Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yes, she does. She buys whole cows from the local organic farms and puts them in her freezer.
Yes, I already did the math for you. That means you would save more than $100 if you didn't buy organic grass fed beef.
Yes, her $600 includes nonfood items. That means you're spending way more money on food than her. She buys those in bulk too. I saw her toilet paper arrive via UPS. She buys it ever 6 months. It took up her front porch. Buying in bulk does save significant money. It might be a hassle for you, but it's a necessity for people who have tight budgets.
Meat isn't her main item. It's just in almost every meal, except when she uses beans. She's very frugal with her cooking. She's not feeding steaks to the family. That would be crazy. She cuts up steaks and makes meals that require less meat.
If the 600 includes everything, then she is doing very well and would probably be extremely hard to spend less with 8 people in the family.
Has she ever done a "study" on her item usage. Just for fun, I tracked how much toilet paper we used - lol. We can't use the super fluffy stuff because of a weird curve in the sewer pipe out to the road. So we buy Scotts ultra. I figured 74 rolls a year.
So two big 36 roll packs from Sams does the trick! I did the same with other things. I hear of people buying ten or more tubes of toothpaste. Again this is in small families. It would take me a year to go through two large tubes. I once bought 30 or so tubes of deodorant, in my crazy stock up days. The gel ones oozed into big puddles and the others disintegrated into a powdery mess. Two large sticks a year is more than enough for me.
If the 600 includes everything, then she is doing very well and would probably be extremely hard to spend less with 8 people in the family.
Has she ever done a "study" on her item usage. Just for fun, I tracked how much toilet paper we used - lol. We can't use the super fluffy stuff because of a weird curve in the sewer pipe out to the road. So we buy Scotts ultra. I figured 74 rolls a year.
So two big 36 roll packs from Sams does the trick! I did the same with other things. I hear of people buying ten or more tubes of toothpaste. Again this is in small families. It would take me a year to go through two large tubes. I once bought 30 or so tubes of deodorant, in my crazy stock up days. The gel ones oozed into big puddles and the others disintegrated into a powdery mess. Two large sticks a year is more than enough for me.
You and my girlfriend would get along great. She's a highly educated SAHM. She applies all of her intellect to running a household in a freakily scientific way. She does spreadsheets on this stuff. She orders many things online via Amazon and gets free shipping.
I've never officially calculated my actual toilet paper usage. It seems to be 1 roll per day. (I'm a big toilet paper waster but there's nothing I can do about it). I did calculate once that Scott is the most affordable. My children rebelled at one point---asking why can't we have nice TP like their friends.
I can understand why you're trying to avoid stocking up. I don't want to overbuy either. I'd just like to buy the sale prices for whatever we have normal storage for. If my bathroom cabinet can't hold X tubes of toothpaste, I won't buy them. I've heard of people storing food under their beds. That's not going to happen here. My girlfriend might stock a lot of stuff but her house isn't hoard-ish. She keeps most of it in her basement.
I'll never buy more than can fit on the shelves at the top of my basement stairs. the refrigerator or freezer I plan to buy.
I just discovered a new benefit to stocking up and storing what you use.
Last week I bought pickled beets at Costco. I use quite a few of them, so I buy multiple jars. I had just opened my last jar and we used that up before opening a new jar.
So, here comes in the mail yesterday a recall notice from Costco that the beets have been recalled.
If I did not have beets still left from my previous purchase, I would have opened and used the new jar immediately the same day we got home from the store with them.
The way I shop, nearly everything I buy is on the shelf here for a week or two before it is opened and used. That gives time for a recall notice to go out.
This is a non-issue. I own a nice big reliable generator.
With any freezer, if the power goes out, don't open the door and things will stay frozen in there for at least three days.
Worst case scenario, I own all the equipment needed to can. It would be lot of work, but I could can everything in the freezers.
The freezers are a bit of a necessity. I just butchered a dozen turkeys and they won't all fit into my fridge and the family can't eat 12 turkeys in less than a week.
It's a form of wealth. In rural areas you had to be prepared,and some cultures have built it into their religion.
They don't forget that you can lose access to food, water, etc. at any time.
Hoarding is not about being prepared for tough times. There's a difference.
Preparation-having a reasonable stock on hand in case of emergency. The stock in eaten, rotated and replenished on a regular basis.
Hoarding-buying and buying more and more with no plan to ever consume, rotate or keep the stock fresh. Also, the actual mental/emotional/physical inability to throw away old, unneeded, spoiled food. No, everything will not last forever.
My Grandmother was Mormon, back in the day when the church recommended a year supply of food, on hand. We had a store room, chock full of food. It really seemed out of control.
There is a difference between being a food hoarder, and having canned tomatoes on hand because you eat them often.
They try to only go shopping once every two months because the gasoline to get to the store adds up. Most people who live in his area shop less frequently than that.
Wow - that's really hard to imagine anyone shopping that seldom. Many perishable foods spoil in a couple of weeks, or even less, so they would have to do without them most of the time. Bananas only last a few days. If your son's family drink milk, or eat bread and baked goods, they must milk their own cows, or bake it themselves, or maybe they buy just those items at the closer convenience store you mentioned ?
Wow - that's really hard to imagine anyone shopping that seldom. Many perishable foods spoil in a couple of weeks, or even less, so they would have to do without them most of the time. Bananas only last a few days. If your son's family drink milk, or eat bread and baked goods, they must milk their own cows, or bake it themselves, or maybe they buy just those items at the closer convenience store you mentioned ?
My son and his roommates. He's 22 years old. Almost everyone lives the way they live where they live because it's so remote. This is why freezers are so important. You can freeze gallons of milk, bread and baked goods. Most fresh vegies can be frozen and many fruits too. Bananas only freeze well to use for future recipes so they only eat those fresh the first week after shopping. Apples last almost forever without being frozen. If it wasn't possible to freeze milk, there's canned and powdered milk.
We know what hoarders are...how about "food hoarders"?
People who buy random food, don't eat it, put it in the pantry, and never get rid of it...
I am a small scale food hoarder, I always buy some odd health food product, like Chia seeds, or oat bran, bee pollen, and I never get around to eating it, but I don't throw it away.
My SO was quite a food hoarder, he bought random things at Costco, filled a store room, never ate the food...I cleaned it out last summer, quite a project. ..
Okay, are you a food hoarder? What products are in your cupboards you have had for over three months, and have not touched...
My late grandparents were definitely food hoarders. The big ticket items were any and all canned goods, crisps, etc. Expiration dates were eclipsed and they would still be in the pantry 10-15 years later.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
