Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

Stock the Freezer with Frugal Meat Through Hunting

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My wife really enjoys eating healthy, and prefers the taste of organic, grass fed meats to the traditional pasture raised and corn finished variety that is far less expensive. My wife usually does the shopping, but last time I went with her she bought a pound of ground buffalo for $9.99, and that was on sale! I absolutely couldn’t believe it! We try and keep our grocery tab under 65-75 dollars per week for the two of us, and she was spending more than 10% of it on one item!

That’s a lot of money, and more of the same in this department would put us in the poor house in no time flat. Thankfully though, we very rarely buy meat from the store. It’s not that we are vegetarians or vegans, but we prefer to get our meat from other sources. The main sources that we use to get meat these days is hunting and fishing. I’ve found that this is a great way to get high quality meat for a great price. Not only that, but you get to be outside all the time while you do it.

I started hunting right out of college with my dad and my uncle, and I went with them because it was what they always did. Hunting didnt seem that abnormal to me at the time, and neither did securing your own food. It was just something we did because we didnt have a lot of money to spend on anything, especially food.

Goes Hunting Gets a freezer full of frugal meat

Now though, I’m hard pressed to find someone that is under the age of 30 that hunts, and I cant figure out why. Every time I go to the store I see people filling up their carts with organic, free range and grass fed meat, and they are paying a pretty penny for it! When I go deer hunting I usually yield about 35 pounds of raw meat, and I pay $20 for my hunting tag, which equates to about $1.75 per pound. This isn’t just some regular old factory farmed meat either, it’s high quality, grass fed, free range organic stuff that people are paying an arm and a leg for. It’s good, frugal meat.

This poundage that I get is all venison as well, it’s before I combine it with a little beef fat for hamburger or before mixing with pork for venison sausage. Typically, when you make sausages or ground venison, you want to add some fat because venison is so lean that it dries out pretty quickly, further increasing your actual yield.

The same can be said for fishing. I know not everyone likes fish that much (and the ones that are more popular like salmon are nowhere to be found where I come from) but you can get a great source of protein with them as well. Your yield isnt as high in terms of poundage, but you still get some great healthy food for cheap. Fishing tags are also a lot cheaper where I come from (about $25 for the season) and can be a great source of food as well.

What if You Dont Hunt or Aren’t Interested?

To this I say that is just fine! To each their own. You don’t need to hunt or fish to enjoy wild game meat. All you have to do is befriend a hunter. Last year, I had quite a few friends express interest in any leftover meat that I had, so I simply purchased an extra tag and harvested an extra animal. Once I was finished processing it, I gave 4 of my friends about 10 lbs each of multiple cuts of venison. They each got some sausages, steaks, roasts and ground venison. Everyone was so thankful they offered to pay me – I couldn’t believe it, I had a great time out there and was happy to do it for free.

The next question I got was how do I cook this – which is also a simple solution. I explained the cuts of meat that each person got, and they went and searched for venison tenderloin recipes or whatever the cut was, and found a great recipe online. Lots of them shared the recipes with me, so it was nice to get some new stuff to try as well.

If you’re looking for one great way to save on food costs, stay healthy and “beat broke”, I encourage you to take up hunting or befriend someone that is a hunter. They can help you save a lot of money while they have fun outdoors!

Readers: Have you ever hunted before? If no, Are you interested? Why or Why not? Do you know any friendly hunters that may share with you?

Original image credit: Hunting Face, by Kristacher, on Flickr

Save Money and Eat Healthy: Rent an Apple Tree

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When my health began to suffer a few years ago thanks to stress, being overweight, and having some intestinal issues, I started taking much better care of myself.  That meant eating organic foods, following a Paleo diet, and losing over 70 pounds.

I used to always say I didn’t have money to buy organic foods, but my health issues weren’t cheap, so I decided in the long run, eating the best food I could was a priority, even if it was more expensive.  Over the years, though, I’ve found ways to cut costs on eating organic.  One way is renting an organic apple tree.

How Does Renting an Apple Tree Work?

I simply Googled “rent an apple tree” to find one near us.  Then, I rented one apple tree for $55.  All the apples on that tree were mine.  I paid in the spring, and the Paula Red apples were ready in August.

Rent an Apple Tree

The farm called me to tell me when the apples were ripe, and then I and my family headed out to the orchard to pick the apples.  It took less than 45 minutes, and we left with 94 pounds of organic apples.

What Did We Do With All Those Apples?

Paula Reds don’t stay good for long, so we turned them into applesauce.  (And we ate a lot of them fresh.)  We ended up with 28 quarts of applesauce, which I stored in the freezer.  It took me, my husband and son working together 7 hours to process all of the apples.

We didn’t have to add any sugar because they were naturally sweet.

How Much Did We Save?

The lowest price I have been able to find for organic applesauce is $2.50 for 16 ounces at Trader Joe’s.   Just like our applesauce, Trader Joe’s applesauce only contains organic apples.  There are 32 ounces in a quart, so one quart of Trader Joe’s applesauce is $5.00.

One quart of our homemade applesauce from apples on our rented tree is approximately $1.96.  Overall, we saved $85 and will have enough applesauce to last us through the winter.

We also signed up for another apple tree in October for apples that are suitable for storage.  We’ll be able to keep them in our refrigerator for several months and eat them fresh.  If we get another 94 pounds, we’ll be paying just 58 cents a pound, which will be a significant savings over the grocery stores where I can never seem to find organic apples for less than $1.99 a pound.

It’s Not Just About the Savings

Still, it’s not just about the savings.  What matters is that we know exactly where the apples came from and how they were processed.  In addition, they are local, in season, and organic, which is the best way to eat food.

If you want to feed your family healthier foods but feel that they are out of your budget, don’t despair.  There are several unique ways to feed your family organic food on a budget.  Renting an apple tree is just one of those ways.  We’ll be sure to do this again next year.

Have you done something like this? Do you buy food direct from the farmer?

Original Photo Credit:MetaphoricalPlatypus, on Flickr.

Is Convenience Food Sucking Up Your Food Budget? The Rice-a-Roni Example

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Take a look at your past grocery receipt. Do you like the total of it? Chances are you may have been a little mortified once the cashier told you the final total of your groceries. You are not alone! Many individuals and families struggle with keeping their grocery bills down. It can be disheartening to spend $200-300 one week on groceries and then feel like you don’t have enough food the next week. You just shake your head and ask yourself, “Where did all the food go?”

Convenience foods suck up a lot of your grocery budget.

While they may save you a few minutes in the kitchen, they don’t save you a lot of money. Take example Rice-a-Roni and similar rice dishes. Yes, you may be able to get them for about .60-$1.20 per box, which is not horrible, but still not the best. However, consider this: a 25-pound bag of brown rice cost $8.99 at Costco (I am sure you can find similar pricing elsewhere). An average box of Rice-a-Roni has 5.9 ounces in it.  You could make 67 Rice-a-Roni servings from your 25-pound bag of rice! Now consider these scenarios:

I eat a box of Rice-a-Roni once a week with my family’s dinner. I pay $1 per box (1 cup of rice). At the end of the year, I paid $52 to feed my family this side dish once a week. Not too bad…

Or

I bought a 25-pound bag of rice from Costco or similar store for $9. I use a little less than ½ pound of rice (2.5 cups of rice – which actually makes more than the Rice-a-Roni box) per meal, at one meal per week. At the end of the year, I have spent $9 on rice and probably even have a little leftover rice.

Cost difference is =$43 per year

I know you skeptics out there have two things on your mind. First, Rice-a-Roni has a lot more seasoning than regular brown rice. Very true. You can either calculate the costs of seasonings or the savings of your future health bills (Most packaged rice meals have about 600-700 mg of sodium per serving!). Here is a Rice-a-Roni copycat recipe that cost .12 per batch.

Secondly, I know many are scoffing at the idea of saving $43 a year. For some, that is an hour or so of work, for others scraping by, it is a little more than five hours of work. I also want to point out that this is just one convenience food example. I am certain you can find 5-10 more foods like it on your grocery list, here are a few I came up with:

  • pizza dough
  • canned biscuits
  • bottled sports drinks
  • sodas
  • pRice a Roniotato chips
  • beef jerky
  • cereal
  • instant oatmeal
  • canned soups
  • salad dressing
  • pancake mix
  • frozen waffles
  • yogurt
  • trail mix
  • frozen dinners
  • ready made chicken strips (for salads, wraps)
  • cream of ____(chicken,mushroom…)

Think about some of the convenience foods you buy. Break down their ingredients to simple terms. Can you make that at home for pennies rather than buying it at the store for dollars? Let’s not forget the health factor that comes into play here too. Many convenience foods and prepackaged foods are full of artificial flavorings, fillers, and chemicals to make them have a longer shelf life. Not only are these foods hard for your body to digest as real food, but the packaged version usually has more fat, calories, sugar, and sodium in it too, which can lead to a thicker waistline.

If you can find at least 5 convenience foods/junk foods you buy on a regular basis and either remove them for your diet or replace them with an inexpensive homemade version, you will be surprised at how much money you will save. I challenge you to make a list of every packaged thing you buy and eat on a regular basis. Then decide which ones you want to learn how to make yourself and which ones are a waste of time (i.e. I am looking at several easy crockpot yogurt recipes that I hope will save me a good chunk of money, but I would never make my own corn tortillas – they are so cheap in CA, that it is not worth my time to make them from scratch).

img credit: Sörn on Flickr.