Sunday, December 31, 2017

Fred Meyers Haul - qfc

Fred Meyer Haul and qfc special purchase

QFC:   2 pg meatballs at 1.50 a lb

Fred Meyers

Gala apples
2 Snap peas. Dry
Grape tomatoes
Turkey lunch meat 3.29. (1/2 price)
Cucumber
3 Classico pasta sauce
Hebrew national franks
2 lean cuisine

Total cost 25.55



                                                


Fred Meyer ad

Fred Meyers ad for today.  

SATURDAY ONLY, JAN 6TH
CHEESE .99 - 8 OUNCES

Use digital coupon, you can buy up to five.   You do not have to buy more food with this one.  

5 lb clementines 4.49
FF chicken breast 1.77
Lean cuisine entrees 2/3

Honeycrisp apples 1.47
Mission tortilla chips and tortillas 1.88
Oranges .99 lb
Pears .99
4 avocados 2.99
Grape tomatoes 1.99



Buy 5, save 5
Sometimes you can clean up using coupons in addition to the sale.   Its a good time to stock up if the prices are right.  

Kraft boxed mac and cheese .49 (not something I buy, but it is a good price.  The only inference in nutrition between Annies and Kraft is the fat content....annie’s Has more.  

Tide 4.99 :    Coupon at brandSAVER.com

Goldfish .99

Jiff Peanut butter or Smucker jelly 1.99

Classico pasta sauce .99 (1/2 Price ).

Kellogg’s cereal 1.49 - you can usually find coupons.  


Point of reference:  the reason why buying on rotation makes more sense than buying just what you you need any given week.   20 percent fat hamburger is 3.49 a lb.   by taking a few moments to process your own when really lean meat is on sale, I paid 2.40 a lb and got less fat....a lot less.


Saturday, December 30, 2017

End of the year wrap up.

The USDA stats for ‘Thrifty” aka poor people for our family (November 2017) is 122.15.   Our actual expense this year was an average of 55.05 a month.   That included building a stock of emergency food :  the USDA stats are actual food eaten at home.  

That’s less than 1/2 price.   -about 45 percent of the USDA stats.  
Last years figures were 72 dollars a week.   The difference is that we started making some of our own bread and the insta pot and its efficent way of cooking rice and beans from scratch.   The difference between ready made rice or instant rice and canned beans is remarkable.   The savings are about 90 percent on bread, rice, and beans.   All basics staples.  

No, people, we do not eat a steady diet of rice and beans.   We do eat proper amounts of protein.  Beans are a good source of protein and can augment meat to boost nutrition,   Soup is another good, comforting meal that stretches the dollar and makes for a satisfying meal.   Add homemade bread and you can feed a family of four for well under five dollars.  

Pantry challenges are a fun way to use up something that is close to the pull date.   I have two cans of beans and a can of mandarin oranges to use up that have December 2017 pull dates.   This could be fun anyone have any ideas?  

I won’t say that getting your food 1/2 price is due to non existent effort.   It, like anything worthwhile, takes some planning and some education.   But, the rewards can be remarkable.   You are probably going to eat better (less presrataives, fat, sugar, salt, hydroginated oils, HFCS) , eat a more healthy amount of food, and enjoy a few extra dollars in the budget, or at least reduce the stress of not having enough for other necessities.  

We make up some of the time (probably an additional hour a week) by scratch cooking efficiently.  
Some things don’t take but a few minutes longer than opening that box of whatever.   Simplifying the sources (cuts of meat) you buy can simplify your life.   That’s a good thing.  

A new year, a new life, a new leaf.  

Friday, December 29, 2017

Book Review : How to Insta Pot

My christmas present was a “How to Insta Pot” cookbook by Daniel Shumski .
100 recipes and a lot of information on how to convert your own personal recipes to insta pot recipes.
The price was in the ten dollar range from Amazon.

Those people that think they would never use an insta pot have not tried an insta pot.   I have been on a mission to cut our food costs without sacrificing good basic nutrition .   That didnt mean eati g bans and rice as a steady diet.   It has been a learning experience of many years.  
I digress
My mother always said that everyone pays their dues.   Life is not all peaches and cream.   I planned for our retirement, but both sets of our parents had professions that had their medical pretty much taken care of in retirement.   Neither of us worked in union or government jobs.   That didnt happen.   Our medical takes my entire social security check.   I’m not complaining, I just dont want others to fall into the same trap.  I guess thats a heads up.

My children are the ones that encouraged me to write a blog on economy food.   My daughter has taught children from low income families for years.  She was hearing that some families were having a hard time making it through the month on their SNAP money.   My daughter told a mother that hr mom knew how.   I started this blog to help those people.   It has turned into more and reaches a variety of  people in a variety of circumstances.  

I digress:  the insta pot....it is a remarkable tool that can save its cost in less than a year.  The more foods that you can cook from scratch, the better your pocketbook and your health will be.   Cooking from scratch lets you control the amount of sodium and the kinds of fats you are using.  

I just couldn’t manage to get cooking rice down to a science.  Rice and beans do not have a long refrigerator life.  Freezing beans does not produce a great result.   There are four of us in the house tht at beans.   Small batches of scratch beans are a royal pain to cook—not efficient.   Beans in the instapot take less than five minutes hands on time and are a fraction of the cost of canned beans.  
Rice is another less than five minute hands on cooking.  How many times have you forgotten to take meat out of the freezer?  A boneless chicken breast cooks from frozen in 8 minutes if its not too thick.  A thicker one takes a few more minutes .

Recipes in the cookbook:


  • Beef Barbacoa Tacos
  • Beef stew
  • Cumin spiced pork sirloin with avocado salsa 
  • Pork shoulder 
  • Pinto beans with chorizo,
  • Polenta. No stir 
  • Quick chili 
  • Beyond black bean soup 
  • Bacon, corn and potato chowder 
  • Butternut squash
  • Refried beans 
  • Chocolate lava cakes 
  • Korean style short ribs with garlic and ginger
  • Meatloaf 
  • Tomatillo pork stew 
  • Shredded chicken tacos with tomato and lime
  • Chicken soup 
  • Barley mushroom soup
  • White bean soup with panchetta
  • Parmesan brad Pudding with bacon and  broccoli
  • French toast cassarole w maple 
  • Mashed cauliflower with garlic and cream cheese 

Thursday, December 28, 2017

Thursday Notes:

Every morning, I wake up before my hubby.   I spend that time looking at u tube and facebook , ‘READING” anything that doesn’t take sound to understand.   I see a lot of recipes and grocery hauls.

After I discovered that my readership is not just people from the PNW, I started watching grocery hauls from other parts of the country.    I have discovered that not including Alaska and Hawaii, the PNW has some of the highest prices, even on some things that come from the PNW.   Go figure.   I also see a lot of mistakes of people that are trying to cut their food bill.   I don’t comment because that would be rude and everyone has their own values and circumstances.              

I can, however learn from their choices , what can be done to cut a food bill that needs to wants to be cut.   Everyone has their own priorities.  Ours is to eat well, have fresh fruits and vegetables in the house and stock enough food so that if hard times hit, be it sickness, a government shut down, or snow Apocalypse, we at least can eat for a few days.

I have mastered that....now my goal is to pay off bills and purge 40 years of ‘stuff” accumulation in the storage room.   It would be a good room if granddaughter could play in the winter.

The basics of groceries on the cheap is to never pay full price for anything.   Some things, just never go on sale, some things basically only go on sale seasonally.   Some staples go on sale in cycles.   If you find that cycle, you can clean up.  Some things are almost. always cheaper at certain stores.   Learning what is cheapest where and how to maximize your shopping trips, is a key.
We have two places within reasonable distance from our home that have grocery outlets (discount grocery overstocks) and dollar trees side by side.    We try to hit those places about every month to six weeks.   Dollar Tree is usually pretty stable.  You can bet that they will have pinto beans, pizza sauce, tortillas, and orowheat bread.   The grocery outlet is a lot of here today, gone tomorrow.   You can most generally find sliced cheese for between two and two dollars and thirty nine cents.   Some other prices are more than the RBP I can get other places.   I most generally stick to name brands I can count on.   If there is a good price on something, I might buy one to see if it is a good quality.   I’m not gambling on a lot of money.   Always check pull dates.  Lately, I have found organic Hunts diced tomatoes for 50 cents at both Grocery Outlet and Dollar Tree.   I suspect they were an overstock .   The quality is fine.   Hunts peels their tomatoes with steam, not chemicals, and organic diced tomatoes were 2.29 at safeways and .70 at costco.   That is a prime example of why its not what you buy, or the quality you buy, its how much you pay for what you buy.   I did get tomatoes, not organic from safeways on a case lot sale for .39 net using a basket coupon.  

All of this is manageable because we have simplified our grocery carts.   By buying basics and efficiently scratch cooking, we have less prices to carry around in our heads.   Some people carry a small spiral notebook (3/1.00 at DT) to use instead.   Picking rotation meats that are versatile, and one type of canned tomato that can do double duty helps.

Years ago, we found ourselves, both out of work.   Scary time.   My husband started going with me
to get out of the house.   We we’re building the house and living in the basement.   He passed an end cap with 8  ounce cans of tomato sauce marked a quarter.   He said “ that’s no bargain , you paid a dime last week.”   I about fell over.   I wasn’t aware he was paying attention .

It doesn’t make sense to buy one of an item at FULL price one week, and one for a drastically lower price the next.   I’m not saying buy out the store and it is rude to clear the shelf at the store.   Don’t hog.   I usually stick to six of something unless the store is stipulating case lots.   This isn’t about hoarding.  Its about stocking enough to get you to the next sale so you don't have to pay full price—that nasty F word.   LOL.

Some people stock and then when they have an abundance , they go on a maintenance “no spend month” and creatively eat down the stock.   This is especially good if you know you have a high expense month coming.   You could save your money, buy buying food at half price is better return on your money than you can get at any bank.   We all have to eat.













Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Shopping Haul

Went to another town today and shopped at Grocery Outlet and DT.
Also stopped by the qfc.   
The good price on meatballs is only sunday with a digital coupon.   I must have misread the on line ad.   I do better with the REAL ad, but we didn’t get it on time, again.   

QFC : 5 for 5 
3 Kleenex 
2 snap peas regular 2.99..99
2 raspberries at 2/5 
Total 10.00

Dollar Tree
Oval platter with poinsettias .50
Freeze dried strawberries 
1 loaf orowheat grain bread 
1 Sara Lee large hamburger buns 
Pickles 
Ketchup 

5.50

Grocery Outlet 
Olives .79
Pkg kind bars oats and honey 1.99
Vermicelli .34
Cheddar cheese slices. 1.99
Pepper jack slices 2.39
Swiss slices 2.39
Orange danish in tube (pillsbury) .75


11.39

Total 26.85


 

Chain store ads for week of 12/27/17

HOLIDAY ADS ARE TYPICALLY SPARSE ON GOOD BUYS.   MOST OF IT IS BOOZE AND ENTERTAINMENT FOOD.

ALBERWAYS

Cantaloupe 2/3
Crackers 2/5 - $$
Cheese 2.50 a lb @@@
Hoagie rolls .79@@

$$ - there is a coupon out there in coupon land
@@@ clip in ad coupon


QFC - A BIT BETTER

Berries. 2/5
Apples .99
crackers 3/5

BUY 5 SAVE 5
 COUPONS WORK WITH THESE KINDS OF ADS.  THATS WHEN YOU CAN CLEAN UP

TIDE 4.99 - COUPON I THE P AND G COMING OUT PROABLY SUNDAY.
DAVES KILLER BREAD 2.99
2 BS CHEESE 4.99
HEFTY BAGS .99
KLEENEX TISSUE 160 CT .99


HILLSHIRE FARMS LUNCH MEAT 1.99
SNAP PEAS -DRIED. .99

Cooked perfect meatballs are 2.99 on sunday only with a digital coupon.   You cant use paper coupons with a digital coupon.   Regular price is 4.99.

IT HELPS WITH BUY 5, SAVE 5 TO BE ABLE TO SNEAK IN A COUPLE OF .99 ITEMS TO MAKE YOUR 5.   KLEEEX AT .99 IS THE SAME PRICE I PAY AT DOLLAR TREE OR WI NCO REGULARLY.   SNAP PEAS ARE A GOOD HEATHY SNACK AND WORK WITH SCHOOL GUIDELINES FOR SOMETHING CRUNCHY.



Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Four plus One is FIVE.

One of the basis of Groceries on the cheap is the catch phrase:  Four plus one is FIVE.  Four people, one meal, five bucks.   It is based on the fact that SNAP money is based on a meal costing 1.40 a plate.  You can eat well on that if you shop wisely.   Wether or not you are on SNAP, you can eat well on half the national average for a food budget.   I’m not going to tell you that it takes no effort.   But, like anything worth doing, take reward is good.

Five dollar dinners are attainable because you can average the cost.   One really inexpensive dinner plus one more moderate dinner can cost the same as two average priced dinners.   An inexpensive pizza and a salmon cake can average to stay in budget.  

Fortunately, most children love a lot of inexpensive food.   You can have quality food if you shop right.  

The internet is full of recipes:  the Betty Crocker cookbook and pinterest is free.   Don’t overlook a recipe because it starts with a ready made product or an expensive ingredient.  There is almost always a viable substitutions .   There are recipes for about every mix you could need on the internet.   Google is a good resource.   Many substitutions are as good or better because they dont have preservatives or other chemicals that you don’t need . Eating food in season helps the budget a lot.   Fruits and veggies taste better and cost less—a winning combination .  

Look for recipes that use up leftovers, or have inexpensive ingredients and recipes that your family will eat.   No food will do your family good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.  


  • Shredded beef sandwiches (sliders) are popular and there are roll recipes that are simple that bring the cost of the rolls down.   Anytime you can make bread, the cost will be remarkably cheaper.   A three dollar loaf of sour dough, can cost as little as .30 cents.   No misplaced decimal here.  A great recipe for leftover meat .  Leftovers won’t seem like leftovers.   
  • Chicken tortilla soup is another recipe that uses leftovers that disguise the fact that they are leftovers.   
  • Broccolli beer cheese soup is timely because of holiday food leftovers.   
  • Turkey a la king with rice.   Rice cost .03 a serving when buying it in bulk.  
  • Apple chicken quesadillas .  Another inexpensive food that takes in season food (apples) and leftover chicken or turkey and tortillas that can be had at the DT. 
  • Meatloaf muffins.   Its all about portion control 
  • Chicken enchiladas.  Another leftover chicken or turkey dish.   You can cook a chicken breast from frozen in the insta pot in minutes.   Adjust the time for really fat ones. 
  • Burrito bake uses cresent rolls that are on sale this time of year and there are coupons out there too.  
  • Pork roast with cranberry orange relish.   Another in season recipe .  Pork Loin was a dollar a pound last week and oranges are the lowest price in January.   
  • Vanilla french toast 

All recipes are from Taste of Home annual recipes 2018.   Most of the time they can be found on the internet.   Like google “ Burrito Bake/Taste of Home” .





Monday, December 25, 2017

Merry Christmas

We got a surprise snow for Christmas Eve celebrations.   We made spinach dip stuffed mushrooms (scratch). Baby ham and Swiss cheese quiches, and hot poppers.  I made another batch of shortbread. Supposedly ou were supposed to be able to pipe it into swirls.   We broke the bag trying.   I wound up rolling it into balls and flattening it.  It all tastes the same, right?    

Kitchen management is being postponed until tomorrow.  

I hope everayone has a wonderful Christmas with family and friends.    

Merry Christmas 

Sunday, December 24, 2017

Meal Plans- Sunday

Merry Christmas Eve

Meal plans are a necessary part of Groceries on the Cheap.  Staying grounded and having a plan keeps you from going astray and winding up ordering take out or pizza.   The difference between ordering a pizza and making a pizza is dramatic in cost.


  • Christmas:  roast turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, homemade cranberry sauce, stuffed celery and olives .
  • Leftovers 
  • Tacos , refried beans, Spanish rice. 
  • Pizza
  • Soup , rolls 
  • Breakfast for dinner 
  • Chicken nuggets (homemade) , oven fries, veggies (movie night ) 







Saturday, December 23, 2017

Winco Haul....Hey, its Christmas !

So much to say. Christmas entertaining is not part of our regular grocery budget.  Its a time where we splurge on things that we don’t normally buy.  


4 boxes tissue at .98
Salmon cakes 2.88
Steak fries 1.68
Barilla pasta .98

Mushrooms 2.86
Cresent rolls 2.56
Celery 1.58
Spinach 1.78
Naval orange .80
Poppers 6.98
Pie crust 2.38
Ham 2.62

Cake mix .88
Cranberries 1.98
Swiss cheese 3.22
Lemon lime soda .48

Total 39.44


Friday, December 22, 2017

Ez dinner rolls

On my hunt for ez dinner rolls.  The first few recipes I found convinced me that my MIL was an angel making them for us numerous times through the years.  

1 cup plus 2T warm water
1/3 cup oil
2 Tbls yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
3.5 cups flour

Heat oven to 400 degrees

In stand mixer, place water, oil, yeast, and sugar.  Let rest 15 minutes
Mix 2 cups of the flour , salt and egg into the wet mixture with the dough hook.
Add remaining flour until dough is no longer sticky .

Remove dough from mixer bowl and shape into balls.  Place in 9x13 pad and let rise 10 minutes.

Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes until the tops of the rolls are brown.  

Thursday, December 21, 2017

Thursday : Notes

Sometimes, you just have to do what you gotta do.   We have granddaughter for the week because of winter vacation and Costco is a zoo.   We needed a few things and there was no way I was going to drive around for half an hour looking for a parking place and battling the crowds to get the four things we always buy in bulk   So, I dodged the bullet and ordered on line for the first time.  I was pleasantly surprised .   The food prices were close to the price of instore, there was no shipping g charge, and we got our food in 40 minutes. I ordered bacon, oatmeal, and soap....dishwasher tablets, and soft soap.  

Then we went to QFC and I made up any extra I paid with three dollars worth of coupons.  
That made darigold butter 1.50 and meatballs about 2.00 a pound.  I cant make good meatballs for two dollars a pound.   This was an experiment.   The expensive meatballs are bigger and I think ar more dense than the Armor ones that are about 2.00 a lb normally at Winco.   Both taste fine.   I used the new ones for a meatball sub for dinner.   We split and hollowed out a small baguette, I brushed it with olive oil on both sides and toasted it in the oven for a few minutes.   I heated the meatballs with some bbq sauce in the microwave for four minutes.  Then I filled the hollowed out side of the bread with the meatballs and sauce and topped it with mozzarella.   I put both sides of the bread in. The oven and heated it until the cheese had melted.   The bread was not soggy.   I might put some cheese in the bottom of the bread if I did it again.   I also would make my own baguette, but this time w made cookies and shopped and granddaughter and I had popcorn and snuggled and watched the Lorax.   Like I said, sometimes you just have to do what you gotta do.

Overall, we did’nt break the budget too much and spoiling granddaughter is a right of grandmothers.   Right?  LOL

We met  people at the grocery store.  One of which I shared my extra butter coupon with.  Random acts of kindness don’t have to cost anything, and especially in this political climate, they go a long way to make things better.   I first encounterd a coupon angel one day back when all three kids were home.   A lady stopped me in Albertons at James village.   As usual, my cart was getting full.   She had a coupon for FREE milk if you spent like 50.00.  She said she wasnt going to spend that much but at the looks of my cart, I probably was and gave me the coupon.   It made my day.

One day I was shopping at winco.  I ran across a gentlemen that I could tell was adding up the few things in his cart to see how much he had amassed.   He was buying Progresso soups.   I asked him how many he had.  He said “two”.   I had a coupon for buy three, save......it made the third one free.
I handed him the coupon.   He said thank you and we went on our separate ways.   He ran into us in another part of the store.  He thanked me again.   I got the impression that we had just given him another meal.   Little acts of kindness don't have to cost money, but can really make someone’s day.



Wednesday, December 20, 2017

QFC haul.

We are still under 55.00 a week this year.  

QFC Haul

Apples , Fuji. 4.11
French baguette 1.99
Meatballs 4.99 less coupon. 3.99 - almost 2 lb.
butter (2) 1.50 ea
Blueberries 2/5


43 percent savings.  
Meal plans are meant to be broken.   We have our grandchild home from school this week and we have been baking christmas cookies all week.  Super no brainer dinner was in order when I got meatballs as cheap as I did.  I cant buy the meat for two dollars a pound.   So we had meatball subs and french fries that were air fried.  


Why it makes sense to do rotation protein .

We all know by now that buying a meat (protein) on sale is a good thing to do.  Buying a bulk quantity of that meat is a better thing.   Buying enough for the family to eat that particular meat for a predisposed amount of meals saves a lot of money when you purchase enough to cover you for four to six weeks.  

Case in point:   Pork loin was .99 a lb this week at our Kroger.   (QFC and Fred Meyers) .  Normally, you could easily spend 2.00 a pound.   I bought two 1/2 loins for a total of 8.5 pounds.   I cut pork chops from most of it. (20) or enough for 10 of our dinners.   I also ground the scraps to provide 1.1/4 pounds of ground pork that was a bit more fatty.  The upshot of that was enough for a stirfry.   Bottom line, I got 11 dinners and enough ground pork to add fat back into two meals of meatballs or meatloaf from 5 percent fat hamburger.   11 meals divided by 8.50 is .77 a meal or 1.54 for 4 people.  Buying pork chops at 3.50 a lb would cost 29.75– twenty dollars more.   They are both from the same cut of meat.  

Boneless skinless chicken breast is as much as 8.00 a lb at the deli and you dont know where it came from.    Breasts can be as low as 1.77 a lb and you can buy local chickens.   The last split chicken breast I purchased was about 1.50 a lb.  It takes a little work, but you get chicken broth and some more small pieces of chicken for soup, or enchaladas , tacos, or casseroles.   Debone the rib portion and cook it in the slow cooker overnight.  Add scraps of veggies—celery, carrot, onion.....pull the meat off the bones and freeze .  Freeze the chicken stock unless you ar going to eat it soon.
The difference between buying a couple of breasts at a everyday low price of 3.49 and paying 1.77 is 1.72 a lb. times 10 pounds is 17.20.   For a family of four, that is ten dinners for 17.70 or 1.77 a meal.  


Hamburger:   The lowest fat is the best quality.   Our price for 10 percent fat hamburger is about four dollars a pound.   I just bought sirloin roasts for 2.40 a pound at safeways with a basket coupon .   By grinding it myself in the food processer, I spent about 1 minute per batch using the pulse button and saved 1.60 a pound.   Ten pounds makes at least ten meals, sometimes more for soup or tacos, or less for meatloaf or hamburgers.   That is 2.40 cents a meal instead of 4.00. Or 16.00 savings.  

Consider 2 meals a week for 5 weeks, your total protein would be 50.40 or 1.68 a meal.   That leaves you 5 meals to fill in with perhaps a vegetarian meal of breakfast for dinner or pizza or mac and cheese.  

Snap guidelines, I just read, are 1.40 per meal, or 5.60 a meal for 4 people.   My meals are based on:  four people, one meal, five bucks.   1.68 leaves you 3.32 for a starch and a vegetable.   Bulk rice is .03 a serving, and vegetable should be less than a dollar a pound.  



Chain store ads

Alberways :

Beef ribeye in a bag.   Use coupon....3.98 lb
Shank ham .99
Spiral ham 1.29
Asparagus 1.88

Butter 1.88@@@
Bacon 12 ounces 2/5@@@]

Turkey .79

Dejiorno pizza 4.99$$

Pillsbury pie crusts and cookie dough 2/5 $$

Cresents and cinnamon rolls 3/6 $$

Note : @@ means that you need to have an in ad coupon
$$ means that there is a coupon out there.  The pillsbury things are both in the coupon inserts and o coupons.com

QFC this ad is between Dec 13 and Dec 24.

Butter 2/5 :Note coupons.com has a dollar off coupo and you can print 2 per computer.  

Tillamook cheese 4.99 limit 2

Blueberries 2/5

Cooked to perfection meatballs 18-26 ounces 4.99- look for coupons

Green beans -fresh. 1.29
turkey breast -frozen ready to cook 7.99
Ritz crackers $$ 2/4
Cream cheese 2/4

Note: it is always a good thing to avoid shopping for holiday food at the last minute.   The pries almost always go up.   The weeks leading up to the holiday have better prices and you can avoid that holiday budget crunch.  







Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Tuesday Bullets

I just read an article in our local newspaper that said buying organic adds a third more to your grocery  bill.  My experience has been that the food spoils faster than regular food.  No food is going to do your family well if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.   

Ways to save money 💰 on your food. 

  • Buy in bulk when it makes sense.   Buying cranberry sauce in bulk when you only eat it at holiday time, would not be a good idea.   Buying a 25 lb bag of rice or flour might be a better Alternative.  Rice is on the does not spoil list and if you make your own mixes and bake your own bread, bulk flour is a good way to go.   We eat oatmeal every day.  Buying it in ten pound boxes makes sense.  Anything you will use up in a three mont period is a good benchmark for the common sense flag. 
  • Lower your consumption of protein.   We eat too muck protein in this country.   It has been linked to health issues .  Check the RDA on protein for your family.   No one needs to eat the better part of a two pound roast in one sitting.   I had a lady inform me her husband did because he was a bodybuilder.   Most of us don’t have bodybuilders for roommates.  LOL 
  • Avoiding junk food is not a bad idea.  One half of the average shopping cart is drinks and snack foods.   Not letting that happen will greatly reduce your food bill and probably a few waistlines too. 
  • Planning a non meat dinner or two a week is a great money saver too.   Pizza when made from scratch and ingredients purchased at RBP make for a buck each meal.   Cheese can be purchased at low costs and frozen ( grated ) .  Mozzarella is made from low fat.  Eggs are still low in cost here at times, and you can dehydrate them with succsss.
  • Buying your meat at RBP and buying in bulk on a rotation basis is a cheaper and more efficient way to stock your freezer, one month at a time.   Buy as much of a particular protein item as you will use for a months worth of that meal.   Pick a basic cut of meat that your family likes and that is versatile.  We use hamburger, cheese, pork loin  and chicken breast.   Add beans and eggs to the mix.   Adding beans to dishes boosts protein at a very low cost. 
  • Don’t be brand an store loyal.   Shopping several stores gives you more choices and lower prices.   Non traditional stores also sometimes have lower prices on some things.   Because they only carry the things they find at a low price, they are a good resource to check occasionally.   Stores like Big Lots, and the Dollar Tree aka DT. Grocery Outlet 
  • No one store has the best prices on everything.   Know your prices.   My mother used to say that some people could have a bargain get up and bite them in the butt and not see it. Don’t be that person.   Buy responsibily.   Set yourself limits as to how much of something you will keep on hand.   That greatly depends on how much of that item you consume on a regular basis.   Reducing the variety of ingredients you use on a regular basis helps keep things in order and efficient.   For example, we only buy diced tomatoes and a few tomato pastes if I find them on sale.   You can manipulate diced tomatoes to do anything you need a tomato for. 


Monday, December 18, 2017

Monday Kitchen Management

Kitchen management is a tool that allows you to spend an hour of leisure time to save hours time during the hectic dinner hour.  Spending a few minutes on a small deep cleaning task. Saves a lot of time when it comes time to deep clean the kitchen.


Recap meal plan :

  1. Oven roasted chicken with root veggies:  potato, carrot, radish 
  2. Pizza:  Buffalo chicken 
  3. Pork Roast, mashed potatoes, green beans with vinegrete seasoning. 
  4. Pork slider, oven fries, vegetable platter 
  5. Salmon cakes, rice medley , Peas, rolls 
  6. Tacos, refried beans or nachos. 
  7. Christmas Eve. Potluck    

Kitchen management 
  • Wash kitchen floor
  • Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead.
  • Wash refrigerator shelves
  • Wash kitchen counters and disinfect counters, sinks, and drains. 
  • Clean stove drip pans. 
  • Wax island cupboards 
  • Wash potatoes with vinegar water for oven fries and roasted potatoes. 
  • Ditto carrots and radishes
  • Pull the roast out to thaw.
  • Make some Christmas cookies.   
Note:  because it is christmas week and things are hectic with extra chores and holiday cheer, the meals are purposely stair step meals.   That is, one meal reinvents itself for a different meal another day—meals aren’t necessarily in chronological order.  Slider rolls take on double duty as dinner rolls with the salmon dinner.   

All of these meals are Four plus one is five meals.   Four people, one meal, five bucks.  Provided you are buying your groceries at RBP.   They are also quick to make with hands on time .




Sunday, December 17, 2017

Meal Plans

Meal plans are an organizational tool to save time and money.

  • Roast chicken breast with oven roasted root veggies:  potato, carrot, radishes. 
  • Buffalo chicken pizza
  • Pork roast, mashed red potatoes, peas and carrots 
  • Pork sliders, Oven roasted french fries, veggie platter 
  • Salmon cakes, rice medley, peas 
  • Tacos, refried beans or nachos 
  • Christmas Eve potluck 
Notes:  a lot of piggy back here.   One meat makes two dinners.   It saves time and energy when its a busy time of the year.   Salmon cakes are either scratch or they are inexpensive at Winco.   

An interesting note, my observation was that Fred Meyer and Wino were the cheapest prices for food in our area.  My friend sent me an article from the local paper.   Their basket research study validated my observations.   

All of these meals would be a four plus one is five meal.  Four people, one meal, five bucks.   
Some would be cheaper.   Salmon is right there with store bought salmon, less with scratch.  
All are easy and quickly put together.   




Saturday, December 16, 2017

Did someone say Pork Loin ?

QFC and Fred Meyers (Kroger ) have pork loin today only for .99 a lb.  QFC when they at 11 am had 7 cases.   I bought 2 1/2 loins.   You can buy up to five.   You do need to download a coupon and spend an additional ten dollars.

Pork Loin :  8.5 lbs of pork loin
Blueberries 2/5
Turkey breast 7.99
Bread 1.25

22.82


Cutting the pork Loin is on

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