# Food prices are crazy!!!



## Capt Worley PE (Mar 3, 2011)

Paid $3.50 a pound for tomatoes yesterday. I could (and did) buy bacon, aka the candy of meats, for a buck less per pound.

A head of lettuce was two bucks!

It's nuts I tell you, nuts!


----------



## Ble_PE (Mar 3, 2011)

Capt Worley PE said:


> It's nuts I tell you, nuts!


Actually, it's vegetables!


----------



## NCcarguy (Mar 3, 2011)

Peanuts are actually a vegetable....called Goober Peas back in the days of the Civil War.


----------



## Capt Worley PE (Mar 3, 2011)

Ble_PE said:


> Capt Worley PE said:
> 
> 
> > It's nuts I tell you, nuts!
> ...


Nuts are veggies, aren't they? Always wondered about that.



NCcarguy said:


> Peanuts are actually a vegetable....called Goober Peas back in the days of the Civil War.


Yeah, they are legumes.


----------



## Ble_PE (Mar 3, 2011)

Capt Worley PE said:


> Ble_PE said:
> 
> 
> > Capt Worley PE said:
> ...


I've wondered about that as well.

Do you have a garden in the summer? I know that saves us a lot of money when it comes to buying veggies.


----------



## DVINNY (Mar 3, 2011)

Paid $2.50 per freakin' pepper earlier this week.

I think it was $2.50/lb. just a few weeks ago, but this week, its PER PEPPER. WTF!


----------



## Capt Worley PE (Mar 3, 2011)

Ble_PE said:


> Capt Worley PE said:
> 
> 
> > Ble_PE said:
> ...


I want to do tomatoes, cukes, and bell peppers this year. When i mention this, my wife rolls her eyes. A few years back i tried maters and the dang tree rats got into them.

But now we have Zinc, our emergency backup outdoor cat, so that shouldn't be a problem.


----------



## RIP - VTEnviro (Mar 3, 2011)

I usually find a package of baby tomatoes for $2.50 here, and buy 2 for the week. Last week, they were $3.99 each, and were moldy bu Tuesday after I bought them on Friday.

Red bell peppers are $2.99/lb here, yellow and orange were like $4.29 I think.

Produce is always more in the winter, and worse quality, but this year it sucks a sweaty one.


----------



## Supe (Mar 3, 2011)

This is one of the hardest parts about trying to eat healthy. Look at what it costs to make food, vs. going to a fast food restaurant. You can feed a small army at Taco Bell for $5, vs. $15+ in ingredients to cook a single meal.


----------



## RIP - VTEnviro (Mar 3, 2011)

Other than a few things like canned veggies and a loaf of bread, all of our meals contain fresh produce and meats and very little processed, 3 meals a day, 7 days a week. We basically shop the perimeter of the store - Produce, meats, and dairy.

We regularly spend $160-$180, and have broken $200 a couple times. For two people. Not a family of 5 or anything.


----------



## Kephart P.E. (Mar 3, 2011)

I don't view eating high quality food a luxury.

I consider it buying better health.


----------



## Sleepy (Mar 3, 2011)

Supe said:


> This is one of the hardest parts about trying to eat healthy. Look at what it costs to make food, vs. going to a fast food restaurant. You can feed a small army at Taco Bell for $5, vs. $15+ in ingredients to cook a single meal.


+1

I told my mom that (she's in Canada) and she doesn't believe me. She thinks I am just lazy and don't want to cook for myself. It seriously costs a lot more cooking for myself than just grabbing something to eat.


----------



## goodal (Mar 4, 2011)

In the last three years my wife has gone crazy growing and canning for our family of 5 and we still spend $150-180 week. I should also mention that she has become a professional couponer (she spends 4-6 hrs a week finding coupons she can use and has a 3" three ring binder she takes into kroger). She has canned tomatoes, pears, okra, green beans, cucmbers (4-5 kinds of pickels), apples, veg. stew, etc. We freeze deer meat, strawberries, brussel sprouts, corn (200-400 ears), okra and blackberries (the purple kind not the cell phone kind). I dont mean 3-4 cans. we have a couple hundred jars of stuff in the pantry and at the begining of winter two freezers full of food we have grown or overflow from friends gardens. I cant imagine what it would cost to feed my little tazmanian devils if she wasnt so diligent at stock piling food.


----------



## wilheldp_PE (Mar 4, 2011)

badal said:


> I should also mention that she has become a professional couponer (she spends 4-6 hrs a week finding coupons she can use and has a 3" three ring binder she takes into kroger). \


I saw a show about that on Discovery or something the other day. These people would buy $2000 or $3000 worth of groceries, and pay about $50. It's ridiculous. They also had a stockpile of canned goods, cereal, condiments, health &amp; beauty products, and other non-perishables.


----------



## navyasw02 (Mar 4, 2011)

I really dont understand why produce is so expensive here in California, it's frickin grown right here. All they have to do is pull it out of the ground, wash it (maybe) and throw it in a truck to go about a mile.


----------



## roadwreck (Mar 4, 2011)

Supe said:


> This is one of the hardest parts about trying to eat healthy. Look at what it costs to make food, vs. going to a fast food restaurant. You can feed a small army at Taco Bell for $5, vs. $15+ in ingredients to cook a single meal.


You pay for quality though. You can buy some pretty cheap stuff at the grocery store and feed yourself at home for less than fast food, i.e. Ramen noodles.

You can't eat quality food for fast food prices.


----------



## RIP - VTEnviro (Mar 4, 2011)

^This.

I complain about the expense, but it's an investment in my health.


----------



## willsee (Mar 4, 2011)

roadwreck said:


> Supe said:
> 
> 
> > This is one of the hardest parts about trying to eat healthy. Look at what it costs to make food, vs. going to a fast food restaurant. You can feed a small army at Taco Bell for $5, vs. $15+ in ingredients to cook a single meal.
> ...


You can't talk about quality of food, then mention ramen noodles.


----------



## roadwreck (Mar 4, 2011)

willsee said:


> roadwreck said:
> 
> 
> > Supe said:
> ...


The argument was put forth that it was cheaper to eat fast food (which i consider low-quality) then buying food at the store and preparing it at home. I was providing an example of low-quality food that could be acquired for less than fast food and prepared at home.

I think the food most people buy at the store, especially fresh produce, is of superior quality to fast food and thus would cost more. By shopping the sales my wife and I are able to feed ourselves pretty well for $60-$70 a week. That's less than eating fast food for every meal.


----------



## willsee (Mar 4, 2011)

roadwreck said:


> willsee said:
> 
> 
> > roadwreck said:
> ...


Ah I see now


----------



## Capt Worley PE (Mar 4, 2011)

As much as I complain about the prices, we I pay less for food as a percentage of my income and have a more steady supply of food than at least 80% of the people on the planet.

That's a sobering thought.

I still have a hard time believeing you can buy meat for less $/lb than veggies!


----------



## RIP - VTEnviro (Mar 4, 2011)

^If I hit it just right, I can get great deals on meat. If there's a bunch of meat about to hit the pull date, the store I shop at slashes the prices to get it to move. We either eat it that day or freeze it.

I've gotten some of the more expensive cuts of meat for $2.99/lb.


----------



## roadwreck (Mar 4, 2011)

VTEnviro said:


> I've gotten some of the more expensive cuts of meat for $2.99/lb.


$2.99 per pound?!?!?!?!

well la-dee-da Mr. Rockefeller.


----------



## snickerd3 (Mar 4, 2011)

Fresh produce in the winter is nuts with respects to the price. $1.38 for a single avocado or green pepper. Although quality regardless of price is the problem i face more often. the local stores are charging full price for overripe stuff that other stores would have already taken off the shelf as waste.

as far as meat goes, I have a hard time spending the $ on bad cuts of meat. i'm sorry if I am going to eat a steak I want a cut that is 1-1.5 inchs think, not a 0.5in or less. same thing for pork. I understand rural families can be large and they cut it thinner to get more out of the poundage, but sell the thick stuff too!!!!!!!! most of the meat is all fatty.

I don't know if it is just a midwest thing, but have to seen the size of the boneless skinless chicken breasts!!!!! They are huge...one could feed two people...and they don't taste very good either. Must be feeding the chicken growth horomones or something.


----------



## Road Guy (Mar 4, 2011)

they have signs at stores around here that due to a mid western freeze tomatos are in short supply...

I need to look into the coupon thing, the grocery store is killing us right now, I bet we spend $300 / week feeding a family of 5, and while I enjoy a taco bell lunch, the wife doesnt like to eat that stuff, good for me in the long run though


----------



## snickerd3 (Mar 4, 2011)

I do the coupon thing when I can find them. But I',m not going to spend $1.75 to get the sunday paper where the paper coupons are to get less than that in coupons. The funny pages are the only thing i read in a sunday paper. I raid the sunday paper at my folks house when we visit, but most are like $1 off when you buy 2 or 3 of something. even then most of the stuff is not anything we would buy in the first place.

I have noticed the expiration dates on the coupons have gotten shorter and shorter, only good for two weeks.


----------



## Road Guy (Mar 4, 2011)

I saw one of those news stories about the coupon crazy people, but whenI go through the paper ,I dont see many coupons that we actually use, or they are for higher priced stuff we wouldnt normally buy anyway..

I hate wal mart, but lately we try and get everything but meat and produce from the wal mart, then go to publix for the meat / produce..


----------



## RIP - VTEnviro (Mar 4, 2011)

We're busy, and don't have hours to waste sifting through every newspaper and add in town so save 49 cents on a can if corn.

If it's not something my bonus card gets me, I usually don't get it.


----------



## roadwreck (Mar 4, 2011)

VTEnviro said:


> *We're busy, and don't have hours to waste* sifting through every newspaper and add in town so save 49 cents on a can if corn.



Your post count says otherwise


----------



## Ble_PE (Mar 4, 2011)

Mrs. Ble does the couponing thing and she does a good job at it too. The time you really save money is when the stores have super double coupons. That's when they double the value of coupons up to $1.99. So if you have a $1.50 coupon for a bag of chips that cost $3, they're free. I'm just glad she deals with it so I don't have to.


----------



## roadwreck (Mar 4, 2011)

My wife tried the couponing thing for a month or so and just found it to time consuming. We do shop the sales though. Each week I'll go through the grocery circulars for the two of the major grocery chains in the area and list out what's on sale at each (I have a spreadsheet). My wife will go through that list and use it to make a menu for the week and divvy up a shopping list for each of us. She'll go to one chain and I'll go to the other on our way home from work one day a week, and we are done. We do occasionally have to stop by a store during the week to pick up milk or something. Going to the store with a plan makes shopping a whole lot quicker and cheaper though.


----------



## snickerd3 (Mar 4, 2011)

roadwreck said:


> My wife tried the couponing thing for a month or so and just found it to time consuming. We do shop the sales though. Each week I'll go through the grocery circulars for the two of the major grocery chains in the area and list out what's on sale at each (I have a spreadsheet). My wife will go through that list and use it to make a menu for the week and divvy up a shopping list for each of us. She'll go to one chain and I'll go to the other on our way home from work one day a week, and we are done. We do occasionally have to stop by a store during the week to pick up milk or something. Going to the store with a plan makes shopping a whole lot quicker and cheaper though.


if only i had a husband that thought that way. Mr snick prefers to have a selection in the house so we can choose that night what we have a taste for.


----------



## willsee (Mar 4, 2011)

My wife coupons and saves us about 10% at the grocery store. Usually on bathroom supplies or canned goods.

But like others we typically shop the outside of the store where coupons don't apply. I also eat alot of meat (2 lbs/day) and eggs (30/wk) which doesn't help our bill. We started buying our meat at Sam's for quality. I prefer sirloin steak and I can get (4) 1-lb steaks @3.99/lb or my wife will buy pork roast/tenderloin for fairly cheap and it looks 10x better than what we get at Kroger/Walmart.


----------



## RIP - VTEnviro (Mar 4, 2011)

snickerd3 said:


> roadwreck said:
> 
> 
> > My wife tried the couponing thing for a month or so and just found it to time consuming. We do shop the sales though. Each week I'll go through the grocery circulars for the two of the major grocery chains in the area and list out what's on sale at each (I have a spreadsheet). My wife will go through that list and use it to make a menu for the week and divvy up a shopping list for each of us. She'll go to one chain and I'll go to the other on our way home from work one day a week, and we are done. We do occasionally have to stop by a store during the week to pick up milk or something. Going to the store with a plan makes shopping a whole lot quicker and cheaper though.
> ...


We do the weekly list of recpies too. We pick stuff that will make leftovers on the weekend, then one or two quick things after work during the week.

We somehow manage never to remember to pick out weekend lunches, and I end up staring at the aisles at the Stop &amp; Shop blankly every Saturday.


----------



## Capt Worley PE (Mar 4, 2011)

Coupons are never for the product/brand I want.


----------



## FLBuff PE (Mar 4, 2011)

roadwreck said:


> My wife tried the couponing thing for a month or so and just found it to time consuming. We do shop the sales though. Each week I'll go through the grocery circulars for the two of the major grocery chains in the area and list out what's on sale at each (*I have a spreadsheet*). My wife will go through that list and use it to make a menu for the week and divvy up a shopping list for each of us. She'll go to one chain and I'll go to the other on our way home from work one day a week, and we are done. We do occasionally have to stop by a store during the week to pick up milk or something. Going to the store with a plan makes shopping a whole lot quicker and cheaper though.


NERD ALERT!

We do the weekly menu thing, for every day. We cook enough to have leftovers, which my wife and I use for lunches. My wife does the coupon clipping, and does a really good job of getting things that are on sale with the bonus card anyway. She usually saves anywhere from $30 to $50 per trip.


----------



## roadwreck (Mar 4, 2011)

FLBuff PE said:


> NERD ALERT!


I freely admit it. 



FLBuff PE said:


> We do the weekly menu thing, for every day. We cook enough to have leftovers, which my wife and I use for lunches.


We make enough leftovers for lunches too.


----------



## ALBin517 (Mar 4, 2011)

Capt Worley PE said:


> Paid $3.50 a pound for tomatoes yesterday. I could (and did) buy bacon, aka the candy of meats, for a buck less per pound.
> A head of lettuce was two bucks!
> 
> It's nuts I tell you, nuts!



Last week I stopped at the Burger King here in central Michigan and tomato was "by request only." They said they didn't have many... and the ones they had were substandard.


----------



## roadwreck (Mar 4, 2011)

ALBin517 said:


> Last week I stopped at the Burger King here in central Michigan and tomato was "by request only." They said they didn't have many... and the ones they had were substandard.


How bad do they have to be to be considered substandard for a Burger King? hmy:


----------



## RIP - VTEnviro (Mar 4, 2011)

As long as its not covered with rat turds, you'd think BK would be ok with it. They're pretty much the bottom of the barrel as far as fast food joints go.


----------



## Capt Worley PE (Mar 7, 2011)

Maters were four bucks a pound at Wally World. So was squash.

Can't wait for the local farmer's market to open.


----------



## snickerd3 (Mar 7, 2011)

Capt Worley PE said:


> Maters were four bucks a pound at Wally World. So was squash.
> Can't wait for the local farmer's market to open.


for freshness or $? they charge about that at our farmers markets


----------



## Capt Worley PE (Mar 7, 2011)

snickerd3 said:


> Capt Worley PE said:
> 
> 
> > Maters were four bucks a pound at Wally World. So was squash.
> ...


Historically, our farmer's market is waaaay cheaper than the grocery store prices. We'll see April 1st.


----------



## Capt Worley PE (Mar 16, 2011)

Largest rise since September 1974.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Wholesale-pr...ml?x=0&amp;.v=1


----------



## goodal (Mar 17, 2011)

good times


----------



## Capt Worley PE (Aug 29, 2012)

NY Strip was twelve bucks a pound at Reid's. Last time I bought it, in May, I think, it was eight bucks a pound.


----------



## Road Guy (Sep 4, 2012)

weve been going through our finances lately and it seems that Food and Gas are killing us!

With a family of 5 we easily spend $250/week on groceries (and some most times more)

I took a walk through an Aldi and they do have the staples like pasta, cereal a little cheaper,but the people shopiing there tend to freek me out a little, most look like they should be in the back of a police car.. and the one i tried out had one clerk open and a lot of people in line.. wasnt pleasant..

I hate Wal Mart but we are trying to the majority of the shopping there (except for chicken, hamburger meat, etc) but its another place I just hate to go to..

Anyone found any clever ideas? We try and hit Kroger for all other products so we can get the gas discounts, I think you get .10/gallon discount for every $100 you spend


----------



## Supe (Sep 4, 2012)

Have you done the coupon thing yet? Key is to find the stores that will offer the "triple" coupons and accept those from other stores. How about buying in bulk? Costco, etc.


----------



## Ble_PE (Sep 4, 2012)

^This. Mrs. ble does a great job hitting up Harris Teeter since they always double coupons up to $0.99 and every once in a while they will double up to $2 or triple up to $.99 I believe. She also shops at CVS and Walgreens and is often getting razors, body wash, shampoo, etc for almost free. It does take time, though.


----------



## snickerd3 (Sep 4, 2012)

A year ago I could get out of walmart spending $100 or less a week for 3people ...now if I'm lucky it is at least $160 a week.

The aldi here is decent for some things but is a pain to shop at because it is cash or debit only. I never usually carry cash and I stopped using debit this year because they started charging $5/month fee to use the debit feature.

The IGA in town is expensive unless the item is on sale that week and the selection is limited for household items like soaps, paper products etc... so walmart is the default shopping destination unless I have the time to stop by work which lately hasn't happened.

The gas station by work that did that kroger promotion just stopped that program.


----------



## RIP - VTEnviro (Sep 4, 2012)

When you live by yourself, Costco is overkill.

I just try to do the typical stuff. Buy the produce that's on sale, get meat in the cheaper/lb bulk packages and separate it into portions before freezing it, do a lot of pasta and vegetarian meals, scrambled eggs or a cold cut sandwich for dinner, etc.

I'm still trying to get used to shopping for one. I still end up throwing out or feeding to the dog far more than I wish I did.



> The gas station by work that did that kroger promotion just stopped that program.


I have the Price Chopper/Sunoco promotion card, it saves me a bit on gas.


----------



## snickerd3 (Sep 4, 2012)

Coupons.com is where i have luck finding good coupons. Although it is hit or miss sometimes. There are weeks when I have almost $10 in coupons and other times when I find nothing that we use.


----------



## snickerd3 (Sep 4, 2012)

VTEnviro said:


> When you live by yourself, Costco is overkill.
> 
> I just try to do the typical stuff. Buy the produce that's on sale, get meat in the cheaper/lb bulk packages and separate it into portions before freezing it, do a lot of pasta and vegetarian meals, scrambled eggs or a cold cut sandwich for dinner, etc.
> 
> I'm still trying to get used to shopping for one. I still end up throwing out or feeding to the dog far more than I wish I did.


heck even for 3 people Sam's, no costcos around here, is overkill and not always cheaper. We only have a membership because it is cheaper to pay the membership fee and the cost of my allergy meds than to buy my allergy meds from somewhere else. Anything else we buy is just bonus.


----------



## willsee (Sep 4, 2012)

We buy our paper products and meat at Sams. Meat is better quality than the Kroger/Walmart here and cheaper. Just two of us. Break it up and freeze when we get home.

We buy the bulk of our food/items at Walmart.

We buy our produce/dairy products at Kroger.

We buy a couple of items at Aldi's.


----------



## knight1fox3 (Sep 4, 2012)

I think I posted this in another thread but we did a farm share this year which cut down our grocery bill considerably. It was pretty interesting to see how much we were actually spending on eggs, fruits, and vegetables. After doing it for an entire summer, we also learned that you can do meat shares where you can get farm fresh cuts of meat. Haven't compared prices on that just yet but if it's anything like the vegetable farm share we did, our grocery bill will just get even cheaper.


----------



## Road Guy (Sep 4, 2012)

we do get meat from costco on occasion but that place is a nightmare to shop at (unless your a stay at home parent and can go during the day)

thats basically the only thing we buy from costco, I dont see where you really get a huge savings on much of anything to be honest..

I cant ever seem to find any decent coupons whenever I buy the paper, I guess I need to put forth more of an effort..

I am still getting free tomatos out of the back yard, but thats probably going to end in another week or so


----------



## snickerd3 (Sep 4, 2012)

internet coupons are better than newspaper coupons...but you have to print them out.


----------



## cdcengineer (Sep 4, 2012)

At Kroger, the more coupons you use, the more they send. They customize coupons based on your shopping trends (per value card usage) which is big brother watching over us, but the savings are cool.


----------



## Capt Worley PE (Sep 5, 2012)

We only buy meats that are less than three bucks a pound. We also did a garden this year and shopped at the local farmer's market for veggies (which is much cheaper than in the grocery store).

I try to hit Save-a-Lot for milk and ground beef, and whatever else they have on sale that we use.


----------



## pbrme (Sep 5, 2012)

Road Guy said:


> weve been going through our finances lately...


Same story here, but it's just two of us. We are averaging 500+ a month on food compared to 400 last year.



snickerd3 said:


> The IGA in town is expensive unless the item is on sale...


In college we had an Igga, I was starring at the meat cooler and the butcher asked if I needed some help. I told her I wanted a good cut but didn't know what I was looking for and wanted to keep it cheep. She dug down into the case in the far back corner and pulled out her stash. It was a NY strip, marked WAY down as it was going green. She said don't let the color deceive you, this will be the best steak you've ever had as the "age" makes it more tender. She said she had it back there cause she was going to take it home that night if it didn't sell. Sneaky butchers'es. No joke it was an awesome meal. Now I always look for the 75% stickers but never seam to find a deal like that one. Moral: while in an IGA, dig through the meat section.


----------



## csb (Sep 5, 2012)

So, uh, no one else has someone raise a cow for them? Our freezer is getting empty now, but in a little bit it will be full of beef that my in-laws raised and most likely some elk.

Our grocery budget for the month is $400, and that includes a lot of random crap. I think I could get it down to $300 with some planning. We do at least one pasta dish a week, which is a cheap meal. There's three of us, which includes a six-year-old who eats like an adult some days.


----------



## Capt Worley PE (Sep 5, 2012)

csb said:


> So, uh, no one else has someone raise a cow for them? Our freezer is getting empty now, but in a little bit it will be full of beef that my in-laws raised and most likely some elk.


My parents bought a butchered side of beef a couple of years, but stopped doing it for reasons of convenience after the economy improved (this was 79 or 80). You had to have a pretty good sized freezer, and it was a decent one time cash layout that might be a problem for some folks.


----------



## pbrme (Sep 5, 2012)

And on a side note, I really can't EVER bring myself to shop at Walmart. When I do (once a year), I'm either with someone else or go in for one specific item I saw in an add. So I stepped foot in one this last weekend looking for a dart board I saw advertised. Walking through the parking lot, I couldn't help mentally criticizing the people of Walmart, it's like it's own planet.

This was only strengthened by the following interaction:

I got out of my truck and saw a guy standing by the back of his car looking around with a confused face. As I walked passed him on my way to the store entrance my ear was perpendicular and withing three feet of this guy as he let out this loud beer belch, which he'd shot at me as if I was a clay pigeon. Without missing a step, I turned slightly and sent him a look of disdain. As I straightened out I heard him mumble under his breath "the EF's your problem?" Stay classy people of Walmart.


----------



## csb (Sep 5, 2012)

Capt Worley PE said:


> csb said:
> 
> 
> > So, uh, no one else has someone raise a cow for them? Our freezer is getting empty now, but in a little bit it will be full of beef that my in-laws raised and most likely some elk.
> ...


We have a big deep freeze and the in-laws have two of them. We're lucky they can keep what we can't fit in ours. I will say we skipped that side of beef last year and we've eaten a lot more chicken than I think my husband has ever been accustomed to doing.


----------



## Supe (Sep 5, 2012)

Does anybody have any idea what sort of cash would be required to buy and slaughter a cow?


----------



## snickerd3 (Sep 5, 2012)

pbrme said:


> And on a side note, I really can't EVER bring myself to shop at Walmart. When I do (once a year), I'm either with someone else or go in for one specific item I saw in an add. So I stepped foot in one this last weekend looking for a dart board I saw advertised. Walking through the parking lot, I couldn't help mentally criticizing the people of Walmart, it's like it's own planet.
> 
> This was only strengthened by the following interaction:
> 
> I got out of my truck and saw a guy standing by the back of his car looking around with a confused face. As I walked passed him on my way to the store entrance my ear was perpendicular and withing three feet of this guy as he let out this loud beer belch, which he'd shot at me as if I was a clay pigeon. Without missing a step, I turned slightly and sent him a look of disdain. As I straightened out I heard him mumble under his breath "the EF's your problem?" Stay classy people of Walmart.


When options are limited you do what you gotta do.

THere are definitely some strange people at times there, but the walmart here is not the junk shop crappy walmarts that I was used to up by my folks house. When they tend to be the only real place to get things in small town they are on the nicer side.,


----------



## mudpuppy (Sep 5, 2012)

csb said:


> So, uh, no one else has someone raise a cow for them? Our freezer is getting empty now, but in a little bit it will be full of beef that my in-laws raised and most likely some elk.


My brother raises cattle, but even a quarter would last me forever and I have nowhere to keep it. I don't really eat much beef anymore anyway, sticking mostly with poultry due to cholesterol issues.



Supe said:


> Does anybody have any idea what sort of cash would be required to buy and slaughter a cow?


An entire cow? I think around $1200 or so. . . but my prices are a couple years old. That's a LOT of meat though, most families do a side. A side is about 300 lbs and probably enough meat for a year or so.

If you're up for it, you may be able to slaughter it yourself. I have a friend that went in with one other person and they did their own processing. Saves about $400 that way but it is a LOT of work.


----------



## Dexman PE PMP (Sep 5, 2012)

We do this:

http://www.townandcountryfoods.com/

It ends up costing us about $150/month for all the meat &amp; veggies. We'll then run to Walmart or Target to get all of the other stuff (milk, cereal, pasta, etc) which runs us an additional $50-$75 per week. When all is said &amp; done, we spend about $400 a month on groceries.


----------



## engineergurl (Sep 5, 2012)

I am cheap, but having just moved I am out of sorts and for the first time I can relate to this thread. I am actually really really upset because I didnt budget well for restocking a kitchen in the moving costs. I refuse to shop at walmart unless there is no other option, but most of the grocery stores I have found have all been either that or FoodLion. Have you ever tried to find almond butter or flax seed at foodlion.... don't bother... they don't sell them...oh and I have still managed to have to $90 trips to feed 2 people in under 2ne weeks


----------



## Capt Worley PE (Sep 6, 2012)

I really don't understand all the hate for Walmart. I shop there when I can, but it isn't convenient. Plus their grocery section isn't as competitive to BiLo as it once was, and there's a BiLo on the way home.


----------



## RIP - VTEnviro (Sep 6, 2012)

Sometime my sister show her vazheen to my brother Bilo...she say you will never get this, you will never get this...


----------



## knight1fox3 (Sep 6, 2012)

^ LMAO


----------



## csb (Sep 6, 2012)

engineergurl said:


> I am cheap, but having just moved I am out of sorts and for the first time I can relate to this thread. I am actually really really upset because I didnt budget well for restocking a kitchen in the moving costs. I refuse to shop at walmart unless there is no other option, but most of the grocery stores I have found have all been either that or FoodLion. Have you ever tried to find almond butter or flax seed at foodlion.... don't bother... they don't sell them...oh and I have still managed to have to $90 trips to feed 2 people in under 2ne weeks


Amazon Grocery...it's where I buy the weird food I need if it's not in town. That said, our Albertson's is pretty awesome about special orders AND we have a Natural Grocer's.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_9?url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;field-keywords=almond+butter&amp;x=0&amp;y=0&amp;sprefix=almond+bu%2Caps%2C121


----------



## wilheldp_PE (Sep 6, 2012)

VTEnviro said:


> Sometime my sister show her vazheen to my brother Bilo...she say you will never get this, you will never get this...


Except one day...he get this.


----------



## RIP - VTEnviro (Sep 6, 2012)

^High Five!


----------

