Wannabefree...guess what I got in the mail today!?!?!?!?

[Wannabefree]

Yeah $65 a week is our current grocery budget for the three of us and hubs caffeine intake takes a good part of that. I'm figuring out ways around it to try to keep it from being so tight. I stocked up on bacon and cheese this week. Next week will be flour and meal and baking staples. Thankfully we have stock of most everything so I can choose to stock up mainly on sale items. I even have some shelf stable milk put back in case of emergency lol! I hate that stuff, but I'll take it over nothing at all!! Then there are a few animals that keep pushing my buttons that may or may not wind up on the menu. I'm holding out on that till it's absolutely necessary. They are back up in case it gets really bad later.

I have been in the kitchen all morning. I baked two loaves of bread, made italian breadcrumbs from the butts of the last loaves, and got a 3 pound (SIX BUCKS with a printed coupon WOOT!) turkey breast going that I will slice up for sandwiches for me and the kid, and hubs has bologna. Bless his heart, the last time he had any amount of turkey was at Thanksgiving and I distinctly recall he mostly slept for two days...couldn't even help much with the animals, so it is strictly OFF limits for him. Poor guy, he likes it, but it does not like him with his wonky narcoleptic gene!

Anyway, I have to go pick up our battery, come back and do some more cleaning, and I'm frying some chicken that was also on sale this week at 68 cents a pound for dinner The packages are enough for 2 meals at an average of $2 per pack, so that's pretty good. So far...the food budget is looking pretty doable since we were already fairly stocked. If we hadn't been stocked though...God help us! Food seems to be getting more and more expensive all the time, beyond normal inflation. AGAIN, I wish it was Spring and gardening was going full blast! But, we'll make it till then

 

[hqueen13]

Food is getting more expensive, and even at current costs is still cheaper than what it should be. That's scary!
I wish I had your drive to be in the kitchen! I could use someone close by to help me be motivated and better organized in the kitchen.

 

[Wannabefree]

LOL, it's called...be allergic to everything I sometimes wish I didn't have to do it, but all the more reason to hurry up and get it out of the way huh?

I agree it is cheaper than what it should be, but the quality isn't really going up with the price. I could eat my chickens, but they cost a lot more, in cash AND labor, so I keep them around in case of emergency. We do eat some, but it is not all of our consumption. Our local store carries local meats, so that's a plus, but it's still frankenchicken lol! I shop farmer's market when I can too, which is semi local. Being in the tri state area we get things from Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi. I can still buy most of it cheaper directly from the farm, and I do, when I find the farms that raise the stuff and agree with their practices of farming. It's hard to find anything though that is both quality product(sustainable/nonGMO/least ammount of chemical applied) and reasonably priced without growing or raising it yourself. I grow better stuff on my place for way less money than I can get it anywhere...with the exception of the Amish when they have things they can't market well and cut me a deep discount to move it. Even at that, it's all hybrid and GM, but $3 for a 5 gallon bucket of tomatoes they let me pick, is still too good to pass on.

 

[Wannabefree]

JEEEEZ have I mentioned I miss the heck out of my garden?!?!?! My mind is constantly going back to that lol!

 

[hqueen13]

Yeah, allergies sure will change your plans lol. I wish I could make more changes in that direction but it isn't easy.
Preserving is about the only way to really keep the garden going year round... you get to easy what you preserve whenever you want it. I'd love to Do cold frames and a greenhouse someday though. Someday I want to produce more than I buy.
I assume your chickens aren't meat birds then? I am amazed at the broilers that S raises on the farm... 8 weeks and you have a whole chicken. The public really has no idea.

 

[Wannabefree]

We have done some of the broilers as well. Yummy home grown store type chicken lol! They aren't really any more cost effective, or less labor intense, but ya know what gets put in them and that's always a plus! No, mine aren't meaties, well not regular old meaties, they are dual purpose. We preserved a TON of stuff this year...but we also sold/gifted a good bit. I still have enough for the winter, but I tend to eat it better when it's fresh. I am SOOOO craving a salad right now with a big homegrown fat juicy tomato fresh off the vine in it lol!

 

[hqueen13]

Oh now your making my mouth water! I have ONE container of what we call summer mix, which is exactly that... squash, zucchini, tomatoes, corn, there would be mushrooms if the bf weren't allergic. I'm coveting it trying not to eat it too soon. It's soooooooo good, and goes with just about everything.

 

[Wannabefree]

Mmmm yeah we have green tomatoes, okra, squash, ripe tomatoes, and green beans still from the garden and various odds and ends that we were given or bartered for....but I would kill for a real slice of some of our fresh heirloom tomatoes right now. Is it Spring YET? Sheesh..what's taking so long?! I guess maybe the snow we got today is not a good sign huh? I'm gonna go curl up in a fetal position and cry now Winter is horrible!!! LOL!

 

[Corn Woman]

I spent the day cleaning. I think I'm getting sick or something because that's not like me at all. I don't have fever or anything Well anyway, I got the bedroom cleaned, and swept and mopped everything, and laundry is finished. I'm getting ready to set up to start my garden seeds. Is it not February yet?!?!?! I'm so ready to get it going! It was pretty nice here today so hubs set the pepper plants we're overwintering out back to get some sunshine....and stupiddog dug them halfway out of the pots...he was not a happy camper. I fixed it though, it wasn't too bad, but it wasn't great either. She broke a lot of the new growth.

Wish I could have went to church!!!!! But, I got a lot done no less.

Laundry is finished?? Laundry at my house is perpetual and never really finished.

We have done some of the broilers as well. Yummy home grown store type chicken lol! They aren't really any more cost effective, or less labor intense, but ya know what gets put in them and that's always a plus! No, mine aren't meaties, well not regular old meaties, they are dual purpose. We preserved a TON of stuff this year...but we also sold/gifted a good bit. I still have enough for the winter, but I tend to eat it better when it's fresh. I am SOOOO craving a salad right now with a big homegrown fat juicy tomato fresh off the vine in it lol!

Ok now WBF that's just teasing me. The seed catalogs are coming in and it's so fun to dream but at the same time I want fat juicy tomato.

 

[Wannabefree]

Well it isn't finished anymore That was like a bajillion outfits ago

I know!!! The seed catalogs are killing me!!!!!!