I have a nosy question

[marcyinPA]

I just had this same discussion with a friend of mine recently! I spend about $60 a month on gas for my car (dh has a company van and they pay his gas thank goodness!) and about$300-$400 a month on food (I buy paper products and cleaning supplies at BJ's so I don't buy them every month). It is me, my dh, DS9 and DS6. We very very rarely eat out. Maybe 2x a month, if that.

 

[crazymomof4]

Wow, I never thought about grinding my own meat. I'm going to have to try that.
Have you ever tried grinding chicken? I have a recipe that calls for ground chicken and I've never seen it anywhere.

So far I haven't had the need for ground chicken. But I'm sure it would be easy to do using the boneless breast.
I balked when my DH suggested getting the grinding attachment. I thought it would be a pain in the neck.....so much easier to just buy it already ground. Boy, I have eaten my words, literally! What a difference in the taste. Meatloafs, meatballs, lasagna, tacos, burgers, anything with our own ground meat tastes SO much better. And it is not as much work as I imagined. I just cut the meat in 1" strips and put it in the shoot it grinds it and spits it into a bowl. I do a fairy large amount and it only takes about 1/2 hr and that includes prep and clean up.
I would do it now even if it didn't save money!

 

[skiwee1]

My van uses about $100 a month is gas. I don't work so there isn't any long commute or anything. I spend at least $1000 a month in food. That doesn't count the 6-8times we eat out a month. That alone is probably $500 and up for that. We spend way too much in food! LOL!

 

[juliegirl]

Around here, they often have sales on ground chicken $2/lb. Cheaper than the 93% lean ground beef at 4.29/ lb. I substitute it for ground beef in a lot of things, chili, spaghetti sauce, taco meat. Haven't tried it for meatballs or meatloaf, don't think I'd like it that way.

Gas here is $2.25 - monthly we spend about 180.

Groceries - $500 month, eating out is another $200

Pet food - $40/month for four dogs (they are small Chihuahuas)

 

[mannasn]

I'm so jealous of all you with the cheap gas budgets! Mine hovers around $400-600 a month!

 

[bigmerle1966]

I'm so jealous of all you with the cheap gas budgets! Mine hovers around $400-600 a month!

My goodness what kind of commute do you have?

Ground turkey is good as well. Lots of times it is on sale for $1.99lb here. The reason home ground meat tastes so good is that it doesn't have much fat in it. My brother explained to me one time how they come up with that percentage thing and I can't remember exactly what he said but I do remember that he said that they add fat to the beef. It's not a part of the meat they grind, a certain percent is added. You could also use beef cubes too, sometimes stores have good sales on it and you wouldn't have to cut it up before you put it in the grinder.

 

[mannasn]

150 miles a day, easily! Some days, even more. It REALLY stinks!

Doesn't help that my vehicle gets pathetic gas mileage - but then it has no payment (I actually won it in a sweepstakes!) so I guess my gas costs make up for that.

Add that to the fact that I have no job, and saving for Disney gets really tough! LOL!

 

[wdwpluto]

We get away cheap with gas, only $45/month on average so far this year. That's for 1 car (2000 Corolla) and gas is still "cheap" $2.05/gallon here in NJ.

Groceries is another story. We've been averaging about $415/month so far this year for 2 adults! That includes papergoods, cleaning products, health and beauty stuff and the occasional alcohol purchase. This is definitely an area we're working on cutting, but we're finding that fresh produce, etc is working out to be just about as expensive as pre-packaged convenience foods! At least it's healthier!

 

[skiwee1]

I'm so jealous of all you with the cheap gas budgets! Mine hovers around $400-600 a month!

What are you driving? My DH has an H-2 and he only burns about $30 a week.

 

[mannasn]

I drive a Jeep liberty. It's not that the fuel economy is THAT bad - it's just that I drive so many miles, every day... it really adds up!