Just curious who else is living super frugal

[LittleLakePhil]

Another thing I do is....the local grocery store in town. About mid week their meat hits that sell by date so they mark off anywhere from $1 to $3 a package off. I swoop that up and take it home throw it right in the deep freeze. Get many a cheap dinner that way. Hey LG we got a big day coming up.

 

[lazy gardener]

Sounds like you made out. Are you going to try to save some of the seeds to plant? One of the things I have started being really aware of it the seasons that different produce and vegetables are available. Not like shipped from other countries available but truly in season, in my area. Then I look forward to each produce as it is in its prime season. For example, I am loving eating pumpkin right now and apples. I also know that fresh oranges are right around the corner and when my family travels down to Florida to visit my grandmother, we will get fresh, ripe, oranges, fresh off the tree... I try to buy in season and stock up if I can but also to eat seasonally as well.

Now if only school was out during "weeding" season.... and planting season...... oh and harvesting as well.....

I don't intend to save any of these seeds... well... maybe I might save some from the turban. But, one year, I bought the biggest buttercup squash from a local farm stand. That thing weighed 22#. I saved the seeds and planted some the following year. I did one mega hill and planted some of those seeds, plus some from my favorite variety: Orange Hokkaido (also known as Red Kuri). I harvested 180# of squash from that one hill. It took over my whole garden! I saved seed again, and the next time I planted, I got a hybrid that was a 22# Orange buttercup. Pretty impressive. Unfortunately, it didn't breed true in the F2 generation. Eating in season is a definite way to save money, for sure!!! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE fresh citrus from Florida. My dad had a Satsuma tree.

Another thing I do is....the local grocery store in town. About mid week their meat hits that sell by date so they mark off anywhere from $1 to $3 a package off. I swoop that up and take it home throw it right in the deep freeze. Get many a cheap dinner that way. Hey LG we got a big day coming up.

Oh yeah, I always buy marked down meats. Also buy bread products at a local "day old" bakery. I spend $8 and come home with $30 or more worth of product. Today, Fish was on sale for $3.99/#, and beautiful steaks $3.99. Cheaper than hamburg. Yes, big day coming up. Looking forward to it. We don't usually do too much, just enjoy the pleasure of each other's company.

 

[donrae]

It's funny you're talking about marked down meats. Honey and I hit the store yesterday, really all we needed was to pick up his prescription. Well, I had to just cruise the meat counter, and he had to head back to the ammo counter in case they had .22 shells

. I can't hit a store without checking for marked down meat!

For frugal, I'm working on a cold frame for some lettuce and Swiss Chard. We have the leftover sliding glass doors and assorted windows we've stashed over the years. I put the planter boxes near some unused steps off the back of the house to use the height. Now I'll just look for a few straw bales or something similar to set the glass on, and see how long we can have fresh greens! I had a Swiss chard plant overwinter in my main garden one year, so I know they're hardy enough. And that plant got massive! Folks thought it was rhubarb, it was so large.

I don't know, living frugal becomes just a lifestyle and you don't really think of what you're doing as particularly interesting, or useful to others.

Tomorrow I'll be making firestarters from worn out egg cartons, dryer lint and scrap candles.

Honey picks up trim boards the local door/cabinet shop sets out for free. We cut them down and use them for kindling wood. I called dibs on some of the larger pieces to use for crafty type things.

We helped a friend butcher his deer recently. He wasn't going to keep the ribs "because there's not enough meat there to bother". Please give them to me! He did, I dry rubbed them and baked low and slow. Nope, there wasn't a ton of meat, but it rounded out a skimpy roast nicely. And Free Food Tastes Better---especially meat!

 

[Oliver Douglas]

After Thanksgiving, I try to round up all the leftover turkeys on sale at the market for the garage freezer. Don't mind giving any leftovers to the chickens....they don't mind eating a distant relative, I guess. Five or six turkeys are enough for the year for us. I tend to get the smaller ones since after a week of turkey leftovers you're pretty much sick of them...and two months later, someone asks "can we have a turkey"? I remember "Ralphie" from "A Christmas Story" when the turkey dinner was mugged by the Bumphus hound dogs...no turkey sandwiches, no turkey hash, no turkey casserole....gone, all gone! The old man should have gotten a shotgun...I hear hound dogs marinate quite well....

 

[Beekissed]

They don't even mind eating their flockmates, sisters, mothers, fathers, etc. As you are eviscerating them there in front of them, they will hover around for any parts thrown to them.

 

[Oliver Douglas]

"Does this taste fowl to you?"

 

[LittleLakePhil]

"Does this taste fowl to you?"

HAHA

 

[LittleLakePhil]

I always shop sales. Never pay full price if I can help it. (The occasional crab legs my weakness even then sometimes I catch a seafood sale). I have such a stock pile of food I can afford to only by things on sale. I don't necessarily by things I need but I buy when real good deals are there so I could pretty much make anything you might want for dinner.
oh and.22 ammo that stuff still hard to get? I was buying.223 as much as I could. Finally got enough of that and filled up on 7.62's needless to say if SHTF I'm okay for a while another reason to keep this thread going. Because I think it will and people may need these skills to get by on.
If the economy collapses soap making and the such could be important step to take to maintain a sense off normalcy.

 

[Oliver Douglas]

I keep about 1000 rounds of 7.62x54 on hand. Ammo for that round, if military surplus, is still affordable. The 9x18 Mak getting harder to find. Tokarev gone through the roof. Don't hunt but I enjoy the old military stuff. Better built in many cases than the new manufacture. Swede Mauser the finest bolt action ever, in my opinion.

 

[donrae]

I think at this point finding the .22 ammo has become more of a hobby/challenge. We really don't need it, but he checks every store every time. And reminds me to check if I'm out without him.

We're maxed out on freezer space, so probably won't stock up on turkeys. Or maybe we'll buy another freezer, but I honestly don't know where we'd put it. As my health returns, I'll get back into pressure canning again, that will free up some freezer space. I was looking at our food storage yesterday and it's really taken a hit since I've been sick. But, that's kind of what it was for, right? The whole time I had to be gone, or couldn't cook, I had the peace of knowing my family had food to eat.

Best Frugal News of all--my Honey got a job with his brand-spanking new LPN license! Cause nothing helps you save money like having more money coming in, right? He doesn't start for another week, so it will be a bit before we see a good paycheck, but knowing it's coming is such a relief.