December, 2025 Grocery Trip #2

 I had mentioned that we were getting a cow (I'll always call it a cow but it's steers we get) butchered and while it's kinda crazy to put that all on one month's grocery bill, I'm going to do it and just get it out of the way because, the way I shop - i.e., buying grains, beans, sugar, flour, etc. in 50 pound bags - it really has to be averaged out over a longer period. Otherwise, it will appear that I've spent a crazy amount one month and then some months, I'll hardly spend anything.

Between paying for the cow and paying the butcher for what he does, including (but not limited to - you're welcome!) cutting, vacuum sealing in bags and freezing the meat, we spent close to $3,000. The price per pound comes out to being a good bit less than grocery store meat. I think 93/7 ground beef at Walmart was almost $9/pound but I see (online) that it's about $7.50/pound now. I paid less than that per pound of meat including ground, steaks, roasts and bones. Even though we won't eat the bones, I'll make bone broth with them and good quality bone broth is at least $6/quart in the grocery store so I feel like we got a great deal on the meat and it was raised by a friend and I'm certain the quality of life the cow had was good and I'm certain the quality of what the cow ate was good.

Some of this meat will be given to Chad and we will probably plan on getting another cow in early spring, 2027.  Because it will probably take us about 18 months to use all this meat, the average cost for this is about $166 per month. We will use other things - chicken, fish, pork - during those 18 months but, as I said, some of this meat will be going to Chad

While we were in Pittsburg, KS today we went by a grocery store there that has good meat. We bought two pork butts for making buckboard bacon. I bought three packs of sausage that's as close as I've found around here to good Cajun sausage. I bought two pounds of Italian sausage - made in the store. That area has a lot of Italians so their Italian sausage is some of the best I can buy around here. I bought two packages of pork country style ribs and one package of St. Louis ribs and five pounds of bacon. 

That was another $120 but everything reported in this post is meat and, we will still buy a box of chicken thighs, chicken breasts and whole chickens from Sam's as soon as there's room in a freezer.

Total so far for December - $3,274.73.