Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Do You NEED to Cut the Grocery Budget?

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lettuce

Thank you all for adding suggestions and sharing your various circumstances in my last Real Food Grocery Budget post, Very Limited Income for Real Food Purchases. I think it’s great that we’re all helping each other think of new ideas for saving money on good food.

What I’d like to address now is that while I think it’s great to learn ways to cut down on food costs when you’re going through tough financial situations, I also feel like it is very important to make sure our families are getting the nutrition they need. Again, we are investing in our bodies when we spend money to eat whole, real food. Some foods we can cut back on, but there are some things we really, really need to be eating so that we can stay healthy.

That’s why I had such a hard time sharing what I’d cut back on or cut out of our diets. I have a hard time recommending that many people NEED to cut down their grocery budget. If you’re spending money on processed foods or splurging all the time on specialty items and buying food that isn’t in season or buying stuff to eat that will simply fill a hole but not offer any nourishment…then we need to talk about ways for you to cut your grocery budget.

But if you have $X amount in your grocery budget and you’re carefully spending that amount on real, whole foods that are nourishing your family…I think you should keep doing what you’re doing. Sure, let’s keep trying to find fair prices and good deals and shop wisely so as to be good stewards of what God has given us to take care of our families. But if you have the money for plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables or any of the high quality healthy foods you feel convicted about eating…buy them for your family. Don’t cut out necessary nutrition just so that you can say that you’ve lowered your grocery bill.

In addition – and I’m guessing that I probably don’t really need to be saying this to any of you but I’m going to say it anyway – before you talk about needing to cut your Real Foods Grocery Budget, please make sure you’ve cut every other un-necessary item out of your budget first. My family has always done without cable TV and expensive cell phone plans and frequent eating out and going to movies and expensive clothing and all kinds of other things I can’t think of because we don’t spend money (or rarely spend money) on them so I probably don’t know what I’m missing.  I’m NOT saying that you shouldn’t ever have or do these things. If you have cable TV, I’m fine with that and will probably even enjoy watching the Food Network with you when I come for a visit. I’m just saying that you really shouldn’t complain about not being able to “afford” real, whole food…and then turn around and fill your grocery cart with frozen pizza, soda, twinkies and chips, 24 new pairs of high heeled shoes and a big screen TV for your bathroom. Kapeesh?

My point ultimately is that we all need to be as careful as possible with how we spend our money…but I think that spending money on good, whole food for our families is wise and even necessary. It’s an investment in our health for today and for years down the road. Good food costs money…but I think we need to caution ourselves against feeling like, “ugh, healthy food is SOOOOO expensive.” Is it…really? I don’t look at it that way anymore. I look at healthy food as…healthy. And the price that comes with it?

Well…I’d rather not pay the price of eating cheap, empty food. To me…that is what is costly.
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Off and on all week I’ve said that I would share about some creative ways our family saves, earns and comes up with great sources for food. I’ve sprinkled some of that information throughout these posts, but really and truly I have a whole post devoted to sharing ways to stretch and grow your grocery budget. Other topics keep popping up this week as I’ve written this series, but I promise (probably, mostly for sure, I think) that I’ll post tomorrow about stretching the budget. And sometime soon…I’ll even post about stretching a chicken.
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What are your thoughts about the “cost” of nutrition-void food?

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Very Limited Income for Real Food Purchases

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farmers_market

Apparently I have declared it to be Real Food Budget Week here at Heavenly Homemakers. There’s just a lot to say about real food and money…so I just keep going with this subject. :) If you missed the other posts, be sure to read Our Real Food Grocery Budget 2011 and No Grocery Budget Comparing Allowed.

Several have asked me to offer suggestions for how to eat a Real Foods diet while cutting back on the budget because of a super low income. This is a hard question for me to answer because I feel that it is very important to invest money in good food. Very important.  If you recall, I used to be a Coupon Queen and spend only about $100/month on groceries back when we had only two kids. I’ve come a  long way since then, learning about real food and health. I now understand that food is NUTRITION for our bodies…and we need to be careful and intentional about what we feed our families. It costs money to eat well, there’s no way around it…more money than it costs to feed our families food that contains little or no nutrition. 

At one point during our family’s Healthy Eating Journey, we were making less than $29,000/year (with no benefits) for our family of six. We were still able to eat a healthy diet, because we made it a priority and because we were creative and because God is good and provides…all the time.

For some of you, $29,000 sounds like peanuts…for others,$29,000 sounds like a fortune. If you’re barely making ends meet, what are you to do?

The question has been presented to me from a reader with a very low income and a family of five:  How would you eat a whole foods diet on only $50/week?    What would you cut out? What would you keep?

First let me say that whole foods or not…it would be very hard to feed five people with $50/week and I would encourage you to find a way to supplement that budget if at all possible. In my next food budget post (because this truly is turning into a little series!), I’ll talk about food budget creativity and share how I was able to help supplement our family’s grocery budget when we needed to spend more on groceries but didn’t have the cash flow!

For now I will address, as best as I can, what I would do if I was only able spend $50/week on groceries….

Food I’d Keep:

  • Eggs – free range if possible
  • Raw Milk – though we’d likely cut back to 1- 2 gallons a week
  • Butter
  • Fresh fruits and vegetables – in season and rationed – and I’d look high and low for free sources and I’d garden like crazy
  • Venison – hunters often love to hunt but don’t always like the meat
  • Beans – I’d likely get much more creative with my bean recipes!
  • Rice
  • Potatoes
  • Wheat to grind and make my own flour

Food I’d Cut Way Back On:

  • Meat – which is tough because we LOVE meat and feel like getting good protein is very important! I’d likely focus more on buying chicken than beef, because I can stretch a chicken to last six meals if need be. Or I’d skip the ground beef and buy soup bones and oxtail so I could make rich beef broth and stews.
  • Cheese – this would have to be a special treat

Food I’d Cut Out Altogether:

  • Sweets – these would be VERY limited – birthdays and Christmas only maybe?
  • Purchased snack food – I hardly buy these anyway, but occasionally I splurge on a bag of chips or a box of Cliff Bars for a trip. 
  • Juice – again, I rarely buy juice anyway, but if I only had $50/week to spend on groceries, this would never make the list.

I know I’m not doing a great job of making these lists and there are a lot of holes. What about oil? Spices? All kinds of other things I’m leaving out? 

In my next post, I’ll address some creative ways we save, earn and come up with great sources for food. In the meantime, help me round out these lists!! What would you keep, cut back on and cut out altogether if you had about $10/person/week to spend on groceries?

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No Grocery Budget Comparing Allowed :)

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I am so glad so many of you are sharing about your grocery budgets and talking about what works for you in the area of food spending. I’m loving how we are all able to interact with each other in the comments and encourage each other as we look at sources for real, whole foods to feed our families.

One tiny concern I have and would like to address, is that sometimes I feel like we can look at what others spend on groceries for the month and either feel like a failure because “there’s no way I could keep my grocery budget that low” or feel like someone else is overspending because “wow, what in the world  is she buying with all that money each month?”

Neither kind of comparison is okay.

We’re all in different circumstances. We all live in different places. We all have different food sources. We all have different dietary needs. We all have different income levels. We all have different sized gardening spaces (or a lack thereof). We all have different sized kitchens and different storage situations. We all have a lot of laundry to do – oh wait…that has nothing to do with grocery budgets. Well, we don’t get to compare height of laundry piles either.

I was hesitant to post about our family’s grocery budget for several reasons, but mainly because I really didn’t want anyone to see what we spent on mostly organic, whole foods and feel like they weren’t doing a good enough job of keeping their costs down if they spend more than we spend each month.

And on the flip side, I occasionally receive comments or emails from people who can’t believe we actually spend $500/month on food because $500/month seems frivolous and outrageous and all of the food we eat just seems too high priced.

My intent is not to have anyone compare how much they spend each month with what our family spends or with what any family spends.  And please don’t be critical of me or of anyone if we happen to spend more than you spend on groceries. 

What I did intend is for us all to be challenged about what we spend and about what we’re eating and about where we get our food. I want us all to use this blog as a forum for sharing with each other and helping each other. I have no idea what the great food sources are in any place but my little neck of the woods, which is why it’s so fun to see you all sharing with each other and offering food source suggestions when you “meet” someone who lives close to you. THANK YOU for doing that for each other.

But please let’s nobody look at anybody’s food budget number and feel icky. (That may be one of the most poorly worded sentences I’ve ever wrote.)  (Okay, no…that one was.)

And also, my laundry pile is shrinking as we speak, but tomorrow it will be back up again and I’ll be right back where I started. What does your laundry pile look like? Oh wait…I said we WEREN’T going to compare laundry height. Never mind.

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Our Real Food Grocery Budget 2011

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I’m trying very hard to write a post about how much our Grocery Budget is for 2011 for our family of six. Many of you are curious about how much money it takes to eat the way we do (especially with four growing boys) and I’d really love to be able to share.

My problem with giving you a “We spend $X on our groceries each month” statement is that I don’t feel like any number I come up with will be accurate. I’d say we probably spend an average of about $500/month for our family’s food needs. But some months I spend $400 on meat alone…other months I don’t buy any meat at all…sometimes my Azure Standard co-op order is really huge…other months I barely buy anything.

I rarely shop at a grocery store, so I hardly ever have a store receipt to guide me on our food budget keeping. We get milk and cream from one farmer, eggs from our friend, chicken and beef from a farm, venison from hunters, lamb from a teenager raising lambs, raw honey from a local bee keeper, maple syrup once a year at the farmer’s market, bulk wheat once a year from a big bulk order a friend organizes. We get sweet corn in a huge batch once during the summer and put it up in the freezer.

And so, our grocery spending each month depends on what we need and when we need it. (We are blessed to have extra freezers and storage space to support our bulk purchases.)  If I were to buy what I need each month, then look at the budget and say, “Ooh goody…we have an extra $105 in our grocery budget that I haven’t spent yet…now I have money to splurge on extras like pizza and juice!” then I wouldn’t have enough the following month when we’re out of ground beef.

I don’t spend money just because I happen to have surplus in our monthly budget.  I spend the money I need to spend at the time I need to spend it and that’s it. Sometimes I go over budget, sometimes I’m way under…it all averages out.

Does that make any sense at all?

In addition, we tend to feed a lot of company each month. We LOVE having people over for meals and do this regularly. The money for this sometimes comes out of our “Giving” budget instead of out of our regular “Food” budget, but it’s all food so it’s hard to keep track of separately.

So…this is why I’m having a hard time sharing what our grocery budget looks like. I apologize for being complicated. I actually feel like the way we do things is simple, because we just spend the money for the food we need when we need it. It’s fun and it’s delicious and I love knowing where our food is coming from. But it doesn’t look very pretty on paper…or rather on screen.

As best as I could I broke down our food budget for each month with a rough guess of how much I spend on average for our groceries:

  • Raw Whole Milk and Cream:  3 gallons of milk at $4.00/gallon + 1 pint of cream at $3.00/pint each week =$15/week; $60/month
  • Free Range Eggs:  4 dozen a week at $2.50/dozen= $10.00/week; $40.00/month
  • Chicken, Beef, Lamb and Venison:  $150/month
  • Azure Standard order:  $150/month
  • Grocery Store/Walmart/Farmer’s Market (summertime):  $75/month
  • Bulk Wheat  $210/year = $17.50/month
  • Amazon Groceries:  Free with Swagbucks (more about this tomorrow)
  • Garden Produce:  Lots of hard work and sweat

We grow and preserve all of our tomato products, green beans and many other vegetables from our garden each year. We almost always have a chance to pick (for free) all the strawberries and raspberries and peaches and apples and pears and cherries we can get our hands on. We work very hard in the fall to can and freeze enough of these items to last us the entire year. This food is “free” but labor intensive. That’s okay, we get a big kick out of having dirty fingernails.

So, now that I’ve given you all of this information…I’d love for you to tell a little bit about what your food budget looks like if you care to share. Do you spend a certain amount on groceries each month, or do you just buy what you need as you need it? Do you feel like you should cut your grocery bill…or do you feel like you are buying high quality food at a good price?

Be sure to hop on over and read this too: No Grocery Budget Comparing Allowed

Tomorrow, I plan to address several questions I’ve received about eating Real Food on a very limited income. How can you eat a healthy diet when you barely have enough money for groceries?

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Homeschool Curriculum and Unhealthy Soccer Snacks! Podcast #2

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It’s podcast time again! Matt and I are still working out some of the kinks, but overall I think we’re getting things figured out. We WILL be asking to boys to “keep it down” in the next room as we record future podcasts. You may or may not hear a little rough housing in the background.  And a bird might chirp here and there. My children I can control (usually)…birds? Not so much.

On a completely different note, and don’t ask me why I feel the need to share this with you, but ever since I lost my mom to ALS six years ago…there have been random moments when I sing or speak that I am able to HEAR her voice through mine. I think the older I get, the more I sound like her. I am her daughter after all. Occasionally at church I’ll be singing away and suddenly notice…WOW, that sounded just like Mom! And then I melt into a puddle right there in the pew because “hearing her voice” makes me miss her so much more.

That’s what happened when I listened to myself at the beginning of this podcast. Not the whole thing…just when I open with the word “Hello!” It completely took me by surprise and I immediately began weeping all over the computer right there in my headset. Whew…I was not expecting that. It’s amazing how the pain fades, yet the tears and yearning are always there. Perhaps God has given me a gift today in being able to “hear” what my mom’s voice sounded like. Yes, it is amazing really.

Thanks for letting me share that. You all are really, really great and I appreciate all of you so much. {She says, as she pauses to blow her nose again. Man, I’m weepy today.}

I really am okay.  :)  {deep breath}  In today’s podcast, I address the question of which curriculum I recommend and how in the world to keep curriculum affordable!! Also, I talk about how to handle it when our kids are handed sugary, food coloring filled snacks after events such as little league games. Isn’t that counter productive to the exercise they just participated in to keep them healthy?!

Sit back and relax…or get some dishes done while you listen. (Actually if you’d like to get some of my dishes done while I sit back and relax and we can listen together…that would be great!)

Heavenly Homemakers Podcast Two

Links refered to during the podcast:

Thanks for taking the time to read and listen to the podcast!

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Local Food is THE Best!

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I love this time of year best!! All winter long I have lived without sunshine and fresh, local produce. Parden the whine, but I neeeeed the sun. I neeeed a fresh tomato. That’s all there is to it.

This week, our local farmer’s market had its opening night! Selection is limited at this point, because the growing season in Nebraska is just beginning. But lookie what I got…

farmers_marketCost for everything…$7. 
Value to me right now to fulfill my desparate need to eat fresh food…priceless.

Right out of our garden (for free), we’re enjoying all kinds of salads! 

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Joy of joys…my friends with a huge strawberry patch 
invited me over for some strawberry picking fun!!!! 

strawberriesOh yes…I did have fun.

I then proceeded to trade my friend some strawberries for some fresh eggs. What a deal!

eggs

And well…while he isn’t produce or eggs…this little fella does happen to be locally grown too. After our travels over the weekend and a busy day playing hard in the sun yesterday, he just laid down on the floor and fell asleep. On the floor.  Now that’s one tired kid.

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Great food…cute kids. Isn’t summertime the best?

Have you scored any great deals on local food lately? 
What’s in season where you live?

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How to Store Bulk Grain

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Remember that 500 pound order of hard white wheat I ordered and brought home a few weeks ago? (Yeah, like you could forget.)

bagsofwheatsm

You may be happy to know that I’m down to only 447 (give or take) pounds of wheat now. And you were worried that I wouldn’t use it all up quickly…

Anyway, many of you asked how I would store all my bags of grain…and several of you suggested that I “critter proof” it. Yes. Very, very good advice. If it’s one thing I can count on having at my house…it’s critters. {shudder}  Although I don’t think snakes or birds should care too much about my wheat…we do see our fair share of bugs and the occasional mouse. Eeeww.  I do NOT want mice getting into my big stash of wheat. That would just be maddening.

And so, ever since I brought home all the wheat in February…I’ve been on a quest for big huge buckets for my grain storage. I needed some with lids that seal very well (obviously). The fabulous buckets with gamma seal lids I found online are pricey! Great quality, no doubt…but I needed around 20 buckets. I could have spent at least $80 for what I needed, and that was JUST the lid…not the bucket! Ouch.

Instead, I began asking around at my local grocery stores. Did you know that the frosting used in a bakery often comes in big five gallon buckets?! Yes indeed. That’s a lot of frosting! Did you know that most bakeries go through several of these big five gallon buckets in a month? Yes indeed. That’s a lot of frosting! And did you know that bakeries generally don’t want to keep their empty buckets after they’ve used the frosting out of them? Yes indeed. That’s a lot of empty, unwanted buckets.

One store asked me to “fork over” an entire dollar per bucket with lid that I took from them. Big buckets with lids for a dollar each? Okeedokee!

The other store practically threw their buckets with lids into my cart and wouldn’t let me pay one penny for them. They were almost giddy about the fact that I was so happy to take the buckets off of their hands. For free. Yes indeed.

And so…long story longer…I came away from my grocery store bakery departments with 20 buckets with lids for a total of $6.00. Yes, that was SIX dollars. Total. 

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I washed and dried the buckets thoroughly, then got busy scooping all of the wheat into them. I found that it took two – five gallon buckets for each 50 pound bag of wheat. 

I now have a big stash of white frosting buckets full of hard white wheat just waiting to be turned into bread, tortillas, muffins, pancakes, cakes, pies, cookies, pretzels, donuts, buns, bagels…the possibilities are endless!

And the critters? They can go pick on someone their own size. 

Huh. I’m suddenly remembering another time I bravely and fearlessly used big buckets to defend myself from attack. Wow. Who knew buckets such as these would be such a helpful aid for a wimpy woman such as I. Between big buckets and cottage cheese containers…I’d say I am well protected. What do you think?

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My Great Big Wheat Order

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You know that 500 pounds of wheat I had ordered? I picked it up yesterday. (And by picked it up, I literally mean that I picked-it-up. Lifted it. Fifty pounds at a time. Over and over.)

Actually…I picked up 1,000 pounds of wheat because my friend Anne went with me and she was also crazy enough to have ordered ten – 50 pound bags of wheat.

So there we were, heaving twenty – 50 pound bags of wheat into the back of my husband’s truck. We looked really cute. I’m sorry you missed it.

Matt and the boys weren’t home when we got back, so Anne and I got to lift them all over again while we carried them into our house (and then into her house).

bagsofwheatsmHere are all twenty bags stacked in the back of the truck.

I had so much fun interviewing myself back on this post, I thought I’d interview myself again, based on any questions you might have concerning my 500 pounds of wheat:

Me:  Wow, Laura.  500 pounds of wheat?  Are you crazy?

Me again:  Do you even have to ask?

Me:  Why did you order 500 pounds of wheat?

Me again:  Because I heard of a local gal ordering a big truck load of Wheat Montana. Apparently if you get enough people together to divide a truck load of their wheat, you can save a bunch of money. I usually order my wheat from Azure Standard, but sometimes it doesn’t come in. I never like running low on wheat. It’s not like I can just run to the store and get more, you know? So I ordered…a lot.

Me:  So, what in the world are you going to do with all that wheat?

Me again:  I grind my own flour and make from scratch all of our bread, tortillas, pancakes, waffles, bagels, cookies, brownies, quick breads and anything else that requires flour. I LOVE baking with freshly ground flour. It tastes incredible and is SO much healthier for us.

Me:  How long will 500 pounds of wheat last you?

Me again:  I’m thinking it should last about one year. I ordered 10 bags based on the fact that we go through almost 50 pounds each month.

Me:  You go through almost 50 pounds of wheat in a MONTH?????

Me again:  Well, there are six in our family. Five out of six are male. Four out of six eat like grown men. Plus, we have a LOT of company. Plus, I love to bake for others. Plus, we almost never buy any grain products from the store. Plus, no…that’s all.

Me:  Will the wheat keep that long, or are you afraid it will go bad? Where are you storing it?

Me again:  Wheat will keep for YEARS. As long as I keep it dry, it’ll be fine. I’m keeping it in a room that was once a garage, and is now just a storage room.

bagsofwheat2smSee? It doesn’t take up THAT much space.

Me:  Can we see the rest of your storage room?

Me again:  Are you kidding? That room is by far the scariest in my house. Nobody gets to go in there. They’d lose all respect for me if they saw that mess.

Me:  How much did 500 pounds of wheat cost you?

Me again:  I paid $210 for all of it.  That makes it about 42 cents per pound. A great price for organic wheat!

Me:  What kind of wheat did you get?

Me again:  It came from Wheat Montana…and I ordered Hard White Wheat. I LOVE that stuff!!

Me:  Why wasn’t Matt there to help you with all of that terrible, back breaking labor?

Me again:  Oh, he offered. He actually had the day off when I needed to go pick it up. But, I really wanted him to have some time with the boys. Plus, I hadn’t spent time with my friend Anne for months. I kinda wanted the get-away. Besides, I’m much stronger than I look.

Me:  No you’re not.

Me again:  Okay, I’m not. But it really wasn’t that hard. I got a good workout.

Me:  Will you keep us posted on how long the wheat lasts you and what all you’re making with it?

Me again:  I’ll tell you more than you ever wanted to know.

Speaking of which…what else would you like to know?
 

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Using Swagbucks and Amazon Cards for Organic Groceries

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I have to share with you again what a wonderful blessing Swagbucks has been to our family. 

Besides helping us buy about 50% of our school books and about 95% of our Christmas gifts in 2009…over the past few months I’ve been able to order all kinds of organic groceries. All with FREE Amazon gift cards from Swagbucks!  This has been SUCH a HUGE blessing. I’ve been able to completely stock up on many basic, healthy foods we eat…plus our grocery budget hasn’t felt the pinch as we’ve fed all kinds of company. We are so thankful!

Here’s a list of the different organic and natural groceries I’ve bought with my Swagbuck earned Amazon gift cards:

  • Organic whole wheat pasta
  • Organic whole wheat spaghetti noodles
  • Organic rolled oats
  • Organic brown rice
  • Kettle corn chips
  • Tuna
  • Molasses
  • Canned salmon
  • Organic unbleached powdered sugar
  • Organic raisins
  • Organic ketchup
  • Organic minced onion
  • Grade B maple syrup
  • Rumford aluminum free baking powder
  • Organic sucanat

These aren’t food, but sort of along the lines of ordering groceries…I’ve also ordered these fabulous products that I love oh so much for…you know…punctuation.

I have a couple of reasons for telling you this:

First, if you aren’t already using Swagbucks, you really should be!!!   While it sounds too good to be true, there truly is NO catch. I promise. Once you sign up, upload the Swagbucks tool bar. Then, anytime you need to do an online search, use your Swagbucks toolbar. You’ll be earning Swagbucks before you know it! Then, you get to redeem your Swagbucks for Amazon gift cards and all kinds of other great gifts. I’ve explained a little more about how Swagbucks works here.

The key to making more swagbucks is to tell as many people about them as you can. When your friends earn Swagbucks, so do you. It’s VERY nice.

Second, I wanted to let you know what a great source Amazon is for organic groceries. I’ve been amazed at the great quality foods I’ve been able to find and order from Amazon. If you don’t feel like you have any good sources around you for organic groceries…check out Amazon! I’m careful to only buy them if I can get Free Super Saver Shipping, which makes the price even better! 

If you have any questions about using Swagbucks or shopping at Amazon, let me know. I’m happy to explain more in detail to you! Swagbucks, Amazon and me? We’ve become very good friends. :)
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This post is linked to Works for me Wednesday.

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Just in Case You Want to Stare at My Groceries With Me

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Just a little reminder (and warning) for you about what a nerd I am:  I really like looking at my groceries after I bring them home and before I put them away.

I also like looking at pictures of other people’s groceries. What is it with me and food?

It’s been a while since I took a picture of my Azure Standard food co-op order and shared it with you. Some of you have even written me and asked why I don’t do that anymore.

I don’t know. Sometimes I guess I just get busy putting away my frozen peas and forget to get out the camera. But far be it from me to forget my weird bloggy-ness by NOT taking a picture of all of my daily activities. (Check out this post for a reminder of what bizarre kinds of pictures are in my picture file.)

And now what you’ve all been waiting to hear. All SIXTY pounds of the apples I ordered from Azure Standard arrived on the delivery truck today. Check out these beauties:

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I got twenty pounds each of organic golden delicious, gala and spartan apples. The total cost for these apples? $47!!!  For sixty pounds of organic apples!!!!  I love Azure Standard! 

Here’s the rest of my order:

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Fifty pounds of hard white wheat, three pounds of yams, two cans of black olives, six pounds of fresh pears, five pounds of cocoa powder, five pounds of white cheddar cheese, ten pounds of carrots, two avocados, one big cabbage, a huge head of cauliflower, five pounds of frozen peas and one tub of whole milk maple yogurt (special treat!).

The wheat will last us about two months and the cocoa will last longer than that. Everything else will be gone within the month (or by tomorrow).

Total cost with the apples and everything else (including delivery charges):  $188.54

Ooh, and guess what else? Our friends shared a deer with us this week. Matt even got to go help process it! They were so generous to share it with us! Cost? A few freezer bags. Wow.

Not pictured:  Red, raw deer meat.

You’re welcome.

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