Cats...and lots of them. We try and catch as many as we can, and have them desexed. A few of the vets offer discounts to those who help with the catch, neuter and release scheme. This new villa appears to have come with a few homing pigeons too. We noticed a few boxes on the roof the other night.. We had a stray goat once...it ran down the path, and in through the front door..hubby had just walked out..straight into the kitchen. The kids were all screaming, the goat was sliding all over the place(tiled floor)..oh it was a sight to see !!:lol:
Hahahaha... Not that particular one... Hubby loves goat, and the kids & I havent tried it (that we know of!) Kids LOVE camel milk and drink it every day....I stick with good "ol cows milk.
We spend a lot of money for groceries. This includes food for the animals and toiletries. We spend at least $500. for a family of three plus animals. But a lot goes to Handsome's breakfast and lunches. He leaves so early that I make him his breakfast and he heats it up at work. Ems and I usually eat something different for lunch and breakfast. I also make food for people who need it so I always by more than we need. Handsome loves to cook so he makes extra stops to the market during the week. He can really run up the bill by purchasing expensive items. I like to buy meat on sale and Handsome buys it no matter what the cost.:|
I was almost crying reading ya'll spend that little a month. Granted we are a large family and if I work REALLY hard I can spend as little as $100/wk. That was until dh went to the doc and had a cholesterol test. Now I've been throw into a foreign land!! WHY IS IT SO EXPENSIVE TO EAT HEALTHY????? aughhhhhhhhh! So last week groceries (for one week) were over $200. OK, done venting.
I spend about $400 per month for a family of 3, dog, gerbil and fish. My husband has lately been spending a fortune on take out for lunch though. He doesn't work in an office, works for the cable company and is out in the field. Typically he comes home for lunch, but this past month he hasn't been able to and it's adding up super quick. He's spending about $75 a week just on lunch, and as I posted in another thread, just got a speeding ticket to top if off..../pulls out her hair!
Swayde, What ever I make for dinner at night is what hubby takes to work the next day for 2 meals. I make sure I make plenty so he has the leftovers to take. He used to spend $15 bucks or more a day on fast food before I cut him off..lol.
Yep, my dh has leftovers too. Can't afford to eat out. I know what you mean squarepeg about buying and eatting healthly it's something can't afford it. Fruits down here are made of gold we love them but can't afford them. Like orange are 1.99 a pound, 3 orange come out to over $7.00 dollar. I never understood how they want us to get healthly and then pay that price for food. Don't have the money for that. But, then I can go to check out and get 4 choc. bars for $1.00 don't understand.
That is so true!! I was planning to get some type of fruit (can't remember what it was, it may have been oranges) not too long ago. I weighed it to see what the cost was and it was over $7. I didn't get whatever it was.
we buy canned fruit, and frozen veggie.. unless it comes from our garden, we don't get any fresh fruit or veggies.. luckily this year my canaloupes are thriving, so are my crenshaw mellons and I have gotten 2 watermellons. Other than that it's mostly tomatoes out there.. our cucumbers didn't do crap, and our pepper plants only did so-so. Once in a while we will get plums or peaches at Walmart.. when they are 66 cents a pound, which is only like a week or two a year. Even going to the farmers market this year is out rageous. Last year you could get 50# of good potatoes for 7 bucks, this year 19!!! How sad it is!
We buy healthy ever since I got sick; for the most part . At first I thought it was more expensive and after adding the cost up over a couple of months, I now find it is cheaper because we aren't always eating out, buying junk, or eating extra meals. Buy cutting on the snacks, it balanced itself out. Also, fruits and veggies are costly but I find they are a lot cheaper in California than in some states. I guess this is because we grow a lot of our own fruits and veggies. I also like to buy them from this fruit stand up the street. I get a far better quality for less.
When I go to Colorado, I am blown away at how costly fruits and veggies are. Plus, the lettuce always looks old. My MIL used to ship my SIL fruits and veggies from California. A salad was a treat for my SIL. Now that my MIL lives in Colorado too, none of them get a good salad unless they eat out.
That is really strange since southern Colorado is known for its rich soil. They grow all sorts of things like potatoes, lettuce, carrots and barley that goes in the beer made in Colorado.
A neighbor has a pear tree. (Did I mention this? It seems I did!) Anyway, I'm not one to eat pears, but Carl likes them. The neghbor told me I could pick as many of them as I want; also of his apples. So I used my Apple Sauce recipe with a combination of pears and apples. It turned out good! I'll be picking some more of is pears later today. I figure if he's giving them to me for FREE, I can find a way of eating them!
It may be strange but it is true. Just because Colorado grows all sorts of fruits and veggies doesn't mean they have to like them. As far as they are concerned, they aren't very good.
for us, not buying snacks doesn't even out the grocery bill. Since my hubby works in the food industry, we always get CASES of snacks for free. The problem now is convincing him to say "NO" to them. SIGH!!!!
Oh...the beginning of the year I was spending close to $1000 a month on groceries. I know, go ahead and scream at me. Now it's going down, slowly, but didn't keep track in July or August. It's a new month so will be keeping an eye on the total. I know in June the final total was $800.
AGREE!!! I don't think hubby knows what the budge for grocieries is. He puts whatever he wants into the basket. We spend about $400 a month for a family of 6. we don't eat meat as a side. it goes into casseroles. LOTS of casseroles in this house. I plan out the menu for the week and then I write down everything that I need for that meal and I can pretty much guess how much the groceries are going to cost. We don't buy snack cakes and cookies for snacks. The kids get fruit and veggies. Or peanut butter sandwiches. I wish the grocery store would let me buy all their overripe bananas but they won't. They all go into a trash bin and smashed. CRAZY. I could make banana bread,banana pudding,fruit salad. We LOVE over ripe bananas. We don't have extravagant meals but they are filling. Here is a recipe we us a lot. 1-2 lb hamburger meat (scrambled) 1-2 can ranch beans or chili beans small onion (cut up) large can of cream of chicken or cream mushroom soup mix it all together and heat up. serve with cheese,tomatoes,lettuce. sometimes we put rotel tomatos and rice in and skip the veggies on top. It's really good. Another thing we do to stretch the $$ is to use left overs to make something else. Like when we have a pot of beans I use the beans in burritos for the next meal. SO much better than canned refried beans. Left over tortillas go into a casserole that we call Mexican lasagna. We also use the extra burrito meat in it. YUMMM!! Hamburger meat-cooked ranch style beans large can cream of chicken soup rotel tomatoes onion -chopped up tortillas-tore into small pieces shredded cheese place it all ingredients together except cheese in a casserole dish THEN cover it with cheese. Cook until it is warm. I like to put it all together and place in the microwave for about 5 minutes to get the tortillas nice and soggy. and then I pour it into the pan and put cheese on it. cook it for about 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
