Can you share some of those port recipes?
The only cooking I do is on the grill or in the crock pot. Would help if I could find more ways to make more meats palatable.

8 oz block of knock off cheese used to be 3 for $5 on sale, which was $3.33 a lb, now it's 3 for $6 on sale, or 4 per lb. Not on sale, it's 5 or 6 per lb depending on the store and again, this is not Kraft in some cases.

Funny AP had an article Jan 15, saying that inflation was 'tame' because of falling food and energy pricing.
Hmmm....
The 20lb cat food I bought in 2008 was $7/bag. It went up to $9. but then the weight dropped to 18.4lbs and now 16.8lbs. That's not inflation?

I've found that vacuum-sealed cheese also freezes well. I usually like to pick up multi-pound bricks of cheese (1 for the fridge, 2 or 3 for the freezer) at Costco, and do the shredding myself with the food processor. This probably doesn't work well for anything softer than gouda, cheddar or American, but for those and harder I've had pretty good success.

Costco has the best 'daily' prices for eggs, milk, butter, flour, and cheese. Once in awhile, of course, things go on sale in regular grocery stores for a better price, but all else being equal Costco is good.

You can get meat cheaply if you get to the grocery store very early in the am (like 6). That's when they mark the expiring stuff. Get it home and immediately freezer pack. A few weeks back, I got boneless chuck roast for $1.49/ lb and ground it up for hamburger. Got a whole turkey, offseason, once for $.49/lb and whole chickens for about the same.

Bargain bins are great and in the HEB near me, you can apply coupons. Have a crapload or free or nearly free body wash and shampoo.

Briar,

You can dress up a lesser meat (chuck roast, rump roast) easily. Sear the meat on both sides in a hot oiled cast iron skillet, turn to low when the meat is nicely seared on both sides, add red wine, water, basil and oregano, and let cook for 1.5 hours on a low flame. Add salt and pepper, cut up potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery, and let cook a further hour or so. Remove meat and vegetables to platters and place in a warm oven. Use ww flour and water paste to make the gravy.

Serve!

Crock pots can also turn a crap piece of meat into a tasty dinner.

I started braising tough meat with lots of collagen. It's similar to what Truth just described and using a crock pot, but a little different. It must be covered after browning in oil, deglazing the souks with wine or water after browning, cooking on low for 3 hours, submerged about 1/3 of the way in water or stock. It needs to be covered though while it's cooked on low heat at a very low boil.

The slow cooking will loosen the collagen (which makes it a tough cut of meat) and create flavor. Keeping it covered keeps it moist by self-basting.

Sous vide.

That is all.

Landshark:

Quote:

Started shopping at a mexican meat market about nine months ago. HUGE, thick T-bones and ribeyes for $4.15 a pound, and they'll often have sales for $2.00 per pound. Ginormous boneless skinless chicken breasts. Best quality meat I've ever bought. I'll never buy meat from CloneMart ever again.

Landshark, next time you go, ask for some Picanha (pronounced: picanya, kind of like piranha (the fish)). A very tasty cut of beef.

Truth, that sounds like a lot of work!

Nah, potroast is easy. Total kitchen time of maybe 20-30 minutes. Now brandied pork chops with carmelized onion gravy will keep you busy for a couple of hours!

Rick, thanks, I will! Ate there for lunch today, as they also have a taqueria.... 2 papposas and 2 gorditas, beans and rice for 8 bucks. Without a doubt some of the best food I've ever had!!!

In our local Kroger tonight and I spot 2 liter diet Dr. Pepper for 1.00 each and I say OK, decent deal. I look closer and nope...they have a new 1.5 L for a Buck LOL.

I've seen 2 liters cheaper than the 1.5's several places.

2 liters are often cheaper than 20oz bottles.

Heh, true.

That's because the packaging is the most expensive part and they machinery and molds for 2-liters are the oldest and long paid for. ;)

Pretty much every 2L bottle is the same, no matter what you buy - but you'll notice that the 1L and other sizes are often quite different. Again, 1 bottle for 12 different production lines versus 1 bottle for each of 12 different production lines.

Economies of scale.

I bought 4 cucumbers for a buck today. Not bad for February.

Can't friggin dress up a GD bone much,made beef (I wish some was in it except for the boiled off tallow and marrow my palate and senses got a slight whiff of) and barley in the ol' mirro pressure cooker celery carrots and onion time to bowl 40 mins.'s
$8 S&H greenstamps for a 1 SOUP BONE.
Time marches on I will be the one wailing and lamentating.
BRV
IN BEN WE TRUST
Hyvee (somewhere in IOWA) HQ should be visited by several assassins
REPEATEDLY

SAY IT NOW (lick spoon first) "STRAWBERRIES 150 D's a jar"

Gonna countervail for once ... it can be done:
One trip to one store this afternoon

2 24oz boxes corn flakes (not K) $4
7# pork shoulder roast $7
5 med lg avocados $1
4# bananas $1
4# dried black beans $2
3# fuji apples 1.50
3# roma tomatoes $1
1 can evap. milk $1

total $18.17

where do you get five avocados for a buck? I live in a fairly hispanic area of New York and I cannot get them anywhere near that cheap.

Ram --
and the ad said "small" but they weren't small ...

Check page 4

http://elherraderoiga.com/weeklyads

the pork was on page 1

damn, that store is crazy cheap for just about everything. You are lucky to be able to shop there.