Just curious who else is living super frugal

[LindaB220]

When a holiday comes up and the sales go on I buy double what is out there. For instance night before last I took a corned beef out of the freezer I bought around St Paddys Day. Five bucks for a whole brisket. I bought two cooked one that week and here a couple of months it served the three of us Lunch and dinner with left overs.

When I do Corned beef and cabbage I do it in the crock pot. I use the mini potatoes and instead of cabbage I use brussles sprouts All about the same size. I pile them on top of the Corned beef potatoes first then sprouts after. Cooked on low for ten hours.... Oh yumm.

I too hit the sale isle on the meat. Those steaks that look a little brown only need a rinsing and they can be frozen.... but not for long. They are usually pretty tender because they have been accidentally aged.

One time my mom and dad bought a Quarter beef. I must have been around sixteen at the time. We had a big chest freezer in the garage and it would hold A LOT of beef. All hand cut and wrapped in paper marked and ready for the freezer.... Bought from a real butcher... Those have pretty much disappeared in San Diego... But mom and dad brought the meat in to the house first then Mom wanted to pack the freezer so she was going to and fro from the garage... Safely stored away.

About two or three days later mom noticed big green flies zooming around the house. So she started cleaning... She found a grocery bag behind a door that had Meat in it. she was sooo up set. She called dad and he said DONT throw it out. The meat was still wrapped so mom put it in the refrigerator.

Dad came home from work he unwrapped the meat and inspected it. No the flies didnt get in but they could smell it. He rinsed the meat off ... Some T bones and a roast. He cut slits in the meat and put in slivers of garlic then salted and peppered them and broiled them.... OH MY GAWD.... I have never had aged beef before then. The garlic helped with the strong flavor. He also washed and inserted garlic in the roast but went a head and stuck it in the freezer in the refrigerator.

Dad was the son of a sharecropper and they never had a meat freezer in the family The coolest place they had to store meat was the pump house. They would salt the meat down and wrap it in cheese cloth. Then hang it in the pump house. They did pork and beef the same way. And Yep those hanging slabs would grow mold all over them. He said they would un tie the cheese cloth and cut what they needed off then tie it back up.... Then in to the house for a wash and cooking. There were six kids and two adults in that family.... They share cropped from Florida to California never living in a State that had much snow.

deb

Deb, you are talking about a different world. I have battled with Aimee about meat in the fridge that turned not quite red anymore. She throws it away. I have taken it out of the fridge and cooked it and nobody but me eats it but , gosh dang it, $10 of meat is $10 of meat. If anything sits out more than 3 hrs, it's trashed.

 

[LindaB220]

With regard to growing food for your chickens... Free range is the closest answer..... Which may not be practical.... Another way to boost the food value of your existing feed is to give Fermented Feed a try. I am going to do that when I move back up to the house.

I have read that by fermenting your feed it makes the feed more nutritionally available. And I am not talkng about using ACV... I am talking about taking a five gallon bucket putting in feed then filling the bucket with water. Fermenting takes about 24 - 48 hours.... I have also read that it cuts your feed costs by at least half. More complete digestion makes a bird that is healthier too.

I cant prove it though by experience I have to give it a try before I can fully endorse it. But I have read enough success stories to have me convinced to give it a try.

deb

Cannot rave enough about fermented feed. The first time takes 4 days, but leave a little in the bottom of the bucket. Add water and stir and start adding feed. Oatmeal consistancy. Ready overnight each time after the first.

 

[perchie.girl]

With regard to gathering and eating wild food... It would be a wise thing to purchase a good book that covers the wild edibles in your particular area.

for instance. My home is in a teeny nub of the Sonoran Desert. High desert does get snow but no more than about three or four days of it Total for the whole winter. So we sit around 3-12 inches of precipitation for the whole year.

My eighteen acres is covered with medicinals. there are edibles too. I have a mesquite tree, Paloverde tree and several wild birds of paradise.

Mesquite trees grow what look like bean pods. They are about six to eight inches long... you can take the pod and make flour out of it by grinding the whole thing.... seeds pods and all. They are finding something Native americans have known all along.... The flour can be used for just about anything you would use wheat flour for.... But with one difference. The Glycemic value or index or something like that is very good for people who have diabedes.

Palo Verde trees grow bean pods. And when young and boiled up they are reported to have a similar taste to Peas. Paloverde trees have no warnings....

Also Yucca can be eaten The roots are full of starch and can be roasted. But also the seed pods can be roasted and I believe eaten like a squash... I never did get a recipe from my neighbor. Bot those pods are about the size of plums And a single Yucca will grow at least a hundred of them.

Yucca in flower


Palo Verde


Mesquite


Mesquite AND Palo Verde are in the same family as Peas and are considered a Legume.

deb

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I ferment fot the babies mostly-- I do think it is a great source of microbes that are killed in the processing of pellets ( heat treated) and our own diet is also devoid of those good microbes. Not many people ferment their own food for storage like pickles and sauer kraut etc. I have been making pickled green beans as a way to store the extras from the store: bulk purchase of green beans prepackaged at a cheap price, kids cant eat all, so decided to add make the pickled green beans: win- win. Food stored long term i frig and get good microbes at the same time.

I read that one person did a whole trash barrel full of mash-- hoping to get that going this summer. FOr some reason I cant get the FF going in the winter months.

IMO it is the better gut function that also contributes to the more efficient use of FF. OF course the smaller particle and some predigestion is at work too. ANd it all works together.

I did ferment a batch of alfalfa cubes for the horses and they loved it!! Much cheaper than Fast Track.

Quote: THe corn beef did not go on sale at St Patricks holiday time. NOt before and not after. THat was a first. It was also a first that we skipped buying it-- too expensive. DIdnt meet our price point. Will definitely keep your recipe in mind the next time though!!

WOw I envy that you had a dad with such skills-- a leaned skill passed person to person. LIke collecting mushrooms, really need first hand experience to be safe.

One of the kids found a favorite bird dead yesterday. A heavy bird, in good condition. I cooked it and I'll feed it back as that is a huge amt of meat. THe kids were ok with that instead of burying it. Ya, desperate times.

 

[Arielle]

DennisK- You're welcome. I'm sorry I couldn't figure out what it is you have found. If I do figure it out, I'll let you know. Discovering new usable/edible vegetation is always an exciting adventure.
Arielle- My daughter loves mermaids, I should start calling it sea spinach. I think it's in the same family as spinach/amaranth. Coastal Maine is one of my favorite places ever---I always wanted to move there "when I grew up" but wound up in the Pennsylvania woods instead lol.

Amaranthe is on my list-- the leaves and seeds are edible on some varieties. Sand HIll precervation has several varieites.

YOu live in the next best place-- the woods!! ANy place that has few people! lol I miss the shores of Maine, but enjoy the acccess to museums, and discount stores. THough I was looking for activities for my kids and they are all about 20-30$ per child. When I was a kid activites were $1. Just for comparison, the minumum wage was $4.50 and now it is $8. I have tried to find free activites or do at home activities, including ID'ing plants and insects and animals. ANd the reminder that if the insect has 6 legs they can eat it, if 8 no. We are not that desperate yet. The chickens get the insects, they gooble them up with out a look of revulsion. lol

 

[Arielle]

With regard to gathering and eating wild food... It would be a wise thing to purchase a good book that covers the wild edibles in your particular area.

for instance. My home is in a teeny nub of the Sonoran Desert. High desert does get snow but no more than about three or four days of it Total for the whole winter. So we sit around 3-12 inches of precipitation for the whole year.

My eighteen acres is covered with medicinals. there are edibles too. I have a mesquite tree, Paloverde tree and several wild birds of paradise.

Mesquite trees grow what look like bean pods. They are about six to eight inches long... you can take the pod and make flour out of it by grinding the whole thing.... seeds pods and all. They are finding something Native americans have known all along.... The flour can be used for just about anything you would use wheat flour for.... But with one difference. The Glycemic value or index or something like that is very good for people who have diabedes.

Palo Verde trees grow bean pods. And when young and boiled up they are reported to have a similar taste to Peas. Paloverde trees have no warnings....

Also Yucca can be eaten The roots are full of starch and can be roasted. But also the seed pods can be roasted and I believe eaten like a squash... I never did get a recipe from my neighbor. Bot those pods are about the size of plums And a single Yucca will grow at least a hundred of them.

Yucca in flower


Palo Verde


Mesquite


Mesquite AND Palo Verde are in the same family as Peas and are considered a Legume.

deb

WOw, these are lovely AND edible!!

I have started substituting beans for wheat flour. Our flour use is almost nil now. YEs the beans are more expensive but I buy them in bulk for about $1.30 a pound and given the amount of protein in the beans the cost really needs to be compared to beef or chicken and not just the wheat flour. The high protein is why it is beneficial for everyone, not just diabetics. with the current standard American DIet, we are all at risk for type 2 diabetes. THe takewasy is that type 2 is preventable!!

 

[Arielle]

Step father recently died-- and mom aasked if I wanted all his old tshirts and such. SHe included a number of izod shirts and a whiole box of white t-shirts. I cut up a few t shirts as wash clothes in the kitchen. Saved me buying more washclothes and sponges. ANd scored a number of tubes socks.

 

[perchie.girl]

Step father recently died-- and mom aasked if I wanted all his old tshirts and such. SHe included a number of izod shirts and a whiole box of white t-shirts. I cut up a few t shirts as wash clothes in the kitchen. Saved me buying more washclothes and sponges. ANd scored a number of tubes socks.

I am saving Jeans eventually I want to cut them into long strips and braid up some rugs....
The Grandmas on both sides of the family used to buy flower in Big bags.... They made dresses for their girls out of them. thats how big. Then the dresses would become wiping rags then eventually they became braided rugs.

YOu just need cones for folding the fabric and a fabric splitter....

http://www.carolsrugs.com/linen_lacing_rug_braiding_tools.htm

deb

 

[dutchbunny83]

My frugalness of the day...

Corn was on sale for 15 cents an ear at the grocery store so bought a bunch for the birds to eat.
All my rabbits go crazy over corn husks and they have a huge trash can next to the corn for people to shuck it right there instead of having to deal with it at home.
A worker came out to empty the can since it was overflowing and he let me have the massive bag of all the husks for my rabbits.

He said it was a one-time thing for me to take it, they're not allowed to do it, which is the stupidest thing ever if all they're going to do is put it in the dumpster???

 

[dutchbunny83]

Step father recently died-- and mom aasked if I wanted all his old tshirts and such. SHe included a number of izod shirts and a whiole box of white t-shirts. I cut up a few t shirts as wash clothes in the kitchen. Saved me buying more washclothes and sponges. ANd scored a number of tubes socks.

I'm so sorry for your loss!