An Expensive Hobby Saves Us Money
My husband was born into a family of outdoors-men, hunting and fishing is truly just part of who he is. These are actually pretty expensive hobbies and when we first were married, I didn’t understand it.
Now, I do. For the cost of a tag and license and a few supplies, my husband can go run around in the woods with his buddies for a long weekend and come home with over a year’s worth of meat.
I used to be grossed out by the thought of eating something he killed in the woods, then I realized a few things:
1. This meat is better than anything I could find at the grocery store.
2. This animal is free of steroids, antibiotics, and hormones and whatever else farm raised animals are given.
3. It saves us a lot of money, I never have to buy meat, with the exception of poultry
4. It makes my husband happy and why would I want to mess with that?
To save money this year, as you can see he brought home 3 giant elk, enough to feed 6 families for a year, he learned to do his own butchering and learned to properly store the meat so we will have a freezer full for more than a year. He also brought home a deer and about 100 quail this past hunting season as well. I never have to buy meat because of his “expensive” hobby.
So, in reality, his expensive hobby has paid for itself a hundred times over, each year he heads into the woods and comes out with food for his family.
What hobbies do or your spouse have that save you money? Have you found ways to make an expensive hobby less so?
I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts.
Topics: Finance & Money |
January 22nd, 2008
Wow, my husband isn’t into hunting, but I never thought of how much money hunting would save you on meat costs. That is great that your husband enjoys it, and you reap the savings!
S.B.’s last blog post..My Rebate Checks So Far for 2008
January 23rd, 2008
You know, I never thought about hunting that way. I have always thought of it as gross and mean. But I see your point. They are free from all the junk that the hundreds of chickens and cows my family and I get and eat from the store. My husband isn’t a hunter but every year around hunting season he mentions it. HMMM, maybe this is something we need to look into..
January 23rd, 2008
Melissa-
I felt exactly the same way! I thought it was cruel and gross.
Then I tried it and really researched it, along with a lot of info. from my husband I realized it is actually BETTER for our family in many ways.
We save money, my husband gets to do something he enjoys, we eat a better quality meat, and we are actually doing the herds of wild animals a favor by helping reduce the over population that causes diseases and famine.
Where we live the hunting is strictly enforced and totally humane. You aren’t allowed to “bait” the animals, trap them or do anything else like that.
You are only allowed to hunt in areas where overpopulation is a problem and you can only kill certain animals(like for instance you cannot hunt young or pregnant animals).
The meat is virtually fat free and tastes no different than any other, it is free of gross hormones and fillers and it can keep in a freezer for ever.
If your husband is interested, you really should encourage it, soon you will realize it isn’t any different than a farmer shooting a cow in the head(by the way this is exactly what a lot of cattle ranchers do) and it can save you money in the long run.
It can be expensive to start if he doesn’t have the gun. ammo and camping supplies, but most of those things can be found cheaply secondhand or you can borrow from friends. And I have noticed that it makes my husband so proud to provide for his family this way.
PS- I was at the store yesterday and wanted some chicken-I looked at every package and each one had a note on it saying-mixed will a 10 percent solution-but didn’t specify what that solution was-yuck!
January 23rd, 2008
Six families for a year? Good heavens! I think that this is a good approach if you are a meat eater (which I am). However, my husband is vegetarian so I don’t think he’ll be bringing home the bacon -so to speak. I feel badly for the animals that are raised on farms only to be slaughtered. They have no quality of life.
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January 24th, 2008
I think that is great. I admire those that use what they hunt. Kudos to your husband. The problem I have is with the hunters that kill only for the sport of it and don’t use the meat but instead hang the head on the wall.
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January 24th, 2008
Kyle- I agree, there are way too many people who don’t use the meat. At the very least it should be donated to a charity or food bank. We use every bit of what he brings home and if we can’t, we pass it on to others. Even though it can be an expensive “sport” we save money because we actually use it.
January 31st, 2008
My mom and brother both hunt - I merely reap the benefits. I think that in our case, it’s actually pretty expensive - I know my mom paid over $300 in processing fees this winter, but I don’t know how many pounds of meat she (we) got out of it. We were going to weigh it before we put it in the freezer, but I had to leave for school. (And by school, I mean college, four hours away.)
On the other hand, I don’t know why I care since I get free sausage, burger, roasts, pork chops, steak, etc.
@Kyle - not everyone who hangs the head on the wall doesn’t eat the meat. (Enough double negatives?) My family’s got dozens of sets of antlers from deer that have been long since eaten.
Blue’s last blog post..Expenses, cont’d
January 31st, 2008
Blue- I agree that not everyone that has the head or antlers mounted on the wall has not eaten the meat-I do agree with Kyle when he says it is a waste to not use that meat and take just the “trophy” instead.
For us, the reason this once expensive hobby has actually saved us money is because my Hubby learned to do his own butchering, tanning and wrapping/storing. We have ZERO processing fees, so it is really quite cheap for us and we ALWAYS have enough to fill our freezer and the freezers of our friends and relatives!
July 3rd, 2008
[...] at Mommy Gets PAID doesn’t have to pay as much for an expensive hobby. Sort-of…once you factor in the savings on buying meat. I love venison, [...]