Have you cut back on Beef & Dairy?

Pour milk into those kids ... they will thank you for it later. I grew up drinking milk, have always loved it. I'm 47 and have only one cavity, and that from cracking a tooth while chomping on ice (not a good idea). The dentist who filled it commented that my wisdom teeth are unusually strong and probably will resist decay. She said most people have weak wisdom teeth because during the years when they're developing (late teens) young people often slack off on milk-drinking and don't get enough calcium and other nutrients to make strong teeth. Guess all that 'moo juice' set me in good stead!

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"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.

i'm gonna also add that the higher prices have got me eating more home grown beef n dairy . Making less trips to town and the grocery because the cost of gas ,and grocerys. gets me making more trips to the freezer and garden "cooking at home " instead of grabbing something at a junk food place .

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Between what we raise, hunt and trade for it is not too bad. This fall another black baldy heifer will be going into the freezer, and some BB and BA will be going into the bank, strong market like now a lot of money is being put up. We trade one process hog, including ham and sausage for fresh Milk from a friend and dairy farmer up the round, and one hog for lamb from another farmer. SO that covers milk, cheese, butter and a little ice cream will buy same. One hog to a friend of my late Grandmother for 50 bucks, lunch and a couple pies, sweet lady and a nice connection to my grandmother. Hunt, Deer, Elk and if lucky a bison, share the elk meat and 1/4 the bison with three hunting friends haven't had a bison tag in years not easy to get. This year going after a bear in the fall will split that critter too. Plus fishing for trout. Last week the DW picked up a few gallons of Organic whole Milk for 2.50 gallon normal price is 7 dollars so going to drink this and make more cheese and Butter from the milk from our friend. With a family of six got to think outside of the Box. Rambotex, My dear wife is from down in the panhandle got to love a good smoked Texas Brisket

Butter is super easy if you have a kitchen aide or stand mixer with a flat paddle and a whip. Love making butter!

Well we do love our beef. no rabbit kits yet, plenty of of eggs though ( I would love to barter!)...
and sad to say we dried up the milk goat- this will inspire us to get her bred and milking though - not til next spring I am guessing...
We have cut back on eating in general (DH and me could stand to lose a few pounds) but love our meat and dairy.... havent cut them out in particular, but just cut back in general on the groceries....

I was really surprised reading this thread that more people on here don't raise their own. We have beef, pork and chicken in spades. Plus eggs and milk. The only thing I am light on now is butter since I am calf sharing.
I was a city girl all my life. We moved to the country 4 yrs ago and once the first cow and pig went into the freezer the amount of stuff I buy at the store has totally dropped. I was appalled at the price of beef and dairy the last time I happened to look. More just to see how my feed cost compared to what I would but stuff for.
And as a side note, making cheese and butter is really not hard at all. Just takes a little time and practice.

I have my own beef in the freezer, so the only time I'll buy beef in the store is if I'm cruising the meat case and see a piece that's marked down that looks good for the price. And that's only if I don't have something thawed at home. Store beef has no flavour to it and these days I wouldn't buy ground beef on a bet: Too many recalls for contaminated meat. You buy a single piece of muscle meat and you know it came from one cow. You buy a pound of ground beef and you don't know if it's from one or 50 animals.

I buy a lot of Cabot Creamery cheese. It's good stuff and I like to keep it well ahead, so I've got no problems paying for that. Plus while it's not quite local to me, it's certainly produced a lot closer than most other foods.

I buy butter when it's on sale and it's something I'm not going to stint on. Life without butter would be pretty depressing . . .

I don't buy store milk unless I want to make more kefir.

I don't eat a lot of chicken, but I bought an electric pressure cooker this spring to make bone broth in, and it's pretty darned handy to use. I've seen chicken as low as 79 cents a pound for quarters recently and am considering growing some meat birds for the first time in quite a few years.

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-Northern NYS