Want to save money on meat? Here’s what I’m figuring out!
How to Save Money on Meat
1. Look for meat mark-downs.
We’ve been doing this all along right? But now it seems more important than ever! I avoid marked-down meat if the color looks “off.” But otherwise, I’ve found that waiting for meat to be marked down for quick sale has saved me all kinds of money!
When I bring it home, I freeze it right away or cook it to eat that night.
Recently, I found pork roasts marked down to $1.79/pound! I bought two and put them into the freezer for a night we host a large crowd. This is a GREAT price per pound of meat. My $13 roasts will either feed my big family several meals or it will feed Matt’s entire soccer team during pre-season. :)
2. Eat less beef.
This one is tough for me as I’m a beef-loving girl! But in my neck of the woods, pork and chicken are significantly less expensive per pound compared to beef. Quality ground beef is over $6.00/pound while chicken legs can be found under $2.00/pound. The pork roast I mentioned above was marked down to $1.79/pound. I got pork chops that same day for $1.59/pound – while there sat the beef for $7.00/pound. Long live the cow.
3. Eat less meat overall.
This one is also tough for me. The men in our family do love their meat too. However, I’ve been skipping meat in some meals lately, and no one has noticed or said anything. I’ve been able to get away with making burritos with just black beans, rice, salsa, and corn (skipping the meat) and an entire meal based on these bean and cheese quesadillas. We’re all satisfied and our grocery budget has been saved.
4. Buy directly from farmers.
We’ve done this for years, buying a quarter to a half a cow at a time. We’ll likely do this again in the future, as it does save money on high-quality meat. But for now, I’m finding that buying discounted meat at the store is saving me more overall since we have so many mouths to feed.
5. Buy chicken from Costco or Sam’s.
The last time I priced boneless chicken thighs at our local grocery store, they were over $7.00/pound – ouch! But when I picked up a big package of boneless thights at Costco, I got them for just over $3.00/pound – much better! I also got some marked down at Sam’s, which was a fun find!
Have you found some ways to save money on meat?
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I can totally do Mexican without the meat, but I’ve found that even the beef loving hubby and the picky kids don’t notice when I stretch a pound of taco meat by adding lentils. I just double the seasoning and make the tacos like always. Significant cost savings and extra fiber.
Love that idea! I’m going to try it!
Here’s another tip I recently learned– at least at our two closest Walmarts (which includes the one near you ;) ), the big 8 lb box of burgers is LESS per pound than the cheapest ground beef!! And they are GOOD burgers, only meat, no fillers. I love how quick they are to cook– either throw on the grill, still frozen, or fry on the stove or bake in the oven. I can make two or three for a quick keto meal for my hubby or we fry a dozen for supper for the family. One box has 32 burgers so it lasts a while. (For us anyway lol) I’ve gotten creative with them so it’s not just plain burgers– pizza burger casserole! Taco burgers! The other day for lunch my husband cooked just three of them, chopped them, added beans and salsa and some veggies, and it was more than enough for the kids and me!
Also, fresh meat is often cheaper than frozen (although not in the case of those burgers!). I can buy fresh boneless/skinless thighs for less than the frozen ones, and just divide them into ziplock bags to freeze if I don’t need to cook them soon.
I also will stretch meat with minced mushrooms, cabbage, and other veggies. We can stretch a pound for our whole family if I add in enough veggies (and sometimes beans/lentils/rice but only for the kids and me and not for my low-carb-eating hubby :) ).