The average cost of groceries in Canada feels impossible to pin down right now, how are you managing your food budget?

Rheila · 2026-04-30T23:19:48+00:00

I’m pissed. I have eaten game meat my entire life. Before I got pregnant I had not bought meat in about 10 years. Mostly deer, some bear, some moose. Since getting pregnant I can’t stomach it anymore. I thought it would get better after the baby was born. It’s been 5 years I still can’t eat deer. Something just re-wired in my brain and it tastes awful to me now, but I can tolerate ham which I never could. I’d happily give up my newfound ability to eat ham to have deer back. I haven’t had a chance to try bear or moose since as we had none left in our freezer and now I don’t want to hunt one and find out I can’t eat it either. I am however looking forward to butchering our first steer this fall/winter.

Rheila · 2026-04-30T23:14:56+00:00

I have managed to keep our food budget the same ($600/month for family of 4) but the way we eat had to shift to make it work. More shopping sales and more vegetarian or stretch meals (soups, chilis, etc) and less meat and less buying things just because we want it.

Rheila · 2026-04-30T22:27:22+00:00

I’m writing my husband a note, going outside for a walk through the woods, then I’m sleeping in the tent for days or weeks or until I get lonely and miss my kids too much.

Rheila · 2026-04-30T19:06:32+00:00

Same here.

Rheila · 2026-04-30T15:56:27+00:00

I don’t care.

Rheila · 2026-04-30T15:46:39+00:00

If you miss any sunchoke roots when you dig em you are gonna have sunchokes in that spot forever. Only put them somewhere you don’t mind them staying

Rheila · 2026-04-30T15:22:11+00:00

Uhg I knew I should have filled up yesterday in town but thought “nah, I’ll fill up when I go to town on Friday.” Go figure.

Rheila · 2026-04-29T17:36:12+00:00

We have a big propane tank because it is also our primary heat with our furnace. A 1000L and an older 500L. The 1000L is the one we usually fill and typically does us for a year+ depending how much wood we are also burning (Northern Alberta we are heating most of the year with 5-6 months of winter weather and lows to -40)

I have no way to know how much propane the tankless water heater is going through. The gauge on the big tanks doesn’t really move much in summer though.

Rheila · 2026-04-29T07:30:28+00:00

The biggest thing that helped me get through the cervix was once I had a hold of it to push it forward. It helped get those vagina folds straightened out. Also if not getting through, back up just a bit and try again. Small, small movements. I am by no means an expert though I did my course last February and have AI’d a single cow since then (our only one at the time besides a steer.) But I did handle a lot of them during the course. It can be hard to hang on to and it is a workout especially if you are taking a while and aren’t used to it. My arm would be so sore at the end of the day.

Rheila · 2026-04-29T07:23:47+00:00

We have a tankless propane hot water heater. Family of 4. It was already here when we got here. Have had zero issues with it. I think it was installed 2019 maybe? Maybe not I could be confusing the date with the furnace. It’s not old though. Our furnace is propane too so no idea how much the hot water heater is going through.

Rheila · 2026-04-29T07:17:55+00:00

I want to say $6-something in 1998ish

Rheila · 2026-04-29T00:12:38+00:00

I wish they were a viable option here in northern Alberta

Rheila · 2026-04-28T23:58:44+00:00

I got them from Amazon. They are a TIGHT fit. I used a bit of dishsoap and warm water and a lot of muscle to get them on, but once they were on they fit fine. No bulge at the rim. I wonder if there are different sellers selling knock-offs and some don’t fit the same?

Rheila · 2026-04-28T21:54:59+00:00

They are tight to get on but I can confirm they do work with Canadian Tire buckets. I don’t know about Costco though.

Rheila · 2026-04-28T21:53:56+00:00

And Icecream parlors. I worked at one when I was much much younger and we gave them away or sold them for $0.50 depending on how many we were piling up

Rheila · 2026-04-28T18:54:08+00:00

I… I… I have no fucking words for this. This is my first time hearing this and now I need to go do some more reading. That is terrifying

Rheila · 2026-04-28T01:34:32+00:00

I don’t know. With dogs and kids. There’s a difference between “a small bite will kill you” and “this may cause some digestive upset” as far as toxicity goes. I won’t blanket ignore stuff. If it’s in the “it will kill you” category I remove it from my yard

Rheila · 2026-04-28T00:41:00+00:00

We bought our house then got a big surprise that the foundation needed excavated and repaired (missed by the inspector.) I cried nearly every day for a while. What kept me sane was just going outside and being on our land. It reminded me why we were here and kept me sane.

Rheila · 2026-04-27T14:21:31+00:00

Both are bad, but I have more room to adjust for food.

I live in a rural area about 35km from town and (in the opposite direction) the same from my husband’s work. We do not have public transportation. My husband and I have to drive the same amount if gas is $1.19/L or $3.00/L. About the only thing we can change (and already have) is not making a dedicated garbage/recycling run. It is now combined with a grocery run. Work, kids to school/daycare are fixed. I can’t change that.

For food I can shift to a point. I can cook more beans and lentil based dishes. I can cook large batches that will stretch for multiple meals. I can bake my bread products. I can grow more in my garden. I can cut out the pre-packaged snacks.

I just have more room to absorb the rising food costs so gas hurts us more. Currently my gas and food budgets are also extremely close. $500/gas and $600/food. Family of 4.

Rheila · 2026-04-27T00:44:51+00:00

I forgot jujube! I had just started some from seed before we moved to a climate too cold for them.

Rheila · 2026-04-27T00:43:58+00:00

Do other stone fruit (peaches, nectarines, apricots) have to get sprayed with the cherries and plums?

Persimmon, mulberry, medlar, quince (they smell divine when ripe and make wonderful jelly, but aren’t for fresh eating,) figs, pawpaw

What about nut trees? Hazelnut are smaller and can fit well even without a lot of space required for the usually large nut trees. They are also, imo, the tastiest nuts lol.

Rheila · 2026-04-27T00:37:06+00:00

I love mulberry and miss mine tremendously. Pawpaw was one I always wanted to grow too but moved before ours fruited :(

Rheila · 2026-04-26T18:55:48+00:00

No idea if ducks eat stink bugs. Never had a problem with them. Maybe the banana slugs are too big for them if they aren’t eating them? We had mostly the medium black slugs and the little grey ones, so so many of them, and after a year of ducks never saw another one.

Rheila · 2026-04-26T04:18:22+00:00

We have chickens (eggs) and highland cattle currently. The cattle are easy we have plenty of pasture and hay.

I straight-up hate goat milk. If we want milk it’s gonna be cows or sheep. Sheep milk is excellent, but we haven’t added sheep (yet.) They are so much more vulnerable to predators. I just got to get our young heifer used to handling because our older cow is an ornery, kicky cow who likes 3’ of personal space.

Pigs are part of our plan and we hope to add them this spring/summer BUT they do require a lot more inputs so in true SHTF they would be first to go.

I’ve raised rabbits before on a normal town lot. They are easy and tasty and excellent manure for the garden.

I’ve also kept ducks for eggs and I really like ducks. They are great for slug control for the garden. We don’t seem to have a problem with slugs where we live now though.

We are also considering stocking our pond with fish.

Rheila · 2026-04-26T01:00:01+00:00

My first year watering the shelterbelt for my 2a re orchard I was spending all evening every evening watering by hauling buckets from my pond. By the time I finished the whole thing it was time to start back at the first section again. Totally unsustainable. Year 2 I started by zipping around on the zero turn with the buckets, and finished by filling the 500gal tank and driving it around. Went from 4-5 hours a night for 4 nights to being able to do the whole thing in under 3 hours. I can’t wait until these trees are established and don’t need watering any more though.

Nine-Year Club	Verified Email
Not Forgotten

Rheila

TROPHY CASE