The cost of eating

Last night, my husband and I had to make a trip to the grocery store for a few necessities, like milk, tea, lunch meat, etc. and I was just appalled at how much prices have gone up in the last few weeks.

The sale price for chicken breasts was $1.99 a pound! On Sale! That is simply insane. Generic canned corn was 79 cents a can. When did that happen? Granted, I do not buy a lot of canned vegetables since I put up most of ours, but the last time I looked they were around 50 cents a can. Some times, if the store is having a case sale, you can get them 3 for a dollar. But almost 80 cents a can is insane. For generic. I didn't even look at the name brand. I was afraid to.

All of this is convincing me more and more that I am not putting up enough food. We need to be able to eat out of jars or the freezer and not have to make bi-weekly trips to the local grocery store. I have canned some chicken and beef, but I am thinking I need to do more. I need to find a couple of bags of chicken legs and thighs for 59 cents a pound (sometimes I can still find them for that) and can them up. 10 pounds bags will make around 8 or 9 pints of meat and 7 or 8 quarts of broth. So for $5.90, that is a minimum of 8 or 9 meals, but really closer to 12 since I don't always use a whole jar of meat per meal for the 3 of us. And the broth is quite useful for a lot of things too, not just soups.

I have canned a lot of fruit this year. Mostly peaches and plums but I have done a few blueberries and some cherries. I think I have enough beans to last the year, but you never really know. I didn't put up enough corn this year but that is one of those things that sometimes we eat a lot, sometimes we don't. I don't know, I guess we will be OK.

I plan to start curing some more Canadian bacon today. My son really likes that for sandwiches in his lunch bag. And it freezes well so I might as well. And the pork loin was on sale for less than $2 a pound, which is quite a bit cheaper than over-processed lunch meat.

I really don't know how people on fixed incomes or low incomes with families can afford to eat. I realize the over-processed convenience foods are cheaper, but you don't actually get much food value out of those.

There has to be a balance somewhere in all of this.

New year, same wants

Things being what they are, I have been too busy to post. But now that the holidays are over, hopefully, I can get caught back up.

I have been looking at seed catalogs again. This is always torturous for me. I want to have a big garden, a couple of fruit tress, some grapes, berries, etc., but we just don't have the space without tearing up the whole back yard. That idea was very firmly nixed. lol Go figure?

So, I will probably just do what I always do, plant high yielding food like beans and tomatoes, and buy what I can't raise. It makes me sad though. We have less than 3 years until the boy graduates, and if my husband doesn't get laid off before then, we will almost have the house paid off. Then we can buy something out in the middle of nowhere with a few acres (and pay cash for it) and I can have my little homestead.

I really don't need much, just about 5 acres or so, with a decent house and preferably a barn already in place. A few chickens and maybe a milk cow (yes, I am dreaming) and a big garden to raise our food. Is it too much to ask for an asparagus bed, onion bed, some berry vines, a grape arbor, a few fruit trees, and about 1/2 an acre tilled onto garden? It would be nice if this is on the highway so that I can set up a produce stand to sell the extras or have a neighbor who is willing to let us set up on his.

All of this take money though. I would like to be able to be set up to be self-sufficient, or at least as close to it as possible. If things really start getting tight, at least we can eat.

I have learned a lot of skills that will be useful towards that end. Home canning is probably the most useful one. That, along with the dehydrator, have pretty much cut our grocery bills in half. We don't have to buy canned foods and the food I put up tastes much much better and is healthier for us than commercially processed food. It involves actually cooking, but I enjoy that anyway.

I can make bread, and do on a regular basis. It tastes different than the bread you get in the store, but at least it is really food with real nutrition instead of just empty calories. And it makes a mean grilled cheese.

I can make soap, and therefore, laundry detergent. I haven't bought bath soap or laundry detergent in over two years now. That is a BIG money saver. Who wants to spend 5-7 dollars every couple of weeks just on laundry soap? I can make 3 gallons (about 4 months worth) of laundry detergent for about 80 cents. Granted, it isn't a major boost to the budget, but it is kinda nice to not have to go down that aisle at the store.

I can sew our own clothes if necessary. Granted, there are some things it is still cheaper to buy, like socks and underwear, but for just daily clothing, I can do that. Especially if things get bad, this will be a useful skill.

I would like to have a wood stove to use for heat. That does involve cutting wood, but that shouldn't really be too big of a problem. And if it is done right, I can also use the top of the stove to cook on in the winter or if the power goes out. It wouldn't be the first time I have cooked over a fire or on top of a wood stove. It is actually kinda fun, in a strange way. Wouldn't want to have to do it in the summer, but in the winter it would be sort of nice to have a big pot of soup bubbling on the stove all day.

Maybe I am just strange, but I can do without a big house, fancy cars, and expensive clothes. I never really needed those things anyway. I am just a country girl at heart.

Crafting in Arkansas

Well, it has been busy around here again. Between chasing the boy for scouts and marching band, we are also starting to think about the holiday season. And we have started a new learning experience toward self sufficiency. We have started home brewing.

I know it sounds just a bit nuts, but it is one of those things that if they economy really does tank completely, we will have something available that we will not have to buy. The ingredients aren't that expensive and it is more learning the process than having vast quantities of beer and wine around the house. It will get used eventually. And it is kinda fun. Now we just have to see how it turns out.

I have also been trying to use up all of the yarn I have hanging around the house. I have made something like 25 hats in the last few weeks and several scarves to go with them. These will probably be Christmas gifts for friends and family. They didn't cost much, look nice and are actually useful. Much better than giving a gift that will just collect dust or take up space in a closet until a yard sale happens. I still have lots of yarn left, most of them small or partial skeins, so I may just make hats until I run out of yarn and donate them to a homeless shelter or something. At least it gives me something to do and gets rid of some of the "stuff" hanging around the house.

I also recently completed an afghan for my sister-in-law. She was the last one in the family to get one and I felt really bad about it taking so long to get one made for her. So it is an especially nice one. I got some really expensive yarn from a clearance rack for about $1.50 a skein. So I made a $70 (retail price for the yarn) afghan for about $18 dollars. I thought that was a very good deal on a very nice, soft, cuddly blanket.

Being "crafty" gives me a lot of satisfaction. Handmade gifts seem to be appreciated, they are less expensive than the store-bought versions, and it gives me something to do.

Home Made Lye Soap

I know that I have mentioned this before but my husband has an allergy to detergents so we have started using lye soap. It only has 3 ingredients, water, lard and lye, and it works great. After purchasing a bar to try, I started making it myself. It is really easy to make, but it is a little time consuming and you have to be really careful with the lye. But it makes a really great soap with a good feeling lather and is hypoallergenic. My teens even use it to help clear up their acne issues.

It costs me about $8 to make 40 bars of soap. I even found a recipe to make laundry soap from the home made bars. That costs me about 80 cents to make a little over 2 gallons and it works great too. (see previous post)

In case you were wondering if it is harsh, let me explain how it works. The lye and the lard create a chemical reaction that transforms them into glycerin, the same stuff used in those clear bars of expensive "beauty" soaps you buy at the drugstore. Depending on what you use as your fats in the mix, you can even make the high dollar specialty soaps that sell in boutiques for $5-$10 each. Because my husband is so sensitive, I stick with the basics and don't even add a fragrance. But you can if you wish.

Not only do we save a bundle of money by making the soaps ourselves, they contain no phosphates so they are environmentally friendly as well. And 1 bar will last almost a month in the shower so it is very cost effective.

I know that most people don't think much about the cost of soap since it is one of those basic things that are really not that expensive to buy, but after you make your own, you begin to wonder why you would want to spread all of those chemicals and phosphates and who-knows-what-else all over your body on a daily basis. Home made soap has been in use for thousands of years yet in the last 100 years, we have gotten away from using natural products. Now there is finally a movement to get away from all of the chemicals that are supposed to make our lives better.

The old ways are sometimes the best ways.

Born too late

I think I am the only person I know who would do just fine without modern technology. I love my clothesline. I enjoy growing my own food, canning, sewing, crocheting, and cooking. We have been living with the windows open for the last 2 months so no heat or air going. I like making bread. I can pluck a chicken and butcher a hog. I can make butter and, sort of, cheese.

I cook with bacon grease and plain flour. My pie crusts are home made. I make my own soap and laundry detergent. My skirts are down to my ankles and my necklines to my collar bone.

I believe in punishing the kids if they smart off to me or someone else, and giving them hugs and telling them how proud I am of them often.

I was just born too late I guess. I should have been living in the hills back during the Depression or something. I don't need a bunch of Madison Avenue execs telling me that I can't be happy without...whatever they are trying to sell. I am perfectly happy with the things I have. I don't need anything else.

I can think of a lot of ways to be frugal, but most of them will actually involve food in some way. Yes, you can cut down on the energy you use and carpool to work, or sit in semi-darkness at home, but the easiest way to save money, for a family at least, is by cooking.

I know that it may seem odd, but even learning to make your own sandwich meats can make a large difference. My son heard the Mackenzie Brothers on the radio back in the fall and has been calling Canadian Bacon (a type of ham) "back bacon" ever since. About the same time, I purchased a large manual meat grinder intending to make sausages and bratwurst since they are so expensive to buy. I started gathering the necessary ingredients, one of which was a quick cure mixture found on the bottom shelf at the grocery near the salt. Morton makes a very nice one called "Quick Cure" that works like a charm. The package stated that the website has recipes. So I looked it up. Low and behold, Canadian Bacon was one of the recipes. Very easy to make, a pork loin, 5 days and a smoker. The smoker was no problem since my husband got me the smoker attachment for my grill as a Christmas gift. I cured my pork loin in a ziplock bag in the refrigerator for the 3 to 5 days the recipe called for, then I rinsed all of the remaining salt from the meat and took it to the smoker. I smoked it for about 4 hours, until a meat thermometer said it was done (180 degrees) and brought it in. I cut it in thin slices like for a sandwich and it was just incredible. About that time the kids came in from school and we wound up eating about 3/4 of a pound of the meat immediately. I bagged up the rest of it and froze all but one bag, to use for sandwiches. So, ham for sandwiches for less than $2.00 a pound.

The Morton site also has recipes for other cured meats like salami and pepperoni. Those are made from hamburger and can be cooked in the oven. Very easy to make. And they are about half the cost of store bought meats. My next project will be to try to make bacon.

I realize that most folks just don't have the time or inclination to do this sort of thing. But think about it for a minute. If you make your own sandwich meats, you know how fresh it is, you know what is in it, and you can feel good about serving it to your family. Can you say those things about the food you get from the deli? Or how about those little pressed plastic packages from the grocery store? Just how long has that stuff been sitting on the shelf? And the cost! I can find ground beef for around $1.89 a pound. Sliced hard salami is around $3.59 for a 12 oz package. I can seriously justify the savings when we eat as many sandwiches as we do. And it freezes well. I can make up 3 or 4 pounds at a time and split it into 1 pound bags and just take them out of the freezer one at a time.

Making your own food is very satisfying and oddly liberating. I don't have to run to the grocery store every time I need to pack the kid's lunches. I know what they are eating and when I find the meat on sale, I stock up. Freezers are wonderful things.

It may take a little bit of time, but int he long run, it is definitely worth the effort.