Just curious who else is living super frugal

[ScottnLydia]

When we make hamburger, we always buy chuck roasts on sale. Often the 'bone-in' is cheapest, but it's child's play to debone them. Just use a sharp paring knife and cut along the bone with the tip. Move steadily and carefully, pulling the meat away as you go. Before you know it you're done! It's important to remember that it doesn't have to be pretty, it's all going into the grind anyway! Some folks grind briskets, but I've never tried them. I personally don't like the round for burger, I don't think it has the flavor that the chuck does.

We sometimes cut away some fat, depending on the roast, but they are much leaner, even with all the fat, than the cheap grade of supermarket grind. If you think about it, 73% lean is pretty close to 2/3. So imagine 3 equal sized mounds (containers, whatever), 2 with lean meat, and 1 pure fat. That's about what supermarket cheap hamburger is like so it's no wonder they shrink so much when you cook them! That just is NOT economy. If you want to, you can even add TSP, textured soy protein. It can be found in most supermarkets either in boxes or the bulk bins. Just a little added will keep the meat from shrinking when cooked, boost the protein, and lower the fat.

Cut your meat into thin strips for the grinder. We use a meat grinder on our Kitchen Aid, like Mickey. That, and the Cuisinart, are the MOST used tools (other than knives) that we have! We like to use a course grind for a heartier texture, but that's the beauty of it, you can do what you like! We also grind pork shoulders for sausage. Again, much less fat and better quality!

I also like to go to Costco and get primal cuts of sirloin. I can then cut them up myself into steaks, roasts and use the trimming to make 'chopped sirloin'. I do chopped sirloin in the Cuisinart with the chopping blade. I put stew sized chunks of meat in and pulse until they are shredded, not too small, and form patties with it. It's also a good option if the sirloin happens to be tough. I know, I always talk about eating lamb, but sometimes we do eat beef, and this is how we prep it.

~S

P.S. My newest Delaware Rooster is just starting to crow, he sounds like a kid tentatively tooting a party horn!

 

[Red Barn Farms]

We try to grow and can, freeze or store most of our own veggies yearly. We grow asparagus, carrots, cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, Beans (we can green beans, but buy the rest because beans are not too expensive) potatoes, (Kennebec, Yukon Gold, sweet potatoes), corn, cucumbers, garlic, okra, onions, peanuts, squash and tomatoes.

Most all other foods when needed, we shop at Amish salvage stores. The cost on most items are 1/2 to 90% off retail. It's scratch and dent cans, overstocked items. 'about' out of date items, etc. So many of the items are 'hard to find' items not locally available. So they have something new weekly. Very expensive food items at ridiculously low prices. We are thinking of moving a little into food storage in the future. Been reading articles on that. Our weekly food price from retail grocery receipt would total around 150.00 but Amish stores bring that price down to about 20.00 weekly.

A neighbor and ourselves raise and split the cost of feed for beef cattle and have them slaughtered as needed. That does reduce the cost of buying store bought meat and we bypass the growth hormones. We're not big meat eaters anyway. We rarely eat pork or chicken. HAHa Chicken! We'd rather have ours as pets! We do love eggs however. For fish we live close to a lake so fishing is a much enjoyed sport!

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We have been shopping at Good Will and other consignment stores for a few years now. When ever we do have to make a major purchase, stove, refrigerator, etc we do an online search first looking for the best value while reading product reviews, etc. At times if we can find a used item cheap we'll take it!

For cold weather we cut our electric bill in half by using a wood stove. Turning off lights as often as possible. Unplugging certain electric devices when we are not going to be home for awhile. As in coffee pot, internet wireless modem, some clocks. Things like that which draw electricity constantly.

We have been making extra income for the past few years in buying older homes which are in need of repairs, fixing them then reselling. We take part yearly in a community yard sale.

Lucky to say our home mortgage is PAID IN FULL!! That just happened this past month.

Our automobiles are paid in full and have been for several years now. We will NEVER buy a new car again. If we manage to get a tax refund big enough we will take that money and trade with it for a different auto. We never want to be in dept with a bank anymore. If we cannot pay cash we're just stuck with the same car until we can.

Well, I guess that pretty much covers it for now. If I think of any other way's we try to save I'll post it.

 

[jbirds2012]

~S

P.S. My newest Delaware Rooster is just starting to crow, he sounds like a kid tentatively tooting a party horn!

our little leghorn started crowing a few days ago

 

[galanie]

Here's a good page on rendering beef fat. She doesn't use water but you can start with a bit of water in there and just let it boil off during the process. http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2012/02/how-to-render-beef-tallow.html

You use it in anything you'd use Crisco in, just not sweet things. I primarily fry in it. Taste it before using it in anything and then you'll be able to tell what it will go best with. The webpage lady said hers didn't taste "beefy" but mine does, probably because of the section of the cow it came from.

Oh, and the reason I buy only boneless beef for grinding is because I buy cuts that have much of the bone "hidden" and once you cut it off, you find you've just paid more than that ground beef could have been bought for, not less. Mainly shoulders and chuck.

 

[ScottnLydia]

Here's a good page on rendering beef fat. She doesn't use water but you can start with a bit of water in there and just let it boil off during the process. http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2012/02/how-to-render-beef-tallow.html
You use it in anything you'd use Crisco in, just not sweet things. I primarily fry in it. Taste it before using it in anything and then you'll be able to tell what it will go best with. The webpage lady said hers didn't taste "beefy" but mine does, probably because of the section of the cow it came from.
Oh, and the reason I buy only boneless beef for grinding is because I buy cuts that have much of the bone "hidden" and once you cut it off, you find you've just paid more than that ground beef could have been bought for, not less. Mainly shoulders and chuck.

Oh absolutely! I only buy the bone in models after carefully palpating (yup, I was in the medical industry) the bone and determining if it's a good value. Sometimes it is, sometimes it ain't. Most of the pork shoulders I get have a miniscule bone, maybe 3 or 4 ounces per 4 or 5 pounds. A lot of times the chucks are boneless anyway, but I'll still compare if there is a choice. If there's something like $1 a pound difference on a 5 or 6 pound piece of meat, and it feels like a small (1/2 pound bone) It's worth it. Still, you're correct, if you can't determine the size of the bone, perhaps the boneless is the better deal. I've found plenty with huge bones too.

Also, thanks for the tips on rendering fat! I guess if you have more than enough to bake with you can mix some with bird seed for wild birds for the winter as well.

Does anyone know how to make tallow? Candles were once made from it. I thought it was made from animal fat too.

~S

 

[mickey328]

Congrats on being debt free, RBF...isn't it a GREAT feeling!?

Thanks for the link, galanie. Think I might have to try that!

Just got back from our second "beef" run. Today they had 85% lean burger on for $3/lb. That's the percentage I prefer and even with the sale on roast, the best I could have done was $4/lb...and I'd have had to grind, weigh and package it. It was a much better deal, so we got 10 lbs and stuck 'em in the freezer. I did get 3 more packages of sirloin steak to can as stewing meat. Picked up 2 great big salmon fillets which should give me at least 12 half pints for sandwiches and salads through the winter.

We also hit the food bank and came away with awesome stuff! Got about 10 lbs of baby spuds I'll just wash and can whole, and another 10 or so of smaller ones that I'll wash, cube and can. Among other end-of-season stuff from local farms were: acorn squash, little bitty cabbages, tiny ears of corn, chard, spinach, peppers (red, green, yellow and orange). They had lots of apples, but we passed on them...I'm about "appled out" for the season, LOL.

On the way, we talked about getting our rabbit hutches ready. When we got the chickens, we didn't have a coop so we want to be prepared in case the "right" rabbits become available. We hit a couple of thrift stores, hoping to find a medium/large sized dog crate. We have a chicken with a sprained leg and should restrict her movement. She's more or less sequestered herself in the coop just now, but it seems like it'd be good to have a crate or two around just in case...bet we'll find a use for them at some point. Found a couple, but they were $20 and $30 each and I had to come away to think about it. They're in really good shape and would cost 2 or 3 times that much new....haven't decided yet. Did find a really nice leather jacket for DH tho...worn enough to be soft, but still in great shape and not too heavy. It was $45 so we grabbed that up...he can wear it for work all winter.

Scott, I'm not totally averse to buying bone-in either and also find it easy to deal with...and the bones with scrap get used to make stock. I'm really careful about it though, because sometimes the cost of the bone can cost more than the more expensive boneless cuts. I love my Kitchen Aid attachments! The slicers and shredders get a lot of use here as well as the grinder. My only complaint is that the slicers cut too thin. DH modified one of ours with a hammer, screwdriver and pliers. It ain't perfect, but it does give me some of the thicker slices I like. Wish they had one for cutting 1 inch chunks! Do you have the juicer attachment? We have a citrus juicer, but the motor just isn't strong enough...if you push on the fruit at all it just comes to a halt. They had lots of oranges at the food bank today...wouldn't have been much good for eating, but if we'd had a decent juicer, I'd have grabbed a bunch up. I'm kind of thinking about the pasta attachment as well. I love homemade noodles but the rolling and cutting is a pain.

 

[ScottnLydia]

No, we have a stand-alone juicer, I think it's the Jack Lalane (sp?), we got it from Costco years back. It really works great! For the Kitchen Aid we only have the meat grinder with sausage stuffer, and the pasta maker. The pasta maker works great, just like the hand crank type, but not as many choices of cutters. Lydia uses the machine to make bread about every 3 to 4 days so it doubles as a 'workout machine', ha! Get it down, put it back, so on... She uses the Cuisinart to make pie crust, and stuff like that, but we just use knives and sometimes a mandoline for slicing.

Oh yeah, I have to get that down and put that up again, too! What's up with that? Next thing you know, I might end up all buff, THEN what am I going to do? Give up my professional wimp status?

~S

 

[ScottnLydia]

our little leghorn started crowing a few days ago

Hee hee hee, they sound funny when they don't open their mouths!

Yeah, kinda like that, if a Munchkin said it! I like to make fun of them so that they don't get all 'cocky'.

 

[ShellLea]

I started reading this thread yesterday. I'm about halfway through it. Too much time on the computer maybe, but I'm mostly folding laundry or keeping an eye on homework time for the little ones while I'm at it so I don't feel too guilty, lol! I'm learning a lot, but I've got a lot more to read and so a lot more to learn. A few of things I do for my family of 7 with an extra person or 2 being the norm...

Major shopping get done once a month and I get the plastic bags on that trip. These bags are stored and used for trash in the car, lining small trash cans in the house, sending food to my mother and sister since my mom's cooking is horrible, poor dad, and my sister never has fresh fruits and veggies for her kids, sending things back that other kids leave here,and my favorite...double bagging the piles that dog walkers leave in my front yard.

I buy powdered milk for all the cooking and homemade milkshakes and smoothies. None of us can get past the taste so we keep regular whole milk in the house for when you have to have it. Even the moistest of cakes deserves a glass of milk!

I do a weekly shopping trip at a closer store for milk and any fresh fruits or vegetables that I need and we use cloth bags for those trips. Cloth bags also get used for beach bags, overnighters for the kids, and for when I drop things off to people. Plastic for sending, cloth for dropping.

I grow vegetables and herbs and plan to expand next year so that I can start drying, freezing and canning.

The youngest two kids get a new backpack for school every year, (on clearance the year before), just because they are hard on them and they look horrible by the end of the school year. Once school lets out their backpacks are camping bags. The bags are pretty much destroyed by the end of camping season.

Hubby and I drink a ton of coffee, (with 5 kids who wouldn't?) so we got a Bunn and switched to generic. My sister pays out some cash for Dunkin' Donuts and I can't tell the difference between hers and mine! I've had my Bunn for years and I was buying a new $30 to $50 coffee maker every 6 months before.

I have dealt with behavior issues with 1 kid, now a teen, and now have an 8 yr. old with the same so we quit buying expensive toys like video games and electronic learning systems. They just get broken. I stick to crayons, coloring and activity books, and Legos. Legos are pretty cheap second hand. They get plenty of other stuff from other people for birthdays and holidays

Freecycle, Craigslist, and a local "giving no selling" page on Facebook helps with everything from scrap wood for building to clothes to furniture to food.

The most profitable frugal habit...offering to those in need, even when I don't have much to give. Because of this habit I have first pick of clothes from well over a dozen different families before they sell or donate anything, I have never paid cash for camping trips or equipment, I have unlimited use of an in ground heated pool for my family, never have to pay more than the cost for parts for car repairs, and always have help for my many projects!

 

[erinszoo]

Rabbits are okay as a meat source. I wouldn't say great. The meat tastes great ... like the finest chicken meat you will ever have, juicy and fine textured. We have New Zealand/California cross rabbits. At butchering time we get about 2 1/2 to 3 lbs of meat per rabbit. The trick with rabbits though is that they aren't quite as simple as some people think to raise. They can't tolerate heat at all and we've had numerous issues with getting them to kit right, then our female rabbit got wry neck and died. We are just now getting ready to breed her offspring, but these guys have to be at least six months old before they are big enough to breed and carry a litter to term. They are far easier to process than a chicken though. Just skin the suckers ... and if you're any good at tanning hides you can tan them and sell them if you find a market or use the skins yourself.