"Never eat more than you can lift." -Miss Piggy
"I always cook with wine. Sometimes I even add it to the food." -W.C. Fields
"Red meat and gin." - Julia Child (When asked what attributed to her longevity)
Food. It rocks my world. I spend a huge hunk of my time in our looney bin kitchen every day, cooking at least two meals a day and often three. The majority is made from scratch. The bread, the cakes, the stews, the roasts, the mayonnaise, the pancakes, the salads. I'm not a martyr, I just play one on TV.
I'd say with prep time and dishes and putting away dishes and getting the dishes out again-I spend about 3-4 hours at counter side every day.
You would think with all that time around food we would've had a better handle on our food budget. Wrong. So very wrong. We budgeted $150/month and we spent (prepare yourselves) on average $408/month. I know. *GASP*
After the shock of adding it all up wore off a bit, I did some digging and revealed some valid excuses for this gross miscalculation. When we came up with the original $150/month we were-in our little bitty brains-thinking only of edible food purchased in a grocery store. What we did not include, but dumped expense wise into this category, was the following:
Meat processing costs of $1370/year for beef and pork. (Except for fish, we raise all our meat.)
Broiler chicks purchase. (When grown we butchered 30 for our freezer)
Garden seeds and plants
Household items like toilet paper, bath & laundry soap making supplies
If I were to separate those items out, and I've decided I won't, we'd be closer to the $150 we budgeted except for the eating out we did. We blame family for that. Hey, if the scapegoat fits...
We'll do well for a few weeks and then a mother-in-law needs a doctor visit, so we'll take her out on the way home for a meal. Or my sisters and I will gather and it's often at a restaurant and includes a meal. Or, I'll be missing a teen granddaughter and will bribe them to spend a bit of time with me with a meal out. (THIS is worth every penny, they are growing up too fast.) And of course Keith and I still like the occasional Sunday eve. meal out where I get a break from cooking and he gets a break from me whining about all the cooking.
Here's what we are doing for 2018. We raised the food budget to $300/month to account for all the items listed above except the eating out part. That's just weakness on our parts. We decided to invite grandkids on nature walks where we bring homemade snacks with us. (It's worth a shot. We may still have to bribe them with DQ ice cream). I'm going to eat before I meet with my sisters and have just coffee when we get together for gab fests. We're all on diet number 999 this spring anyway, and we're going to invite the mother-in-laws over more often to eat here with us.
But, Keith and I will still have the occasional Sunday meal out to give me a break from cooking and him a break from me complaining about the cooking.
We're not saints you know.
I seem to spend a lot on food. Like you, I am the cook of the house, and prepare from scratch two meals a day, plus my own breakfast. My problem is partly that there is nothing growing in the garden at the moment, and also that I'm a bit of a gourmet! In France this isn't difficult.
ReplyDeleteTwo years ago when I studied in Galway I walked past a wonderful butcher, followed by a bread maker next door. I bought the most wonderful fresh food for my dinner everyday. I wasn't gourmet but I sure was eating differently and enjoyed every second of it!
DeleteI still like to think I spend more on the critters than us. Which is true well maybe. I am a scratch cook like yourself. I don't cook as much as you do for several reasons. The main one being with Geoffrey's health issues he doesn't eat much and what he does is grazing . So one meal a day. But breads , cheese and such I do.
ReplyDeleteI am with you on the grands anything they like. I have a soon to be 20 and one who a week before her 19th birthday informed me by text that"Gammie I am getting so old". Would someone smack that child er young woman. That leaves me with a fresh sweet 16 and a 12 year old. Yes food is a great motivator.
And yet with all our outdoor activities I know folks like you and ourselves are involved in, we arefar "younger" grandparents than our own were. That's my stance and I am sticking to it.
DeleteLife's short... increase the food budget! :-) Blessings~ Andrea xxx
ReplyDeleteI just told myself that today-in my head- when my daughter-in-law brought over the bestest, richest, chocolate brownies in the world. I ate one and reveled in the joy of it.
DeleteWith all the stuff that you do for yourselves, I am surprised that you don't do your own slaughter & butchering. No judgement, what works for you works for you.
ReplyDeleteWe took 2 pigs to be processed once - but only once because it was all-around terrible, including getting back someone else's yucky OLD meat!).
After that experience, we learned how to do it for ourselves. The (total) cost per pound of those pigs that we sent for processing worked out to a frightening $8+; doing our own, our current cost works out to $1.22/lb
Good on you! We do butcher our own chickens but I am not yet ready to do beef or pigs. We pay about $1 per pound for the processing and we love love love the folks at Chenoa Locker. But, one day we may have to bite the bullet (or fire one) and do our own large animal butchering.
DeleteWe spend more than we thought on food, also. We include the same items as you plus our OTC drugs. This is just easier since they are mostly purchased at the same time as groceries. Another item that increases our costs are my allergies. Can't have chicken, peanuts, wheat, and a number of other items. We're still working on trying to drive our costs down in order to save more money to do more on our house. Being retired is certainly not for sissies.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right Mary about retirement not being for sissies. On the other hand I am enjoying almost every moment of this mostly home all the time life. It's work, but it's all by choice.
DeleteI agree with all of those quotes you included...you know my love for food Donna, and I have to say you'd be shocked at my food budget...but really, household things like TP and toiletries really knock up the budget. Also, I'm a wine drinker, so that adds up too. We have to buy our water, which is a little but often overlooked cost to the food budget. I try to make as much as I can from scratch and I'm just starting the garden (as of last year)...so that's slow going. The cost of buying chicken went from $2.99 a pound (on sale) to $4.99 a pound (on sale) since December....food prices keep soaring and cost of living too, but income doesn't match up. Forget buying organic around here...it's double the price and unfortunately we can't buy as much organic as we want to!
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about the organic food, Rain. Over the years I've seen that whole business spiral down the drain. As much corruption as in any business. Grow what you can, buy from other like minded growers when you can and enjoy your wine! I do buy the occasional bottle of Jameson out of our food budget, but I also beg it from my kids for birthday and Christmas gifts. Yes, my children buy me alcohol. Life is good.
DeleteWe try to watch our food budget as well but also do not begrudge the occasional meal out, especially when traveling to visit family/friends. because as you said "we're not saints" either (smile).
ReplyDeleteWe've learned-the hard way-that eating out is often disappointing. Cheap cuts of meat, raised inhumanely, just doesn't have the same appeal. So when we do splurge we try to eat at a restaurant that serves locally raised meats and produce from farmers like us. It definitely costs more but the satisfaction level is higher as well.
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