Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Rising chicken and pork prices

I read an article this morning (click here) about rising prices for chicken and pork. I have already been trying to reduce my family's food budget by making more vegetarian meals. I'm not really in a position living in the city to raise my own meat. But I COULD raise chickens for the eggs. I've been seriously considering this one for a while now. I just need to find a spot in my yard that would be legal for that. A chicken coop has to be a certain distance away from my neighbors and I'm afraid that the only place that would qualify is where the kids' playground is situated. If I can find a spot for it, I can have up to 4 hens on my quarter acre of land in the middle of the suburbs. Not a bad deal! We've been getting eggs for free on and off from a friend whose children are raising chickens. They just have too many eggs for their family to eat and hate to see them go to waste. I could really give my children great hormone-free protein by feeding them eggs we raise ourselves. I also want to look into raising some vegetables but I think that might be more than I can handle right now. We have horrible clay in the ground and I think I'd have to do raised beds in order to get anything to grow. We do have peach trees and end up with a TON of peaches every year. That sure does help the budget.

So, aside from coupons and rebates is there anything else you are doing or are willing to do to bring down your food budget? How far will we need to go?

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