Total steal on meat!

Panda_Poptarts

So, either you'll applaud my frugality or think I'm insane, but I got the best buy on meat last night! I was perusing Target (read: being slowly sucked into Target's magical aisles of crap my house doesn't have room for) when I spotted it: 4 1lb packages of 90/10 organic antibiotic free ground beef. Marked down from $9/lb to $5/lb... and they were 1 day past the use-by date. Fortunately, the meat was stored in those vacuum sealed packs, too, which I feel like keeps it fresher.

I had to convince the store manager to sell it to me. I imagine they really shouldn't do that, but I think she saw the logic of I buy it or she throws it all away. I also got her to go down on the price, to $2/lb. I took it home and cooked it right up. Yum!

sammyliftsandeats

Awesome!

Phrick

I was refused meat that was expiring same day at Winco recently - 8, 10-oz grass fed steaks they just trashed. I was pissed - if you want to be technical, the day didn't end for another 18 hours they damn well ought to have sold it to me. You scored big time.

Panda_Poptarts

Phrick wrote: »

I was refused meat that was expiring same day at Winco recently - 8, 10-oz grass fed steaks they just trashed. I was pissed - if you want to be technical, the day didn't end for another 18 hours they damn well ought to have sold it to me. You scored big time.

Honestly, I don't think food has a magic "expiration date". You need to be intelligent enough to judge the smell, color, texture, etc. We all know what bad meat looks/smells/tastes like! I find it ridiculous that stores would rather just dump huge quantities of meat than sell it to folks who are willing to "risk it". I get that it's a liability thing, but still! I would have been very annoyed at them throwing away my steaks!

I only needed a pound of meat, but couldn't stomach the thought of them throwing out the other three packs. I just pre-cooked, portioned off, and popped 3lb of cooked beef into the freezer. I eat a ton of ground beef anyway.

auntstephie321

It does annoy me to that so much is thrown out. It's crazy to me that somehow the more developed nations are ruled by regulations and fear of lawsuit. While there are people everywhere who don't have enough nutritious food to eat. If the meat looks good and doesn't smell what's the issue, ya know.

Panda_Poptarts

@auntstephie321 couldn't have said it better myself! There are too many hungry people in the world to toss good food because it's "expired", or "losing its freshness" (that's what expired typically means anyway!), or misshapen or bruised. I buy the marked down meat and produce whenever I can.

Cheesy567

Bargaining down the price at Target-- I love it!!

Panda_Poptarts

@cheesy567 I totally haggled. Lol!

KnitOrMiss

Phrick wrote: »

I was refused meat that was expiring same day at Winco recently - 8, 10-oz grass fed steaks they just trashed. I was pissed - if you want to be technical, the day didn't end for another 18 hours they damn well ought to have sold it to me. You scored big time.

@Phrick I think I would have had to escalate that one all the way up to the store manager level or have gotten corporate on the phone. That's flat out ridiculous.

canadjineh

My way to shop is European style, go to the store every couple of days, see what's about to expire and buy it to cook that night or tomorrow or freeze for another day. Same goes for when they get a new shipment of veg and need to get rid of the remaining past shipment which is usually perfectly ripe by that time instead of green. I routinely buy yogourt that is past the due date (it's already digested by the natural bacteria anyhow) and have actually had it last quite fine opened for 1 month after expiration. The stuff I've eaten in other countries (mainly Asia, lol) doesn't have an expiration date... everyone there just uses commons sense... as previously stated does it look & smell fresh.

Panda_Poptarts

@canadjineh I eat just like you. Apparently that's also European haha. I feel like I'm at the grocery store most days, because I peruse the "manager's specials". I spotted some 30% off steaks today that should be 50% by tomorrow or Saturday. I'll go back soon for those steaks if they're still there.

Looking, smelling, and feeling fresh should be good enough, but it seems like every corporation in America is terrified of a lawsuit. No wonder, when we try to sue for overheated coffee. I think we could do to tone things down a bit and just buy what's good.