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I can well afford it, thank you very much. The main draw to this program is that they take the pet back if something happens to you. In your old age.
I'm sorry then. Your post came across as needing some program to pay for vet and food bills for a pet so I assumed you could not afford one on your own.
This is the thrift thread, isn't it? I don't necessarily need the financial assistance, but it's a great program... I've actually suggested to them that they means-test the applicants, as why shouldn't those who can afford to pay, pay? The main thing is rehoming the pets should the senior owners become disabled -- or dead; one requirement is that you have someone check on you and the dog every day. And who knows if I WILL need help in the future the way prices are rising? I'm a single woman living (so far) on just my pension. Lots of pets are being turned in to shelters due to the vet/food costs so, again, this program is a great idea. I might even leave them my money when I die, if I have any left over.
I see my neighbors having to walk their dogs twice a day (what makes a person who lives in a townhouse with a postage stamp yard get a dog that needs at least an hour of exercise every day I'll never know) and am glad I don't have to do that.
Lots of small breeds don't require a lot of exercise and can be piddle-pad trained. Senior dogs, as a rule, also aren't very energetic. And then there are cats!
I will say there's about 9 dogs and one cat in the safe park, only two are 55+ lbs. The rest are 5-10 lbs and the amount of food they eat, isn't even a quarter of what the owners could eat.
Compared to a big dog, feeding is cheap, it's the vet bills that always cause issues. Even the "Charity" vet clinics limit the cost to $750 after that, they suggest a final injection.
I will say there's about 9 dogs and one cat in the safe park, only two are 55+ lbs. The rest are 5-10 lbs and the amount of food they eat, isn't even a quarter of what the owners could eat.
Compared to a big dog, feeding is cheap, it's the vet bills that always cause issues. Even the "Charity" vet clinics limit the cost to $750 after that, they suggest a final injection.
I would think the vet associated with this particular program would be a lot less likely to gouge the owners with potentially unnecessary expenses compared to the average vet out to make a buck and/or keep his practice afloat; yet another reason I'm drawn to it, even if I pay the vet bills myself.
please give us a sample shopping list for the month. (and your region)
As a farmer with a lifetime of veggie / orchard / berry growing and selling, I'm quite interested in your typical items amounting to $800+ / month.
I teach sustainable growing and consuming and food security for the rural poor and could use some examples and pointers.
Please educate us.
I don't know if you are interested in other answers to this question, but our average grocery shopping for the two of us never amounts to more than $600 a month, with an added $150 for wine. We do shop in bulk for non-perishables and we have an additional freezer in the garage, so we usually get just get about 15 pounds of meat/poultry per months of whatever is on sale, so our weekly shopping only consists of produce and dairy items and maybe three or four things like bread or shampoo.
Anyway, typical for us, four-week totals for two people:
15 pounds of meat, average $4.00/lb: $60.00
Seafood (about three pounds): $100.00 (That is our BIG splurge and expense)
Produce ($20 per week): $80.00
Dairy ($20 per week): $80.00
Non-Food Items, per month: $40.00 (detergent, shampoo, deodorant, etc.)
"Non-perishable" food, per month $50.00
Desserts and Sodas, $10 per week: $40.00 (this is probably high because I bake from scratch, and we don't drink a lot of soda, so maybe two liters of soda and two containers of ice cream per month)
That totals $450, but why I said $600 for food/groceries is because (1) we will stock up on steaks when they go on sale for $10 a pound, (2) because of holiday meals, which we do not scrimp on, and (3) because sometimes we will "need" a special spice or herb, which can be expensive. But, honestly, our weekly grocery run is almost always between $50 and $100, excluding wine, and we go to the seafood market once a month for the seafood, and then every four months we will go to Costco for TP, etc., but the Costco total hardly ever comes to more than $150. Oh, and in the fall/winter I make quite a few casseroles, which cost an average of about $10 for four servings. And the only processed food we buy are pasta, spaghetti sauce, soups, cereals, crackers, staples, and condiments. (We buy no prepared meals except for one Papa Murphy's Take and Bake Pizza per month in the colder months, but that is enough for four servings -- and when we buy a combo pizza on $10 Tuesdays, that is only $2.50 per serving.)
Now, again, we REALLY stock up when things ae on sale, so we save a lot of money that way. I also plan menus for an entire month, and we only go out to eat every other month now -- and that comes out of our $200 a month recreation budget.
P.S. We live in rural Wisconsin, but we are 20 minutes away from four fairly large supermarkets.
P.P.S. I can't give you a "typical" grocery list because of what I explained in the long paragraph above, but we usually have only about 20 items on our weekly shopping trip -- including about 10 produce items and five dairy items, with the remainder being those things we don't already have in our pantry or freezer.
Last edited by katharsis; 05-19-2022 at 05:41 PM..
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,705 posts, read 58,022,681 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by katharsis
I don't know if you are interested in other answers to this question, but our average grocery shopping for the two of us never amounts to more than $600 a month, with an added $150 for wine. ...
Thx for the great details.
That is quite relevant to retirees ..coping with the surge in food and energy prices?
I hope to also see the details from the vegan consumers, as cutting out dairy and meat would greatly reduce my monthly grocery costs and entertainment budget! (~$100 for (2)). Having been a lifelong farmer, my large chest freezer is always full, plus we also dry and can a lot of fruit and veggies.
I remember my farmer grandparents at my age (Early retirement) had (2) really huge chest freezers + 2 refrigerators, and all summer we ate very well mostly out of the garden. (which was about the size of my current homestead ~1 acre). We gave so much food away from our gardens, but the neighbors all had plenty too. When we went to church it was like a produce truck had arrived, and everyone brought their own produce to share.
Then there were the potlucks (2 this week) and school food fundraisers (from Chili suppers, Pancake breakfasts, Runza sales, to Crab Cracks), Eating has never been easier than when growing up in a small farm town. (I know where I'm headed WTSHTF) We always had people dropping by for supper (As we do now, but not every night!). Of course going to visit relatives in MN was entertaining and plentiful for food. My aunt sold her farm when she was age 85 and moved to town. When we were fixing supper and needed some more or different veggies, you just walked over to the neighbors yard and took what you needed. No asking, no privacy fencing. It was accepted and expected. I cherished the rhubarb. zucchini, tomatoes! Only 2 things money can't buy... and that's True Love and Homegrown Tomatoes/
Compliments to Misty River (Female Americana group - Portland / Salem, OR)
please give us a sample shopping list for the month. (and your region)
As a farmer with a lifetime of veggie / orchard / berry growing and selling, I'm quite interested in your typical items amounting to $800+ / month.
I teach sustainable growing and consuming and food security for the rural poor and could use some examples and pointers.
Please educate us.
Trying to figure out how we spend so much on groceries, and looking at Katharsis" post with her breakdown, I need to separate out household items, such as paper towels, from my grocery category.
A week's shopping trip would include:
Greens, etc for salads. We eat a big salad every night with dinner
2-3 quarts of Greek yogurt
2-3 pints of berries
Fresh vegetables
Dave's Killer Bread and/or Grace Baking Multigrain Bread with Quinoa
Oat milk for our cereal, whole milk for my lattes, half and half for my pour-overs
What drives up our total is:
Regular deliveries from Daily Harvest and Hello Fresh
Occasional deliveries from Vitacost
Senseo and Nespresso coffee pods plus whole beans---this alone adds up to $75 or so a month
What we don't spend money on that others might:
Sodas
Bottled water or canned fizzy waters
Snacks other than Skinny Pop---no chips, etc
Deserts other than cookies
Dining out is rare since Covid
While we don't buy everything organic, there's a lot that we do and the cost can be double to that of non-organic
We live in south central PA, surrounded by farms. Farmer's markets and Amish stands everywhere. In considering what I need to do:
Seek out these markets and take the time to shop there
Cut back on Hello Fresh ---most, if not all, of their dishes I could make from scratch
Any other suggestions? Don't ask me to give up my coffees!
While we can afford what we spend now, if something happened to my husband, my income would be cut in half. Thus, I am tracking our spending and trying to see where we can cut back.
We do hellofresh and it's a nice break for coming up with meals.
How do you like Daily Harvest?
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) and school food fundraisers (from Chili suppers, Pancake breakfasts, Runza sales, to Crab Cracks), Eating has never been easier than when growing up in a small farm town. (I know where I'm headed WTSHTF
) We always had people dropping by for supper (As we do now, but not every night!). Of course going to visit relatives in MN was entertaining and plentiful for food. My aunt sold her farm when she was age 85 and moved to town. When we were fixing supper and needed some more or different veggies, you just walked over to the neighbors yard and took what you needed. No asking, no privacy fencing. It was accepted and expected. I cherished the rhubarb. zucchini, tomatoes!
