Meats is arguably the most expensive part of any grocery budget, so it’s not surprising that one of the tips to trimming that grocery bill is to cut back on meats. Unfortunately for me and my family, we’re voracious carnivores. We love meats. No meal is complete without some sort of meat and tofu or other protein substitute just doesn’t cut it. It’s not that we haven’t tried either, I’ve tried on numerous occasions to have meatless dinners only to find myself starving an hour later and foraging junk food for sustenance. I know that cutting out meats works great for some people, and I’m jealous of that, but it just doesn’t work for me. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have a tight budget I have to stick to. I just have to figure out ways to stretch that steak!
Stock up
It goes without saying, when your favorite meats go on sale, stock up. Buy as much as you can comfortably afford, able to store, and eat within a reasonable amount of time. I generally like to buy enough during a sale to last my family of 4 for about a month, maybe 2 months if it’s a really good sale. Ground beef is something I’ll buy more of because it’s versatile…chili, burgers, tacos, etc. This is what I prefer and what works for me. Experiment and see what works for your family. If you find that maybe buying 10 lbs of steak will last you a year, then maybe cut back and see how much say, 5 lbs will last you.
I often buy in bulk but before you do, do your homework and math. Check the unit price and compare it to the smaller packages. Make sure you’re comparing the same exact cut of meat. It used to be that if you buy in bulk you were essentially guaranteed a better deal, but that’s not the case anymore. More and more, retailers are preying on this kind of consumer mentality and quite often, smaller packages can cost more than bulk or larger packages, and not just with meats, but everything else too. I recently found that buying the smaller package of toothpaste and spaghetti were cheaper than buying the larger packages.
Butterfy – it’s not just a pretty insect
The trick to making the most out of our meats is to butterfly them. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts? Butterfly them! Steaks? Butterfly them. Pork chops? Butterfly! Fish? Depending on the type and cut, you can still do the same. Salmon steaks, for example, is one that you can reduce the size of. Cut the chunk of meat you bring home from the store in half before cooking, or freezing. There are many many pluses to butterflying meats:
- Smaller more manageable portions – especially great if you have small children who can’t eat a full adult size portion
- You “trick” your brain into a smaller portion size so you consume less, and better for your waistline. Butterflying meats usually helps you retain the shape of the meats. It’s just not as thick so it can seem like you’re eating a full size chicken breast, for example, but you’re actually eating less. Brain isn’t buying it and you’re still hungry after eating half of the chicken breast? You can still go back for seconds, but at least it’ll slow you down a bit, giving your brain a chance to process the food you’ve already eaten, letting it settle in your stomach, and giving it a chance to feel a bit more full. If nothing else, it can help you better control your portions when you go back for seconds.
- You get 2 for the price of one. Buy one steak, butterfly it and voila you have 2 steaks.
- Flavor – the thinner the meat, the easier for flavors to enter deep into the meat.
- Cooks faster – it takes less time to cook a ½” steak than it does a 1” steak so you save energy, time and money.
An extra tip: package things yourself. Make it easier for those busy and rush days when you don’t have time. When I buy my meats, before storing them, I’ll go through them and trim all the fat, cut to size of preference and package them into what I call “single serving” packages. So for example, my family of 4 will often eat 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts for dinner. I’ll trim the fat, butterfly the 2 chicken breasts into 4 pieces, and stick them into a freezer zipper baggie before freezing. I do the same with ground beef, which I often buy in family packs that are 4+ lbs each. I’ll divvy it up into 1 lb “servings” and store in a freezer bag so when our favorite taco or chili recipe calls for 1lb of ground beef, I just grab a bag out of the freezer, thaw and toss in the meal. That way I don’t thaw too much and end up wasting food.
This was written by my great friend Kelly who has opened up a whole new world to me with her money saving techniques.
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
We cut meat out of our diet years ago for reasons other than finances (though that has been an excellent side benefit). It was easy for me because I grew up in a semi-vegetarian household, and my mother never cooked meat, so the only meat I ever ate was fast food and such. So it has never been an essential part of my meals.
I’m not trying to convince anyone to become vegetarian, but, if you are interested in adding more meatless meals to your diet and have found it difficult, I will give you one tip: Do NOT try to replace the meat in one of your typical meals with tofu. Instead, try cooking a “real” vegetarian meal … i.e., one that was never designed to have meat in it in the first place. Many cultures, such as those of India and the Middle East, traditionally eat a lot of vegetarian food, and I don’t mean Boca burgers (not that those aren’t handy in a pinch).
I have been buying meats on sale for the last year. I tried to have a meatless night, and my hubby didn’t go for it, although I can still sneak it in once in a while (my lasagne is meatless, and he loves it). We are trying an egg dish once a week to see if that works.
I just stocked up on chicken breasts. They were on sale for a decent price $1.99/lb for boneless & skinless, but they had a MFQ on them for $1.50 off the package when buying the new Philadelphia Cooking Creme. I won a houseparty, so I was planning on buying the cooking creme anyway, so it made more sense to buy the chicken at the same time. I got 5 free cooking cremes, plus the chicken for less than $1.45/lb.
@RK, I totally agree with not trying to use substitutes to make vegetarian meals. The best kinds of non-meat meals r def those that you wouldn’t miss them in.
I cook my ground beef up and package in 1lb packages for dinners later. It is easier, and takes less time and energy (electricity or gas), to cook the beef when it is already thawed than when it is frozen.
Also, if I know that I need my chicken in chunks or strips, for the meal I am going to use it for, then I will cut and cook it ahead of time as well.
I am all for the ease of cooking when it is meal time.
Here is the link to the last time I did massive cooking of meat: “I am a Crazy Woman!”
Very good ideas!
I also will cook my meat prior to freezing it. It is far easier, and less expensive (utilities) to cook when it is thawed than when it is frozen.
Here is my post I did, some time ago, when I had a crazy meat preparation day: “I am a Crazy Woman!”
Also, check on local butcher shops. We live in a rural agricultural area so there are only 2 grocery stores within 25 miles (and one of them is WM). After we moved here a year ago I realized how much more expensive groceries are here than other places. The butcher shop’s prices aren’t much better than the grocery unless you’re buying larger quantities.. but the Quality is so much better!! The one I go to has their own cattle farm and they don’t use antibiotics or hormones in their beef.
I realize not everyone lives in a rural area with a beef farm down the road, but I have lived other places where there are “Mom&Pop” shops that offer good unadvertised deals.
I no longer purchase meat at the grocery stores unless it’s a sale that I just can’t pass up. Every so often Publix has their ground turkey on sale around $2.50 lb. and I stock up then with about 6 or 8 pounds depending on how much room I have in my budget that week. We buy all our meats from an Italian Deli & Butcher Shop in bulk. We buy a whole beef tenderloin for about $20 and have them cut and trim it into 8 oz filets. From that one beef tenderloin, we get about 22 or 23 steaks and they wrap up the trimmed meat for stew for me. We buy 10 lbs of chicken breast at a time because the deli runs a special if you buy 10 lbs or more, the chicken is only $1.99 lb!! We get about 35 to 40 breasts out of it once it’s trimmed and butterflied. They also run a special on ground sirloin when you buy 5 or more pounds it’s $2.99 lb which is unheard of for sirloin!! We spend about $60 everytime we go in there, but I only go there twice per year unless there’s a special occasion coming up that I need something for. I always come home and repackage the meat in individual portions, so that I can pull what I need from the deep freezer based on what I’m cooking. It makes it easier to accomodate dinner guests!! On average, we spend about $120 per year on meats which only takes away $10 from my monthly food budget….yes, I deduct that each month and set it aside so that I have the money to get the meat when I start getting low.
Wow…thats awesome !Ten dollars a month!!!!
Since we have gone mostly organic, it’s even harder on our grocery budget! But like you, we LIKE meat/chicken! Until probably about 6 months or so ago, I had never cooked a whole chicken. But it’s MUCH cheaper than getting breasts or other already cut up pieces. Our local farm is $3.99/pound for whole chickens. Recently, Whole Foods had organic whole chickens for $1.69/pound, limit 10… I bought 10! It was a one-day sale, and I really kinda wish I had gone back again and bought 10 more. I cook a whole chicken in the crock pot (just throw some rub/seasoning on there and cook on low for about 4-6 hours). Then I “de-bone” it and divide it into 2-3 Food Saver packages and freeze. Then I use this chicken for chicken pot pie, chicken quesadillas, chicken tortilla soup…. anything that calls for chicken. I also make broth/stock and freeze that too. I can usually get at least 2 or 3 meals out of one whole chicken for our family of 6. My parents got us the Food Saver last year for Christmas and we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!! Like my sister said, “It’s the best thing you never knew you needed.”
I have to agree w/ you on the Food Saver. I always thought it was a gimmick until my husband got one for Christmas. The meat stays fresh MUCH longer than in ziploc bags. And there is no freezer burn since it vacuum packs it.
I am lucky that I am able to mainly cut out meats. I know my husband doesn’t love it, but when he gets treated to lunch or dinner at work he gets anything he can with meat. We do the same thing you do with Chicken breasts. It makes a big difference in stretching our dollar.
I cut out pork about 2 years ago and beef we eat 4 times a month to keep the cost down.
Safeway has a clearance meat section that they put stuff that is about to expire….I will pick up extra meat there sometimes for dinner that night.
We have a local store here in orlando that has a produce side and a near side to it called fresh fields farm.the meat department has very good prices i can usually spend about $25 on meat for my family for about 2-3 weeks.
I have also started using rebates to cut back on prices of meats. You have to spend the money up front but get a check int he mil 3-6 weeks later to make up for some of the purchase. My hubby loves that since we live in AL I can get paid by a alcohol company and not even have to buy the beer or wine :). You can get the rebate forms from tear pads or ebay has them listed sometimes too. Also I get mine from krazy koupon klippin kick.
One other thing I forgot to mention in my previous post, I am starting to cook with beans a lot more. Beans and rice are a quick and cheap dinner and you can season however you like!
I also make soup which I only use half pound of ground beef, instead of a full pound) and add canned beans to make up the difference to help the ground beef go further, plus whatever veggies or seasonings to taste..
Tacos with beans are another way to use less ground beef but still get the taste of beef and use refried beans.
When it is taco night we make the meat go a little further by adding rice to the mix…with small kids a lot ends up on the floor or elsewhere so not so bad when have of what they are dropping is (usually free) rice. The rice takes the flavor and color of the taco concoction quite well…I am sure you could do brown rice as well and up the health benefits…
Excellent article! We must be on the right track because we already follow many of your tips. As for a meatless dinner, nothing beats spaghetti. No meat. Just pasta, sauce, and homemade garlic bread. I have a husband and son who are carnivores too, but they do love plain spaghetti dinners and they get full too.
This is a great post! During the recession, I lost my job and my husband’s hours were severely cut. We were living on about a quarter of our regular income in no time flat. Meat was one of my biggest nemesis during that time. We have 5 children, 3 of whom eat adult portions. Almost everything I made had little pieces of cut up meat in them and my husband hated it. We are back up to about half of our pre-recession income and I vowed that that will never happen again…and that’s when I really started a combination of couponing and frugal living. Unfortunately, meat is not often included in that equasion. I have re-arranged our dinner menu so that we have 1 “meat and potato’s” type dinner. I have also incorpoarted at least 1 meatless meal into our weekly menu. At first, I was concerned about my husband’s reaction. Eventually he embraced it and views it not only as money saving, but heathier. Most weeks we have 2 meatless meals! There are some great websites out there with meatless meals for meat eaters, and sometimes it’s as simple as homemade pizza with 4 cheese or garlic pizza with veggies! Yum! You can also make meatless chili by just upping the beans and stirring in a little refried beans. The first time I ever made that my husband never even noticed the meat missing!
I wanted to add also that this weekend I was looking for shrimp to make “chinese take out style” shrimp with garlic sauce, and I noticed that the fresh shrimp at the seafood counter was cheaper per pound than the frozen stuff. It was an unadvertised special sale. So keep an opened mind about the meat counters!
One caveat to stocking up on meat – I live in South Florida and during hurricane season I do NOT stock up. I used to, but when Wilma hit, we lost power for over a week and I lost an entire freezer full of food. So now I tend to whittle my freezer stock down during hurricane season and build it back up again afterward.
I live in Cape Coral and we were hit by Charlie and Wilma the following year, so I can understand what you are saying. However, we have a generator, so in the event of a power outage like that again, we will connect the floor freezer to the generator so that nothing is lost.
I’m not sure how many military readers you have, but this could also work at regular super markets. I’ve made friends with the meat guy at the commissary (military grocery store) Talk to them and find out when they discount their meat.
We get wonderful prices to begin with on our meat. But several times a week in the morning they put out a giant rolling freezer container with discounted meat. I freeze most of my meat anyways so I don’t mind that it’s not “fresh”. Since I discovered this I’ve stopped buying from the regular counter. I get roasts, steaks, and groundbeef at great prices. I have also found with a great meat cleaver I can cut the meat up while still frozen and put it into smaller servings. So I use lesser steak cuts for stir fry’s. I half the ground beef etc. The roasts are excellent for crockpot recipes and stews. Just checked my freezer some examples Ground beef 1.5 pounds $1.80 Beef eye roound boneless steak 1.5 pounds $3.15 Beef round roast 4 pounds $6.52.
Hope this helps.
Great tips! Saving money on meat is probably one of the biggest topics for my family. I feel I do well on other items, but sometimes can’t help but spend money on meat. I do agree with buying whole chickens, soo much cheaper and you can stretch it out longer. I also try to stock up on steak when it is a good price and even reportion my own meats prior to freezing, such as dividing hamburger into 3/4 lb packs instead of 1lb, or cutting large steaks in half.
I cringe every time I need to buy meat, thanks for the great tips!!! Hopefully this will stretch my budget even farther.
We have started buying meat in bulk from costco’s or sam’s I feed 6 people every night and they are meat eaters. We have do still price check the regualr stores to make sure they aren’t having a great slae on meat but most of the time we buy big 6 lbs packages of hamburger meat and then I split it up in 2lbs bags and freeze. Another thing that we have found is buying a big pork loin at costco with no bones and making my own pork chops. I can get 8 bags of 6 chops a peice from the pork loin.