I did my first grocery trip of the year on Friday, avoiding as many GMO products as I could, as I ease us into this new way of life. I still spent $169.66. This is roughly what we spend every 2 weeks to feed 4 of us. I desperately want to get our grocery bill down to about half that, and spend no more than $200.00 a month - BEFORE coupons.
The non-GMO products I bought: Cage Free brown eggs, pasta, produce and ice cream. It isn't much, considering I bought Campbell's soups and canned vegetables, but it is a start for us, and I am pleased that the better, healthier alternatives did NOT cost more than their processed relatives.
Over the next few days and weeks, I will be exploring ways to make this bill lower, and I'll share with you my findings.
The only meat we buy at the grocery store is pork. Ideally, we would like to buy a pig, raise it and harvest it ourselves, however, without the property or building to do so, we are unable to proceed with this. We buy a half of a beef each year from a friend. The beef is antibiotic free, and 90% grass-fed. We also raise rabbits, which brings me to what I really want to write about.
Rabbit meat is perhaps one of the healthiest meats that you can eat. Rabbit has 795 calories per pound. Chicken 810, Veal 840, Turkey 1190, Lamb 1420, Beef 1440, Pork 2050. ( U S D A circular # 549 ).
We choose to raise rabbits because they are clean, quiet, and do not cost much to feed. They also require very little space. In fact, a doe rabbit (a female) that weighs 10 pounds can produce 320 pounds of meat in a year.
On Saturday, my husband, both sons and I, harvested 12 American Chinchilla rabbits. This provided us with 48 pounds of meat. The total cost involved was 1 bag of rabbit feed (16.99) and a bale of alfalfa hay (7.50), or $24.49 - $0.51 a pound!
We use rabbit instead of chicken in most every recipe. Rabbit has a much more moist texture then chicken.
Here is a before and after picture of our finished product:
Our rabbits are raised outdoors, in hutches. I also have a large play yard that they are put into for exercise daily. My older, breeding pairs free range whenever I am outdoors with them to watch for hawks and other predators. Butchering happens out of sight and smell of our herd. Ideally, I will be purchasing the Rabbit Wringer, for humane and instant death with cervical dislocation. Currently my husband dispatches the rabbits via a .22 rifle. This is the part that my sons are not allowed to participate in. Although my sons are experienced hunters and know well how to use a gun, I refuse to allow the rabbits to suffer any more than necessary. I can count on my husband not to miss on the first shot, I cannot count on my 13 and 11 year old sons to do the same.
I am looking for organic feeds for my rabbits. I want them to be as healthy as possible. I know the alfalfa I buy is not sprayed with pesticides, but I cannot say the same for the alfalfa meal used in rabbit pellets. I'm watching another rabbit breeder's progress with his own fodder, and if he continues to be successful, I may pursue it myself.
I have a lot of opinions on rabbits and rabbit health, as well as rabbit meat. You can count on reading a lot of these.
As always, thanks for reading!
