One of the hardest foods to find frugally is meat. Cheap meat from the store is less nutritious and laced with questionable substances. Even home-raised meat can be expensive if you count the cost of feed and especially paying to have it processed. If you feed grain from the local elevator, it is probably full of GMO corn and soybeans, but to buy organic feed would defeat the "frugal" part of raising your own.
Hunting is Not Free
Even hunting, touted as a frugal alternative to raising your own without all the work, has gotten expensive. In our state, you need a base license ($15) as well as a regular deer license ($10-15). If you add these costs to the cost of a hunting gear and/or bullets, you still end up paying about $0.75 per pound IF you do the butchering yourself. While this could still be considered frugal, there is work and skill involved, too. Health-conscious readers need to remember that deer graze on GMO corn and other non-organic crops. One wonders if it would be better to just buy cheap meat from the store at $0.75 per pound, and avoid the hassle.
There are a couple ways to get totally free meat, however, and today I'm going to share one of them.
Road Kill
Yep, I really am suggesting that you eat road kill. But not opossum, however. If you or someone you know has just hit a deer with you vehicle, you can let the police know you want to keep the deer, and they will bring out a deer tag for you. The tag is free, and there is no license required to keep the deer.
A road-killed deer is fresh, and most likely has some good meat on it. If you are quick about it, you can drag the deer home and butcher it. If the meat is put in reusable plastic freezer boxes, there is no cost at all. Canning the meat will add about $0.15 per pound. But really, that is negligible.
Hunting is Not Free
Even hunting, touted as a frugal alternative to raising your own without all the work, has gotten expensive. In our state, you need a base license ($15) as well as a regular deer license ($10-15). If you add these costs to the cost of a hunting gear and/or bullets, you still end up paying about $0.75 per pound IF you do the butchering yourself. While this could still be considered frugal, there is work and skill involved, too. Health-conscious readers need to remember that deer graze on GMO corn and other non-organic crops. One wonders if it would be better to just buy cheap meat from the store at $0.75 per pound, and avoid the hassle.
There are a couple ways to get totally free meat, however, and today I'm going to share one of them.
Road Kill
Yep, I really am suggesting that you eat road kill. But not opossum, however. If you or someone you know has just hit a deer with you vehicle, you can let the police know you want to keep the deer, and they will bring out a deer tag for you. The tag is free, and there is no license required to keep the deer.
A road-killed deer is fresh, and most likely has some good meat on it. If you are quick about it, you can drag the deer home and butcher it. If the meat is put in reusable plastic freezer boxes, there is no cost at all. Canning the meat will add about $0.15 per pound. But really, that is negligible.
Hubs gutting the deer.
Recently, we were able to butcher a road kill deer and split the meat with in-laws. We brought home about 20 lbs. of meat, and also a lot of fat that I'm using to make soap with. Half was chunk meat, and half was ground. I canned most of the meat, but did freeze some ground meat for hamburgers. We like to can chunk meat and stew meat, because the heat breaks down fat and gristle. After it is processed, the meat just falls apart. It is fabulous for using in tacos, fajitas, etc.
Now obviously you can't plan to fill your freezer with X amount of road kill deer. Like garage sales, these kind of deals are hit-or-miss, and if you hit them you might be paying for some vehicle repairs. :( However, you might as well make the best of it and take advantage of some free meat.
Now obviously you can't plan to fill your freezer with X amount of road kill deer. Like garage sales, these kind of deals are hit-or-miss, and if you hit them you might be paying for some vehicle repairs. :( However, you might as well make the best of it and take advantage of some free meat.
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