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...of Creative
Frugality
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Creative
Frugality
for Meat Eaters
What are your creative strategies for cutting the cost of serving your family
meat?
We are particularly interested in hearing if any of you
find it cost-effective to buy a whole side of beef at one time. We’ve heard
contradicting philosophies as to whether doing this actually saves money or
not.
Re: sides of beef: My neighbor said
there was a small savings. The quality of the side was great the
first year and only marginal the second. She decided it was just as
convenient to get beef at the grocery store. You have to figure in
freezer electricity costs also. They did eat more steaks those
two years though." ~ Ellen
"I live in Florida and we've
just had two hurricanes -- and two long electrical power
outages as a direct result.
I spent the night before Hurricane
Charley having to broil 13 steaks that had been stored in my
freezer raw. (If the frozen raw steaks had thawed in the power
outage and refrozen, they could not be eaten because they'd give
us food poisoning! But cooked, they could be thawed and refrozen
OK, or stored in the ice chest until we could reheat them on the
grill.)
But I could not cook everything due
to lack of time (I was doing the broiling at 1 a.m. due to
having to do other preparations for the storm). Therefore, a
lot of meat and poultry had to be thrown out. So I've learned
my lesson!
From now on, I am no longer
going to store super large quantities of meat in my freezer. This
is contrary to frugal wisdom, but it doesn't do us any good to buy
meat bargains if they get ruined in disasters.
(By the way, the filets were
from Wal-Mart -- they had a special on boxed filet mignons that
only cost $1 per steak. While everyone else was eating tuna fish
during the hurricane, we were pigging out on filets!)" ~ LB
"It wasn't mentioned in this article, but it is an idea
I got from a column of Rhonda Barfield's long ago: putting a
ceiling on meat costs. I try to keep my per pound cost to $2
or less. If times are particularly tight, I'll cut it
further to $1/pound. It's been a tremendous help to me.
Sometimes, meat can be more expensive than $2/pound and still be a
good buy. Boneless beef and pork loin roasts can be a bonus to the
meat eating family. In this instance, I count the number of
servings I can expect to get from the cut." ~ Terri
"I've noticed that twice in the last two months, two of
the grocery stores in my area have ran specials for 1lb. imitation
crab meat $1.00 each and also turkey bacon 1 lb. $1.00 each.
Stocking up at this price would certainly be a big savings.
These are great prices for my area.
Another thing that I do is that I buy the least expensive lean
steak on sale and have the butcher grind it up for hamburger. I
can usually find
a steak to make ground beef out of for anywhere from $1.49 lb. to
$1.79/lb. and this is much cheaper than the ground beef that is
prepackaged in my area." ~ Angel
"I go to my local food warehouse
and buy meat in bulk and I will cut and repackage the meat myself.
For example, when I buy the pork chops they are way too thick so I
slice them in half and sometimes even in thirds. I just bought a 6
lb pork tenderloin and cut in thirds and then I cut each third in
half lengthwise." ~ Kelley
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" To save money on meat, I dish up
plates before the meal rather than setting out all the food on the
table. I fill each dish to the brim with high-in-fiber foods (in the
form of a few colorful veggies, and a whole-grain item like bread,
rice, couscous, etc) and just one 3-4oz
portion of meat. I also do not season ahead of time, so everyone
slows down to season their own plates. Usually no one feels they
need seconds. If they do, they have to get up and get it
themselves!" ~ Anonymous
"I buy a whole pig from a local
Mennonite friend who also butchers it for me. I get sausage,
pork loin, pork chops, ribs and backbone (good for BBQ). He
doesn't cure ham or bacon so that meat goes into the sausage. All
fees included it comes out to $1.29 per pound. No additives
like MSG, no hormones, no antibiotics.
I get deer burger, sausage and tenderloin from a local packing
house. About January- February they clear out their freezers and
sell off all the meat that has been brought in but not picked up.
For some reason there is always several deer that people bring in
and have butchered and then they don't pick it up. All I have
to pay is the butchering fee. This meat comes out to about $1 per
pound. Venison is also considered organic or clean since they are
not given hormones or antibiotics." ~ Kathy
"Saving money on meat for my
family is easily achieved by supplementing with TVP (textured
vegetable protein). Since it is almost tasteless it simply absorbs
the flavor of the other foods in the dish. And it has the same
texture as meat." ~ Suzie
"In response to the question
of saving money on meats and whether it is cheaper to order an
entire side of beef, I will share what I have found to work and
be cost effective for our family of eight (ages 4 to 14).
We have found it cheaper to order a half a beef a year, one pork
and numerous whole chickens. It is cheaper ONLY for two
reasons: one, we buy directly from the rancher, not the
grocery store and two, we have the beef mostly made into roasts,
steaks, etc. We end up with very little hamburger. The
reasoning is that you can almost always find hamburger cheaply,
but rarely can you find good quality roasts and steaks. In an
effort to save money on meats we try and limit the number of
times that meat is the main dish (have a pasta night, soup
night, etc on other nights) and make sure we turn the leftovers
into tasty meals. For example, yesterday's roast can become BBQ
beef on a bun, leftover steak can be sliced thinly and put in a
stir-fry the next evening. This is what works for our growing
family." ~ GG in Alberta
Editor's Note: Thanks to everyone who took the time to share
his or her ideas!
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