How much do you save?

[tsr07]

I am wondering how much money you save with doing all your own food preparations.

With the way the governments are allowing certain companies to produce mass food with very little nutrition, Terri and I have started a plan to try and be self sufficient.

This actually started with a garden we had and one we will have. The food you grow is basically yours and you can decide if you want to spray your plant with chemicals or go organic.

We have decided that with hunting and fishing we can now add more food to the tablefare with our trapping. (mmmmmmm roadkill sauteed in road tar with a side order of gravel!!!)

Saying that we figure we will be saving alot more money to buy more essencial things like traps and traping supplies.

With the meat dept I have a discussion with my mother one day and I told her we save about $2000 a year on meat. We get 4 deer a year which feeds us right to the beginning of the next deer season My mother told me I was full of shiq!!!! I went on to explain how much money she spends each week on just buying beef. A roast here cost anywhere from $12 to $20 and she gets one roast every week or two times that by say average of 40 weeks @ average of $15 = $600 and then you add in the steaks and hamburgers I would ay about $1000
I went on to tell her that is just the beef hat about the pork and the chickens and the fish. Then you have the family get togethers the holiday meals And next you are up to $2000.
For Terri and I we save even more because we get our own chickens and fish. We do buy chickens.

So after explaining this to Mom (this time dad is awake and listening) My mom said that venison you get is so much like beef. I went on to explain the hard work doing your own garden and growing some of your own foods. Depending on your limited yard space you grow the most of what you eat. Which in turn saves you anywhere from $50 to $500 dollars. My dad said your full of it that is not possible!!! then I mentioned the fact they had an acre of farm land given to them one year and they had been giving away so much produce as they had enough for the year. Which allowed them to save money and get new things for their house!!! Dad Started to really pay attention. By that time it was time for Us to head home.

All in all we save and can save more buying local and doing alot more ourselves.

By the way Terri and I do our own butchering (we learned this from a video we got it is from the states and shows just how to do your own deer) Let me know if interested I will see what I can do. That has saved us hundreds of dollars in butchering cots.

I know when you look at the small picture it is not what some hunters like to or can do. But when you look at it in the long run and the amount of butchering you can do the cost savings are fenominal!!!

How much savings you ask? Two years ago we saved enough to get myself a new shotgun and to take care of a few bills. The past years we are able to get another vehicle and of course some traps!!! and it has helped us renovate our new home.

So think about it and see what you can save for the next season. You will be amazed.

Steve and Terri

[Deleted]

I wouldn't even try to put a dollar amount to what's saved here for my homestead annually, but I do know with everything we harvest, both in the woods, water and garden, we save alot

A few years ago, I spent $100 bucks stocking my small pond with a variety of fish fry. It's now to the point where they are reproducing nicely, and I can start catching and eating. It was a $100 investemnt, but is a small price to pay for the dividends it will pay for years and years to come in supplying us with fish.
Guess the same can be said with all the fruit trees I planted.

[woodsman416]

I never tried to add up the dollars saved. Providing for myself has a lot more value to me than just the $$$$.

[Admin]

No idea on the dollar amount but I save a LOT of money. I grind most of my venison into burger and sausage so that helps with utilizing the deer meat on a (several times a week) basis. I blend my own seasonings and they are a tax deduction so not really any cost there. I hunt my own land and my farm is a tax deduction because I do business here and sell wood from it etc. My trapline is a business so all my quads, gear, garb, shed, gas, etc etc is tax deductible. So whatever profit I make on my food business is usually absorbed by the cost of my trapline and farm and that is where I get my meat and fur from.

So...if I didn't have all this acreage and traps and quads and fun, I'd be working and paying like everybody else.

[Canadian trapper]

We butcher our own deer but I get someone to do any moose we get. Just seems like to big a job to take on alone, My inlaws have a farm so we put in a small garden every couple of years. I don't do it because of the savings but more because I know there isn't any chemicals and the taste seems so much better.
I guess like everyone else there just doesn't seem to be enough time to do the garden and everything else so I end up mostly buying our veggies.
The Canadian Trapper

[rhyla]

Some day I hope to be saving money doing this stuff. But for now, at least with hunting, I suck so terribly at it that I spend more (gas, etc) going out to try and get a deer/bear than I'm saving on actually buying the meat. However, it's still way healthier and I have a good time doing it. Plus I generally go out hunting with my hubby - the cost of gas for a weekend of hunting beats the cost of going out to the movies for a date and we get 2 1/2 days together instead of 2 1/2 hours

[histopicker]

I don't know how much I save but my food bill last month was 36.00. That includes bottled water for the wife. I am living in south Texas so we have a long growing season and plenty of wild boar running around. Now the ammunition bill is a different story. lol