Look at Budget101 dot com. She has a site showing how to make almost anything from scratch. She also gives away an e-book telling how she feeds her family of 4 very well for $200 to $250 a month. They eat meat, too.
We eat on less than that a month, being down to 2 people and a dog. I make her food from scratch for cheap, but it is well balanced and mainly good organic meat. Having a butcher/rancher nearby is helpful for getting good meats.
We do smoke, most is homegrown or in bulk additive-free. We shred and roll it ourselves. That adds $20 to our monthly budget.
Our garden, my shopping and cooking skills have worked well. We are very healthy, in good shape and all that good stuff. The only Dr visit was when my husband broke a rib a few years ago after falling off the roof. Even then, he was healed up in short order.
We are bombarded by ads that keep telling us that cooking takes too much time. Baloney. I can whip up a lovely, meaty stew in the crock pot, go about my day’s work and end the day with a great meal supplemented with a small salad and homemade bread, for days.
Debbi
Enjoyed your post, Debbi. I’m fascinated how people feed themselves - especially when it’s from scratch. God Bless the crock pot! I made a soup yesterday with a Cornish hen and it turned into a thick stew once I threw in some pastina. We’ll have it today with - maybe- some homemade biscuits.