Food prices are crazy!!!

[csb]

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]

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]

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]

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.

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]

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

 

[snickerd3]

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]

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.

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]

We do this:

http://www.townandcountryfoods.com/

It ends up costing us about $150/month for all the meat & 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 & done, we spend about $400 a month on groceries.

 

[engineergurl]

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]

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]

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

 

[knight1fox3]

^ LMAO

 

[csb]

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&field-keywords=almond+butter&x=0&y=0&sprefix=almond+bu%2Caps%2C121

 

[wilheldp_PE]

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]

^High Five!