I was just reading another blog from a lady who was explaining how to make do on a food budget of $150 a month. Her explanation on the hows and whys and wheres of saving money on food was very good. She even gave examples of her menu, which I thought sounded very yummy. But I kept reading the same thing over and over again - for me and my husband. I was a little frustrated with myself for going back over that phrase again and again until it dawned on me that she was only talking about $150 for two - yep 2 - people. And then I knew what the problem was. I was subconsciously jealous that she has so much money to spend on food. It is true and I won't deny it.
I decided that I would share what I do because my budget - or I should say Daniel's budget - is way less than that and there are 8 of us. So here's how it goes: Every three or four months (several years have been every five or six months) Daniel goes to a store we have here that is 45 miles away called Aldi, and spends between $200 - $350, although I do remember him spending $400 once. He buys canned corn, peas, green beans, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, chili beans, kidney beans, refried beans, pork and beans, cream of mushroom soup, macaroni and cheese, macaroni noodles, spaghetti noodles, ramen noodles, rice, oat meal, oil, sour cream, powdered milk, sugar, and flour. Occasionally, he may come home with bread, bananas, apples, a box of raisins, or a vegetable or two he thought was a good price or just wanted to treat us with. If cheese or chicken goes on sale then he might buy that. If you were to average it out, even at $400 every three months, which just doesn't happen, it would still only give us a food budget of $133 a month for a family of 8. It's actually more like $65-$100 a month. (Right now I'm sure you are either impressed or thinking that we are totally out of our minds crazy. You may be right on both accounts!)
We don't eat a lot of meat and what we do usually comes from what ever I can butcher in any given year - deer, turkey, chicken, cow, pig, or goat. I can a lot too. When my garden is great we eat great, and when it's not I do a lot of bartering to make up the difference. This year, between the tornado that took out my garden and the fire that took out my food, I have been doing a lot of begging. A friend of ours gave us a watermelon they grew and the rind of one they ate. I made dill pickles with that rind today and got 14 quarts. That's good in my book. Also I pick apples and pears from different people who have trees and don't want them or don't want any more of them. I slice them, sauce them, juices them and can them. This year was a great year for sand hill plums. In less than two hours the kids and I picked two five gallon buckets, which will translate into jam and syrup. If there are any left on Friday, I will be picking more.
I have lots of dry beans on hand, and always seem to be given more - no complaints from me. And I have lots of wheat, rye, and soy beans. I make breads, rolls, pastas, cakes, cookies, etc. from what I have on hand. It's yummy and some times way to good for us. For example, Brandon decided that he wanted to make cinnamon rolls so he and Grandma Wohlford made a double batch. We had cinnamon rolls for supper that night, breakfast, lunch, and supper the next day, and breakfast the following morning. That does not include all the snacking on cinnamon rolls we did. I banned anyone from making them for a whole month. Oh but they were sooooo good! Wish you were there :)
So you see, it is possible to. I will be more than happy to show you how I do it, and then if you have any hints or suggestions then you can pass them on to me. On my next post I will tell you where I started. See ya soon and thanks for chatting!
Today I was very blessed by my good friend Ellen Hudson. She let me buy one of her piglets. It is the cutes most huggable little pig I have seen. Bryson held her on the way home and they both fell asleep. How sweet! The trip was a little over an hour.
On the way home I decided that I wanted to section off a part of the pen so that this cute little baby didn't get "lost in the woods". Since the tornado in 2012, a lot of trees have grown up in the pen causing it to look more like a wooded area. I love it and think it will be better for the pigs, but she is too little to roam free. Since I don't have any other safe place to put her, I held her while Brandon put up the other fence. I thought it would only take about 10 minutes - if that. But Brandon is his father's son and doesn't do anything except for perfectly. He made that temporary fence semi-permanent and totally safe. It took him almost an hour and a half to do. I couldn't be prouder!! It is a good thing that I have a chair in the garden. I would not have been able to stand that long with the piggy in my arms. She kept snuggling all over me. I loved it. We had some good bonding time!
Because the trip was so long and we were out there so long, and not to mention it was like 95-98 degrees, I felt that she might be a little dehydrated. So right before I put her in the pen I gave her a bottle of water. Of course, she did not want to drink it. I had to squirt it into her mouth. This may have been more for my own piece of mind than for her need. Better safe than sorry though.
Then it was time! I put her down in the pen! She immediately laid down. I don't know if it was because she had been in my lap for so long or if it was because the ground was so different - she went from a solid dirt ground to "forest". Isn't that just like a baby! I pet her until she finally decided to get up. Game on! She walk a few steps, laid down, waited, got back up, walked a few steps, laid down... She did this for several minutes. It was so cute! She even found a little patch of dirt to root in. Add some food and water and all was good. I hated to leave her out there alone but Raven - our Australian Kelpie - is out there to protect her. 
