Kitchen Management aka meal prep

Kitchen  management is a tool that saves time and stress at meal time,   Basics you spend a little to,e prepping the meals based on a meal plan.   Having food prepped somthat it takes ten to twenty minutes to cook dinner makes life a whole lot easier and tends to keep you from being tempted to order in or go out.  

Reminder  of meals

• Chicken enchiladas, lettuce and tomatoes 
• Pizza
• Chili,  tortilla chips,sour cream, cheese 
•  Spaghetti , salad, bread sticks 
• Chicken pot pie , fruit 
• Chili dogs , vegetable plate 
• Breakfast for dinner 

1. Wash kitchen floor.
2. Clean out the refrigerator and dump anything dead. 
3. Make note of things that need  to be used up , incorporate them into meal plan 
4. Clean and disinfect countertops and sinks and drains. 
5. Cook chicken for the enchiladas in the insta pot. 
6. Make enchilada sauce. 
7. Was salad greens, carrots. 
8. Make a batch of muffins - new bread book. 
9. Inventory if not already taken. My inventory is on my meal plan form.   

 I will share my meal plan form with anyone that wants it.  If it has to be sent as a file. It will have to wait until my IT person can help me.  Hey, I’m old.   Lol 😂 

Book Review

Betty Crocker big book of bread .. all kinds of bread from scones to french bread and everything on between.   Some quick, so,e not so quick.   All look delicious,  

Artisan semolina and rosemary bread

Mini cheese and chive popovers
Mini sweet potato cinnamon rolls
Maple glazed bacon drop doughnuts
Sour cream coffee cake
Zesty cheddar bread
Ginger carrot nut bread

Gluten free cheese garlic biscuits

Pear nut scones

Chocolate scones
Beer and Chile cornbread muffins

Raspberry white chocolate muffins

Cinnamon bubble loaf

Double quick dinner rolls

Haul 8/24

Fred Meyers

Grapes 1.94
Goldfish .99
Goldfish .99
Goldfish .99
Nectarines 2.69
Ice cream 3.49
Ice cream 3.49
Sour cream 1.25
Milk .99

Total 16.82

Pretty much produce and dairy. The goldfish were basically free except for one at .99. B5; S5



Note : the process inquited last week for safeways were from the Internet.  I don’t know what happened.  But the ad in the store does not reflect those prices .  No cantaloupe or soup, green peppers are a dollar.

Meal plans

Meal plans are a tool to make life easier and save time and money,

1. Chicken enchaladas , lettuce, tomatoes 
2. Pizza
3. Chilli , topped with choice of cheese, sour cream and/or tortilla chips. 
4. Spaghetti, salad , bread sticks 
5. Chicken pot pie, fruit 
6. Chilli dogs, veggie platter 
7. Quiche, fruit 

Notes 

1. Chicken enchaladas are from frozen .99 a lb chicken , to,atoes from the plant on the deck 
2. Pizza is a cheap dinner at a dollar a pizza.  Obviously, scratch 
3. Chilli does double duty with chilli dogs another day,   
4. Spaghetti I’m the insta pot.  Eight minutes  bread sticks are from a batch a month ago at the surplus bread store,  I froze them.  
5. Chicken pot pie from frozen chicken . 
6. Quiche is easy and quick as well as inexpensive. 

Concept Saturday / Dollar Tree food,

Yes, you can get good food at the DT.   You can also get nasty food at the DT....just saying...

There are a few things, mostly name brand things .

Some of the things, namely garlic and some frozen foods come from China.   Buy at your own comfort level.

The best things are taco shells, tortillas. Pizza sauce, suddenly salad, Betty Crocker products, ;we have got hunts tomatoes, organic, named brand enchilada sauce for a dime.  Hunts pasta sauce, Barilla pasta.  Named brand frozen potatoes.

Sometimes they get overstocks or things that were in a test market and didn’t fly,

Buyer beware, but anything that is not going to be a long term item in your house, is probably a good buy.  Napkins, kids work books, balloons, party decorations and present bags.

A great tip, if you are a Costco toilet paper  shopper, buy one pack of dollar store toilet paper.  Put it in the very back of the closet.   You will never be stuck if someone  forgets to tell that you are running low. Don’t  need to say more.

You still have to know your prices . Some things are cheaper at other stores.   Sometimes the  quality isn't up to high standards.

Pounder glasses are good as well as some glass wine glasses.

They do take coupons,  no more than four in a day per household and some managers don’t have a sense of humor,   Like Edmonds for instance.  Kenmore, on the other hand.....

Please feel free to comment on what you do like to buy at the DT.

Friday recipe

Years ago, my youngest son’s kindergarten teacher lived across the street.   She was a kind soul.  She always had took in children that needed a home even long past the time when her birth children were adults.   Her son had a job that managed sports  stars.  A very large African-American man was visiting for a few days,   He was a basket ball star named Kenny.   Kenny was shooting hoops using the community street basket ball hoop.  My son was two and a half, Now,  he was the direct opposite of Kenny in stature and colour.   He was as white as he could be with stark blond hair.   He came out with a basketball that was bigger than him yelling “ baketball, baketball”.  Kenny picked him up and let him slam dunk the ball.   The grin on both their faces was priceless.   I wish I would have had a cell phone with a camera.   Lol 😂

I digress. This same neighbor had an expression. She made Guesseroles.   That was when she cooked pasta and added anything she had in the fridge or cupboard to make a meal.  

So, Mrs Boot, this one is for you,  

Mexican Casserole

4 ounces macaroni
1/2 pound of cooked ground meat
1 -15.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes, not drained
1 tsp of tomato boullion, or 2 ounces of tomato paste.  
2 cups cooked  kidney beans -or  1 can , rinsed and drained.
1/2 can diced green chillies , drained
2 tsp  taco seasoning
4 ounces (1cup) Mexican blend cheese

• Cook macaroni and drain. 
• Combine all the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the cheese in a saucepan.  Cook for about ten minutes on low while the pasta cooks. 
• Combine  the drained pasta and the “sauce”.
• Place in a baking dish , top with cheese 
• Bake at 375 for 30 minutes 

Total cost when buying your ingredients at  RBP is 3.09.

These are all staple ingredients in a well stocked basic kitchen.  The prices are my rock bottom prices in Seattle.   Seattle is among  the top 7 cost of food cities in the USA. 

FM haul 8/17

Haul for week of 8/17

Raspberries 3.99
Strawberries 3.99
2 lbs bacon 5.29
Brats 2.50

Kroger yogurt, markdown .19

Peanut butter 1.39

English muffins 1.67

Total 19.21

Safeways

Cantaloupe 2.00
2 doz eggs .99 ea

3.99 total

23.20 total


Bonus Grocery Outlet

Ripe olives .69
Tomatoes .99
Bacon 1.99
Biscuits .50
Salame 2.79
Total 12.13
Total 35.33

How did she do that? Really fast taco soup

It is always a good thing to have a recipe or two that you can make in minutes and tastes good.   We have all had days when time gets away from you.

It starts with the prep idea of frying bulk ground meat when you bring it home from the store or shortly after.   Fry the meat, de fat it of you need to and place it on quart bags portion controlled for you family.  We bag the amount we need for tacos.  You can always pull multiple bags from the gallon bag you freeze them on . Label the gallon bag,  this double bags your meat and you only have to label one bag. 

Taco soup - it really takes five non passive minutes.   

• Take a half a pound of cooked ground beef out of the freezer and defrost it in the microwave about 1.5 minutes or just bat it on the counter until it’s broken up. Place it on the slow cooker.  I use the insta pot, 
• Add the following :
• 1 -  can of diced tomatoes , not drained 
• 1 can of beans of choice -black, P.I. to, or kidney , drained and rinsed, 
• 1 can or equivalent frozen of corn 
• 4 cups of beef or vegetable stock.  I just make the stock in the cans, it rinses the cans and makes less dishes, 
• 1T taco seasoning (homemade)

Turn the slow cooker or Insta pot on lsowmcooker mode and let it cook until you are ready to eat.   

Technically everything you put in the pot is abkento be eaten straight from the can.  You just want the flavors to combine and it to get hot.   

Chain store ads

note:  these were gleamed from the internet.  Despite there not being a holiday, the main man did not bring the ads.   The Safeway ad was also not  on the Internet.  Note:  today I have also posted some WNTB and why.   WNTB is what not to buy,   A description of what to watch for and buy instead to save lots on your bottom line,


Fred Meyers

WNTB —FF chicken breast 1.99.    Last week FF split chicken breast was .88.  A little time saves you more than 1/2amd you get the added bonus of chicken stock thatmcost upwards of two dollars a quart.  

The following are all .99
Grapes 
Peaches 
Milk
Pears

Sour cream  16 ounces 1.25

Kroger breakfast sausage 2/5
2 lbs strawberries 3.99
Ground Turkey 2.99

WNTB - Binkess Pork Loin chops 3.99–it wasn’t that long ago that we got pork loin for .99.  You can almost always get them for up to 1.69.  Again, buying them for even the 1.69 is half the price and it takes minutes to slice a pork chop off of a loin. 

QFC

Milk .99


Buy5: save 5

Goldfish .99
Tillamook ice cream2.99

WNTB - 4 blueberry muffins 3.49–it cost about a buck to make a dozen muffins,   Make a muffin mix up and it takes a matter of a few minutes to whip up a dozen muffins,   The savings are remarkable amdyou know what is in  them. 

Alberways 

Cantaloupe.99
Friday only -cream soups 1.00
Peppers 1.00
Corn 3/1
Hebrew national franks 2/7

WNTB-milk is 1.00 at both Kroger stores. 
Garlic bread is 3.49/ it cost .30. See the “big family homestead  “on u tube 

How did she do that?

Chocolate zucchini muffins.   Yum.   An easy way to get a green vegetable into husbands,. I’m not saying children, because granddaughter loves vegetables.   Lol

A friend gave me zucchini last night,   Our zucchini plant gave up one zucchini.  We probably,should have put some slug bait out.  I didn’t think that it would be a problem where we planted it.   I really appreciate her sharing.

Most “quick breads” are best made with the least amount of mixing .  Over  mixing  causes the bread to be tough.  Measure and stir the dry ingredients together in one bowl,  measure and stir the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.  Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients,  don't  over mix,—  just mix until all the dry ingredients are no longer visible.   Put your mixture into a prepared  pan and bake according to the recipe.

On another note.  Life is not perfect and you are always going to have some fails.   The buttermilk pancake mix I made the other day was one of those fails.  It turned out to be so thin, it just didn’t work.  Thankfully I had made french toast to use up the bread that was hanging around too long,  I froze it in four slice lots in quart bags.  A little time in the toaster and it saves the day.  It is a good way to use up Texas toast bread that is not being used up fast enough.  It makes for a quick easy breakfast that a older child could make themselves.

I did try another recipe for buttermilk pancake mix.   Thankfully I had only made a half batch. In retrospect, I probably could have used the mix for breading.   I try to limit carbs, however , so I use a combination of nuts, breadcrumbs, and parmesean cheese to bread things like chicken nuggets.  Its really good and it cuts carbs and adds protein.  

Looking for ways to keep costs down while providing good nutrition is a way to eat well on four dollars a day.  Keeping a stock of basic food that is efficiently versatile is a good way to cut food costs.  This is a good time when less is more.  If you have less variety you can buy more of it in bulk and save a lot of money,   Packaging is expensive.  I keep a small amount of dry buttermilk.  Real buttermilk is a good ingredient in baked items, but buying liquid buttermilk is just nit practical.  Amazon had dry buttermilk, local. In a plastic bag for far less than the box in the grocery store.  That’s when saving the wide mouth jars you have instead of putting them in the recycle.  We also got a big canister of chicken bouillon.  The cost was drastically lower than buying the little jars at Winco.  It is good anytime you need chicken stock.  That happens a lot when you are scratch cooking.  We try to make stock, but that doesn’t always happen.

If you buy something that doesn’t spoil in bulk once, you can mark that off your list.  It simplifies your grocery shopping,   Bit by bit you find yourself buying dairy, perishables, and a rotation meat.  You are scratch cooking efficiently and cutting your time and money a lot.  And you are not eating out of a box or bag and are controlling salt, sugar, trans fats, hydrogenated oils, HFCS, and gmo s .and the food dyes.

Monday Kitchen Management aka food prep

Kitchen   management is a tool that saves time and money in the long run.  It makes life less stressful during the hectic dinner hour.

Reminder if menu

• Tacos, refried beans 
• Pizza
• Meatballs, with mashed potatoes, veggie 
• Pork roast, baked potato. Salad, vegetable 
• Vegetable bean soup. Bread sticks 
• Beer cheese soup, brats 
• Breakfast for dinner / french toast, bacon, cantaloupe 

1. Wash kitchen floor 
2. Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead. 
3. Clean and disinfect countertops and sinks and drains. 
4. Wash and dry carrots and potatoes. 
5. If having refried beans today, make them. Insta pot is a good resource,  
6. Clean the drip pans on the stove, 

Meal plans

Meal plans are a tool that saves time and money.
The first week and a half was regular spending, the next three weeks will/ have been no spend,  no spend just means that we will only buy perishables and things that we are completely out of.

• Meatballs with mashed potatoes and a veggie 
• Tacos, re fried beans (scratch) 
• Pizza
• Breakfast for dinner 
• Pork Roast , baked potatoes, salad 
• Vegetable bean soup , biscuits 
• Beer cheese soup, brats 

Notes 

1. Meatballs are cheaper to buy than make at Winco. Make gravy with beef stock. 
2. Tacos are made from already cooked hamburger,   Re fried beans are in the insta pot, no fat 
3. Pizza is homemade. Pizza costs a dollar, the crust is .19 of it. 
4. Breakfast for dinner is a mainstay.  Everyone cooks.   We have fruit, french toast already made from the last of the Texas toast from the  Read store. 
5. Pork Roast is from a ,99 a pound pork loin, 
6. Vegetable bean soup is a personal recipe, made from scratch, beans and all. 
7. Beer cheese soup is a new recipe and we already have break sticks in the freezer.   

What we ate for dinner so far...

For August 1-17 , 2018.   Part of this was no soens. The first week was not.

1.  Texas French Toast, bacon, cantaloupe 
2. Hamburgers, pasta salad, fruit 
3. Sausage, potatoes, carrots , roasted 
4. Bbq beef sandwiches, corn on the cob 
5. Insta pot spaghetti, salad 
6. Salmon, twice baked potatoes. Green salad 
7. Potluck, veggie tray 
8. Bbq beef sandwiches, oven fries, salad 
9. Potluck dinner- pasta salad 
10. Nachos 
11. Chicken patties , oven fries. Fruit 
12. English muffins, scrambled eggs, fruit tray , bacon 
13. Sloppy joes. Corn on cob, fruit 
14. Fish n chips , coleslaw 
15. Clam chowder. Fruit 
16. Pork fried rice, chicken dumplings 
17. Taco soup , tortilla soup 
18. Antipasta plate 
19. 
    
20. 
    
21. 
    

Concept: how to shop at Grocery Outlet

Grocery Outlet is a discount overstock grocery store.  It is a chain and is franchised like the Dollar Tree.  There are other stores in other states that are similar.

Shopping at the Grocery Outlet is a treasure hunt,   Like any other store,  not all things are a bargain.   You still have to know your prices.

I, personally don’t buy the produce.  I’ve only done it a couple of times at two different stores, and both times had a bad experience.

We have two places on our area that the grocery outlet and dollar tree are side by side.   It makes things more efficient.

I can usually find good sliced cheese, and a variety of cheeses for a reasonable amount.  The exception being grated cheese,  you are better off buying grated cheese at Costco or on sale at Alberways or one of the Kroger  stores.

I can most of the time find a name brand taco kit for a buck.  That’s the price if he taco shells and you get the seasoning and sauce with it.  Otherwise, I get the shells for a buck, my buy price.

Nuts are another thing that we watch out for.   If I don’t find them there, we get bulk at the Winco or bags at Costco.

I was getting coffee, but now I find a lot of the expensive bagged kind, but not the normal Foldgers or   Maxwell House,

Some of the larger frozen food bags are a bargain.

You just never know what you are going to find.   Del Monte green green beans were .33 .  They were close to the pull date.  In those cases, I buy just what I might use before the pull date and put the front of the stack.   I have also got organic diced tomatoes for .50.   You never know what you are going to find.   We got bacon yesterday for 2.00 a pound.   And, tube biscuits , Pillsbury, for .50.  They have to be used  this month.   That’s not a problem for us.   I didn’t buy he stack.  LOL

The basics of this  is :

• Buyer beware: know your prices and check the pull dates .  
• Don’t buy anything in quantity if you can’t use it before the pull dates.  Often something like a cake type mix will be very cheap and you can expect some time after the pull date on those things.  Anything dry is probably better longer than the pull date.  
• I would , personally, avoid fresh foods. 
• They have a large inventory of organic foods
• They often have seasonal things that are perfectly good.  Who cares if you eat pumpkin in the summer? 
• If you find something with shelf life that you really like, don’t hesitate to buy as much as you are comfortable with. It is You snooze. You loose time. 

Miscellaneous carp

Short notes from my reader.....

Someone  said the best gift is a gift of your time.   Consider this blog  a gift.  I am sharing 50 years  of learning how to cut your grocery bill.  We all need to eat, but a lot of us need to have a well rounded life and be able to have a roof over our head, utility bills paid , health care paid for and a few cents  to rattle around  in their pockets.

Yesterday, we went to Fred Meyer,   My husband doesn’t think life is great without bacon? Lol.  I found pieces - 2 pounds for a little more than it would cost for 1 pound of bacon.   If you put them in a low heat while you are cooking other things, they will render down and you can use the bacon for flavoring in any number of dishes.

QFC sends us free food periodically.  Free is a good word.   This time we get free sausage and salsa.   Both are good additions to a food pantry/freezer.

Today I cleaned out the upstairs side by side freezer and cleaned out the bins so that they were better organized.   I found pork cubes I will use for the fried rice in the insta pot recipe iIam going to try.  The insta pot version was a bust; the rice comes out too watery.  It was tender, but I didn’t like the texture.  We had Chinese dumplings with it.  Total cost of the fried rice is about 1.00 including some pork.

My husband went and got 2dozen eggs for a buck a dozen and a two dollar cantaloupe.

No spend means you only buy perishables and fill ins,   It drastically reduces you cash expenditures ,
and pares down the pantry.  That’s a good thing.


There are a lot of good mix recipes on the internet or u tube.   Mixes give you the convenience of a ready made mix without the extra cost.   You can purchase a lot of raw ingredients at the bulk section of Winco or your basic grocery store that has a bulk section.  I’m making buttermilk pancakes and cream soup mix.  Cream of .....soup used to be like .35.  Now it’s well over 1.50 unless you find sakes and coupons.  That is best found around thanksgiving time.

Shopping to stock your freezer/pantry actually takes less time than regular shopping and the reward is that you always have food in the house.   Instead of a large basket of groceries piecemeal, you have less variety of items.  Once you are set up, you go to the store to buy a rotation protein, replenish dairy and produce, and replenish the basics that you have already found advertised that you need.
If you keep your food pantry/cupboard organized, you can tell at a glance what you might be approaching stock up time. Many times you can just shop the perimeter of the store and get on and get out of the store.   Its a good rule of thumb to shop two stores a week.

Spending an hour a week prepping for the upcoming week, saves a lot of time and money during meal time.  It just makes life easier and it enables you to cook scratch food in the same time you might have spent using mixes and ready maxes that might have things from the science department in them,   There are things at the grocery store that we feed our children that have detergent type additives and wood pulp in them.   All I’m an say is yuk!

Groceries on the cheap doesn’t mean you have to buy cheap food.   It means you buy good food cheap.

It’s  not what you buy as much as it is when and where you buy it.

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 the rock bottom prices  RBP, of the things you use on a regular basis.  Most families have a list of 10-15 items,   Buy in quantity when the Leicester are low.  Its not a new concept.  Stockbrokers have been using it for years,  they buy a stock when it’s cheap and sell it when it goes up.   The difference is there is less speculation with food.

The other example would be on r great grandmothers on the farm.  They would “put up food for the winter”.  Back then they had to make best use of the growing season and they didn’t have the technology we have today,

I hope I gave you some ideas. Please let me know of this type of blog is helpful.

Thanks for stopping by

Jane

Hauls 8/10

Winco

Buns .85

QFC
4 lb cheese 10.00
1 double cream cheese 1.99

Total 14.85.   8/15


Winco
Corn .66
Apples 2.66
Dumplings 1.98
Olives .78
To,actors 1.48
Lettuce .98
Granny smith apples 1.95
Strwberries 1.78
Total 13.05

Total.  27.90

List of basics for emergency storage

Pinto beans
Brown or white rice
Black beans
Flour
Salt
Rolled oats
Sugar
Honey
Nuts
Cornstarch
Baking powder
Peanut butter
Olive oil
Canola oil
Pasta
Pasta sauce
Canned diced tomatoes
Yeast
Dry milk

Chain store ads

QFC was a two week ad last week.
To recap
                       
Peaches
QFC 1.28
Alberways .99

Apples
Safeways .99-gala
Winco .99    Gala and green

Cantaloupe
Alberways 2/4
QFC 2/5

Mandarins
FM -3.99 -3# bag
Strawberries
Fm 2 lbs 3.99

DiGiorno pizza
FM 4.88

English muffins
Alberways .99@@

Eggs
Alberways .99@@limit 2

Cheese -8 ounces
Alberways 2.49
QFC 2.49 part of buy 5
Fred Meyers /F ,SAT only / digital up to 5 @ .99

Tortillas
QFC 1.00

Nathan’s
Alberways 3.99 digital coupon

Hebrew national
Fred Meyers 3.99

Facts of life on a four dollar a day budget.

Reality strikes....

There are pipe dreams and then there is reality,

You can hope for food from the whole paycheck  food stores and perfect meals with no child spilling their milk, or whining that they don’t like peas touching their chicken, or you can embrace reality.

A four dollar a day budget does not include steak and lobster or 5 bags of chips..  You need to figure on buying four dollars a day worth of versatile basic food and   you would be surprised what you can buy on four dollars a day if you shop wisely,

You can buy :

1. We purchase Real Parmesan cheese . It doesn’t come out of a green box,   The green box has wood pulp in it.   You would be surprised what is 8n all the boxes you buy.  They have sneaky ways of labeling ingredients so you aren’t aware of what is in those brightly colored  boxes,  
2. Real honey, 
3. Real maple syrup
4. The best quality tuna we can find at Costco.   Ditto salmon, 
5. Boneless, skinless chicken breast,   It is the lowest in fat.  
6. Good, low fat hamburger, or we make it low fat, 
7. Pork loin,   Center cut pork chops can be 3.50 a pound,   Pork Loin can be 1.00-1.69.
8. Eggs, cheese, and dry beans,  cooking scratch beans doesn’t add salt.  
9. Fresh fruit and vegetables in season    A dollar is my buy price.   Strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, cantaloupe whit  each, apples at a dollar, grapes at less than two dollars, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots in 5 lb bulk at 2.28 and celery.

Baby carrots are regular carrots that have gone through a machine    It all started with a farmer that was having a really hard time selling his misshapen carrots. He solved his problem by putting the ugly carrots through a machine and making baby carrots.  Que the media blitz.  He had to convince people that his reject carrots worth twice the price of regular carrots.  There are many other new 'inventions that are toted as being healthier for you, that just reduce one bad thing and increase another.  Diet butter substitute and salad dressing come to mind.  

 Virtual paycheck.  Its a concept not everyone can grasp.   But, it is now I decide if scratch cooking something is worth my time and effort.  Face it, kids don’t care if it takes you three hours to make a tortilla .  They are going to make that tortilla disappear in three minutes  or less.   If you calculate how much you are going to save making scratch or a mix and you divide it by how many hours it takes to make it, you get a savings per hour. Now times that figure by 1.25 and it will tell you how much you are making per hour,   I think I figured that making tortillas netted my a dime an hour.   Lemon pound cake from the big bucks coffee shop,  however,  made us 212.00 an hour.  Note you don’t count passive time.

Collecting efficient scratch recipes your family will eat is a secret ingredient in eating on four dollars a day -per person. It also helps to: 

Buying  a rotation meat for a RBP and rotating a four to six week supply affords you, the cheapest and best quality meat and allows you to have a stock of food on hand,   No more scrimping and waiting with baited breath for the paycheck so you can run to the store. Instead you go to the store and buy from your basic list what is on sale for a buy price.  This simplifies your cart and affords you much more food for your dollar.   

A pantry is not built on a day, but you can build it a week at a time if you buy double whenever anything that is on your basic list that is 1/2 price.  Why pay 1.59 for a can of green beans this week and pay .50 for the same can the next week.  You are better off buying three cans the week they are on sale.  

I just watched a grocery haul u tubed by a lady with a large family.  She made a very good point:  anything that you  know if you buy 5, the family will eat five immediately, you just don't buy.    If you are buying  cans of green beans or spaghetti sauce, you buy as many as you can afford if they are at a RBP.   Set yourself a desired limit.  Four to six weeks worth is a good benchmark .

 I am anticipating a time in the fall when we  will have unusually high bills so I will set a larger limit on things that make meals.  If we had a seasonal job, this would be another reason for a larger limit.  I buy our food at about fifty percent off the regular prices.  I cant get that much of a return on my money from a bank.  I was getting fractions of a percent at the bank on my CD.  

 If I find a staple item and it is more than a RBP. I will buy a case.  Like when I  got enchilada sauce for a dime.  I watched for the pull dates and took what I had left to the food bank before it passed the date.  I paid  two dollars for the sauce,  I more than made my profit and can share with someone else. 

Random act of kindness.  There are a lot of things you can do to make someone else’s day better that don’t cost you a cent.  Take your good clean  paper bags to the food bank.  Call first, but our food bank is glad to get them.  We live in a city that has banned plastic bags, straws and utensils.  One day  I was shopping at Winco.  I saw a young man that you could tell was counting  his cart for the total.   He was buying  chunky soups.   I asked him how many he was buying.  He said two,   I had a capon that would make him be able to get three for the price he was paying for two,  I gave it to him.  He was so delighted he thanked me when I gave it to him and saw me later on the store and thanked me again,  I got the feeling that my random act that cost me nothing fed him for another night.  Some lady did that for me years ago.  It was at Albertsons,  she had a coupon that was for free gallon of milk if you spent fifty dollars.  I had three kids at home and fifty dollars was not a problem.   Free milk was a very  welcome surprise. 

You can eat very well on four dollars a day per person by incorporating a few age old basic principles that our great grandmothers used ,  updated. 

• Buy good  food when it is at a rock bottom price (RBP) and buy enough to cover your family for four to six weeks. This is done piecemeal, not all at once.   One can, or jar or package at a time.   
• Avoid  buying empty calories, junk food.--that stuff that is void of good food value. 
• Efficiently scratch cook. If something takes you three hours to make, you are not likely to do it on a regular basis.  We are all busy.  The internet and cookbooks are full of fast and easy cheap meals.  If something calls for a can of …..there are recipes that are easy to replicate that can .
• Rotate buying your protein sources (meat) by buying at a RBP and buying in bulk.  Break down your packages into meal sized portions and freeze.  Do your own butchering.   Its simple and doesn't take much time.  It saves a lot of money. Cook ground meat, de fat it if needed and freeze in meal sized portions.  This saves a lot of time and energy at meal time. 
• Simplify your purchases.   Avoid all the boxes of food.  They are usually full of stuff you don't need to feed your family like preservatives and anti caking agents.  Some have detergent and wood pulp.   Yes, its true.  
• Buy things in bulk when it makes sense.  A bag of flour, rice and a box of oatmeal from Costco in bulk can save hundreds of dollars in a year. Muffins cost a dollar to make.  Making your own mix means it takes a matter of a few minutes  to make--the cost ready made is as much as five dollars .  Peasant Bread costs .25 and takes ten minutes hands on time and that is spread between two days.   The cost: upwards of 2.50. Rice costs .02 a serving.   Oatmeal .085.  Beans .04 cents.

These are all random ideas that all contribute to making a four dollar a day budget happen.  

How did she do that ! 15 minute tacos.

Prep work in the kitchen is a good start.   When you make a bulk purchase of ground meat, it saves time and money if you cook the whole batch until it is no longer pink and then drain it and de-fat it.

Put the slightly cool downed meat in portion controlled quart bags.  Then out the quart bags into a gallon bag,   De-fatting hamburger is pouring hit water over drained meat in a colander .  This can reduce the fat up to 17 percent.


Taco seasoning.   Taco seasoning ing packets can cost as much as a dollar.   A few minutes can save lots and you control the heat.

1. 1/2 cup chili powder 
2. 2 tsp each of garlic powder, onion powder, oregano.
3. 1T plus 1 tsp paprika 
4. 4  T cumin
5. 4 tsp salt 
6. Pinch of red pepper flakes optional 

Store in airtight container on cool place.   

On to tacos.   When you want a meal in a hurry, tacos can be made in 15 minutes.  

• Open a can of refried beans and place in small baking dish.   Smoosh it down level and top with shredded cheese. 
• Place beans in the microwave and heat on medium for 5 minutes . 
• Meantime, get the hamburger out of the freezer and slap it on the counter a few times to break it up.  ( about 1/2 a pound for 4 people.  
• Place a small skillet on the stove .  Add a quarter cup of water and add 1T of taco seasoning,   And the meat.  Cook on low.   
• While the beans are heating, cut lettuce, tomatoes, and take shredded cheese out of the refrigerator.  
• Check the beans,   Return in high if they aren’t hot yet.   Place Taco shells on a plate  acordimg to package directions and microwave.  
• Dinner is done.   

On another note, enchalada sauce is really expensive in cans,   The exception was when o got it for ten cents a can at the DT.   I used 2.00 worth until it was close to the pull date and donat d the rest to the food bank along with a recipe of how to make sloppy joes with it,  

It is just back to the basics of white sauce recipe to make enchalada sauce.  There are a few cooking techniques that are the basic necessities of cooking scratch,   Once you master them, cooking from scratch is a breeze and you save money and avoid ingredients that aren’t good for you that you can’t pronounce,  

Enchalada sauce is a roux of flour and oil.   Add tomato sauce and chicken or vegetable stock.  Now add chilli powder and other Southwest seasonings,   Done,  it’s basically white sauce with tomato sauce   And chicken stock instead of the milk.  Add southwest seasonings. Its a lot less thick 5an a white sauce would be.  I would delete tomato paste of I didn’t have tomato sauce.   I always have chicken boullion granules or better than boullion.   Its much cheaper and doesn’t take the space of boxes or cans of chicken stock,  that is, unless I have homemade in the freezer.