how in the heck are we supposed to live these days

[FutureChickenMan]

Remeber the waltons? There ya go. Biggest problem for me, is I have the biggest house in the family. LOL..

 

[nutmeggie]

Gas up here was about 3.99 a gallon the other day, yesterday it was up to 4.24 a gallon. Kind of over night. I know its because of Memorial weekend. People going on vacation so lets gouge them on prices. I'm kicking myself that I forgot to fill my tank before the bump up over night.
I plan on planting veggies to eat this summer and we are getting quail and pheasants for their eggs to eat and to eat them if needed. Only problem is, during the winter gardens don't work. So we still have to buy most of the food a good part of the year. Any ideas? I want to try making my own bread to save there. We'll have eggs, veggies this summer, what else can help. We don't have the land to raise cows or goats for milk....

 

[ChickNLittle]

The $7.00 message on the news is a very reliable source. I dread it! I live 10 miles out from the nearest store that charges an arm and leg for everything anyway. My neighbors are buying my eggs (jumbo size white), for $1.50 a dozen. Because at the store the eggs are $2.89. We are paying $4.05 for a gallon of milk and everyday the gas goes higher. Today it is up to $3.89/gal (so far). It's ridiculous! I think I'll just end up putting a saddle on my horse with a diaper and riding to town, or get a horse that pulls and a carriage. It WILL be cheaper than $7.00 / gallon of gas, thats for sure. I also hear that chickens, eggs, milk, and cheese etc, are going up again.

 

[dogzrule5]

I just paid $3.92 last night and it's supposed to be $4 this weekend.

There isn't much else I can cut back on. I already car pool but am looking into a van pool. I even started researching the larger scooters and small bikes, but I live 35 miles from work.

I've been in worse shape before over the years, but it's getting almost that bad again.....very discouraging.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

nutmeggie -- there's a guy that grows veggies well into winter up in Maine. He wrote a book called The Four Season Harvest, I believe . . . his name is Eliot Coleman. Worth a read.

 

[Their Other Mother]

Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler
Corporation from its death throes? He has a new
book, Where Have All the Leaders Gone... and I do NOT agree with him on everything... but in this... he sure asks good questions...

Since this is a Chicken forum I won't go into the stuff but if you pm me I'll forward some quotes (If you are interested)

 

[redhead83402]

Quote:
Nutmeggie ~ ( love that name so cute, & one of my fave spices!)
Do you know how to can or bottle? It's not too hard, and you can put a huge amount of your summer produce up in that way, to eat all winter long. Also, if canning just seems to hard & time consuming, many things can be dehydrated, and stored that way. And of course, easiest of all, ~ just get some nice heavy ziploc freezer bags, and chop up your produce & save it that way. When I used to buy meat at the grocery store, I would buy the huge family packs, because they cost less per lb, and then I would brown up the meat with onions and a few neutral spices, adn then freeze it in batches that are easily thawed & used for dinner.

I have also spent a few days a month pre-making meals, and then freezing them for quicky nights, when you have no other choice, and time is at a premium. This saves on us wanting to go out to eat or buying something quick at the grocery store because dinner is going to be a rush. Some really good meals for doing this are enchiladas, lasagna, spaghetti, big pots of soup, (bean, potato, pea, or lentil all hold up in the freezer well).

And go for it & buy a breadmaker, I guarantee you won't regret it. We run ours 3 times a day, & for the 5 minutes it takes to put the ingredients in, we have fresh bread a few hours later. Yes, you may have to play with the recipe to make it taste like homemade, but it will be worth it! And I personally NEVER use the pre-made packets or pkgs of special ~breadmaker~ mixes, they are expensive and tasteless.

One other thing that we do to cut or stretch the food budget is we drink water ~ a lot of water. We don't ever drink pop (or kool-aide), unless its for a special occasion & we are having rootbeer floats ( and my kids like purple cows better anyway) and we don't drink milk. I use dry milk to bake with and occasionally we will mix up a quart for different recipes, but that's it. And juice is another special occasion drink. We eat the fruit or eat jams instead.

And for a family of 7, with kids in range from 9 up to 16 ( which means they eat as adults), we spend about $150 - $200 per month on food.

Also, another food-saver, see if you have any nearby potato fields that you can glean from. Also, look around your neighborhoods and see if anyone has fruit falling off of their trees, they will likely let you either pick it for a small fee or just have it for free ( that assuages their guilt from not using it,lol).

I hope these ideas help.
~Red

 

[banter]

Got eggs! Will be eating omlettes for a while! http://www.fourseasonfarm.com/main/photos/photos.html#
Here is Eliot Coleman's site-lives up the coast from us. His book is excellent and we have already built some cold frames per his methods.

 

[chicken_boy_Kurt]

Quote:
Thats what my mom drives. It ran out of gas twice in the same month. Honestly, everyone get horses and go back to horse and buggies

. Gas is too high, fortunatly I don't feel any of that pressure yet as I'm too young to drive. But seriously, get a horse. They are sooooooooooooooooo much cheaper to feed (hay vs. gas) and they look better.

 

[chcknrs]

DH is going to build cold frames for me so we have veggies fresh throughout winter months. I told him about it and we are hopefully visiting Greyfield's this weekend so he can see how it's done. I'm excited!