Dollar Store Dinners

I have been watching a lot of videos lately on Dollar Store dinners.  The foods at the dollar store are in smaller quantities many times.  After all. How much does a dollar buy these days!   There are bargains at the dollar tree, but some are made in China, and some are more expensive than buying the product at the regular grocery store.

Now, I get it that there are some communities that only have a dollar store.  One community in Seattle , If rumors are correct will be on that position.   There are decent grocery retailers nearby, but the people without transportation will suffer.

The problem with a lot of dollar store dinners is that they are full of a lot of starch and are more expensove than if  you had made a good dinner from a grocery store,     There are some that came up with a good recipe, but many are not.  Don’t kill the messenger, they tried hard to make dinner from limited resources,

Canned vegetables are .79.   They are always .58 at winco and I have purchased them for as low as .39.  BTW, Winco canned foods have no BPA.   Many frozen foods come from China,  that being said , I have got Ore-Ida from the DT.

I found basil pesto yesterday as well as a name brand pizza sauce.   They always have the ingredients for pizza— thin and thicker individual crusts, and pepperoni.  Watch the cheese, some of it is fake.   They do have feta that is good.  They have eggs, but they are a dollar for half a dozen.

They do have :

• Pizza sauce that is a name brand cheaper than the other stores 
• Tortillas, several kinds and some without all bad fats, 
• Betty Crocker items 
• Hunts  pasta sauce , although it is cheaper at Winco . 
• Barilla spaghetti
• Sometimes  Orowheat/ Sara Lee  bread.  That is a real bargain if you can find bagels and English muffins. 
• Name brand turkey bacon, 
• Pepperoni that is s name brand , the coupons don’t  work anymore, but it is still a good bargain,. 
• Yellow rice 
• Pinto beans are the cheapest besides a 25 pound bag from Costco .   They are non gmo, and grown in the USA.   
• Taco shells 
• Betty Crocker and Other name brand cookit, brownie, and muffin mixes.    

Basically, you could make all of which are about three dollars. It’s,nitmambargsin if you are laying seven dollars for dinner at the dollar store.

1. gnocchi with pesto sauce, parmesean cheese, and chicken.  Using your chicken and parmesean. 
2. Spaghetti with pasta sauce 
3. Spaghetti with pesto and chicken and parm, 
4. Tuna casserole.
5. Pizza
6. Chilli and taco chips 
7. Beans and cornbread 
8. Spanish rice and beans 
9. Pizza dip with crust 
10. Artichoke spinach pasta. 

 Not. Eeuthing at the dollar tree is the best quality. Not all of it is made in China.   But, if you pick your foods carefully. You can stretch your food dollar.   

Chain store ads start wednesday

QFC (Kroger)

80/20 hamburger 3.49
Kroger smoked sausage 2/5
Eggs .96
Barilla pasta 1.00

Alberways

Fab 4 ( buy 4)

Lean cuisine entrieu”s 1.88
Progresso soup .99
Prego 1.99
Signature jam 1.99
Campbell’s chunky soup 1.49

Cucumbers, green peppers .79
80/20 hamburger 3.49
Refried beans 1.00
Pears, oranges, apples .99


Fred Meyers

All below .96
Eggs
Peppers
Grapes
Cream cheese
Sour cream
Cottage cheese
Crescent rolls
Hawaiian rolls
Brown and serve sausage
Barilla pasta

*********

Cheese 2 lbs 4.99
Butter 2/5
Strawberries 3.96
Pork loin whole or half BOGO .  Caveat we don’t know what the retail price is.
My buy price is between a dollar and 1.69.

Special
6 quart insta pot is 79.99 and there is a 10 dollar gift card with an in store coupon.
Making it 69.99.

How did she do that -:scratch cooking

When we were growing up, my mother cooked braised beef on mashed potatoes or noodles.   It was years later that I connected the dots and realized that braised beef  meant that the beef was braised!!  The term braised means that a tougher cut if meat is cooked slowly until it is fork tender.

This is for things like a stew meat or pot roast.   The technology would be the same for a pork cut or game.

The technique :

Brown your meat in a little oil in a Heavy pan with sides.   When the meat is brown, add stock  and stir the brown bits from the bottom of the pan and make sure you have enough liquid to cover the meat and a couple of inches.  Turn the pot down to a slow simmer and let cook until meat is tender,   The time will depend in the size of your meat,   Cubes will take a shorter time than a pot roast.

Another way to cook a pot roast is to put it in a roasting pan after browning, pour a beer over the top of it . Put the kid on the pan and bake the roast for 4-6 hours on 250 or closer to 4 hours on 325.

These days, I cook stew type meat in the insta pot.  Turn the pot on sauté, add oil and brown the meat,
Turn off the pot, add stock, potatoes that have been washed, peeled and cut in medium chunks, and peeled carrots.  You can also add mushrooms that have been washed and or celery.

Cover the pot and process for 35 minutes.   When it is done, turn the insta pot off, remove the stew with a slotted spoon leaving the stock.   Mix a slurry  of flour or cornstarch  and water , turn the sauté function on and stir the slurry into the stock until you have gravy.

Remember you must always have liquid in the insta pot .  At least a cup.   I do see some recipes  that call for less, but I wouldn’t try less without a specific  recipe,  it is usually because what you are cooking will  quickly release liquid of it’s own.  Never cook in the insta pot with flour when you are using a pressure setting.   Also, it’s not a good idea to make split pea soup on the pressure cooker setting.  You can use the slow cooker setting.  Ask me how I know......my husband and I were cleaning the pot for an hour,  lol

When we were children, my mother used to dredge the stew meat in flour, brown it in oil im a heavy sauce pan  over a medium heat.  Then she would add water enough to cover the meat, turn it down to low and let it simmer for a couple of hours.  she checked it a few times to be sure it didn’t need more water. This technique makes it’s own  gravy.  Meanwhile you can make rice, mashed potatoes, or noodles for a base.

We use cubes if pork from the end of a pork loin when I cut up a pork loin.   Buying a pork loin on sale and cutting roasts, chops and stew meat or stir fry meat is the most economical way to have pork.  Sometimes it is a  dollar a pound.  The buy price is less than two, preferable less than 1.69. Business Costco is a good source for that.

Kitchen Management aka meal prep

Kitchen management is a tool to save time and money in the kitchen.   Spending an hour or so up front saves a lot of time in the hectic dinner hour.   It also saves time because you are making things in batches and your clean up is once instead of four or five times during the week.  

Reminder if meals :
We strive for these meals, but if we have leftovers, it is prudent to repurpose them for another meal.   Waste not, want not.

• Homemade chicken nuggets and oven fries , veggie platter 
• Pizza
• Pork chops with apple, peas, rolls 
• Pork stew with carrots, potatoes 
• Tuna melts, salad 
• Tacos, Spanish rice 
• Breakfast for dinner 

1. Wash kitchen floor.
2. Clean out the refrigerator and dump anything dead 💀. Note what needs to be used up. 
3. Thaw the chicken breast for chicken nuggets.   
4. Cut the fries.  
5. Wash potatoes and carrots for the stew, and veggie tray . 
6. Clean and disinfect the countertops and sinks and drains,  
7. Clean the drip pans, 

1. 
   

Meal Plans

Meal Plans are a tool to keep you on track and avoid the take out demons that can sabotage a budget. They save time and money . Bad your meal plans on what’s on sale that week and what’s on season on the stores.  If a produce item is in season it’s going to be at its highest peak of flavor and at its lowest price.  It’s a win  -win.  

I base our meals on a protein based matrix.  

• Homemade chicken  nuggets, oven fries, veggie platter 
• Pizza 
• Pork chops with apple, peas, rolls 
• Pork stew with potatoes, carrots 
• Tacos, Spanish rice 
• Tuna melts, salad 
• Breakfast for dinner 

Notes :

1. Homemade chicken nuggets are made with a breading of homemade bread  crumbs, chopped nuts, and parm cheese. Oven fries are homemade with garlic pepper and olive oil.  Raw veggies  top it off. 
2. Pizza is a family favorite and is homemade,   A homemade cheese pizza with ingredients purchased on the cheap os a dollar. 
3. Apple pork chops are browned on a pan on the stove and apples with a bit of brown sugar on top of the chops and then  finished off in the oven.  Taste of home . 
4. Pork stew in the insta pot or slow cooker.  
5. Tacos and Spanish rice.   Tacos from frozen, cooked, hamburger.  Add water and taco seasoning to a skillet. Add meat and simmer while you prep the condiments . Spanish rice in the insta pot or microwave rice cooker. 
6. Tuna melts on English muffins. Green salad 
7. Breakfast for dinner.  We have a homemade mix for buttermilk pancakes.   Add bacon or sausage and fruit. 

tips and tricks

For some background...my daughter taught students from low income homes for years.   She was hearing from mother’s that they were having a hard time making their grocery budget stretch.  The cost of food has gone up dramatically, and it is the third most expensive item in most people’s budget.

We have economized  on the food  budget for years.  It started when I was a starving college student and never stopped.   It got to be a habit.   But, when I was trying to help the people that my daughter so eloquently said, oh my mom knows how to do that.   I began to try more ways to stretch the food dollar.   We have found some really good recipes and have learned how to  cook from scratch more than we ever thought possible.   The upshot of that is that we are eating less processed foods and better meals.   In addition, we have learned to do it more efficiently.   Par of that is having proper tools in the kitchen.   A few well worth their weight tools save time and money.  

My husband would tell you that the toaster and the coffee pot were the most important tools.  My opinion would be the insta pot, (a rice cooker, slow cooker and pressure cooker all in one and some have a yogurt cycle as well ), the food processor , and a blender.

Which brings  me to little ways that save tons.

1. Breading.  The cost of bread crumbs are upwards of 2.00 a pound,  If I buy something for two dollars a pound, it had better be protein.   Why pay two dollars or more a pound for someone else’s dry bread and throw your dry bread away.   The heels or dry bread can become croutons, breadcrumbs, or bread stuffing. 
2. We throw away about 40 percent of the food  we buy America according to statistics. That is a good reason to find ways to use up all of what we have.  Google something that  needs to be used up for ideas.   Use the Betty Crocker cookbook on line that is free.   They have a lot of ready made things that they are selling,  it it’s not a hard stretch to make those things yourself.   If something is on a recipe that your family won’t eat substitute something that takes the same bulk as the deleted item.  My husband does not like onions.  We substitute celery and add onion powder or I put the onions through the food processer until you can’t know what they are.
3. Buy shelf stable products when they are at a RBP and stock up to a 4-6 week supply. More stock of you can.  Be mindful of pull dates and how much of an item you use per month.   simplifying the amount of items you keep a stock of is a good thing.  It saves time and money.
4. Buying anything that doesn’t spoil in bulk simplifies your shopping because you buy it once and it never hits your cart again.  Salt, soda, honey, sugar are all things that don’t go bad.  We buy oatmeal, rice, and flour at Costco.  If we had a larger family, we would buy pinto beans too.   They are cheaper and we use those quantities in about three months.   This way, they are a lot cheaper.  A bag of salt cost me 5.00.  We have enough salt to last us our lifetime, my daughters lifetime and prolly into my granddaughters lifetime. Lol I don’t have to worry about buying that for a long time.  Ditto the cost of soda.  You can bake with it and clean with it,  it to mention use it as a whitener for your clothes.  It just pays  to buy a sack from Costco .    
5. 
   
6. Buying in bulk anything that can be used up before it passes a true pull date, simplifies your shopping. Once you are up and running, you can just shop the perimeter of the store and get in and out in minutes.   Buy a rotation meat, the produce that is in season that will top off your meals, the dairy you need including eggs, and watch for the staple items that are at the RBP.  
7. Certain times  of the year are the best time for a good price on things.  Sweet baby rays bbq sauce is best during picnic times, the summer holidays,  use coupons if you can find them.  Ditto ketchup and mustard.  Baking supplies and cream soups are best at thanksgiving and Christmas.  Again, watch for coupons.    Peanut butter and jelly are best at school time. 
8. Making your own mixes for things that you buy on a regular basis saves time and there are no ingredients that you cannot pronounce.  There are things like tsp (a string detergent) and wood pulp in some of our food.  While it is supposed to be on amounts that won’t hurt you, I still don’t want to feed it to my family.  There are things that we can logically control with the funds we have to spend, and ones we can’t.   I am choosing to reduce what I can control .  Cream soup base is fractions of what a can of soup costs, taco seasoning can be as hit or not as you please for fractions of an envelope, baking mix is not  only cheaper , but too can make it without hydrogenated oil.  Seasoned rice is an rice a roni alternative.   Muffin and pancake mix has no preservatives and makes best use of a 7.00 bag of flour from Costco.  If you use a bag of flour efficiently, you can save more than ten times the cost of the flour.  Muffins can be five dollars,  sour dough bread can be upwards of 2.50.  Frozen pancakes are a rip off.   Ditto waffles.  My sister bought our grandchild a baby waffle iron when she was 5.  She learned to use it with supervision.  French bread  takes ten hands on minutes and costs 30 cents.  
9. Buy perishables in season in moderation so they get used up.  Buy shelf stable  products on sale and buy a specified amount to cover yourself until you find them on sale again.  Storage experts tell me that pasta has an eight year shelf life.  I buy it when I can find it for a dollar or less a pound.  I can still get Barilla for a dollar  at the DT in limited supply .  Buy it when you can.  It is 33 percent higher even at Winco and more at other stores.  
10. Find the RBP on the protein sources you eat on a regular basis.  For us, that would be boneless, skinless chicken breast, pork loin, and hamburger, as well as beans, rice, eggs and cheese. When an article is in a good sale, buy as much as you will use in 4-6 weeks, the next week, look for a different item.  Rotating protein purchases on a good sale basis saves time and money.  Simplify.  You can cut up a pork loin and make a variety of meals.  We all know the numerous ideas for meals all over the Internet and in cookbooks for chicken and hamburger.

Simplify the number of items you buy, buy at the cheapest price for good quality you can find, and cook from scratch efficiently.  Know the tricks retailers us to get to separate you from your money.   That’s their job, but you don’t have to buy into it.  Buy wisely, watching expiration dates and paying attention to how much of the item you are likely to eat.  Stay on top of it and freeze or incorporate anything that is nearing its useful life into your meals.   

With careful planning and some effort, you can feed your family good food on a limited budget,   

Friday recipe - 2.00 dinner....for 4.

This should feed 2 adults and 2 school aged children.  Ok, I fudged a bit. It  costs out at 2.01
Note :  all the prices are current prices.  This costs oit at 2.01 and does not imckude condiments.  It does, however have an added bonus of a quart of chicken stock.

Burrito Bowls

4 chicken thighs ( 2 # @ .68. ) 1.36
3 cups pinto beans ( 1# dry at 1.00/1.5 lbs ) .22
3 cups rice ( 1 cup raw @ .34 #) .18
4 ounces frozen corn ( @ 1.00 a Lb) .25

• Cook the chicken thighs in a cup of water in the insta pot for 15 minutes.   Natural release . Or poach the chicken breasts until done.

• Shred the chicken after it cools a bit.  Save the stick and chill on a freezer safe container. 

•  Cook rice in  the insta pot or in a rice cooker.( It helps to cook a two or three cup batch of rice to use later in the week,   Any leftover chicken can become chicken fried rice or .... 

•  Cook beans in the insta pot.  , drain  

•  When ready for dinner, heat the ingredients in a small amount of water in a large fry pan or in the microwave.   

• Serve layered on bowls or self serve.

Condiments can include:

•  Sour cream ( 1.00 @ Fred Meyers) , salsa , ranch dressing, diced tomatoes, lettuce, chopped  onions...

Condiments were not cost out because  they are a variable.   Sour cream is a dollar at Fred Meyers, we got salsa for free and tomatoes are in abundance in gardens these days.  Still, all on all, two dollars plus staple condiments is a really inexpensive filling meal.  

Hauls to 9/7

Winco

Chicken thighs .68 lb -3.45
Green chillis .69
Sugar free jam 2.78
Corn on cob 3/1
2 lb cheese 4.88
Winco Beans 3.07
Blues 2.98
Strawberries 1.78
Fries 3.39


Total 24.70


Costco
Most of the costco  run was soap.  We needed laundry soap, dishwasher tabs and regular soft soap that was on sale.

Flour 25 lbs 6.99
3 pack honey ham lunch meat 6.59
Bananas 1.39

Total 14.97

Grocery Outlet
Sliced cheese 2.00
Well seasoned grated cheese 2.00
Coffee 5.99
Chick peas .69
Tomato sauce 3/1
Tomato paste .39

10 lbs potatoes 1.99

Total 21.04

Safeways,

2 best foods mayo @3.99
1 best  foods ketchup @ 3.29
Total 11.29
Less BOGO and coupon and Ibotta netted a cash outlay of

1.99

The ads from the internet

Thee mail is was empty, guess the mailman is still on holiday mode.   Lol.  We got the ads from the internet.

Safeways is nit big on sakes this week,   

Cabbage is .49 a lb 

Gala apples are .99

Bread is 1.49@@

Milk is 1.99@@

Both Fred Meyers and QFC (Kroger) have 10/10 sales.  You don’t have to buy 10 

I am assuming both stores have the same merchandise, I see a lot of duplicates.   

Fred Meyers 

2 lbs strawberries 2.99

*******

Free milk with purchase of Natire Valley  bars or Cheerios at 4/8

Take two dollars for the milk off of the 8.00 and you have six dollars or 1.50 each,  

There are coupons out there for Cheerios and probably the bars.  

Coupons.com has .50 on one Cheerios in 2 flavors and you can print 2 of each.  Also. 1.00 on two Bog G cereals ( print 2) and ,50 on 2 Natire Valley.   The upshot of that is you should be able to get 50 cents netting 1.00 a box on the cereal.  Or 1.25 on the Nature Valley.  I can usually get bars for close to a dollar at GO. 

******

Ten for 10.  Or a buck each 

Kind bars

Cream cheese 

Smart ones dinners 

Lumchabkes 

Taco shells 

Colgate toothpaste -4 ounces (check coupons) 

Cottage cheese/sour cream 

Marie calendars dinners 5/10

Heritage Farms chicken breast 1.99 

Note that Heritage Farms is Tyson.   Southern grown chicken,   Just saying 

Ice cream 2/5

Breakfast sausage 2/5

QFC

Draper valley chicken breast BOGO 

Draper valley gave me 10.00 to replace the chicken breast I bought from them because they were so nasty.    Buyer beware

Buy 4 progresso soups are .99 each when you buy 4 

Melons 2/5

Buy 10/10 you don’t have to buy 10

Kind bars 

Bbq sauce 

Tortillas 

Smart ones dinners 

Donuts holes 

lunchables 

Kings Hawaiian rolls 4 count 

Kroger crescent rolls or cinnamon rolls 

Cream cheese 

Sour cream
Cottage cheese

Just why would you have food storage?

Old  story....it was Christmas of 1972. I was suddenly a single mother with a pay check of 202.00 twice a month and 185.00 in daycare to pay that month (half  from the first paycheck and 1/2 from the second) and 145 dollars in rent.   Not to mention a car payment (28.00) a car insurance payment for myself and my not so soon to be ex, and a utility bill.   It was Christmas, and saying  we had no money would have been an understatement.  I had 5.12 in the savings.

My soon to be ex had been out of work with no unemployment for over a year.   I had bought a case of tuna some time back when it was .28 a can at safeways.  I still had a bit of food.   I called welfare to see if I could get help and was told that what I had to pay for daycare didn’t matter, I earned too much.   It was put your big girl pants on and punt time.

No one can predict the future.  People have had times when the federal government was on hold, you still had to work, but got no pay.  People can get laid off and have no unemployment.  Yes, in this state if you are a non profit, you can opt out of paying  unemployment insurance.  You can work for minimum wage and have no fall back if the business closes or downsizes.   One Christmas, I -5 was under water and the food trucks couldn’t get to Seattle.   Grocery stores were running out of food.

In other words, bleep happens and having a small food storage is your best insurance policy against being hung out to dry.  Especially. If you have purchased it for 50 cents on the dollar.   Nowhere these days can you get a better return on your money and not take a big risk.  It wasn’t long ago that we were getting 3/10 of a percent on our certificate of deposit at the bank.

Getting a small 4-6 week supply of food can be done one can or box at a time.  Homemade mixes keep you from the preservatives, but cans and boxes of some things can be pretty tasty if you can’t get to a grocery store or you have t seen a paycheck for a few weeks.

The other asset to having a four to six week supply is that you can take advantage of sales and pay half price for your food.   It makes it a whole lot easier to eat good for for a price of four  dollars a day or less.

Remember four dollars a day is the amount you totally spend on food.  It is, it buying a lot of food for a lot of money and only putting four dollars worth per person on the table.   Buying your food at RBP is the key, otherwise feeding a teen aged child could be more than difficult.

How did she do that? - red peppers

Last week there were coloured peppers on sale for a dollar.    The theme of a lot of ‘new’ dishes are vegetable and herb combinations.   You can make economical recipes and not miss the new flavor combinations.

Chicken with roasted red pepper sauce.

1/2 lb penne pasta , cooked
1 red pepper, roasted with garlic and olive oil in a 400 degree oven.   Peel peppers and put through. The food processer or blender.

Make ‘white’ sauce with 1 T olive oil, 1T flour,  add 1 1/4 cup milk stir with whisk.   Add processed red peppers and heat through.

Cook chicken ( 1 pound) in insta pot.

Pour sauce over pasta and chicken.

Kitchen Management aka meal prep

Kitchen management is a tool to save time and money in the kitchen,   It also deep cleans on a rotation basis so your kitchen is always in a stage of clean.  

Reminder if meals :

The last blast of summer 

1. Brats, oven roasted peppers, potatoes, and carrots.   
2. Ham and cheese subs, baked,  corn on cob , salad 
3. Hot dogs, corn on the cob. Salad 
4. Tacos, homemade refried beans (insta pot) 
5. Vegetable enchiladas with lettuce and tomato (BC) 
6. Salmon patties. Seasoned rice, green beans 
7. Breakfast for dinner 

• Wash kitchen floor 
• Clean out refrigerator and dump anything dead.  
• Make a,note of things that need to be used up. 
• We got plums gifted to us . So, we will be making jam and dehydrating some. 
• Making pancakes from homemade mix for school breakfasts. 
• Wash potatoes and carrots with vinegar water.   Dry. 
• Wash salad greens 
• Wash kitchen cabinets 
• 
  

12 things not to buy .....

Never say never, but...

• Bread crumbs.  Why pay upwards of 2.00 a pound for someone else’s dry bread and throw your heels away. Anytime you have bread heels or rolls that are gong stale, process them in the food processor and put them on a pan with sides in the oven that you have just used.    Or put them in the oven to dry and then grate them if you don’t have a food processor.   I used to grate them on the deck with a sheet pan under the box grater.   
• Breading ( shake n bake ).  Mix in equal parts dry breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, and chopped nuts.   A low carb version of breading that tastes delightful. 
• Chicken stock in boxes or cans .The  cost is prohibitive.  At three dollars, that’s most of the budget for a five dollar dinner.   In order to maintain a four dollar a day budget for a family of four, you need five dollar dinners,    Use chicken bouillon, or make it from scratch. The same holds true for veggie stock or beef.   
• I used to say pizza sauce, but I discovered pizza sauce at the DT.   Freeze it in ice cube tray,  and pull out 2cubes per pizza.   
• Meals in bags in the freezer case especially those that   you add the meat to.   It is basically sauce, starch, and veggies.   Do it yourself, find the recipes for the sauces your family likes.   Most of them take a few staple ingredients.   
• Hamburger/tuna meal boxes.  Even at a dollar, it’s a huge waste.  The one my daughter and I dissected, had 4.2 ounces of pasta and 1.57 ounces of a cheese sauce that had no cheese in it.  You added milk to make it cheese.  Much better off buying a box of pasta and using real cheese without the preservatives.   You can still get Barilla pasta at the DT. 
• Frozen pancakes or waffles.   Flour is really cheap in large bags at Costco.   I suspect Sams club would be the same.  Even buying a ten pound bag from the regular store is much cheaper than buying ready made.  You can use bisquick or a recipe for a mix and do it ahead of you are in a hurry,   You can freeze your own and use cereal box liners between pancakes. Or make french toast and freeze.   
• You will find some cream soups in my pantry on a limited basis.   Cream soup mix takes just a few minutes and saves a lot of money.   Even with coupons, the cost is becoming prohibitive on a five dollar dinner budget.  If an ingredient costs more than the protein, there is a problem.   
• Shortening, lard and some other oils.   The information that I found says that hydrogenated oils thicken your blood.   Canola oil and some vegetable oils along with olive oil are better alternatives.  Butter in moderation is better than some of those fake butters. Palm  oil is bad for you.  If it is bad in Nutella, it is equally bad in your fake butter.   Some fake butters may be better than others. Read the ingredients and look them up.   You can usually find the ingredients in line before you go to the store.   
• Parmesan cheese in the green cans.  It’s old.  It has wood pulp in it.   Look closely at the ingredients, they try to hide it on heir description, but it’s there.   
• Look closely at the boxed Mac and cheese ( homemade is better) .  Some have TSP in them. You can also find tsp in some kids cereals.  TSP is a detergent that we used to sell at the paint store where I worked. It was used to degrease and clean walls before painting.  You needed to use rubber gloves to protect your hands.   Enough said. 
• Fake maple syrup.  Real maple syrup is worth the cost,  it knowing children they don’t know the word moderation.  I’d
• If you  can, making a fruit syrup and controlling  the sugar  would be a good alternative.   At least they would be getting the benefit of the fruit.  

Meal plans for week of 9/2/18

Meal Plans are a tool used to make life easier and less hectic during the dinner hour,   Along  with Kitchen Management it just makes dinners easier and more predictable,

1.  Brats, roasted carrots, potatoes, peppers , rolls 
2. Ham and cheese heros , salad 
3. Hot dogs, corn on the cob, salad 
4. Tacos, refried beans 
5. Vegetable enchiladas 
6. Salmon patties, corn , salad 
7.  Breakfast for dinner 

Notes 

1. Brats were free from QFC,  peppers were a dollar each at Winco, 
2. Uncurled ham was on sale at Costco,   Rolls are from the Franz Outlet 
3. Hot dogs. Corn on cob , salad—Labor Day 
4. Tacos are from beef purchased at Zaycon, a taco kit from GO and homemade refried beans 
5. Vegetable enchiladas  are from a recipe on Betty Crocker on line cookbook,   Use homemade enchilada sauce.
6. Salmon is from a can from Costco.  
7. Breakfast for dinner is a family favorite,   Everyone cooks. 

It’s not necessarily what you buy, but more when and where you buy it. 

No food is going to do your family any good of you are feeding it to the garbage disposal. 

Rule of thumb: Four plus one is five.   Four. People, one meal, five bucks.  *

* dinner is discussed here,  less for breakfast and lunch.  At four dollars a day, you can’t figure on using all four  dollars for actual food eaten, because there is still basics that have to be purchased,   Like olive oil, spices , etc. 

Split chicken breast.- dollars and sense.

Yes, Virginia, I know how to spell.   It’s a pun LOL

I just ran on to a advertisement from Safeways. A quart of chicken stock was 3.00.    I thought that was quite high. I then looked at an ad from  Walmart. It was 2.79.

Let’s do some math.  Boneless, skinless chicken breast are anywhere from 1.79 to 8.00 a pound.

Split chicken breast were .88 a pound for Washington grown a few weeks back at Fred Meyers,

This does take an hour or so.   Hands on time,   I have a theory called virtual paycheck.   It basically figures how much time you spend in a scratch vs store bought item and Comoros it to the amount of money saved.   Or gives you a virtual hourly wage.   It’s a benchmark as to whether it would be worth your efforts to rmake the scratch food.

The difference between making the big bucks coffee shops lemon pound cake vs buying it by the slice is about 212.00 an hour.

Split Chicken  breast.

Take precautions for food handling,   We use a glass cutting board that can be disinfected.   It helps if you have someone to help ( chicken hands and non chicken hands.  The non chicken hands can be done by a school aged child,   It’s things like putting quart bags in a bowl and zipping the bags when full.


Cut the rib portion off of the breast. Dump the ribs in a gallon bag or bowl that can be covered as you go.  Place the breasts in quart bags and place the quart bags in a gallon bag that has been labeled and dated.  How long this takes depends on how many packages you are processing,

Before you go to bed , place the rib portions in the slow cooker.  Add some vegetable scraps and herbs.  Fill the slow cooker to within an inch from the top.  Cook on low all night.

I’m the morning, pour the contents of the slow cooker  through a colander into a pot.   Ladle the stock into freezer containers and  leave a few minutes on the counter to cool.  Then, place them in the fridge.   After they have chilled , skim the fat off the top and freeze.

Meanwhile, pick the bones for meat.  I am not the most proficient butcher, so I got a cup and a half of meat from the bones.   This is good for chicken pot pie, chicken soup, tacos, enchiladas to name a few ideas.

To recap : you have netted boneless , skinless chicken breast.  Probably about 4 to a package.  Or eight for two packages.

Also.a cup and a half of chicken pieces that should make at least one more meal.

And, at least 4 quarts of chicken stock.

At .88 a pound, you usually get about 4 large breasts for about 5.00 give or take a few cents,  for practical purposes, we will, say ten dollars.


4 quarts of chicken stock at 3.00 is 12.00.
8 chicken breast at a pound each at 2.00 a pound is 16.00
We will throw in the 1.5 cups of pieces.
Total is 28.00 worth of product.


You paid 10.00
Savings 18.00

That’s about 18.00 an hour or you would have to make 22.50 to spend that 18.00.

Friday recipe : hummus

One of the ways to save a lot of money is to make your own things that are more expensive in the store ready made. One of hose things is hummus,  it’s jea,thy and most of the time here is around three dollars

1 can -15.5 Oz garbanzo Beans
2 tsp garlic, chopped
Dash salt and pepper
1 slice cooked red pepper , chopped
Red pepper flakes to taste.
2 T lemon juice
1 T olive oil.


 Mix all ingredients in food processer or blender.
Store in air tight container in refrigerator.

Notes : garbanzo beans can be inexoemsove when  you find a bean sale. Lemon juice is cheapest on bottles.   The rest of the ingredients are pretty much staples.  


On another note, I have been watching a lot of dollar store dinners on the Internet.   While I realize there are towns where the dollR store amd maybe one other store is all the stores that are available and it might be a necessity for some people until they can get to a bigger town, dollar store dinners are best for emergency meals.   You can do better by stocking a little at a time.  When something is super cheap. Spend the same amount you would spend if you had to pay full price.   The next time, you won’t have to buy that item, so you work on so,etching else that is a stock item.   You will eT better and spend less.  

Tomorrow is concept day,    Just a teaser.....a weeks worth of chicken dinners for FREE!   Like any statement like that, there is a twist....stay tuned.

Hauls 8/31

Safeway Haul.

8/24

Grapes 4.14
Frozen veggies 3.00  for three

Total 7.14


Winco Haul

18 eggs 1.89
Chocolate chips minis , bulk 3.56
Romaine 1.48
Bananas .36
Nathan’s hot dogs 2.98
3 asstd peppers @.98
Strawberries 1.78
Farmland bacon 3.98

Total 18.97





Bread store
Flax and wheat bread
Hamburger buns
Hot dog buns
Sandwich buns
Hard rolls
Bagels
English muffins
Bread sticks ,bake

10.00
Average 1.25 each


Total 36.11

Sour cream 2.00

Total. 38.11notes: that is a months worth of bread.   And, the chocolate chips are pantry items as well.
The rest is perishables and a few meTs that I don’t stock.  

Chain store ads

QFC

Pie 3.99
BBQ sauce 1.00
Sour cream/cottage cheese 1.00
Pork back ribs 2.99 lb prev frozen
Buy 5, save 5sale

Kind Bars 2.49
Dreyers 2.49
Dave’s killer 3.49
Outshine BAR-S 2.49
Nature valley or  fiber one bars 1.99
Tillamook ice cream 3.49
Goldfish .99
Ritz 1.79
Farmland bacon 3.99


Alberways
Berries BOGO
Ritz crackers 1.69@@
Corn 4/1@@

Hillshire farm sausage 2/6
Bbq sauce .99@@


A asstd condiments and snack foods BOGO
Note : best foods squeeze bottle is BOGO.   There is a Ibotta on as many as two.  Makes the, net .99 for two.

Note @@ means you need an in ad coupon.

Fred Meyers

B5s5
Coffee 5.99
Outshine BARS 2.49
Dreyers 2.49
Crunch BARS 2.49
Nature valley  Bars. 1.99
Goldfish .99
Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs .99
Farmland bacon 3.99

———-
Sour cream 1.00
Bbq sauce 1.00
Pie 4.00

What we ate on no spend

What we ate in no spend month.  The first week was not part of no spend.  All of it was 4.00 a day.

1. French Toast from bread store Texas toast, bacon, cantaloupe 
2. Hamburgers , pasta salad , fruit 
3. Oven roasted sausage, potatoes and carrots 
4. Bbq beef sandwiches, corn on the cob 
5. Insta pot spaghetti, salad 
6. Salmon, twice baked Potatoes, salad 
7. Out potluck, pasta salad , fruit 
8. BBQ beef sandwiches, oven french fries, salad 
9. Out potluck- veggie platter 
10. Nachos, fruit 
11. Chicken patties, corn in the cob, salad 
12. Egg Mc muffins, bacon, fruit tray 
13. Sloppy joes, corn on the cob, fruit 
14. Fish and chips salad, soup
15. Clam chowder, leftovers 
16. Pork fried rice, chicken dumplings, 
17. Taco soup, tortilla chips, cheese 
18. Antipasto platter 
19. French Toast , ( frozen leftover) bacon cantaloupe 
20. Taco salad 
21. Pizza, salad 
22. Leftover pizza, salad 
23. Vegetable bean soup, bacon cheese bread 
24. Sausage with sauerkraut and peppers , bread 
25. Meatballs, gravy, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies 
26. Meatball subs, oven baked fries, strawberries, 
27. Chicken enchaladas, salad 
28. Pizza 
29.  
30. 
    
31. 
    

Scratch cooking.......how did she do that...

One of the concepts that saves a lot of money is scratch cooking,   Scratch— the mere sound of the word insights dread in many a person.   In some cases, this was my last hold out.  Especially when it came to bread.   There are a lot of set it and forget it or easy scratch cooking recipes.   Keeping life simple helps.

Combining prep work and quick and easy recipes makes for good meals——cheap.   Many mean that you need to be home, but you don’t have to watch pots.   You can be watching tv instead, or doing  other things.   Multi tasking is the key to keeping it up.

Let’s start with one basic thing a week,   Learn that and piggy back it with the next thing and before you know it, it will take you less time than making things from a box or bag and it will be better without all the preservatives.   Did you know that there is detergent and wood pulp on some of our food.   Yes, it is in safe doses, but, I for one, don’t want to feed my family soap or wood pulp.    YUK.


White sauce.  Plain and simple.  The french have a fancy word for it, but it’s basic white sauce.  The basis for Mac and cheese , or many a casserole.

Scratch sauce :

1 Tbls fat (vegetable oil, melted  butter
1  Tbls flour
1) melt butter or place oil in saucepan.
2) pour in flour
On medium heat, whisk flour into fat and cook just slightly to cook away the raw flour taste.
3) begin whisking in onc cup of milk, a little at a time until sauce has thickened.

Makes one cup.


White Sauce Mix
2 cups dry milk
1 cup flour
2 tsp salt
1 cup butter

Mix dry ingredients.
Add butter and cut in (using a fork and a knife or. Pastry blender, or the food processer, mix until butter is incorporated into mix.

Store 2-3 months n airtight container in refrigerator.

To make:

Use 1/2 cup mix with 1 cup water.
Add to saucepan and whisk over medium heat until a medium thick sauce.

Alternate without fat
Sauce mix

2 cups dry milk
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup low sodium chicken granules

Mix together .  Store on cool, dry place

Use 1/3 cup mix to 1-1/4 cup water.
Place ingredients in saucepan and cook over medium heat, storing with whisk until sauce has thickened .


White sauce is also the basis for enchalada sauce.  Enchalada sauce is really expensive considering  the few  ingredients it takes,

Enchalada sauce,

Over low heat on a 1 quart saucepan,
Make a roux with 1/4 cup canola oil and 2T flour
Cook slighky to take the flour taste away,

Add slowly , 1 cup chicken broth and 1 8 ounce can of tomato sauce,
Add in 2 T taco seasoning
Cook, stirring  constantly until sauce thickens slightly.

Homemade taco seasoning saves a lot of money.