Have you cut back on Beef & Dairy?

rambotex · #1 07/28/14, 04:53 PM

Kind of an off shoot on the beef price thread but i can tell you that we have really cut back on beef purchases and are about to get that way on Milk & Butter. I don't much care for oleo. One of my passions is firing up my offset stick burner and starting it with a little mesquite, adding Hickory after that burns down and finishing with some Pecan but I refuse to spend $40 - $55 for a Brisket, dang shame.

Awnry Abe · #2 07/28/14, 08:53 PM

I'm swimming in beef and dairy. And lamb. And poultry. I still have 1/2 a hog. Eggs are scarce right now, though. I have had to cut back on fish, though. It is $$$, indeed. Mmmm. Brisket. Sounds good. Short ribs are my "precious".

Dixie Bee Acres · #3 07/28/14, 08:57 PM

Yes, but no. We had cut back on beef, as in way back. We ate a lot of venison, but now the freezers are barron of any bamboo, so until deer season this year, we are back to having to buy beef. But, that said, we eat a lot of chicken.

Le Petit Norman · #4 07/28/14, 09:01 PM

Yes and no .. not because for high price but low pay check, this is an easy cut for me, until I get a decent freezer and a way to stock it, I guess I will eat the poor man meal … bean and bacon … oh well there is worth in life ...

Gravytrain · #5 07/28/14, 09:11 PM

Always plenty of cull cows or pigs to keep my freezers full. I have plenty of chickens to slaughter if needed, but boneless, skinless chicken breast is still less than $2/lb around here. I'll wait until fall to do my chicken processing.

However, business has kept me too busy to spend much time on Lake Erie to fill a freezer up with walleye and perch. I should be able to get out and acquire 70-100#s of fillets by fall...then 2 or 3 deer...then off to ice fishing...

willow_girl · #6 07/29/14, 08:49 AM

I could take a bath the milk I have in my refrigerator right now.

Pity you don't live closer!

rambotex · #7 07/29/14, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willow_girl

I could take a bath the milk I have in my refrigerator right now.

Pity you don't live closer!

Well, where is Dysfunction Junction, LOL

Awnry Abe · #8 07/29/14, 08:42 PM

I'd like to figure out a way to start a local exchange. I have excess in many things, like protein and milk, but lack in others. I have no problem with "putting it out there for the taking", either. In modern-day USA, such things are probably illegal.

sniper69 · #9 07/29/14, 10:42 PM

For beef, except for certain cuts that I don't have in the freezer - I look for them on sale then buy some and try to get extra for freezing. I'm still eating ground beef, roasts, and some steaks I put in the freezer last year (when I bought them on sale). For a brisket, I do those as a special treat when I have a number of guests over. Chicken is one kind of meat I need to restock.

As for milk and butter, when Kroger and Meijer had butter (both store brand and Land o Lakes brand) for $1.50 to $1.99 lb last October or November - I bought about 40 lbs and put it into the freezer. I then get a pound or two out at a time and let it thaw in the fridge with no problems. I should have enough butter to last until this fall and hope it will go on sale again (like it has for the last few years before the holidays). With milk, all of my kids drink milk, so I try to find the best price for it (it is staying around $2.69 - $2.99/gallon locally).

willow_girl · #10 07/30/14, 07:48 AM

Dysfunction Junction is in beautiful SW PA!

WildRoots · #11 07/30/14, 07:58 AM

We've cut back on beef, mostly because we bought a new freezer and waned out our old one. Ate up everything that was more that a year old. Put half a pig in there so we've had a lot of pork lately. Trying to use up our venison too. Can't wait to put another steer in the freezer this fall. I could go almost vegetarian for the next month, the garden is producing very well. I can't go without dairy though. Have to have my ice cream!

Wild Roots Farms Pompey, NY.

jwal10 · #12 07/30/14, 08:27 AM

We eat a little ground beef now and then, some venison, elk, bear and raccoon. Mostly rabbit for home grown meat, some chicken and the pigeons. Lots of fish, salmon, bass, trout, steelhead, bluegill, kokanee and yellow perch. We always have goat milk in some form, yogurt, cheese, ice cream, cottage cheese and butter. But, no, we haven't cut back recently....James

arnie · #13 07/30/14, 09:15 AM

It has taken a few years to get the cicle set up to workon the farm but it is doing pretty well ; with a beef cow having a calf every year ,hatching chickens and eating the roosters raiseing a hog in time with the goat milking and garden to hold down in bought feed for it .but it is I have cut down on buying meat from the grocery yet that was in the plan from the start . a year ago I decided to treat myself to 2inch thick porterhouse prime beef steak (or as close as they could get was choice grade ) from the butcher counter at the local grocery it cost 23 $ and the one in my freezer was better quality just smaller . what I have been noticeing is the price of animal feed going up ,

FarmerDavid · #14 07/31/14, 11:52 AM

No, though it does have us considering buying our own milk cow.

rambotex · #15 07/31/14, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FarmerDavid

No, though it does have us considering buying our own milk cow.

that's funny; we were talking about the same thing last night.

And please don't get me wrong about the beef prices, I'm tickled pink for the cattlemen on the board; I'm just not going to pay the high prices for beef when i can get Chicken or pork for half that price.

MO_cows · #16 07/31/14, 03:10 PM

When we don't have our own beef in the freezer, about the only beef I will buy is burger. We'll just do without steak and roast until the next beef is ready.

Dairy, we don't use a whole lot of milk so I can afford to buy premium, locally produced milk in glass jugs. Mmmmm, it's good stuff. http://www.shattomilk.com/ A gallon lasts us about a week, but for a lot of families it is more like a gallon a day, or even more, so I understand the need to buy it cheaper. Amy Dacyzn of Tightwad Gazette fame used to give her kids "half and half", half regular milk and half powdered milk. She had 6 kids so it was enough to make a difference. Although, powdered milk doesn't seem to be as cheap now as it used to be, either.

Cheese, I just stock up on sales. Hy Vee had 8 oz blocks, 3 for $5, so I bought a bunch of them because it doesn't get that cheap very often. ($3.30/lb for real cheese) I very rarely buy cheese that is already shredded, only if it's an irresistible bargain, because it has stuff added to keep it from clumping, and it's just better tasting when you shred it fresh.

hiddensprings · #17 07/31/14, 03:52 PM

We raise our own beef, chicken, pork, and even a lamb this year so we don't worry about meat prices. And, I have dairy goats so our milk, cheese, etc is also covered. I don't have to buy much at the grocery store other then things I don't produce like flour, sugar, and oh yeah.....my Dr. Pepper.

rambotex · #18 07/31/14, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hiddensprings

We raise our own beef, chicken, pork, and even a lamb this year so we don't worry about meat prices. And, I have dairy goats so our milk, cheese, etc is also covered. I don't have to buy much at the grocery store other then things I don't produce like flour, sugar, and oh yeah.....my Dr. Pepper.

Guess I'm going to have to learn how to make cheese and butter. We have churns that were my Grandmother's. I remember back in the 50's/early 60's I would cry when we were going up there because I would have to drink the raw milk, Yuk, I hated it and haven't drank any since.

MO_cows · #19 07/31/14, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rambotex

Guess I'm going to have to learn how to make cheese and butter. We have churns that were my Grandmother's. I remember back in the 50's/early 60's I would cry when we were going up there because I would have to drink the raw milk, Yuk, I hated it and haven't drank any since.

Just the opposite here, I have memories of my mom buying raw milk in gallon glass jars from a neighbor when I was a kid, and how delicious it was. More recently, some of our family had dairy goats for a time and I loved that raw milk, too. It didn't taste "goaty" until the 3rd day, but it rarely lasted that long getting a quart at a time.

FarmerDavid · #20 07/31/14, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rambotex

that's funny; we were talking about the same thing last night.

And please don't get me wrong about the beef prices, I'm tickled pink for the cattlemen on the board; I'm just not going to pay the high prices for beef when i can get Chicken or pork for half that price.

We have a 1 yr old, a 3 yr old, and me and my wife. We go through almost 2 gal a day and I only see that number going up. Luckily we have a Braums nearby they have great milk at a great price.