Just curious who else is living super frugal

[Totalcolour]

Quote: Yes indeed it's a relative thing. HeatherLynn is probably doing the RIGHT thing! Meat, at $1.98 a pound, is a much BETTER deal than expensive breakfast cereals at $4 per pound and up. Then, let's not forget the plain old ordinary loaf of Orowheat bread at $4.99 a loaf. I can get a 5lb bag of flour for less and make my own bread; four times as much bread for the same price.

I recently had to change my diet due to elevated cholesterol. Not only have I lost weight ( a good thing) but my blood levels are better, and my GROCERY BILL IS LOWER!

I was driving through town the other day, and saw the food bank line. I think over 75% of those people were overweight. I also saw some folks in the supermarket using food stamps - again, they were overweight. I saw the foods they were buying and realised why. They were eating all the wrong things - mostly processed foods.

The bottom line is this - protein is probably a much better buy than carbs - yes you eat less of it, but you are healthier. And for the majority of Americans, the loss of a few pounds is just an extra benefit!

When one is really poor, you can still buy meat. I know, I've been there. And it's not a matter of being wealthy enough to buy meat for your family; If you budget, you can buy in bulk and save money, and provide good nutrition also.

I think if everyone of us who posts on this thread were to take a good, honest look in the mirror, how many could say they are not overweight? How many are truly underweight and undernourished? I would venture to guess at least two thirds of us could afford to lose a few pounds - and that will reduce the food bill right there!

 

[mickey328]

I take advantage of sales as well. I've spent $70 and more at a crack and was glad in the end that I had. I prefer to grind my own hamburger so I use a fair bit of it for that. I make stewing beef out of tougher (cheaper) cuts because I cook it in the pressure cooker, which tenderizes it. I also can quite a bit. Of course, if you have the ability to hunt and or grow your own, you can further reduce costs, but we don't all have that option.

We're working on getting some meat rabbits which should help trim the budget some, but it's not "free" since you do have to feed them. The meat is denser, leaner and much lower in cholesterol than anything on the market. So, when you take all that into account, I think it's worth it, in terms of both money and health.

 

[HeatherLynn]

Just a post on the meat thing. We go meat shopping every 2 months and thats for a family of 8. This meat is butchered right there and is very fresh. I recently had some tummy issues when we ate meat from the local grocer which had me committing myself more than ever to visit the butcher for ALL our meat. Either we hunt it for ourselves or we buy it direct like that. Its cheaper and its healthier. I went and spent 100 this week but we came home with 54 lbs of meat. Ground beef, fresh sausage, bacon, chicken breasts, fish ( Yes I know I need to raise meat birds too, dang those extra roos are tough). So for 2 months worth of meat thats not that bad for us. Its about $3 a week per person per week for our meat. I admit we are pretty much meat and potato people. My mom will swear I am trying to kill her when I do the once a week vegetarian meal. Really buying from the butcher we are probably consuming less meat but its all quality and fresh and per pound we are saving money. Saving money on the health issues that the chemical treated, bacteria laden meat from the grocery was causing too.

I also recently made a switch to unbleached flour due to an article I read about the bleaching process. ( I hate whole wheat so thats not an option) But I am going to start baking all my breads and such from scratch. No more box mixes. No more convenience foods. I tell you slowly but surely my tummy feels better, no more gall bladder twinges. I am going to slowly but surely detox myself from all the crap in our food. Its insane, instead of nourishment we are maxing out our livers. I think I am morphing from simply frugal to health consciously frugal. i am weighing every choice so much more carefully now.

 

[DennisK]

I take advantage of sales as well. I've spent $70 and more at a crack and was glad in the end that I had. I prefer to grind my own hamburger so I use a fair bit of it for that. I make stewing beef out of tougher (cheaper) cuts because I cook it in the pressure cooker, which tenderizes it. I also can quite a bit. Of course, if you have the ability to hunt and or grow your own, you can further reduce costs, but we don't all have that option.

We're working on getting some meat rabbits which should help trim the budget some, but it's not "free" since you do have to feed them. The meat is denser, leaner and much lower in cholesterol than anything on the market. So, when you take all that into account, I think it's worth it, in terms of both money and health.

We have been thinking of meat rabbits too. I am attracted to that idea because it seems to me that the rabbit diet isn’t as fussy as the diet that chickens need – or so it seems…. Much of what rabbits eat can be grown locally, and it doesn’t seem to require as much processing. I find that the cost of chicken feed is quite high and that expense offsets what we save by butchering our own. Both DW and I can remember our grandparents having chickens, and we don’t remember ever seeing bags of layer’s pellets lying around their home. I get this troubling feeling that we are doing something wrong in this regard. DW is determined to grow our own chicken feed, but even still, I don’t remember seeing that much fuss over a flock of chickens!
For a rabbit breed, I was looking at American Chinchilla Rabbits, but the Californian and New Zealand breeds seem to be the most available where I live. The idea of getting a meal and a pelt seems like a good deal. Tanning a pelt is something I have never done, but it might be an interesting thing to learn.

 

[HeatherLynn]

I will tell you that free ranging and scrap buckets go a long way to cutting down feed consumption in chickens. We have an ice cream bucket that goes out every day. What I consider clean scraps go in there. So it might be left over pasta or bread, it might be the peelings from carrots, lettuce, sweet potato peels, or where I cleaned out a few peppers. Maybe an apple that was going ucky or was only half eaten. All that goes to the chickens. And then they forage. After all that, they really don't eat much feed. They get all the garden scraps too. Anything that maybe got buggy or over ripe. tomatoes with a little black on the bottom or too mushy. So cost of feed sometimes isn't as bad as you would think.

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Just a post on the meat thing. We go meat shopping every 2 months and thats for a family of 8. This meat is butchered right there and is very fresh. I recently had some tummy issues when we ate meat from the local grocer which had me committing myself more than ever to visit the butcher for ALL our meat. Either we hunt it for ourselves or we buy it direct like that. Its cheaper and its healthier. I went and spent 100 this week but we came home with 54 lbs of meat. Ground beef, fresh sausage, bacon, chicken breasts, fish ( Yes I know I need to raise meat birds too, dang those extra roos are tough). So for 2 months worth of meat thats not that bad for us. Its about $3 a week per person per week for our meat. I admit we are pretty much meat and potato people. My mom will swear I am trying to kill her when I do the once a week vegetarian meal. Really buying from the butcher we are probably consuming less meat but its all quality and fresh and per pound we are saving money. Saving money on the health issues that the chemical treated, bacteria laden meat from the grocery was causing too.

I also recently made a switch to unbleached flour due to an article I read about the bleaching process. ( I hate whole wheat so thats not an option) But I am going to start baking all my breads and such from scratch. No more box mixes. No more convenience foods. I tell you slowly but surely my tummy feels better, no more gall bladder twinges. I am going to slowly but surely detox myself from all the crap in our food. Its insane, instead of nourishment we are maxing out our livers. I think I am morphing from simply frugal to health consciously frugal. i am weighing every choice so much more carefully now.

We bought part of a grass feed cow. best thing ever. No pink slim in the hamburger when it is cooking on the barbie. feel way better now as well. After butcher it was roughly 3.00 a pound but that is all the cuts of meat and I would pay more than the 3.00 a pound even just for the hamburger

 

[DennisK]

Thanks for the advice, HeatherLynn! I can see where there is a great advantage to a large family when it comes to this practice. DW and I do throw out scraps for the chickens, but there are only the two of us to make those scraps. We found that they really like those over sized zucchini we miss during harvest. We can’t let the chickens free range because we have a dog that can’t control herself when it comes to turkeys. We fenced in an area of about 3000 sq feet, but it is well picked over, and I fear any bug stupid enough to venture forth would be turned into an exclamation mark in no time flat! We are planning to expand their yard when we add the sheep we want to get. Until then, I’m stuck with 50 pound bags of Layer’s Pellets. Things could be worst, as we could have no poultry!

 

[luvinchiks74436]

Yes the frugal way is the only way anymore, I also have went used started scrapping my cans(no deposit in Ok) have a garden and and chickens that helps alot and I try really hard to do the grocery store very little but if you want to get the good deals you gotta go more reg and with coupons, I now have two freezers and I sell my eggs, I have alot of chickens. Good luck.

 

[galanie]

Since I am not working, I have time. So I haven't eaten a bit of bread bought at the store or bought a box mix for anything in 3 years. Recently I've even learned how to make my own "sweetened evaporated milk" from dry milk powder and a replacement for Karo syrup on my own. I can dry beans in the pressure cooker so dont' have to buy those either for a quick Hummus or pork and beans. And I do feel better. Much better!

 

[HeatherLynn]

Thanks for the advice, HeatherLynn! I can see where there is a great advantage to a large family when it comes to this practice. DW and I do throw out scraps for the chickens, but there are only the two of us to make those scraps. We found that they really like those over sized zucchini we miss during harvest. We can’t let the chickens free range because we have a dog that can’t control herself when it comes to turkeys. We fenced in an area of about 3000 sq feet, but it is well picked over, and I fear any bug stupid enough to venture forth would be turned into an exclamation mark in no time flat! We are planning to expand their yard when we add the sheep we want to get. Until then, I’m stuck with 50 pound bags of Layer’s Pellets. Things could be worst, as we could have no poultry!

I would suggest if you had the time even you could get a fish tank at goodwill or something. it can even be cracked and get you some meal worms. Cheap to feed and can be kept in a garage or barn. Cheap way to provide that buggy protein they love. I do understand that when its just 2 its a bit harder to get that quanity of scraps. I have heard of some people getting them from businesses too. My mom has brought hom lettuce that was on its way out and unsellable. They mark it down to nothing. Another friend gets bread from the local discount bread store. When the bread has gone past he litterally loads up the back of his pickup truck with their throw aways. Man I know a bunch of cheap people, never realized it till I wrote that down.