Take a deep breath and let it out. You are doing well. Your heart is in the right place and your ferrets love you. That is a blessing in itself.
No one starts off with all the answers. Each of us have to learn by doing and we get better as we go along. Simply take one step at a time.
First, let's find you a market.
You're in a small town. You could buy chicken, chicken livers, chicken gizzards, pork, beef, maybe turkey from your local stores. My small town has pork brains in the freezer section, ask a butcher.
The H Mart is at 8720 South Tacoma Way, Lakewood, WA 98499
(253) 314-5066
That is roughly 30 minutes from your town.
If you have a friend willing to drive you once a month, you could stock up on organs and hearts.
They had good reviews on Yelp.
Lucky Supermarket 3820 S Yakima Ave, Tacoma, WA 98418
(253) 472-9891
This store is 20 miles from you and about 32 minutes.
They have very good reviews on Yelp
and appear to have a good meat section.
Tacoma is your nearest big city. That city has several good Asian Markets listed.
It appears to be your best bet.
Just for fun, google Find Asian Markets near Tacoma Washington and see how many come up.
There are quite a few and they have reviews.
So, find someone willing to give you a ride once a week or month and maybe do them a favor in return for the drive.
Since everyone is tight on money, exchanging favors like babysitting for an evening or doing a chore, cooking them an evening meal or washing their car can be a good way to work together and not spend any real money.
As for measuring freezer space, do you have any baggies? Can you borrow some and then return them?
Assuming Layla and Marty eat 7 ounces a day, fill up some baggies with seven ounces of water.
See how many will fit in your section of the freezer. That will give you a starting point to work with.
I have no idea how to measure freezer space, but I think I could keep 6 or 7 pounds of meat in there at a time, which is about a week's worth of meals. I could possibly get more than that, but I'd be pushing it.
Let's do the numbers on six to seven pounds of food.
Sixteen ounces is one pound of meet.
If they eat 7
ounces of meat in one day and there are seven days in one week.
That makes for 7 times 7, which is 49 ounces in one week.
49 ounces is three pounds.
If you think you can get 6 pounds of meat into your freezer, then you are good for two weeks. However, in small baggies, you take up less room.
Play around with that and look at your freezer space.
Then make a trip to the market. Look around and price things.
Meats go on sale seasonally. Ground beef and pork is less expensive in the summer.
Turkey goes on sale over the holidays.
Lamb is on sale in the spring.
A basic menu could be:
Chicken livers and chicken gizzards run about $2 or $3 a tub.
One tub of liver will give easily give you two or three months worth of liver. Portioned out and baggied up.
Chicken gizzards will make for at least four meals.
Chicken wings can sometimes be your highest cost. However a package should give you at least 8 wings and run around $6 to $7 dollars. That's a months worth of meals.
A 2 lb package of ground beef will run around $4 and give you four or five meals.
A 3 lb pork butt costs roughly $5 and divided into serving sizes, will give you at least 6 meals. Fed once a week and you have 6 weeks worth of meals.
A six pack of quail runs $9 and will give you six meals.
Cornish game hens at Walmart are around $3 and will give yours two meals.
For other organs, I buy pork brains for $3. That's two meals for my five and probably four meals for your two.
Packages of organs at an Asian market are almost always under $4 and you get more than a couple of meals, once they are prepped and baggied up.
I buy duck hearts and gizzards and one package is around $4, but you will get at least five meals from them. Fed once and a half a week, you're good for over at least one month and maybe two.
So for under forty dollars, you are getting five proteins and at least a month or twos worth of food and still staying under six pounds. If you are at two months, then you are averaging $20 a month.
Also, I went to the highest amount to spend. Shopping sales, coupons and finding inexpensive cuts of meat will lower costs.
All of these questions are normal. You are asking exactly what other Mentees ask.
You should be very proud of what you have accomplished and how much you are learning.
Life can be scarey for all of us. Ferrets bring joy, laughter and fun into your life. We all need that.
Something that worked for me, when I became anxious was to write down my anxiety. Look at it and think about it for a few minutes. Then flush that paper down the toilet and tell myself that I could solve this problem. Someone else, somewhere else had the same problem or anxiety and they solved it or overcame it and so could I.
You have a wonderful mentor in Gina.
You have our community to support you and you have all the love that Layla, Marty and Miracle give you each and every day.
You are in a good place. You will do well with your switch.