I'm sitting here drinking my last cup of coffee for the day, smelling the beef broth I am making from odds and ends of beef roasts we had during Dec that I had tossed in the freezer until a "broth" day. Makes me hungry so I will probably have a cup of beef broth for lunch.
End of the year I tally what I have spent in the kitchen and gardens... What I saved us that we probably would have spent if I had been working outside the home.
I have already ordered all my seeds for the coming season. I will need to order garlic IF my garlic does not do well. I will know that come Sept. We are adding berry bushes also this spring. I have $1200 left in the garden budget from this year since we didn't really plant anything. SO that will be added to this coming year's budget. I know I will need trellis and black plastic and other odds and ends that comes with starting a new garden so it will be higher in cost this year.
Years ago I used to do the twice a year Pantry Challenge that Jessica has over at goodcheapeats.com... It really helped when I had to clear the pantry after Daughter 2 and her 4 sons moved out... then again when Daughter 4 and her two kids and Son 2 moved out at the same time.It also showed me how our eating habits had changed.
Now my pantry challenge is different... I will need room for the new produce coming in. I need room in the freezers and room on the pantry shelves.
2018 I spent $6,603.42 on food, that included any produce I bought to stock and to restock 3 empty deep freezers. Of that $6,603.42 I spent $1, 211.99 on meat, that is including 9 turkeys, 6 hams and 6 briskets (that I cut to make 24 briskets) along with other meat.
SO I spent $5,391.43 at the grocery store for other stuff than meat. This is the only year I did not put eating out as part of the grocery budget as I knew it would be on the high side with working here daily.
As I kept track I know that $3594.29 was for fresh produce, which 80% I could grow on my own and the majority of that is NOT stored in my pantry. That's $2,875.43 I could have saved.
Hubby was talking to a friend about how I save us enough money that it would match me working full time at $10/ hr.
$10/ hr for a 40 hr week is $400
$400/ wk for 52 wks (1 yr) is $20,800
$20,800 minus the 25% tax we pay is $15,600.
$15,600 divided by 52 wks is $300 a week...
He could have took the taxes off the week and multiplied in by 52 also but the friend needs things broke down this way.
With the way I price things out, push him to price things out, do the pantry, the gardens, drive our autos etc. On average I have saved that during a year. This year I save over that with researching mortgages,loan to fix the house and Hubby's truck... not counting anything else.It's what I used to pay off the hospital bill.
My goal is to match the $15,600 this year even with the extra expenses of medical ins/copay/deductibles and have it in the savings.
We will see how this goes
Preserving Okra
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A friend asked my hubby if he would harvest the okra from his garden while
he and his wife went out of town. My hubby said of course, which led to
this .....
1 day ago