Debt Dumpers 2024

[amylevan]

That's awesome. My parents and sister try to buy half cows and split the meat. I could never do it as the meat would go bad before we use it. We're very strict about use by dates on products. If it's close to or hits a date, it goes in the trash, frozen or not. I know people say that you can go past the date if it's in the freezer, but not for us. We just buy meat weekly as we need it and keep it in the fridge. Usually HB meat or chicken have dates within a week or 2, while some things (ham sausage) have use by dates a month or thereabouts down the road. So we don't buy those as often. And we only shop at Walmart, so their meat is never on sale.

It’s not just random people who say you can freeze past the date, the USDA says so. The date on packages is literally a “Use or FREEZE by date”.

You are throwing money out by tossing frozen meats.

 

[piglet1979]

Just picked up our 1/2 cow today. Processing was just under $300 so our total was just shy of $1300. It's not as much as I *thought* it would be, but it's plenty of meat. I'm guessing a good 10 months to a year worth.

We're going to the zoo tomorrow with friends so I made a quick grocery order to get stuff to pack lunches for all of us so we don't spend fortune buying food there. We're going to be doing a lot of outside stuff so I'm planning on lots of packed lunches the next little while.

We have always wanted to do this but we just don't have the room in this house. We would need to buy a deep freezer and we have nowhere to put it. I am hoping we will be moving in the next few years so I am hoping we can then.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Just picked up our 1/2 cow today. Processing was just under $300 so our total was just shy of $1300. It's not as much as I *thought* it would be, but it's plenty of meat. I'm guessing a good 10 months to a year worth.

We're going to the zoo tomorrow with friends so I made a quick grocery order to get stuff to pack lunches for all of us so we don't spend fortune buying food there. We're going to be doing a lot of outside stuff so I'm planning on lots of packed lunches the next little while.

Wow, your freezer is so organized!
I feel like such a slob now. Lol

 

[firefly_ris]

Just picked up our 1/2 cow today. Processing was just under $300 so our total was just shy of $1300. It's not as much as I *thought* it would be, but it's plenty of meat. I'm guessing a good 10 months to a year worth.

We're going to the zoo tomorrow with friends so I made a quick grocery order to get stuff to pack lunches for all of us so we don't spend fortune buying food there. We're going to be doing a lot of outside stuff so I'm planning on lots of packed lunches the next little while.

Nice! We do the same. We did a little less last time and split a 1/2 with my SIL back in September, so we are on the finishing end of that now but when we do the full 1/2 definitely stretch that to about a year's worth of beef. Although, my kids are getting bigger now so that will start being less time I suppose. Not to mention it just tastes and looks better than factory stuff at the store and we knew and saw the cow when it was living which are both great bonuses for me. We also last year split a pig that was raised by the same guy we got the cow from and that was also very good, but he doesn't do pigs anymore. Additionally we used to get venison from friends, but don't get that much anymore. I'd like to find a source for chicken, but nothing yet.

I originally bought our upright freezer back in 2008 when my 2 big dogs were still alive and we fed them a raw diet, so I was always getting tons of stuff in bulk and offal from hunter friends and all that. They're passed away now and the freezer is exclusively for us; still one of my best purchases ever. Big meat sales at the store we stock up on and save a lot on, especially with meat prices these days, insanity.

I also make batches and batches of sauce and ready-to-go crushed tomatoes from my tomato garden every year and that lasts a good six months in the freezer, and so I have that to use all winter long until spring when I plant new tomatoes. I used to can tomatoes but for me freezing it just easier.

 

[Tygerlilly]

We have always wanted to do this but we just don't have the room in this house. We would need to buy a deep freezer and we have nowhere to put it. I am hoping we will be moving in the next few years so I am hoping we can then.

We bought a massive freezer last year with the intention of doing exactly this. Best investment ever.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Wow, your freezer is so organized!
I feel like such a slob now. Lol

Oh, this 100% only looks like this currently because of needing to put all that beef away. It was a hot mess yesterday morning.

Nice! We do the same. We did a little less last time and split a 1/2 with my SIL back in September, so we are on the finishing end of that now but when we do the full 1/2 definitely stretch that to about a year's worth of beef. Although, my kids are getting bigger now so that will start being less time I suppose. Not to mention it just tastes and looks better than factory stuff at the store and we knew and saw the cow when it was living which are both great bonuses for me. We also last year split a pig that was raised by the same guy we got the cow from and that was also very good, but he doesn't do pigs anymore. Additionally we used to get venison from friends, but don't get that much anymore. I'd like to find a source for chicken, but nothing yet.

I originally bought our upright freezer back in 2008 when my 2 big dogs were still alive and we fed them a raw diet, so I was always getting tons of stuff in bulk and offal from hunter friends and all that. They're passed away now and the freezer is exclusively for us; still one of my best purchases ever. Big meat sales at the store we stock up on and save a lot on, especially with meat prices these days, insanity.

I also make batches and batches of sauce and ready-to-go crushed tomatoes from my tomato garden every year and that lasts a good six months in the freezer, and so I have that to use all winter long until spring when I plant new tomatoes. I used to can tomatoes but for me freezing it just easier.

I make huge batches of spaghetti sauce also and freeze them in smaller batches. I usually make a couple months worth of sauce at one time. It's been so nice to have ready to go.
I keep telling my husband I want to learn to hunt so we can have some venison, but I haven't done anything about it yet. Just haven't found someone to go with me the first few times.
My dream is to have land and raise my own animals for meat and eggs and have a huge garden. We are working hard to make that happen in the next 5 years.

 

[barkley]

It’s not just random people who say you can freeze past the date, the USDA says so. The date on packages is literally a “Use or FREEZE by date”.

You are throwing money out by tossing frozen meats.

even if we lived in closer proximity to grocery stores our food bills would be SO MUCH HIGHER if we did'nt buy meat on sale to stock up and freeze. ground beef, nothing better than 80/20 has been running at around $5 a pound for ages so you better believe that when one store had a sale this past week for 93/7 at $3.49 a pound i stocked up and got about 18 pounds between 1 and 2 pound packages. pre pandemic you could count on at least one of the dozen or so different stores having a different meat on sale each week-now it's a rare occurance.

I keep telling my husband I want to learn to hunt so we can have some venison, but I haven't done anything about it yet. Just haven't found someone to go with me the first few times.
My dream is to have land and raise my own animals for meat and eggs and have a huge garden. We are working hard to make that happen in the next 5 years.

see if you have a wildlife council or hunter's organization near you. our area council gives free summer classes on hunter education.

with your dreams do you watch the homesteading shows (like homestead rescue)? we in no way live that lifestyle but LOVE learning about it. in fact, i stumbled across an announcement on facebook about a homestead conference being held this summer at one of the big fairgrounds near'ish to us. dh and i thought it would be interesting to go and see some of the presentations/check out the vendors but what realy sealed the deal was when we learned that the keynote speaker is temple grandin i'm looking forward to an interesting couple of days.

 

[piglet1979]

My dream is to have land and raise my own animals for meat and eggs and have a huge garden. We are working hard to make that happen in the next 5 years.

My mom grew up on a farm. By the time the grandkids came round my grandparents only had dogs and horses. My mom would tell me about the raising of the pigs and cattle and then taking them to the slaughter house. I am not sure I could do this. I am ok not knowing the animal. If I raised it I think it would be too hard to kill. At the end of one summer my grandparents found a stay pig. they couldn't find the owners so the kept it and then the next thing we knew it was gone. No one told us what happened to the pig until after Christmas. We all got close with it over the few months. Well it was the ham we had for Christmas dinner. We were all so upset but also got over it quickly.

even if we lived in closer proximity to grocery stores our food bills would be SO MUCH HIGHER if we did'nt buy meat on sale to stock up and freeze. ground beef, nothing better than 80/20 has been running at around $5 a pound for ages so you better believe that when one store had a sale this past week for 93/7 at $3.49 a pound i stocked up and got about 18 pounds between 1 and 2 pound packages. pre pandemic you could count on at least one of the dozen or so different stores having a different meat on sale each week-now it's a rare occurance.

We do this too. Though ours seems a bit cheaper. Ground beef is around $3.99 a pound normally. We try to get it on sale around $2.99 a pound. We did buy 10 pounds once. It was the once in the tube shape. It was cheap but no way was it 80/20 like it said. There was so much more fat. We won't get that again. We also only get chicken on sale as well.

 

[barkley]

I am not sure I could do this. I am ok not knowing the animal. If I raised it I think it would be too hard to kill.

had a friend whose dad would get a cow every year to fatten up for the freezer. they only lived on a few acres but dad set that cow up at the furthest possible point away from the house b/c otherwise mom and the kids would name it and get emotionaly attached (when the grands would visit they were prohibited from going to that area-too many uncomfortable questions when they visited to enjoy a family bbq in the fall ).

 

[Nettlelondon]

Some friends of ours had a couple of pigs when their girls were under 5. They gave them names which everyone was worried about, but when asked anything about them the girls would say "they are going to be sausages & bacon soon" so they had a good attitude. They also had some chickens and the rooster attaked the younger one. When asked about him she said "he hurt me, so he was dinner". They understood the concept from a very young age.

And the sausages & bacon their mum made were amazing.

 

[barkley]

fyi-target has their buy $50 in household products/get a $15 gift card deal going.

 

[Bellex917]

BIG UPDATE!

We got our tax return and used 4k of it to put towards our debt (other 2k covered my kids camps so we are set for the summer- yes, I know I shouldn't get back this much, for now it works for us)... so this month we paid off $5,762!! We only have $6,728 of debt left. Should be done in 4-5 months.

 

[barkley]

BIG UPDATE!

We got our tax return and used 4k of it to put towards our debt (other 2k covered my kids camps so we are set for the summer- yes, I know I shouldn't get back this much, for now it works for us)... so this month we paid off $5,762!! We only have $6,728 of debt left. Should be done in 4-5 months.

not sure but i think if you ran the numbers with the debt you probably saved in interest paying a big chunk vs. getting less tax return/more monthly over the calendar year and paying it a bit at a time.

 

[Bamaclan4]

We raise our own beef and also sell beef cows to the public for processing. We are waiting on our whole beef to pick up. We also recently had a pig processed and can get chicken once monthly in bulk super cheap. We grow a nice garden in the summer and supplement the rest of the vegetables to be put away for winter through the Mennonites. I honestly don’t know how young couples or people that Have to purchase everything at the grocery afford it. I really watch for deals just for fillers and essentials.

 

[piccolopat]

We bought a massive freezer last year with the intention of doing exactly this. Best investment ever.

I hope you have a generator to power it when the electric goes out. Most homeowners insurance won't cover the stuff in your fridge or freezer due to an outage and that's a lot of expensive meat.

 

[Tygerlilly]

I hope you have a generator to power it when the electric goes out. Most homeowners insurance won't cover the stuff in your fridge or freezer due to an outage and that's a lot of expensive meat.

We actually were just discussing a generator and if we wanted to splurge on a whole house one or just get a couple smaller ones to run the important things if we lose power.
We're pretty lucky that we don't normally have power loss issues around here, so I think a small one to power the fridge and freezer would be enough.

 

[barkley]

I hope you have a generator to power it when the electric goes out. Most homeowners insurance won't cover the stuff in your fridge or freezer due to an outage and that's a lot of expensive meat.

We actually were just discussing a generator and if we wanted to splurge on a whole house one or just get a couple smaller ones to run the important things if we lose power.
We're pretty lucky that we don't normally have power loss issues around here, so I think a small one to power the fridge and freezer would be enough.

don't get me wrong, i LOVE my whole house generator but if it's just a couple of things you want backed up and it's safe (ventilation wise) to use a couple of portables then it's a much less costly way to go. we are replacing ours and despite already having the propane line plumbed, the cement slab and all the other odds and ends of electricals in place we are looking at over $14,000 - if we did'nt rely on a well and run the risk in winter of freezing pipes exploding the well pump in the event of an outage or no access to water during the summer wildfire season we would likely opt like many in our region and just head to a hotel during prolonged outages.

 

[firefly_ris]

We actually were just discussing a generator and if we wanted to splurge on a whole house one or just get a couple smaller ones to run the important things if we lose power.
We're pretty lucky that we don't normally have power loss issues around here, so I think a small one to power the fridge and freezer would be enough.

We have a portable with a pass-through transfer box. A whole house was not in the budget but the pass-through makes it pretty convenient. There is a plug on the back of the house and then you just flip on the pass through breakers and turn off the main box. It runs the fridge, upright freezer, furnace, sump pump, several lights, living room TV, and cable modem without issue. In January we lost power for about 4 days. It used about 5 gallons every 12 hours. I bought it used off Facebook Marketplace.

 

[Tygerlilly]

We have a portable with a pass-through transfer box. A whole house was not in the budget but the pass-through makes it pretty convenient. There is a plug on the back of the house and then you just flip on the pass through breakers and turn off the main box. It runs the fridge, upright freezer, furnace, sump pump, several lights, living room TV, and cable modem without issue. In January we lost power for about 4 days. It used about 5 gallons every 12 hours. I bought it used off Facebook Marketplace.

Definitely will look into that.

 

[Tygerlilly]

New sinking fund for October: Disney.

I mentioned the other night how I really enjoyed doing Disney with the homeschool group. They just announced dates and my birthday falls in the middle of it. My goal has been to do a half marathon at a Run Disney event. Guess what also happens to be during that week? Wine and Dine.

He said if we could get the tickets and hotel for under $5000 we'd go. Based off last year's prices (I expect a small increase), I'm budgeting $3200 for tickets and I found several condos for around $1500. Just got to solidify the dates we want to actually be there and book the condo soon.