Best bang for your buck on meats
Borrayo1287
Posts: 6 Member
Some help on a good way to save money. Buying bulk meats? Where and what are some good protien sources that are more cost effective. Thanks
0
Replies
-
I can get uncut pork loin slabs for $2/# and chicken breasts for 99 cents/#. Both are excellent high protein/low fat meat sources.2
-
Chicken thighs! Considerably less expensive than chicken breasts and still high protein. A lot of people think they taste better too.
If you know how to take apart a bird, you can buy a whole chicken/turkey and de-bone it yourself.
If you are local to farms, you can see if a local farm has a butcher on site who will sell you the meat at a wholesale cost.
When you do buy in bulk, freeze what you don't use and de frost when you're ready to eat it.
4 -
Chicken breasts, skirt steak and canned tuna are some of my favorites - all relatively inexpensive. Tilapia is another economical alternative, if you can stand the taste/texture (I can't).2
-
I'd go with chicken breasts and fish- tasty and ++ protein1
-
Not just what, but how. Be open to fattier cuts, portion and freeze, and don't throw anything away.1
-
Chicken thighs! Considerably less expensive than chicken breasts and still high protein. A lot of people think they taste better too.
If you know how to take apart a bird, you can buy a whole chicken/turkey and de-bone it yourself.
If you are local to farms, you can see if a local farm has a butcher on site who will sell you the meat at a wholesale cost.
When you do buy in bulk, freeze what you don't use and de frost when you're ready to eat it.
In Australia, it is the other way around and thighs are more expensive than the breast!2 -
Lillymoo01 wrote: »Chicken thighs! Considerably less expensive than chicken breasts and still high protein. A lot of people think they taste better too.
If you know how to take apart a bird, you can buy a whole chicken/turkey and de-bone it yourself.
If you are local to farms, you can see if a local farm has a butcher on site who will sell you the meat at a wholesale cost.
When you do buy in bulk, freeze what you don't use and de frost when you're ready to eat it.
In Australia, it is the other way around and thighs are more expensive than the breast!
True. I was blaming to chefs, they've cause lamb shanks to go up as well..... But my husband said it's to do with filleting. It's one cut to get breast of a bone, and two cuts and more skill to fillet a thigh. He worked in a chicken processing factory at one point.
2 -
Some of my staples are
Turkey and beef mince, I usually buy
In bulk, separate into the portion size and freeze2 -
my weekly meat purchases are determined by what is on sale when i shop around - i've previously bought in bulk and frozen (through like sam's club) - but in the long run is discovered i preferred my meat a bit fresher (although I tended to forget about stuff in the freezer)1
-
Buy on sale.
I just bought turkey breasts on sale for $.99/lb.
High protein, low calorie and a lot of portions for one breast.1 -
-
Bone in chicken thighs or leg quarters with skin or whole chicken are cheaper than boneless skinless chicken breasts
Fattier ground beef is cheaper than the lower fat ground beef
Sometimes ground turkey is cheaper than ground beef.
Canned tuna is pretty cheap
Eggs
Beans, lentils, peas, edamame can be extremely cheap compared to meat.
Tofu
Milk
Cottage cheese
Greek yogurt
Check what is on sale each week. The store I shop at periodically has different meats or yogurt on sale.1 -
I buy meat from sams club, portion it out and put in the freezer.0
-
-
Costco and Sam's have already cooked rotisseries chickens for $5 here (St. Louis MO).4
-
-
My daughter gets off work at 8 AM and heads to our local limited-choice grocery store, as they put out the meats first thing that must sell that day for 1/2 price! (I just freeze what I'm not going to cook that day.) Whole chicken, chicken thights, and leg quarters are almost always a good buy, even at full price. Beef is just too expensive for me anytime, plus I don't eat it anyways, per my doctor's advice. Ground turkey is great for anything you might use ground beef for, and has the added benefit that it doesn't cook down as much as beef. Tuna is also very versatile.1
-
So this is not really advice if your budget is extremely tight, but more if you have the luxury of spending more at once and saving over time.
I don't eat much meat, but my husband does and we've found the best thing was to invest in a chest freezer and wait for sales. Whenever a meat he likes goes on special, we buy at least $100 worth, portion it into freezer bags, and freeze (using first-in, first-out when we take meat out to avoid waste with freezer burn.) My parents swear by their vacuum sealer for this reason too, but we never have anything get freezer burnt because we're pretty militant about rotating.
We buy him ground beef and turkey, boneless chicken thighs, occasional whole chickens, and I've been known to clear the store out of sirloin, t-bone, or strip cuts of steak if they go on clearance. I'll buy as much as they have if it's on a deep discount. Same with fish - he pretty much sticks to wild-caught salmon, which is pretty pricey in our landlocked area, so whenever there's a special on filets with a nearing expiry, I buy tons and freeze them.
It requires a little pre-planning since I have to keep track of what we have stored and what's running out, but I hardly ever buy him regular priced meat anymore since I have a stockpile. We are fairly frugal people in general but we like to eat well and varied, so groceries are a big expense with us and I do make a bit of an effort with expensive stuff like meat (and cheese) to buy it on sale. We do most of our shopping at Costco, so we're already getting a bit of a bulk discount compared to other grocery stores where we live, and we compound it by buying large amounts at discounted prices.1 -
Buy on sale. Also, some stores have quantity discounts. My local store, for example, sells ground beef cheaper by the tube (10 lb.). That is how they get it, I think.
Beef I can usually get steaks or roasts at $3 per lb. and ground beef at $2.50 per lb. Sometimes at less, such as a sale this week for $1.88/lb. ground beef (but a limit of 4 lb.).
Pork and chicken are much cheaper, but that may vary by region. I can get pork cuts like bacon ends and pieces or other cutlets in boxes of 5 lb. for $8-$12. And usually can get fresh cuts of pork at $1-$2 per lb. on sale.
Chicken is often even less. Hind quarters are usually cheapest and sometimes 29 cents per lb.
If you have a freezer, use sales throughout the year. Turkey and ham sales at Nov and Dec., fish around lent (I get frozen pollock cheap then), pork and beef around grilling holidays - Memorial day, Independence day, Labor day.
Lastly, if you have equipment, time, land access, and knowledge; you can hunt or fish. Be careful because locker fees can be expensive. This really only works for big game if you skin and bone it yourself. I am hoping to get my garage clean enough this year to be willing to do that myself (for deer). Of course, squirrel and rabbit (and fish); I just take care of in my kitchen after leaving certain parts in the field anyway.
Ok, one more... may or may not be worth it. Depends on various factors: Buy an animal or part of an animal and butchering fees. I bought 1/4 cow recently and butcher fees, and it was cheaper than higher end steaks, but not cheaper than hamburger and cheap cuts. It was a good deal for the cuts I got, but not if I was looking to save money and buy mostly hamburger.0 -
It's Labor Day weekend right now in the US, which often mean big sales on meats for grilling & picnics. Most major US holidays are accompanied by sales on the meats expected to be consumed (e.g., Thanksgiving - turkey; Easter -ham; Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor day - steaks, burgers/ground beef, chicken; etc.)0
-
Evelyn_Gorfram wrote: »It's Labor Day weekend right now in the US, which often mean big sales on meats for grilling & picnics. Most major US holidays are accompanied by sales on the meats expected to be consumed (e.g., Thanksgiving - turkey; Easter -ham; Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor day - steaks, burgers/ground beef, chicken; etc.)
Around the "BBQ holidays" (summer-ish holidays), there are also often big sales on baby back/spare ribs. I've still got 4 racks of baby backs in the freezer from a great 4th of July sale - which may be going in the smoker this weekend.1 -
I can get uncut pork loin slabs for $2/# and chicken breasts for 99 cents/#. Both are excellent high protein/low fat meat sources.
Exactly this - both very high protein, not high calorie.
I also like shrimp- nearly pure protein. At $10/lb it sounds pricey, but toss 1/2 lb in some rotini pasta (nearly free) and throw in half a barrel of garlic cloves (also nearly free) and me and the boys all eat well (4 people eat for $10).1 -
Costco if you have one near by. 4LBS ground turkey 19 bucks, eye round steak 7lbs 30 bucks. Big box of boneless skinless chicken breasts 20 bucks. These are all I buy and find them great prices, so I don't know what the other cuts are but assume they would be great as well0
-
Define bulk.
There's a local butcher that sells true bulk. You basically pay for the calf, tell them when you want it slaughtered (6 months taste better, but you get less, 1 yr old is the norm) then butchered. In the end you end up paying an average of about $2.50/lb of beef. You can also add in some chickens, which come out to about $1.00/lb. Now this doesn't require a fairly large freezer, but it's a lot cheaper in the long run.
Now just buying the larger supermarket packages, just buy on sale. Particularly at stores like Costco's or Sam's club.0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.7K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.3K Health and Weight Loss
- 176K Food and Nutrition
- 47.5K Recipes
- 232.6K Fitness and Exercise
- 431 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.6K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8.1K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.4K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.8K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 1.2K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions