groceries for under $200/month

The first year of our Urban Pantry Challenge has ended. Personally it was very enlightening. Like being struck with lightening and coming to the realization that I was living in a cloud, firmly believing that I spent on average $100 a month for groceries. Yeah, I know some peeps are delusional about their dress size I'm whacked about our grocery bill. Overall we did good.
I do have one point to get across when you live a challenge like this - it is a constant there is never any down time to NOT think about any opportunity to gather food.


In reviewing my posts I realized I neglected to account for the 1/4 side of beef that I bought in July. Here's da deal - the hanging weight of the cow was 530 lbs. at $1.30 per pound. My portion was $303.30 which includes all the butchering fees ect. for 132 lbs. of beef. The cow was 1/2 Pinzgaver and 1/2 Angus locally raised in near Arcade, New York. Mostly pasture raised on a small family farm. Hormone free although not organically certified.
My butchering list ranged from chuck, rump & shoulder roasts, to t-bone & sirloin steaks, porter house, and beef stew cuts. 50 lbs. of ground beef filled out the order. I asked for two large roasts 7 lbs. or more. One for bartering & one for a holiday family meal.
Next time I won't order ground beef since it is more advantageous to pay $1.30 per pound for a roast than hamburger cut. Locally roasts go for $3.99 per pound. Will scout out a bulk package deal on ground beef since it is by far our most used cut of beef.
Chicken & pork was bought when on sale & repackaged into meal sized portions.
This year we haven't had rabbit since I suspended breeding for the time being.
Venison was obtained last month. While this game meat isn't a fav amoung two of us it is a nice add on. Also venison jerky has a great barter value.
No fish which has a deeper meaning in that we didn't do enough fishing this past year. Sad. Very Very Sad.
Still working on the 100 plus pounds of Winter wheat that a bb brought over in '08. Same for the Rye bought in bulk in 2007. Salt, free from the butcher (sells BBQ lunches leftover from salt potatoes), baking powder bought in bulk. Spices/herbs either grown or bartered for or bought on sale. We generally bake & cook from scratch.
Locally milk has dropped to under $2 a gallon so we have stopped buying milk directly from the farmer @ a savings 50¢. Also by way of a church friend I am able to buy eggs for $3 a flat from time to time. Butter is bought through a co-op as an employee benefit. Kinda a friend has a friend who has a ... this supply is fragile.
As I've blogged about before the biggest return on our gardening effort has been the cold frame planted with salad greens saving us several hundred dollars a year. Now that it is deep Winter and the craving level for fresh greens is high the cold frame is sorely missed. Salad Fixings are back on the grocery list. Should be able to plant the frame in late February early March.
Big changes other than what I wrote about is that we have a veggie meal twice a week now & when I do cook meat it is smaller portions. Also we now have two vegetables for dinner instead of one.

Methods of obtaining & preserving groceries are;

• bartering- toiletries, paper products, tuna
• bulk, clearance, co-ops & loss leader sales, no frills stores such as Aldi, Restaurant Supply Stores, co-op with friends, employee only buying ops.
• canning either free or low cost produce
• freezing
• foraging both in urban & rural settings
• dehydrating
• gardening
• gleaning
• hunting.

Total for 2008-2009 UPC was $1925.19 which averaged out to $160.43 per month.

Hmm, gotta be a way to trim this ?

~~ pelenaka ~~

P.S. a comment lead me to clarify a few points - we don't have small children so there is no speciality foods like chicken nuggets. To tell you the truth though I never really had that problem with my children. While I didn't let them starve I also wasn't their enabler. Green beans got eaten. Momma doesn't run a Dinner.
Other than cooking low fat (no frying) the only other dietary choices we follow are low carb/low sugar. Potatoes are no longer a staple.
There's no issue with gluten or nuts. Don't know what I'd do if there was.
On average everyone only eats 2 meals a day weekdays & Sunday (fellowship coffee after service is considered a lite brunch & Sunday dinner is @ 5 p.m. instead of our usual 6:30). Daughter's generally don't eat breakfast but will grab a glass a milk on the way out the door. Girls are in charge of packing their own lunch with leftovers. I usually have 4 cups of coffee & a slice of bread or small bowl of homemade yogurt or oatmeal for breakfast, 2 cups of coffee for midday & a snack, & then dinner. DH same.
Dinner is our big meal of the day.
Also should note that we eat several times a , month @ church for free. KP duty has it's perks!

http://onfoodstamps.blogspot.com/ interesting blog - challenges of living on a food stamp buget without the benefit of bartering, foraging, or gleaning.

Changing up dealers

Lately I have been giving some serious thought to alternative energy suppliers . I had vaguely considered the concept before putting the matter on the back burner until recently, thanks to National Fuel, my local natural gas company. If they hadn’t changed out a perfectly functional meter then I wouldn’t have been forced into action. Well that's not entirely true. I'm sure I would have been spurred to action when my gas rates ate a hole in our finances. We all know how I go .
A few weeks ago there was a message left on our voicemail by National Fuel that the meter needed to be changed out, because the meter reader wasn’t able to record an accurate reading. It was @ that point where the rep from the gas company's voice started trailing off and she mumbled something about water in the dials. Then she mentioned that the meter was installed in 1976 so it was due.
Yeah, made me wonder too. I immediately assumed that our new meter would be a high tech digital version of the gray metal box that was installed. Perhaps National Fuel would install the meter that allows readings from the outside. Thus no more estimated bills because no one was home to let the meter reader in !
So I trek down to the cellar.
Cell & flashlight in hand. No canary.
There on the far foundation wall about two and half feet above the cement floor stood the meter as gray and metal as the day it was installed. No rust, no damage, no dampness, no obscured dials. Just a cobweb and a bit of mortar dust from the foundation on it's shinny gray body.
Ring ring …National Fuel Service Appointments this is Jane how may I help you?
GM Jane, I received a message that my meter needed to be changed out.
Thank you for calling let’s set up a time to do that. It only takes 15 to 20 minutes to complete the procedure. Anytime between …
Jane, ah I’m actually calling you from my cellar … standing in front of the meter. I gotta say that there’s no problem reading the dials. I could tell you the current read right now. This decision to update my meter isn’t due to the low amount of gas that we consume is it ?
Ah no, the reason given was that there was water in the dials. So let’s set up an appointment …
Any chance that the new meter is that type that can be read from the outside of my home Jane?
Ah no … so anytime between the hours for 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. …

LSS it took the guy about 17 minutes to change out my vintage 1976 meter with the updated version that stands a bit higher and more flush with the foundation wall.
Before he disconnected the old meter he had me run the furnace both before and after. He handled the water heater assuring me that he would set it back to the warm setting just above the vacation setting on the dial. He recorded the make and model of the heater along with the info on the furnace. He asked three times about my kitchen range. Gas or Electric ?

He didn’t notice any water in the dial compartment nor water inside either.

For the record the hot water heater circa 2000 is wrapped in an insulation blanket. The water temp is set @ 110. Not as hot as I'd prefer but the lower temp besides conserving gas discourages long showers. In the Summer the heater is lowered to the vacation setting. As I've written before on my posts we've always kept the thermostat down in the low 60's. During the day when I was home alone sleeping I kept it set @ 56 to 58. When the children came home from school then depending on how cold it was outside the thermostat is raised.
Now that our primary heating source is the wood stove the only time the furnace clicks on is when the stove is out like when we're not home. For those periods the furnace is set @ 48 degrees (enough to keep the pipes & family cat from freezing).

Now I have to educated myself on using an alternative natural gas supplier.
Any tips ? What exactly does one look for in an alternative utility supplier ?

Jet Blue is offering 3k bonus miles if I sigh up with an alternative supplier. would be nice to go see family in P.R. soon. Will have to read the fine print on that offer.

New bill came in @ $90 & some change. I'll dig out Dec. 2008 bill to compare.


~~ pelenaka ~~

into practice

Hope everyone had a good simple Thanksgiving.
DD#3 and I spent the day preparing & then watching both the parade and then a dog show here @ home. DH and DD#2 went hunting. Later on we ate pie by the wood stove and toasted marsh mellows. No traveling, no crowds just us.

$20.52 on Monday at my local Aldi store. Besides purchasing coffee creamer and a few gallons of 2% milk I stocked up on their brand of all purpose flour. It was 15 cents a pound (75 cents / 5 lbs. bag) so I bought 40 lbs. Long term storage plans are to vacuum seal in mason jars.
Thinking I should go back and score another 60 pounds.

Food Budget has been going well the past few months mainly because of our well stocked pantry and the occasional great deal on advertised loss leaders at local stores. I should clarify that in my definition a great loss leader is usually either meat or sugar a dirt cheap prices without a limitations.
Tops Super markets had Turkey for 29¢ per pound. We're not big on turkey so I didn't buy an extra. Stuffing was made from all that speciality bread that I dehydrated into croutons last Summer and vacuum sealed in jars. That bread was gifted by a friend since it was past it's prime. Vegetables from either pantry shelves or the freezer originally are the bounty of our gardening & gleaning efforts. We were blessed with adbunance of pie pumpkins from our church garden this fall. I have also been experimenting with regular pumpkins gathered from our neighbors who no longer had a need for them after their decorating value had expired.
These varieties have a bland taste so they need an extra bit of some thing some thing to spice the custard up. Maple flavoring has been a big hit so far.

Heads up to anyone who is near a Quality Market grocery store in Western New York. They're expected to close soon so be prepared as this is an excellent opp to score great deals. Aim for staples like baking supplies, canned goods, OTC meds, and items such as foil, freezer bags, and canning lids. Really anything that has a good shelf life like dish soap. Most will be hitting the meat which is okay but IMHO even if you freeze it only has a 6 mos. shelf life. But items like dish soap will hold out far longer. Consider alternative choices. It's been 4 years since I stocked up at a simular store closing (final days discounts of 70%) and to date we still have rice, bread flour, cleansers, and foil among other items.
Make it a point to visit the in store bakery to score deals on their bulk spices and flours such as caraway, poppy, bread flour.
Check expiration dates. Bring an extra person to cart sit as peeps do shop out of any cart perceived to be abandoned even if your only a few feet away. And if your flush with money they can push that 2nd or 3rd cart. Don't bring a purse or bag. You want to be stealth just a cell & method of payment in your pocket. Water bottle, gum, a few cough drops, tissues, tiny bottle of hand sanitizer if you can.
Don't be surprised if they won't take coupons just go with the flow.

This is the 1st time in our marriage that my husband has actively hunted.
While this can be a great way to supplement the family food stores it isn't for everyone. Myself included.
DH & DD#2 came home with venison after hunting on a friend's land last week. I'll let him tell you about his and my daughter's woods running on his blog. All I need to know is that they came home with meat and a huge smile on their faces. A good time was had by all despite cold toes.

Their endeavors produced the following bounty; Sausage - 15 ½ pounds of Italian. $12.16 for 4 ½ pounds package of pork ground to order. Italian seasoning sausage packet was $2.69 bought at the mega mart. Total cost was 93¢ per pound. Patties were wrapped & frozen.
During down time this Winter I‘ll research sausage making then gather what we‘ll need for next year's hunting season. Besides Italian I’ll like to learn how to make pepperoni, summer, and bratwursts varieties. Also need to come up with a better source for pork.
Venison Roasts - tenderloin cuts from a yearling doe = 14 pounds butchered and bagged by DH.

Tuesday’s dinner prepared by my husband. Tenderloin medallion with mushrooms & onions. Sides were baked sweet potatoes and wild rice. The venison was melt in your mouth good. This coming from someone who dislikes game meat.

I finally rendered that 17 pounds of pig fat that has been on a freezer shelf since March on the wood stove. Worked out to five quarts for soap making. The lard isn't cooking quality so I'll make plain laundry soap. Good to have the freezer space.

I’ve been reading Native Harvests Recipes and Botanicals of the American Indian by Barrie Kavasch, 1979. Requested through my local library’s inter library loan program this copy came all the way from Niagara Falls. One aspect of this cookbook is that the author included botanical charts which list the plant, plant part used, usage either for food, technology, or medicine, and harvest time. Unfortunately the plant illustrations are few.
Two good books that compliment Native Harvests are the Peterson field guides; Edible Wild Plants and Medicinal Plants. Great color photos and clear illustrations.
Black Walnut trees can be tapped just like Maples for their sap. Hmm may have finally come up with a reason for that Walnut tree in the vacant lot behind my house.
　
~~ pelenaka ~~
　
　
　
　

Home Fires

This has been a project in the making for almost as long as I have owned this house.

Starting with buying a chimney cleaning brush on clearance in August of 2000. Then there was the bellows bought @ a tag sale four or five years ago. Last year was the class B double walled pipe, thru the wall kit, brackets, and braces.

Then in early October on our way to buy seconds @ an Apple farm in Leroy we stopped into a stove & fireplace dealership. LSS bought a floor model - Jotul F 602 CB. Heats 500 square feet so ruffly half of my home.

After ordering the rear heat shield I think I wrote a check for $800 something. I'll get back on the exact cost after all is said & done since, yeah you guessed it I'll be running a cost comparison. Wood heat vs. furnace.

Furnace hasn't been on since the stove got the heads up from the code man on Tuesday. Granted it has been slightly warmer than norm this month and I also keep that house on the cool side when it's just me during the day.

My brother did the tile work. He's a professional. As you can see it was worth every penny he does beautiful work. Between DH, myself (gofer), my brother, and nephew who actually climbed up on my 12 12 pitched roof the job got done.

As you can see I'm already utilizing the stove for cooking as well as proofing a few loaves of bread (extra large bowl). Far left is a two bed warmers made of soap stone that DH collected years ago. Cast iron tea pot back from China Lake N.A.S. when we had quarters with a fireplace.

Large trivets are actually plant stands from Martha.

Sad irons hmm gotta be from a steam show flea market.

Poker was a gift from a lady who was surprised that I knew what it was. She said it was in the cellar of her 1880's home.

So in honor of our new stove there is a new category - Hearth

~~ pelenaka ~~

Carpe diem

Seizing the day or rather opportunity is a vital part of homesteading be it urban or rural.

Not so much having the skill which enables you to take advantage of whatever opps comes your way, but rather having a means to acquire the knowledge along with the desire a.k.a elbow grease.

Could I make vinegar before this opp came ?

Nope.

Did I have the desire ?

Not so much but this was an easy do. No special equipment and I already had the supplies.

Now what am I going to do with one and half gallons of Apple Cider Vinegar ?

Earlier this month as a member of PW I helped out with K.P. duty for November's monthly 20/30 club dinner for my church . While there the head cook & bottle washer was pouring out one of the jugs of cider left by the Kiwanis a week earlier from a pancake fundraising breakfast. Seams that the abandoned 14 gallons of cider was starting to turn hard.

What can I say. It physically pains me to see a resource go to waste. At the very least I could water my raised beds with it. Instead I decided to add to our pantry and perhaps use as possible gift giving. More the latter since I had forgotten to come up with this years Christmas gift back in June.

The jugs were bought @ a tag sale years ago by DH for future wine making adventures. He spent a dollar each for these half gallon clear ones. I used a discard sheer curtain that is 100% cotton instead of cheese cloth and rubber bands scavenged from pharmacy deliveries @ my old job to fashion debris barriers.

These will rest in the cellar under the stairs away from light for 8 weeks. Then I'll strain out whatever scum there is & re bottled in quart mason jars.

Of course this new windfall now means I have to find ways to use my homemade Apple Cider Vinegar. Not to mention learning how to tritrate (test for acidity) the vinegar.

Well, I have a 3 more weeks to gather the knowledge ... and the desire.

~~ pelenaka ~~

P.S. anyone out there asking what happened to the other gallons of cider that weren't poured down the drain or fashioned into vinegar ?

Yeah, say it with me ... Hard Cider.

Funny thing is that making hard cider wasn't even on mind until the rest of the kitchen crew all began recounting tales of fathers & grandfathers all brewing hard cider.

Where the money flows

I got a comment on my last post asking if I would enlighten my readers on the state of our finances and the methods that we use to cope.

Here's the low down on what it takes to pay the bills on our urban homestead.

Mortgage - $346.81 This includes insurance, property & school taxes, principal, and interest. Rents on comparable properties in my area run over $600. Needless to say it pays to buy less than what you can afford. I can't stress that enough.
For the first half of this year I was paying an extra $100 on the principal. For every hundred I threw on I knocked off $55.00 in interest owed. Even for just the short amount of time the mortgage was shortened by a year.

Electric - as I wrote about in an earlier post we have an ongoing battle with our electric company which boils down to the fact that they charge me more bringing me a kilowatt then the actual cost of the kilowatt. This month for example our bill was $50.15 up from $43.31. Of the $50.15 the first $38.16 was basic service (not including use age), delivery (anyone know what uniform da electric man wears?), delivery adjustment (what is that really?) tariff surcharge, & sales tax. We used 263 kWh this past billing cycle. Up from 220. Electric dehydrator was plugged in almost nonstop in August due to our crappy weather. I haven't used the solar dehydrator DH made us for the most part this Summer.
Also important to note is that the price of a kilowatt rose from $1.32 in 2008 to $1.51 in 2009.
Methods to conserve electricity; use of power strips, CF light bulbs, use of nonelectric appliances such as our ice box or an in closed porch in Winter, or simply don't flip the switch on. Instead our first choice when reaching for a tool is always the nonelectrical version.

Natural Gas - $24. The hot water heater has been set on vacation temp since last Spring which has meant cooler than preferred showers. Cooler Summer this year meant that the water temp coming directly out of the tap was quite cold. Currently the water heater is the only appliance running. However, it has dropped below freezing this past week which means that the house has had indoor temperatures of the high 50's. Have been resisting the urge to turn on the furnace.
Hot water heater is 8 years old so fairly energy efficient. If money was no object I'd change out the heater for a tankless one.
The furnace was installed 9 years ago. It's 85% efficient natural gas. Generally speaking we keep that house @ 60 degrees when the children are home even in January. Now my kids are teenagers who wear layers of clothing including hoodies and thick wool socks. When they were younger I keep the heat on 65.
When it's just me home alone then the thermostat is set back down to the mid fifties.

Our only other monthly debt is a home equity loan that runs $210 a month. I've had it paid off several times & no doubt it will be paid off once again only to be used again.
The last time was in 2000 when my current vechile died. I purchased a base model compact car, standard, no a/c for 7 grand new. Figure a third of the monthly equity loan is a car note.


Insurance is $340 a year which is paid out of our income tax refund. Maintenance runs around $200 a year. Gas is about $30 depending on traveling. MPG is 35 per gallon.
This is our 2nd year being a one car family. Initially it was difficult making the adjustment but the savings have been worth it. The shoe leather express (city sidewalks) makes a stop right in front our our house. I also have a bike with baskets as do my children. There are 2 $ stores and an Aldis within walking distance. DH changed jobs to be more local.

Clothing - other than buying two packages of socks & unders for myself & daughters that about covers it this year. Daughters and I worked @ a clothing swap this past September sponsored by our church were we were able to get over 100 articles of clothing. Many were new and very high end. I am glad not to be back to the time were my children were constantly out growing or wearing out clothing. Also purchased running shoes for DD#2 who runs cross country.
DD#3 scored soccer shin guards from a cousin. Thankfully neither daughter needed new cleats.
All sports uniforms were financed by fundraisers. We are blessed to live in a school district that has a great athletic program. Only one child still participates in music. She receives violin lessons through the school. Violin purchased used 2 years ago.

Huge budgeting tool has been to simply not go to places such as a mall or a mega store. Let's face it you can always find something that you want when your in Walmart.
A need is a need a want is a want.

Food - you'll have to just read through my blog posts as that is what I primarily write about.

Tithing - aim for $20 a month and give about 20 to 30 hours of our time a month working wherever there is a need in our church. Currently I co-chair a garden, assist with food baskets to members of our congregation who are home bound, usher for funerals when needed, and various deacon duties.

Medical - without going into too much information it lets just say that we spend almost a mortgage payment on medical insurance and prescription meds.
Using a nettie pot has greatly helped not only our bottom line but our health. Usually at least once a year I come down with a sinus infection which quickly turns into a chest cold then leads into bronchitis or pneumonia. My last bout of pneumonia cost me over $80 after an office visit & a trip to the pharmacy. Thank you Dr. Oz for teaching me the way.

Entertainment - if it's free then it's on the on. Besides taking advantage of DVDs &Videos from our public library we attend area concerts, minor league baseball games, collage sports, and events sponsored by our city for youth. We also enjoy just hanging out at church. This weekend daughters are away at a youth retreat though church.

Calling it even it costs us a in the neighborhood of $1280 per month to live for the past 6 mos.
Winter heating will add about another $200 to $300 a month this Winter using natural gas.

Per the 2008 Federal Poverty Guidelines a family of 4 who lives below $21,200 qualifies as poor.
Interesting.
I don't feel poor.
Just broke.


~~ pelenaka ~~

P.S. 10/23/2009 - My bbgf who chased me down here @ the library since I'm san cell has informed me that I forgot to include the cost of our cell phone plan. It's around $80 for 2 phones. One is the house phone with our old land line #. The other is labeled the away phone. That phone is carted around by either DH or the girls when they go out either on errands or hunting. Daughters use it to let us know when they are done with practice or on their way home from an away game. I have timed their commutes from either school or practice fields both on foot & bike. If their late then I can call. Also there's the safety factor when there out.
Plus I didn't want anyone home without a phone. Kinda funny when you think of it as I went years without a phone when I was a young adult.
No text nor email on the plan.
It has been a bit of a learning curve for some of our F&F to remember to call us from either a Verizon cell or after 9. So far no issues with going over our minutes.
I go bum phone service off my Bro when I want to call my Abuela in P.R. or out state peeps who don't have Verizon & are in bed by nine. Also score phone time @ church. That comes in handy when I have to call say the electric company to discuss my recent rate hike.

There was some great questions posted in the comment section by a reader which I thought should be answered in this post.

Does living on your income cause any tension in the home?
For the most part no. There are times however when I would love to have extra for the little things. DD#3 was asked by her soccer coach to participate in an indoor soccer league - cost $75. She has emailed her father and put the word out to church family that she needs babysitting gigs.
I know DH would love to have the extra cash flow to do more local traveling, hunting/camping.

I was also asked about an urban homestead aspiration, ... something that is being saved for to improve the urban homestead?
That would our long drawn out process of installing a wood stove. Seriously I have been collecting items toward this aspiration for over 8 years now. There is the bush kit on clearance bought in 2001 so I can be my own chimney sweep. Then there's the tools like a coal shovel bought @ tag sales last year for a buck.
I'll be blogging about that soon.