I shop at BJ's, a warehouse store (similar to costco/sam's club), so I get all of my meat in bulk there. For cost in general keep in mind that on low carb the cheaper cuts of meat are often the best. Chicken Thighs with the skin on are cheaper than boneless skinless breasts by a lot, and are much better for low carbers. Same thing with ground beef, the 80/20 or 73/27 stuff that's significantly cheaper is preferred to 95/5 super lean beef.

I am Canadian, and buy 95% of my meat directly from farmers who raise grass fed and pastured meat. We call this a farm subscription which I renew every Spring. I decide what I want to order each year, this year was 1/4 grass fed cow, 1/2 pastured heritage pig, 40 pounds of ground beef, 40 pounds of ground pork, 12 free range chickens, one free range turkey. I also get 6 dozen free range eggs monthly. My farmers come into the city and I meet them once per month to pick up my order. I pay by post dated monthly cheques, about $190/month, which actually works out to less than what I used to pay for conventional meat.

Cost wise, I think I am also saving money by not having to buy all the dry goods and packaged crap we used to eat, since we gave up eating processed food. ( I was vegetarian for 2 years) I take great comfort in knowing exactly where most of my food comes from, and in the summer I grow a huge garden which produces most of our produce which I freeze or can for future use. I love eating a meal that comes exclusively from my farmers and my own yard. It really depends on how you choose to spend your food dollars. Some of my food times cost more, but I buy less of them. For instance, the past 3 years I bought 1/2 cow, but since beef prices went up, I chose 1/4 cow this year along with extra ground meat which was cheaper.

The beauty of the meat arrangement is that I don't get all of this all at once and have to worry about how I will store it all. 4 months out of the year I will pick up 1/4 of my annual beef order, 4 months out of the year, I will pick up 1/4 of my pork and ground meat order, 2 months in the fall are for poultry, and 2 months for farm extras. I get organs, bones, and animal parts like chicken and pork feet, pork head and bones for free. I am lucky in that I usually will take the parts that other subscribers do not want. I then make various flavours of bone broth which I store in the freezer, and I render my own lard and tallow.

By getting fresh meat every month ( wrapped in old fashioned butcher paper, so it keeps in the freezer very well), I don't have to worry about the 1/2 animal I purchased getting freezer burned or old before we eat the meat. I also have a good supply of many different meats in my freezers at any given time. I have 2 x 7-8 cu ft freezers and my fridge freezer almost full most of the time.

As an extra bonus I buy items such as homemade soap that my farmers make from animal fat. They also have connections to other farmers and suppliers of local products such as fish, wild rice, organic fair trade coffee beans, hemp seeds, etc etc. I will never go back to purchasing food in a conventional way again. It really has enriched our lives and our health has benefited enormously.

On the other hand, there are many people on this forum who eat conventionally raised meat and they have many additional ways to watch costs. I am sure you will receive many tips from them as well. It's all in what you are looking for. Good luck !

We buy some from Gordon Food Service, but the rest is locally raised. I find I get the best price buying in bulk and then prepping and freezing.

Frequently broke mother of two here, so I feel your pain. LOL. The trick is to stock up when things are on sale. That being said, some things (at least around here) are always consistently cheaper than just about everything else.

Pork shoulder, also known as pork butt, varies from .99/lb on sale to about 1.49-1.69/lb and they come in LARGE portions. Midpriced you can get a giant 7-8 pound roast (with just a little bone) for around $10. For just one person, that one roast could give you meals for a week: green chili pork, pork veggie soup, carnitas, pulled pork, creamy pork and mushrooms, etc. It's a lot of meat.

Someone else mentioned chicken thighs. Usually they're about 1.49-1.69/lb. Ounce for ounce, chicken short thighs are probably gonna give the most meat for the lowest cost. Don't bother getting skinless or boneless. Most meats taste richer when cooked on or with the bones. And if the recipe calls for boneless, short thighs only have the one long bone in them and a few knife strokes and it's out easy peasy. Chicken leg quarters are another really economical choice. You get more bone this way, and of course there's less meat on a chicken leg, but they're usually dirt cheap. Around here a 10 lb bag sells for around $5-$6. And you can portion it out and freeze it in individual servings when you get home. And the extra bones make good stock. Sometimes, whole little chickens will be on sale this way too; they take a little more knifework, but they're much lower cost typically.

Another option, and one a lot of people don't think about, is whole turkeys. Everybody buys turkey breast or sliced turkey deli meat which can be outrageously expensive - $5-$6/lb or more sometimes. But a whole turkey can go for at low as .99/lb, and you get 2 breasts, legs, thighs, etc, and a great big carcass and giblets to make soup with. And don't feel like you have to get the mammoth freakish dinosaur turkey. The little ones are just as good.

And finally fish. If you don't live coastally, and sometimes even if you do, fresh (and frozen) fish can be ridiculously expensive. But there are a few exceptions. Tuna fish is generally very inexpensive. The vacuum packed pouches are generally a little better taste and texture wise than the canned ones; the packing process is just a little different. But they're both good option. Canned salmon is another one. It's a little more expensive, $2.50-$3 a can, but there's quite a bit of fish in one can. Canned mackerel is another inexpensive fish, and it's full of good fats.

Beef is usually a treat in our house. It's gotten so expensive we just don't buy it very often. But when we do, chuck roast is a good option. Hamburger is technically cheaper if you buy the 70/30 mix, but you throw out a lot of grease when you cook it which means you're actually paying more for the meat you're getting out of it. A roast can be stretched out to make a lot of meals just like the pork. You can even use chuck for stir fry, although I'm sure no chef would ever advise you to do that. The trick is to slice it super super thin and against the grain.

Sorry for wall of text. Hopefully some of that will be helpful.

We shop for meat at Shoprite. We buy our meat on sale, some weeks we buy up to 6 packages of the same meat, break up the packs and freeze them. We have a 7ft. freezer that is usually close to full of meat and the refrig's freezer is full of frozen steamer bags of veggies.. Right now there is a ton of chopped tomatoes in there. We won't buy sauce till maybe next year. We get most of our veggies at the farmer's market, their prices are always good so no need to overstock them. Groceries, the few we still buy we get at Walmart, we seldom see any bargains on their meat or produce. Our weekly food bill between the 3 stores is around $150.

I buy most of my meat at BJ's (a club). I typically buy the chuck neck roll ($3.99 a pound) and eat a lot of that. I also buy ground beef (73/27%) when I can find it less than $3 a pound. That's at BJ's and a lot of other places also. I prefer the BJ's because it's sourced only from the US. If I end up at Wal-Mart, the meat has a very "international" mix.

Today I picked up a 20 pound chuck roll at the store. It's expensive at time, but it lasts me a long time (about 2 weeks). That with some ground beef typically feeds me for under $8 a day, less than $56 a week ($240 a month). I can bring it down a bit by preferring more ground beef, and drive it up by getting other cuts of beef or lamb.

I buy my beef and pork , occasional lamb(not a huge fan), from a specific local farmer because I love the taste and the people behind it! They don't do junk, or chemicals, and they are a great family farm! EX: I went to the farm market (without pre-ordering) and thought I was short to pay them and since they know me they said I could pay next week! Or a check! Who does that anymore?? They are in demand they don't need me!

I get my chickens from local farmers too as much as possible. But for regular chicken I get Organic at the grocery store. I prefer it taste wise and I feel better about it.

I buy wild caught fish from anywhere I find it.

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