• Betty crocker sugar cookie mix was .50.   A good rainy day project for granddaughter.  

5 easy concepts.

I now have new readers.  For a little background, I have always been frugal.   In the 70s I was a single parent that lived through double digit inflation , no raises, no child support.   Enough said.   I started making it my mission to learn more than my mother taught me to s t r e t c h the food budget. Five years ago, my daughter came to me.   She has been teaching children of low income families for years.    The mothers were lamenting that they were running out of grocery money before they ran out of month.   My daughter said, Oh, my mom knows how to fix that.     I started a blog with the help and encouragement of my children.  

Five years later.....

Five basic concepts....  this won't happen overnight.    It has taken me 50 years and I am still evolving.   I got my education .piecemeal.  This is more concise.   One step at a time.  

• The gambling concept.  If you are buying your groceries at one store and buying just what you need for a weeks worth of meal plans, you are going to loose.   Like when one goes to a casino, the odds are against you.    The house always wins in the end.   No one store has the best prices on everything.   Picking two stores and buying the best of both stores, affords you the best opportunity for low prices and freshest produce.   
• My mother used to say that some people could have a bargain get up and bite them in the butt and they wouldn't see it.   Don't be that person.  Know what your core products are and what the rock bottom price (target price or buy price ) is for those items.   Make a list of the meals you cook on a regular basis.  Most people have a list of 10 or so.  Now list the staple ingredients.   We use a lot of diced tomatoes, pasta, pasta sauce, green beans, .....find the lowest sale price on those items in your area.   Try not to buy those things unless they are at your target price.   When thy are, buy enough to last until they go on sale again.   Usually that is a four to six week cycle.  Things like bbq sauce, pumpkin, catsup, cream of mushroom soup, are seasonal an it's best to get a years supply.   The difference is remarkable.   With coupons, I got bbq sauce for .56 instead of 2.56.   I just got salad dressing for .50 instead of 2.50.  Those savings add up quickly.  
• Waste not, want not.  Try to buy perishables in quantities that you know you will use up before they go bad.   Note that expiration dates on dairy usually mean that you have some time past that date to use it up.  Let your nose be your guide.   Still, when in doubt, throw it out.   Before that happens, keep track and find recipes that will use it up.   Google it.  I often use sour cream in place of yogurt in some recipes.   Can you dehydrate it?  Freeze it?   Eggs can be dehydrated for future use.   
• BULK.  Grocery stores have "loss leaders" usually on the front page of the ad.   Some of our grocery stores don't have ads or have ads that you can get on line or in the newspaper.   Protein sales stagger.   If you plan your meals using a set list of meats that are flexible, you will save a bundle.   Rotate your purchases and buy enough of a particular meat for a month to six weeks of that meal.   If you have something with hamburger in it twice a week, you need 8-12 portion controlled meals.   Example: We buy 7 percent fat hamburger, whole pork loin, split chicken breasts, and bulk sausage.   We buy bulk cheese from Costco usually, and dried beans.   Buy one bulk meat a week, portion control it, and cook it if it makes sense to.   I don't cook pork and chicken, but I bulk cook and de-fat hamburger and sausage.  The hamburger is portion controlled in quart bags, then the batch is put into a gallon bag that I mark and date.   I use cheaper quart bags and a more expensive gallon one.   Sausage is in a gallon. Bag.  It makes it easier to pull just a bit for a pizza or to use in a quiche.  Bulk beans I keep in popcorn canisters that I get at Costco. Air popped popcorn is a great healthy cheap  treat.  
• Use a different concept of grocery shopping.   Instead of going to the grocery store and buying just what you need for a few days or a week worth of food, you buy to replenish your stock.   This affords you the opportunity to only buy most things at a discounted rate.   You are going to buy a rotation protein perishables in season, an what's on sale you need to replentish.  You cook off your stock.   This takes some time to build, but with patience it does happen.   You can do this piecemeal, one week at a time buying double portions of things that are1/2 price. Or you can take a tax return and start a stash.   It will pay you off in the long run in savings.   We eat for 45.00 a week for three of us.   Granted, we are old and not as active as some families.   But, that figure is 40 percent  of the USDA stats for thrifty people.   We eat well, but this concept makes us have most of our food for 1/2 price.   

• 
  

Thursday: bullets : 5 dollar meals

• pancakes or waffles:  turkey bacon 
• Speghetti w pasta sauce - homemade french bread 
• Vegetable bean soup - cheese biscuits 
• Hot dogs ( nathans ) buns ( Winco) and vegetable sticks, oven fries 
• Egg omlettes, fruit compote:  apple and blueberry 
• Sausage quiche , fruit in season 
• Chicken pot pie 
• Tomato soup, Cheese biscuits 
• Beef and bean burritos 
• Pizza, green salad 
• Southern chicken and sausage speghetti dinner 
• Tuna cassarole. Peas and carrots

Winco and Safeways haul

Needless to say, I went over budget.  

Winco

Romaine 1.98
Meatballs 1,98
Winter frozen veggies .98
Orange pepper .88
Chicken noodle soup .88 less coupon .78
Apples 1.88
Lettuce .98

Total 15.16

Safeways

Pasta sauce 1.25
Shredded cheese .99
Hamburger 12.59 ( 3.77) a pound
Grapes .97 lb

Total 22.25

Total 37.41

No Spendtember.dinners

1. Toasted ham and cheese sandiwiches , fruit plate 
2. Pork roast, mashed sweet potatoes, mixed veggies, sourdough bread 
3. Hot dogs, pasta salad 
4. Pizza bread
5. Tacos, Spanish rice 
6. Fish and chips 
7. Pulled pork samndwiches, fries, fruit 
8. Chicken pronto pasta , green beans 
9. Leftovers 
10. BBQ ribs, potatoes, green salad 
11. Potato soup, cheezy biscuits 
12. Pizza 
13. Salmon, broccoli, rice mix. 
14. Vegetable bean soup, beer bread 
15. Chicken parm, salad
16. Leftovers 
17. Vegetable omlettes, fruit compote.   
18. Out
19. Chicken tacos 
20. Stuffed chicken breasts with bacon and feta, rice, broccoli 
21. Tuna cassarole, mixed veggies. 
22. Hamburgers, french fries 
23. Tacos, refried bean 
24. Sausage and pepper quiche sliced tomatoes 
25. Chicken nuggets and oven fries 🍟,vegetable sticks 
26. Shrimp and salad
27. Pizza
28. Split pea soup, beer bread
29. Sausage and oven roasted root veggies 
30. Salmon patties, rice, brocolli and cauli 

Chain store ads

qfc was a two week ad.    4 for 4 sale.   By 4, sale 4 .  Fred Meyers has the same idea and you can clean up if you can pair the sales with coupons.    I got salad dressing for .50 instead of 2.50. Getting the best price is all about choices.   Vinegretate is easy and cheap to make.   We picked blue cheese because we like it and its a lot more expensive to make.    The same thing holds true of chunky soups if you buy them.   Beef is more expensive to scratch cook.   You are better off buying beef soup and making the chicken.  


Alberways

Grapes .99

Extra lean ground beef 3.77

Eggs .78@@

Cheese .99@@

Pasta sauce 4/5.
Note:  I have no idea what the quality is .  Has anyone used it before ?

Jiff 40 ounces 5.00

Make dough when you got no dough

I saw a post on the Facebook buy and sell for our area.   Its is days to payday and the cupboards are bare.    A kind person posted where the food bank was, and when the person said he had to work and didn't get off until 3 o'clock, he posted another that was open in the evening.   That's a quick fix.   But, the answer here is to figure out how to not make it happen again.    Smart choices.   I'm sure there are people that just don't have an option.   But, there are also people that can with some education, find a way to s t r e t c h their money to make it through.   For those people, I write this blog.    I have been writing this blog for over five years.   I would like to think I have helped someone.

Besides helping people spend less and eat better, I post recipes, some old ones that have been remade to be a bit more healthy.   Also, techniques to scratch cook efficiently.   No one these days, especially working parents wants to set out and cook a meal that takes over an hour to prepare after they have worked all day and suffered the ordeal of a long commute.  

I feed three of us on 45.00 a week.   We eat well.   Granted, we are seniors and a small child, but it is indicative of what you can do with a little money.

To answer the person or one like him, here is a list of things at the dollar tree that will take you through a few days for ten bucks.

• 1 dozen eggs 
• 1 package pinto beans 
• 1 package white rice 
• 1 package pasta 
• 1 can pasta sauce 
• 1 carton oatmeal 
• Pizza crust 
• cheese
• Bread 
• Peanut butter 

Another ten would buy seasonal veggies and fruit.   

This is by no means a steady diet.   Its just keep your tummy happy until payday when you can replenish your food supply with healthy choices.    

Kitchen Management

Meal Plan recap :

• Chicken stuffed with bacon and feta 
• Pizza 
• Pork roast, sweet potatoes, zucchini and tomatoes 
• Tacos. Refried beans 
• Pork sandwiches (bbq) oven fries, veggie sticks 
• Salmon casserole , peas 
• Breakfast for dinner 

1. Mark meal pans to remind for thawing roast and chicken 
2. Wash kitchen floor 
3. Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀 and note things to be used soon
4. Clean and disinfect counters, sinks and drains. 
5. Wash potatoes and veggies
6. Cut sticks 
7. Put up some zucchini and eggs. 

Fred meyers haul.

Buy 4, save 4

Folgers coffee 6.25
3 ea kens dressing @ 50 - coupons

Foster Farms chicken breast -frozen 4.99
Mayo 1.99
2 nabisco crackers @ 1.79. Less .75 coupon.  

Sour cream 2.00


Total 24.75

Safeways milk 1.79 w coupon

I'm still at 35.00 a week.  

One pot dinners

 Pot dinners save time and energy.

https://youtu.be/YTZGPCCB2FU

Meal Plans 9/18/17

Meal Plans for week of September 18

Meal plans are a tool that keeps us organized and on track for meals that stave off the "What's for dinner demons.  

1. Feta cheese and bacon stuffed chicken breasts, rice, salad 
2. Pizza
3. Pork Roast, sweet potatoes, zucchini and tomatoes 
4. Tacos, refried beans 
5. BBQ Pork sandwiches, Oven fries veggie sticks 
6. Salmon cassarole. Peas 
7. Breakfast for dinner 

Notes:   This is for mind techniques --to show how to use mindset to prepare meal plans.  We prep meal plans based on our stock.   We don't plan, then  shop, but rather, shop the sales to replentish a set      Of standard Grocery items. 

An inventory of the fridge netted a carton of feta purchased at a discount at Costco. The pizza and the chicken will help to use it up. 

Our neighbor brought us tomatoes zucchini and garlic out of their garden,   

We will make use of a pork roast in the freezer for two meals:  roast will reinvent itself into BBQ Pork sandwiches.   

Salmon was on sale at Costco for three dollars off a case.....like getting more than a entire can free.   Free is a very good word when you are on a tight budget.   

Sweet potatoes were purchased for .33 at grocery outlet.   

Last years weekly grocery haul was 72.00 average.   Since I started making more scratch food, it is 52.00 and that includes maintaining a small stock.   

At last calculations, that is 40 percent of the USDA stats for poor people.   

Fred Meyer ad for Sunday

First of all, the six quart insta pot is on sale for 79.99.   Just saying .....

Strawberries 3/5

Grapes 1.99

Beans or vegetables .3/2 (66)

Barilla 1.00

BUY FOUR, SAVE  FOUR.
YOU MUST BUY FOUR, MIX OR MATCH
NET PRICES

Nabisco snack crackers 1.79
Kellogg's cereal 1.99$$
Tide 3,99
Daves Killer bread 3.49
Mayo 1.99
FF chicken patties 4.99
Folgers coffee 6.49
Kens salad dressing 1.49 $$


$$. Means there are coupons out there for these items.

Recipe Friday : vegetable bean soup

Years ago I used to make a hamburger soup.   Years ago, the whole family went to Europe for Christmas so we were alone.   We had Grama and Grampa for Christmas Day Dinner with all the trimmings, but we had hamburger soup and a mix of salads our children brought home from Mc Donald's because they worked Christmas Eve and there was leftovers at closing.

My new version of Hamburger Soup has morfed into Vegetable Bean Soup.

• 4 cups beans ( scratch cooked, or 2 different cans of beans) 
• 2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained - with italian seasoning if possible 
• 4 carrots, chopped 
• 2 celer ribs, chopped 
• 4 cups vegetable or chicken stock 
• Italian seasoning, garlic, onion powder 

1. Cook the beans in the insta pot or open the cans 
2. Sauté the carrots and celery in a little olive oil until the celery is limp. 
3. Add beans, tomatoes, stock, vegetables and seasoning to the slow cooker. 
4. Cook on low for 6-10 hours.   ( however long you have until dinner time ) 
5. Garish with a choice of sour cream, parmesean, croutons, 

Serve with a bread

QFC haul: 4 off of 4 sale - 51 percent off

Of all the grocery stores we have at our disposal, QFC and Safeways are the highest priced
That being said, we did save 51 percent .    Using a sale and coupons, saves more money.  

•  2 bags of dried snap peas 
• 1 case chunky yogurt 
• 1 box crackers
• 2 Sargento sharp cheese w coupon 
• 1 pkg turkey bacon 
• Folgers coffee 
• Lunch meat 

20.00 budget, spent 20.82 

CHAIN STORE ADS

QFC   Note:  this is a two week ad

Buy 4, save 4 - prices are net.  

Daves Killer Bread 2,99
Folgers coffee 6.49
Turkey bacon 1.99
Jiff 1.99
2 pack cream cheese 2.99
Cheerios 2.49 $$
Harvest snaps .99
Freshetta pizza 4.99
2 lbs beef patties 7.99
******
Keurig cups BOGO
Oscar Mayer deli lunch meat 2/6$$

Safeways 1 week ad

Milk 1.79@@
Barilla .99
Pace salsa 2/5

Five dollar Friday

FF chicken patties 5.00

Tuesday: concepts

The word scratch cooking conjures up all kinds of memories and scares some people.   I've heard I cant do it from many.   You can do.it.   One  s t e p at a time.  

The internet and Pinterest are full of easy scratch recipes.   Even some of the recipes that are not scratch can be made pretty much scratch by making your own mixes and substitutions.   

Dump cake is really popular.  Cake mixes are as low as .88 when they are on sale.   The thing that bumps up the price is when they use a can of pie filling.  Pie filling is only water, cornstarch, sugar, and the fruit .    Cut the fruit if necessary, add water and corn starch to thicken a sauce and sugar to taste.   Mix water and cornstarch so it looks like thin milk. Add to the fruit and sugar in a saucepan.   Cook just until thickened.   Remember, you are going to cook it again  when you bake the cake.  

Bread is easy with the advent of no knead breads.  The only problem you can run into is making sure the water is warm enough, but not too warm. And sometimes its hard to get it to rise if it is cold in the kitchen.   I solve the problem by turning on the oven for two minutes on 250 degrees.   Turn the oven off and set your dough in the oven.   Do not cover with plastic.   A wet towel works.  Refrigerater bread is on the King Arthur Flour web site. 

Muffins are one of the quickest , easiest things to make--no need for a mix.   There are mix recipes out there, but really, they are easy.   Mix the dry ingredients, mix the wet ingredients and fold the two together.   Don't over mix or your muffins will be tough.   No problem, they are still edible.  

The invent of the insta pot makes cooking savory sooo much easier.   Beans are a snap!  No more soaking, rinsing and cooking for hours.    Beans and rice have a very short refrigerator life.   They are one of the things that spoils the fastest.   Beans don't freeze well.  They loose their consistency.   The insta pot cooks them with almost no hands on time.   Measure, sort to make sure there is not rocks, etc in them, rinse in a strainer, dump in the insta pot and cover with water up to your second knuckle. Water should more than cover the beans.  Close the lid, put the lever to seal and push the bean button. 

Walk away.   The new pressure cookers are a lot more safe and have safety features that our great grandmother's didn't have.   The second best method is using the slow cooker.  

There are recipes abound for ez efficient cooking of main dishes.   We explore them everyday here.  I want cheap, easy, and nutritious.   I want it all.   And, most of the time, we succeed.   LOL.  I don't have the stamina anymore to stand in front of a stove for hours.   When I did have the stamina, I had sometimes two or three jobs and a home and children to take care of.   Learning how to cook the things your family likes to eat efficiently, is a deal maker.     Picking meats /proteins that are versatile and limiting the cuts of meats simplify the shopping routine and allow you to make bulk purchases and save money and time.    

Monday kitchen. Management

Kitchen management takes an hour or so and saves a lot of time during the hectic dinner hour.   You can enjoy your dinner a whole lot more if you arent racing around the kitchen to put  food on the table.   After all, isn't that the reason why one goes out for dinner?

Reminder of meal plans:

• Chicken Parm, salad 
• Pizza
• Chicken nuggets, oven fries, salad or veggie sticks 
• Ham and Potato soup, toasted cheese, 
• Tacos, insta pot refried beans, 
• Salmon, baked.  Rice medley, broccoli 
• Breakfast for dinner :   Waffles 

• Go over the meals and note what has to be prepped.   
• Wash kitchen floor.
• Disinfect countertops, sinks, and drains. 
• Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead and pull what is on the edge or needs to be used soon.   
• Wax the north side of the cupboards 
• Make muffins 
• Thaw chicken breast , make breading 
• Wash potatoes 🥔.
• Check rice mix .
• Straighten the pantry. 

Meal Plans for week of September 11, 2017

Notes:   Eggs continue to be really inexpensive this week.   Our Kroger stores have 18 eggs for .99 if you buy five of anything on their list.   Fred Meyer had more variety than QFC.   They included eggs, bread, sugar, and some bars, and milk.  .  We are on a no spend Spendtember .   I spent 7.50 this week continuing to rotate down  our stock.

• Chicken Parm, salad 
• Pizza
• Chicken nuggets, oven fries, salad or veggie sticks 
• Ham and Potato soup, toasted cheese, 
• Tacos, insta pot refried beans, 
• Salmon, baked.  Rice medley, broccoli 
• Breakfast for dinner :   Waffles 

Notes:   Eggs are .99 for 18 or 12 cents a serving of two.  Pizzas cost 1.04 each, chicken parm is made from chicken patties that are 5 dollars a package on sale at Safeways.  Chicken nuggets are homemade and are from 1.50 a pound chicken breast.   Insta pot refried beans are not cheaper than canned, but have more nutrition and less salt.   Taco shells were purchased on sale with coupons  for .60 cents a package of 12.   Hamburger was 4.00 a pound, and precooked and de-fatted.   

Everything but the salmon is less than a five dollar dinner.  Some of the really inexpensive dishes balance out the one expensive one.    

My meal plans are based on a matrix that is based on protein.   Other people base a matrix on themes or kinds of meals --- like a roast, a roast planned over, a soup etc. or Italian, Tex mex,, etc.   

My mother went through a meal plan where we had the same thing every week --  clam chowder or egg omelette every Friday, pizza on Thursday, hamburgers on Saturday, roast on Sunday. Etc.  

Whatever works, make a plan , or plan to fail.   Meal plans stave off the take out demons, and take away the stress of the What's for Dinner question.   The more organized you are, the less stress you will have.  

Fred Meyer Sunday ad

Buy 4, save 4 sale


Prices are net, must buy 4 mix or match

Johnsonville sausage 2.99
Folders coffee 6.49
Jiff 1.99
Harvest snaps .99
Daves killer bread 3.49
Hamburger patties, frozen 3.99 -2 lb
FF chicken breaded patties 5.00


*****
Peaches .88
Peppers .88
Pears .99

Tillamook cheese 4.99
Yogurt tastes 10/4
Milk 1.79

Stagg chili 1.00
Classico pasta sauce 3/5
Pumpkin pie 3,99
Kroger ground turkey 1.99

Thursday Bullets: list of basics

This is a list of basics for the pantry and fridge.

• Milk :  fresh and dried 
• Sour cream
• Yogurt when its on sale with a coupon 
• Carrots 
• Celery 
• Potatoes :  real, instant mashed, frozen 
• Pork loin, butchered into roasts, chops, cubes and sausage 
• Chicken breast, chicken stock 
• Hamburger crumbles 
• Tomato , diced 
• Pasta sauce 
• Speghetti 
• Macaroni 
• One each of salad dressing, catsup, mayo, mustard
• Salsa
• Diced green chillis, mild 
• Black olives 
•  Flour 
• Sugar, reg and brown 
• Cornstarch 
• Baking powder 
• Baking soda 
• Salt 
• Cocoa, baking 
• Buttermilk powder 
• Maple syrup 
• Honey 
• Craisens 
• Vanilla 
• Tuna 
• Salmon, canned 
• Canned chicken 
• Dry chicken bouillon 
• Dry vegetable boullion 
• Yeast 
• Canola oil 
• Olive oil 
• Eggs
• Cheeese
• Frozen mixed vegetable 

Wednesday chain store ads

Because of the holiday , the mailman is slower than usual.   These are from the internet. 

Alberways 

Pork Tenderloin, marinated, FRIDAY only 5.00

Gala apples .79

Oranges .99

Eggs .78 dz @@

Jimmy Dean sausage 2.99 @@

Leaf lettuce .99

Pork Loin, 1/2 sliced 1.79 

QFC

Apples, pears, .88

Frozen pizza 4.88@@

.99 mix or match, buy 5 

Same as Fred Meyers, but Fred Meyers has more item to buy including sugar.   Holiday baking season is upon us.   

Milk, bread, 18 eggs. 

Old El Paso taco shells, .99 @@ coupons out there for a dollar off three.  

Kroger brats 3.49

Pumpkin pit 2.99

The pizza and taco shells are coupons out there.   

Alberways coupons are on Safeways just for you.   

Tuesday notes

Hey, the washing machine quit.  We knew that it was on borrowed time.   My hubby and his bro took the old one to the recyclers and my hubby bought a new top load maytag.    I finished all the laundry yesterday while I binge watched ion.  My son took granddaughter to the lake with the rowboat.   She was so excited.  I did do the kitchen management.   LOL.  Having a schedule keeps you going when you not have a job to keep you going.    Otherwise, I could putts around all day and not feel like I accomplished anything.   I grew up with the mantra.that the only right we have is the right to be useful.

At nine yo we started doing the dishes.  My sister washed and I dried.   No dishwasher those days.   I was slow drying.    My sister called me a pedestrian .  I thought it was a really nasty word!  LOL.
That's when we learned to bake too.

At thirteen we got her old iron, and she got a new one.   We got to iron our own clothes.    The clothes those day were cotton.   You put them in a plastic bag with a zipper, wet.   If you didnt get to the ironing fasts enough , they molded and you started over.   Gym shorts were navy blue and you wore a white cotton button shirt that had to be ironed.   The rest wasn't bad, I had two dresses, one blue gingham and one green,  Same style.   I asked for clothes for christmas.   Most kids would expect school clothes in September.   We weren't poor my mother just had priorities.   Clothes and entertainment  and toys weren't on the list.

We grew up not to be disappointed if we didnt have tthe world on a silver platter.  And, I learned how to be frugal.   There are times when frugal is necessary, and there are time when it is a window to getting something you want or a better life.  

Ongoing hauls for the month,

3rd haul.

Winco and Safeway

Winco:
Tomatoes
Potatoes
Grapes
Ham
Ice cream cones


Safeways
Apples


2nd haul :   Fred Meyers dollar sale.

Fred Meyers has a buy 5, price .99 mix and match.   Total spent was 14.99.  Which would put me over by 12.00 on my 25.00 a week budget.   My rationalization :   I bought a months worth of dairy.

2 milk
2 -18 count eggs

Plus
2 4 lb sugar.   For Christmas baking.
2 packages of bars.
Total 8.00


Bought
Eggs, milk, sugar, cookies, bread, water for a treat, and blues.


12 dollar over the 25.00 budget.  
***********

OK, I'm aware that I will go over this week from my 25.00 budget.   Freddies has stock items that are too good a price to pass up and will aid in spending less the following week.   18 eggs for a dollar is like getting three meals of protein for a buck.  You cant beat that with a stick, so a little over will just mean I will spend less the following week.

Hunt , no HFCS catsup 1.96

Green chillies .66

Olives .68

Roma tomatoes .98

Baby tomatoes .98

Strawberries 1.88

Diced ham 2.58

Corn 3/1

Grapes .98

Raspberry yogurt .25

Watermelon 3. 97. Seedless 

Watermelon was the least of summer.  Some of these things are more expensive at FM.   The yogurt is in a case down the front isle.    A quarter a tub is a case price.    Good for back to school breakfasts.   

Kitchen management

Meal Planss for month of no spend.   This is a second attempt.   I took inventory and I am convinced we an do it.    It's a challenge.  

• Chicken Pot Pie 
• Pizza
• Chicken and cheese sandwiches , tomato soup 
• Taco soup 
• Pork chops, sweet potatoes, green beans 
• Salmon, rice mix, veggie 
• Waffles, eggs, fruit 

Meals are not necessarily in chronological order. 

1. Disinfect all counters, sinks, and drains.   
2. Clean out refrigerator and dump anything beyond its useful life, take out anything. The edge and incorporate it into your prep.  
3. Clean the ice maker drain.   
4. It's the first of the month, put the stove fan screen through the dishwasher.   
5. Soak the stove drip pans if necessary. 
6. Mark the meal plan for the day before you intend to use the pork chops so they are put in the refrigerator to thaw. 
7. Cook enough chicken for the chicken and cheese sandwiches and the chicken pot pie in the insta pot.  
8. Wash fresh fruit and veggies with vinegar water.   Don't forget carrots for the chicken pot pie. 
9. Straighten the pantry.  
10. Make muffins for next weeks breakfasts 
11. Organize school lunch basket. 
12. Wash kitchen floor.  

Meal Plans for week of September 3, 2017

Meal Planss for month of no spend.   This is a second attempt.   I took inventory and I am convinced we an do it.    It's a challenge.  

• Chicken Pot Pie 
• Pizza
• Chicken and cheese sandwiches , tomato soup 
• Taco soup 
• Pork chops, sweet potatoes, green beans 
• Salmon, rice mix, veggie 
• Waffles, eggs, fruit 

Notes:  some of this plan is based on things we have an abundance ( more than one) of that needton be used up.   We are now trying to use a minimum of packaged mixes .   There will still be some things because they are either cheaper than scratch, or they are just too labor intensive to make it worth my attention to make from scratch.   

Rice mix is on the blog --a far cheaper alternative than the box with no preservatives.  

Winco haul - no spend - 22.00

Fred Meyers (kroger ) Sunday ad

Sunday ad for Freddies 


2 day sale :    

Hebrew national 2/5 
Watermelon 3.99
Tillamook ice cream 2/5
Corn 2/1
Blues 2/5



REGULAR AD 

Oscar Mayer lunch meat 2/6
String cheese 2/5
Dole fruit bowls 2/4


Ground turkey 3.49
Gala apple .88
Foster farms, boneless, skinless chicken breast 1.97

Kroger cheese , 2.99 lb. watch the size of the bag.   Some are smaller

Grapes 1.99

Buy 5 -must by 5 to get the price , mix or match
Milk .99
18 count eggs, .99
Goldfish .99
Bread .99
Sugar .99

Pumpkin pie 3.99
Zucchini. .99
Cantaloupe 2/4
Pears .99

Brats 3.79
Sour cream 1.25


Note:  one retailer trick is to make the hot dogs cheap, but make it up with the cost of the buns.   The bus are 2/4.   Buns at winco are .75 .   That's a remarkable difference.   It always pays to shop at two stores a week.   Its a basic, easy step to save money.  Pretty much a no brainer.    Sturdy the ads and make a list .   Check your fridge and pantry and go for it.    Don't take children to the store unless they are old enough to help.   I used to give them seek and find game or set them to find which brand was the cheapest.  They are learning to read the per ounce labels and do the math.   In other words, engage them and make it a learning experience.  

2700.00 Grocery Haul....a lesson in contrast.

Honest, no typo.....this's lady on u tube made a 2700.00 grocery haul. I couldnt imagine how much 2700.00 worth of food looked like.     Quite a contrast to our 45.00 a week!  She bought a lot of regular inexpensive food on sale, but also bought designer lunch meat I have never heard of , fancy cheeses, a lot of fast, frozen, ready made food and whole beef loins.   Here regular grocery haul for the week was like 500, the rest was stock up at Sams club and Trader Joe's.  

On to contrast.....I tried to go no spend in August, but found myself buying bulk because the prices are going up and I hate to get stuck with the larger prices before I really have to.    Its the secret to eating well on less money.   So, we are going to try for No Spendtember.   I have stocked the things like honey and vanilla that we were out of and bought a pork loin.   So, I should be able to pull this one off.    I'm trying for less than 30.00 a week worth of perishables.   We do live in one of the highest COL areas of the US.   

There is actually a lady in South Carolina that feeds four of them, including a husband and 2 teenagers for close to thirty dollars a week.   She has a discount grocery store that has outrageous prices.   They also eat a lot of processed and chicken.   She also has to be gluten free for her son.   All things considered, she is remarkable.   

Whatever your budget, this blog is committed to showing people how to eat better for less.

Thursday bullets :Five things

Five things you can make ahead that save time and money .  Its no secret that if there is labor involved its going to cost money.  

• Bread crumbs.   I never understood why someone would throw their bread heels away an then pay upwards of 2.40 a pound for someone else's dry bread.   I used to go out to the deck and grate the dry bread on a box grater on top of a sheet pan.  No mess to clean up.    Now I use a food processor.   No mess, no money, no preservatives.   
• Spice mixes.   You can tailor the spices to fit your families taste and its a lot cheaper than paying up to a dollar a packet for a few minutes of work.   Sometimes spice mixes and sauces for meats can cost more than the meat they go on or in.  
• Drinks:   Cold drinks are expensive.   Iced tea can be well over a dollar for something that can cost as little as a nickel.   The savings are remarkable, and the time it takes to make the tea is minimal.  
• Taco crumbles or sausage crumbles. I saw a little ( like 4-6 ounces ) bag of crumbles at the tore.   It cost more for that bag than making an entire pan full of meat.   Its not rocket science to  put meat in a pan and stir it every so often.   Break it up with a potato masher.    There's a tool for that, but the one I saw was 22.00.    A bit pricey in my book. 
• Muffins :   You can make muffins from just about anything.   Muffin mix is easy to make and take minutes.   That makes muffins literally minutes hands on time.  The cost of some muffins can be up to a dollar EACH.   The cost of making them--about fifty cents a DOZEN.   

Wednesday chain store ads

Alberways

Extra lean (7) ground beef 3.97
Salad .79
Johnsonville dinner sausage 2.99 - just for you coupon
Refresher soda .99 - just for you coupon


QFC  (kroger )
Red, orange or yellow peppers .88
Tillamook ice cream 2/5
Kind bars 1.00


Buy 5, save 5

Ritz crackers 1.79 @@
Cheerios 2.49@@
Jiff 3.49
Goldfish, tortilla chips .99


*****
Yoplait 10/5@@
Pie 2.99

Pint blues 2.99
Corn 2/1
Sweet baby rays 1.00

Tuesday Notes : Inventory and meal plans

Groceries on the cheap takes a different approach to grocery shopping.   Instead of going to one grocery store and buying just what you need for a weeks worth of meal plans, you go to two stores and buy basically the perishables you will need and what's on sale that is on a mater list.  Proteins are simplified and you are buying basics that are versatile.    Its probably not much different than our great grandmothers on the farm.  

This plan sometimes necessitates taking inventory of what is in the pantry.    Once a year I usually do that.    We still have residuals of boxed things from before I decided to make a concentrated effort to scratch cook almost everything.   Its time to incorporate these things into meal plans to use them up and pare down the pantry.   Its a pleasant problem.   Beats not having anything in the house to eat and our food bill is about 40 percent of the USDA stats last time I looked.  


Excess to use up

• Sweet potatoes purchased for .33
• Belgian waffles purchased for 1.00
• Cake mixes purchased for .88
• Mashed potatoes purchased for .86
• Scalloped potatoes purchased for .50. 
• Suddenly salad for .75 

There isn't a large abundance to use up, a month or so should do it.    The difference is that suddenly salad is upwards of two dollars at Safeways, and I paid .75 .    I got almost three for the price of one.    

This is how you can feed a family on less than 4.00 a day.    I have been running about 45.00 a week lately.   Considering that those meals delivered people charge 10.00 a plate, its not hard to see the benefit.   

Monday kitchen management

Meal Plans for week of July 28, 2017

• Pizza
• Breakfast 4 Dinner
• Pork Roast, sweet potatoes, green beans 
• BBQ pull pork sandwiches, cucumber salad  , fries 
• Mac and cheese , peas and carrots 
• Baked salmon , rice medley, glazed carrots 
• Tacos, Spanish rice. 

1. Disinfect counters sinks, drains 
2. Wash stove 
3. Wash refrigerater 
4. Clean ice maker drain 
5. Put stove vent filter through the dishwasher 
6. Mark meal plan to thaw the roast tuesday 
7. Wash carrots, green beans 
8. Make bread dough 
9. Make pizza dough***
10. Make bbq sauce for pulled pork**
11. Wash floor. 

** new pizza dough recipe can be made in bulk and frozen.   Makes once, eat all month.  
** bbq sauce recipe is on www.janefrugalfood.blogspot.com

TIP:   When meal planning, plan to have a couple of really easy meals for those days when bleep happens and you dont have time or enthusiasm to cook dinner. 

Meal plans

Meal Plans for week of July 28, 2017

• Pizza
• Breakfast 4 Dinner
• Pork Roast, sweet potatoes, green beans 
• BBQ pull pork sandwiches, cucumber salad  , fries 
• Mac and cheese , peas and carrots 
• Baked salmon , rice medley, glazed carrots 
• Tacos, Spanish rice. 

Notes : 

• Pizza is a no brainer here.   Cost of a pepperoni or cheese and pepperoni pizza is 1.04 
• Breakfast 4 dinner is another family hit.  
• Pork Roast comes from a pork loin, butchered.   (1.79 a lb) , sweet potatoes were .33.  
• Pulled Pork sandwiches are "planned overs " 
• Mac and cheese, peas and carrots, are scratch using cream soup base. Macaroni was purchased for .50 on sale--barrilla with coupon.    
• Baked salmon, (costco) rice medley is a recipe mix on the blog, glaze carrots with honey and ginger. 
• Tacos made from precooked hamburger that has been de-fatted and the shells we got for .66 at Safeways with double coupons.    ( you can use a store coupon and a manufacturers coupon at many stores.   Spanish rice is made in the insta pot with tomato boullion.   

FYI. Ingredients on DT pizza sauce .

Who ever said that there isn't any good food at the Dollar Tree.  

Francesco Ronaldi pizza sauce.   14 ounces for a dollar.   Cheaper than even winco.

Ingredients
Tomato purée (water, tomato paste, salt, extra virgin olive oil, citric acid and garlic and onion .
No sugar, no things you cant pronounce.  

Fred Meyers ad for Sunday

Peaches, or ectarines .99
Blues, small, 2/5

Boneless Loin chops, 3,99****

Strawberries 2/4
Suddenly salad 1.00 **
Hebrew national hot dogs 2/6
Sweet baby rays 1.00
Fruit pie 3.49


** note:   Boneless loin chops at 3.99.   Cut them from a pork loin and pay 1.49-1.79 a pound.   Less than 1/2 price.  


Buy five , save five, mix and match

You can clean up with these promotions if you can match them with a coupon, and find enough things that you normally buy ( not junk food)

Frosted Flakes, Cheerios, 1.79@@
Jiff 2.99
Tide 4.99 - look for coupons
Bounty paper towels 4.99 -look for coupons
Daves killer bread 3.29
Fiber one or nature valley bars 1.99@@
Kens dressing 1.49 @@

Ritz crackers 1.79@@


@@ coupons out there.  

In the paper , there is a coupon for 1.00 off any dressing 16 ounces or larger.   That makes the dressing .50.

Nature valley bars .50 off of two nets 1.74
Cheerios, 1.00 off of three nets 1.46

Friday recipe: Tex mex burritos in the insta pot.

The insta pot is a three in one cooker that saves money and time in the kitchen.  A virtual work horse in the kitchen.  Recipe can be adjusted to work without the insta pot.


3/4 lb boneless, skinless, chicken breasts , cut into cubes.
1-1/2 cups frozen corn
1 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes with chillies, undrained
2 cups black beans **
1 T taco seasoning **

**. Beans:   Place 1 cup rinsed and picked black beans in the insta pot.  Cover with water up to your second knuckle.   Lock the lid and set the seal button.   Push the bean button.   When cycle is finished, wait five minutes and quick release.   Carefully open lid away from you.  Drain beans and measure 2 cups.

**. Taco seasoning can be purchased or made from scratch.   Recipes on blog.


Place all ingredients in insta pot including the raw chicken cover, and cook on slow cook mode 4-5 hours or until chicken is done.

Remove chicken from pot and shred .  

Return chicken to pot.
Cut 1 package (8 ounces ) cream cheese into cubes.   Add to pot and cook an additional 15 minutes until the cream cheese is incorporated into the dish.

Fill 8 inch flour tortillas with 3/4 cup filling and roll up.    Garish with sour cream, cheddar cheese, chopped tomatoes and/or lettuce.

Beef Enchiladas

Beef Enchiladas

Note :   This is another recipe where cooking your beef in bulk batches saves time and money.

2 cups cooked hamburger (low fat)
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chopped garlic
6 ounces shredded cheddar cheese, divided (1.5 cups )

Slightly warm hamburger in microwave if still frozen.   Add remaining ingredients. Use 1 cup of the cheese .

1 unit of cream soup base
1 can diced green chillies, mild , drained well
1/2 cup of the cheese

Make 1 unit of the cream soup base adding 1/2 of the can of diced chillies, and the cheese at the end.  

8 - 6 inch corn tortillas
Small amount of canola oil

Fry corn tortillas one at a time on both sides for 5 seconds on each side.   Drain on paper towels .

Assembly:

Place corn tortilla on a plate.  Add scant 1/4 cup of meat mixture on each tortilla.  Roll up and place in greased baking pan, seam side down.

Pour sauce over enchaladas.  
Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes

Garnish with remaining peppers.  

Thursday : bullets

Hacks to organize your kitchen. Don't let it be overwhelming.   Do it a little at a time.   Clean the cupboard and line the shelves as you go.   I have used shelf paper from the dollar tree, but I have also used wallpaper I got on closeout cheap, and even used wrapping paper.   The dollar tree is full of organizational materials that you can purchase a little at a time.

1. Set zones in your kitchen.   Even a small kitchen can have a designated area for baking.
2. Place your pots and pans where they are used first.   If you use a stock pot a lot, put it near the sink.    The first thing you do with it is to add water to boil noodles or pasta.   
3. Store spices by the stove, but not to close if you have a choice.   The heat isn't the spices best friend.   
4. Store dishes and silverware / napkins etc to set the table in the same place if possible.  
5. Coffee and tea bars are easily set up an make a good addition to the kitchen.  
6. I know some people cant stand clutter, but leaving often used appliances on the counter makes it easier to use them often. 
7. If necessary, make a pantry in another room or the basement.   Growing up, we always had a pantry in the basement, even if it was only shelves under the stairs.   
8. Store baking pans near the oven.   Some stoves used to have a drawer under the oven.   
9. Keep glasses near the sink.  
10. When unloading the dishwasher, stack like kind dishes ( all the plates, bowls, etc ) on the counter , then bring the stack to the cabinet.   It takes no longer to bring a stack than it does for one plate.  Saves a lot of steps an time. 
11. If your kitchen is organized, you will be more likely to do more cooking.   Its faster and easier if things are at your fingertips and you aren't racing around the kitchen to find things.  
12. I have cast iron and ceramic pans.   I leave them on the stove.   They are heavy and I have broken my wrist, so its hard to handle them, but I like the way they hold the heat and that just saves a step not having to put them away.   
13. A tray with olive oil, salt, pepper, vinegar and a slurry bowl on it saves time and energy too. 
14. A urn near the stove or your work counter if you have one is another convenience.   Storing rubber spatulas, wooden spoons, ladle , tongs, etc.  
15. Organizing the pantry and putting food in the same place makes taking inventory a breeze and you can know at a glance when you are running low on something and need to look for a sale. 

Chain store ads

Chain store ads 

QFC 

Raspberries, blackberries 2/4 

Grapes, red 1.48 

Cheese 8 ounce packages : 2.76 a pound if you buy 8 ounce packages **

Buy 5, save 5 sale 

Net prices.   You can mix and match. 

Cheerios or frosted flake 1.79 $$

Nature Valley granola bars 1.99

Tortilla chips .79 (9-13 ounces) 

Daves killr bread 3.49

Jif 28 ounces 3.49

Ritz 2.49$$

GOLDFISH .99

Tide 4..99 -probably a coupon 

Alberways 

Peaches nectarines, apples .97

Whole chicken , unknown origin .87

Just for you 

Coupon for bumble bee tuns .59. Limit 6 

Best foods .199

Canned beans .89**

*** I got cheese at business costco for the target price 

***Target price for beans is 50 cents

Tuesday notes

Organizing.....another run screaming from the building word for some people.  Getting ready for fall and school starting is upon us.  

Being organized is important because it makes our lives easier and less stressful.  

School ideas:

• Make a sign   "Susie's first day of kindergarten 2017"    And take a picture of your child in front of the front door "  its a chronological memory, do it each year.   You can put it in a binder or scrapbook.
• A magazine holder from the dollar store or goodwill is a good receptial for school papers that need to be gone through and sent back to school.  You can use a different color for each child.  In a pinch, you can cut a cereal box, cover it with paper bag paper and let the child decorate the paper. 
• Lay out clothes for five days in boot boxes. On a particular hanger in their closet, or in letter boxes from the dollar store. The kids can still pick their clothes, but finding what goes with what is a lot less hectic in the morning rush. 
• Set up a lunch station.   Non perishables can go in a basket on a shelf the children can reach.  Perishables can be in the refrigerator door or on a shelf in a plastic box or basket.   Some mothers freeze sandwiches for a grab and go.   They don't allow  peanut butter in our school district, so it'll have to be meat and cheese.   
• Betty Crocker has a muffin recipe that sounds to me like it would be the perfect grab and go breakfast.   Its always better if you can sit and leisurely eat a bowl of oatmeal.  There are probably mothers that can make the pancakes and egg lunches, although I dont know anyone that does.   But, face it, there is always that child that dilly dallies......this muffin is full of protein and fat to stay with them, and just a bit of carbs to get them going.    It's made from bisquick, has an apple, cheese , and bacon filling, 
• A coat and shoe rack for coats, mittens, boots, hats near the front door helps too.   
• Load backpacks with as much as you can the night before.    

KITCHEN MANAGMENT

Recap of meals :

• Breakfast for Dinner
• Pizza 
• Chicken enchaladas 
• Pork roast 
• BBQ pork sandwiches. 
• Split pea soup 
• Taco bean casserole
• 
  
• 
  
• This is later because I had an emergency appointment this morning and it was the first day of school!
• 
  
• 
  
• Make pizza dough. 
• Chicken for the chicken enchaladas is already in pieces because it was frozen from the bulk cooking  of  the split chicken breasts.   If you dont have already cut up chicken, cook chicken in the insta pot / or in a skillet and chop.
• Thaw pork roast.  
• Make or buy buns. 
• Chop veggies for split pea soup. 
• Make refried beans.   Make salsa (or buy if they aren't in your pantry.   
• Wash kitchen. Floor. 
• Disinfect countertops, sinks, and drains. 
• Clean out fridge and dump anything dead /make note of anything that needs to be used up soon.   
• Make breakfast muffins for back to school ( Betty Crocker ). 

Meal plans for week of August 21

We are sitting at 29.67 a week this month.   That doesn't include the few things that I bought that are stock items.

Meal plans are usually done with a matrix.   My focus this month is to use some of the oldest stock.   Ideally rotating meats means you will maintain enough for a month of rotations.   This will work better if you have a family larger than 2.5 meat eaters.    LOL.  

• Breakfast for Dinner
• Pizza 
• Chicken enchaladas 
• Pork roast 
• BBQ pork sandwiches. 
• Split pea soup 
• Taco bean cassarole 

Nots : 

1. Breakfast for dinner is a mainstay here.  It can be inexpensive, it can be vegetarian , and its multi generational participation .(everybody cooks) 
2. Pizza is a winner.  A cheese and pepperoni pizza costs 1.01.   Doesn't get much cheaper than that.   
3. Chicken enchaladas are made from the chicken gleamed from the rib bones when de bring chicken breasts.  Green, sour cream enchalada sauce is homemade.   
4. Pork roast is the last of the last batch of pork loin.   BBQ pork sandwiches are a 'planned over" to quote my 8th grade homeec teacher. 
5. Split pea soup is a easy on the cook recipe.    Just a note, dont make it in the insta pot on pressure mode.....slow cook mode works best.    Just ask me how I know.   LOL 
6. Taco bean cassarole is a skillet meal and will appear this week on the "Dinner: Better, cheaper, faster" channel.   Www.janefraugalfood.blogspot.com 

Dinner:Better, cheaper, faster

Costco haul

cheese, cheap, yah!

I have ample cheese for a while.  It freezes.  

7 lb Pork loin at 1.79 a pound made;
2 pork roasts
2 pkg pork chops
3 pkg (1/2 lb ) pork cubes
1 pkg pork sausage

10 meals easy at 1.24 a meal.   3 people

Pizza cheese at 2.49
Cheddar cheese at 2.39 lb

5 lbs honey at 11,99

Bananas 1.39

Honey is the only perfect food.  It never spoils.   I used the last of my honey I bought wholesale when  I worked for a food distributor.   In 2002,  

Buying a whole pork loin. And spending a few minutes butchering it yourself saves a lot of money.

Your protein is the biggest part of your meal.   Buying good meat in bulk and cutting it yourself is a way to really stretch your budget.   Rotate your bulk meats so you are spending about the same every week.   By simplifying your cuts and buying bulk, you can still have variety and keep your protein cost low.  

Rotate , (assuming your family's eats all of these)

• Whole pork loin
• Cheese, beans
• Hamburger 
• Chicken split breasts. 
• Fish , and or canned tuna or salmon, 

Let the market ( RBP or what some people call loss leaders) dictate which protein you buy which 

week.    

Here, Fred Meyers (Kroger) puts local chicken on sale about once a month.  It was. .88, but now they want 1.49.   

I can always get beans (pinto) at the Dollar Tree in a l.5 pound bag 

Cheese is sometimes on sale, but usually I can get the best price in a five pound bag at Costco.  I want less than 2.50. 

Pork Loin I have found at winco and costco.   By target price is 1.79.  1.69 of course is better.  

I want 7 -10 percent fat hamburger.   I was getting it at 3.28 a lb at winco.  I haven't bought it for a while because it hasn't been that low.    I paid 3.99 at Fred Meyers last week.  


We have a matrix for meals.   1 beef, 1 fish or shellfish, 2 vegetarian, and 3 pork or chicken.   How much of any one protein that i buy depends on how much we already have and how much we will need for a month to six weeks.  

Easiest whole chicken recipe ever......

Chickens are .87 a pound at Fred Meyers tomorrow.    About as cheap as you can get.  Ever buy a chicken, rotisserie or otherwise under three pounds.

Easy slow cooker whole chicken

1. Peel and cut one large onion in quarters, or two small onions in halves.   This is important ,you cant substitute any other veggie. You are not eating it, so no matter if you dont like onions. Dump it in the bottom of your slow cooker.  
2. Open package of chicken.  Dry it with. Paper towel.   Wear gloves or wash your hands frequently as well as your counters.  
3. Spread the chicken with a dry rub or seasoned salt type mix.  
4. Put the lid on the slow cooker.  Make sure you plug it in and turn it on high for one hour PER pound of chicken.  
5. Walk away.

On Dinner : Better, Faster, Cheaper

I am constantly in my spare time, or down-time scouring the web and cookbooks for easy, economical , nutritious recipes.  I post recipes that I find that I can make my own by making them better because they have healthier ingredients, faster because we are all looking for scratch cooking that is efficient.  And cheaper because the COL is high and we are all trying to s t r e t c h a buck.

Www.janefrugalfood.blogspot.com.

On food prices

Whenever I go to a store, i am always checking food prices for the things that are on my target list.   At Costco, I noticed that cheese has taken a hike to 3.09 a pound.  The mozzarella was still 2.19, but the other cheese was 3.09.  My target price is less than 2.50.    It was running 2.39.   We have the USDA to thank for that because they bought out millions of dollars worth of cheese to bail out the dairy farmers.    I knew it was coming, but that doesn't help by budget.  

I have seen a trend of rising prices.i used to be able to get chicken for 87 ( split chicken breast) .  Last time it was 1.49. Its 1.49 again.   The whole chicken is still a lot cheaper than deli chicken, but we are not fans of dark meat.

Diced tomatoes and canned beans have a 50 cent target price.   I have been seeing 68 cents for them as well as canned veggies.    I can still get frozen for a buck or less a pound.   Usually in the fall, the new pack of vegetables come into the caners and the prices of the older pack go on sale.  I will be waiting.......

I am still seeing pork loins for under two dollars a pound. 1.79 at winco last week.   Ground beef has taken a hike and I had to pay four dollars last time.    I haven't checked costco business.   The chubs at costco business are not a good texture.   Its more like ground chicken.   We used it, but it isn't my favorite.

I'm still getting pasta for under a dollar, but not finding the .38 prices these days.

I was behind a young fellow in line at Winco .   It was all I could do to not let the Grandmother in me whap him upside the head and tell him he had done it all wrong.!  LOL.  Honestly, he could have spent half of what he spent and not left the store.

He did buy frozen veggies in large bags, but the rest of the cart was full of seasoning packets, deli chicken and Junk food.   Poster boy for How not to save money on food.   LOL.

Watching the prices of what you buy on a regular basis and knowing a target price (RBP) are key in aging money at the grocery store.  Key in no junk food and making as much as you can from scratch and you have a eat winner.

Winco and costco haul. -food only

Note:  I am supposed to be on no spend.   So the hauls are small.  

Winco:

2 cans pasta sauce .95 (charity)

Nathan's franks 3.30
Peach tea 2.28
Winco olives .68

Total 8.04.  Less 1.90 is 6.14

Costco :

Vinegar 4.29
Tuna 9.79. Case :   3.00 off
14.08



Note : vinegar is for multiple uses.   I use it for cleaning vegetables, and household cleaning and for killing weeds.  

Fred Meyer ad for Sunday.

Fred meyers for tomorrow.  Please note that there is a five dollars off of five sale going on.  This usually works with coupons. You do have to pick and choose. A lot of it is junk food.  

Foster Farms whole chicken .87
Foster Farms split chicken breast 1.49.  ***

Also thighs and legs 

Mango or avacodo .77

Cantaloupe 2/3 

Cheese 2.99 a pound 

Zucchini .99

Cottage cheese, sour cream 2/4 large 

Freshetta pizza.     4.99. Coupon in Sunday paper for 1.50 off of two.

Cucumbers, radishes 59

Oranges .99

Buy five, save, five.

Note : ** means there is a coupon somewhere.     Or a good chance there is .

Nature valley bars 1.99
Ritz crackers 1.79**
Gold fish .99
Tide 4.99**
Cheerios, Frosted Flakes 1.79**
Kens salad dressing 1.49.
Jiff peanut butter is 2.99 for the large jar.  


The English muffins are not a bargain. The regular price for English muffins at FM is 1.67 for a veery large bag...i think a dozen.   They are in a basket by the eggs at shoreline.

Smashed potatoes

A good side dish for a potluck.

8 medium sized russet  potatoes
1-1/2 cup homemade ranch dressing
1/2 lb shredded Mexican blend cheese
Salt , peppers
Bacon bits

1. Bake potatoes.  Peel.
2. Place in a mixing bowl. 
3. Smash potatoes ( leave a bit chunky) 
4. Add remaining ingredients 
5. Pour into greased 9X13 pan 
6. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes 
7. Garnish with green onion and bacon

What can you do with cottage cheese

Cottage cheese continues to be a bargain.   Fred meyers has it for a dollar a small carton frequently.
It's a good source of protein and calcium and can be 'hidden" in all kinds of dishes.   Lately, I have been finding all kinds of recipes that you would never dream you could add cottage cheese to.

1. Cottage cheese and fruit salad was a mainstay for us growing up. 
2. Cottage cheese biscuits.   
3. Cottage cheese and rice in hamburger for meatloaf or to stuff peppers, or hamburgers.   
4. Cottage cheese pancakes 

What can you do with cottage cheese?  


Biscuits

1 cup flour
2 tsp sugar
1-1/8 tsp baling powder
1/4 tsp soda
1/8 tsp salt
2T COLD BUTTER
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1egg
3T MILK

IN MEDIUM BOWL, measure dry ingredients.
Mix.   Cut in cold butter.

In separate bowl, beat cottage cheese for 2 minutes until smooth.  Ad egg and milk jutnuntil blended.  Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients.

Turn out onto flour covered board.   Knead 8-10 times.   Pat out to 1/2 inch thickness and cut with biscuit cutter.

Bake at 450 8-12 minutes.                                                                        

Chain store ad for the week

QFC was a two week ad last week

Alberways

Kellogg's cereals 1.88. Buy 3

Milk 1.79@
Just for u digital coupons

Suddenly salad .88
Kens salad dressing 1.79