Please assist. What are good prices for meat? price/lb type-o-thang

[battlemaiden]

Have mercy on this former vegetarian. So far, I never try to save money on meat. Honestly, it has taken all my energy to just figure out what I'm buying- "what the heck is a "rump"? Or "stewing meat"?:D

So now I'm ready to pay attention to prices.

 

I primarily buy chicken breast, ground beef, and roasts for shredding or stewing (pork and beef).

 

What would be considered a "good price" for those things?

 

And do you have any tips on being frugal with meats? But don't gross me out. I'm still easing into this whole meat thing.

 

Thanks.

 

Jo

[ElizabethB]

That's one of the few things I almost always try to buy at the Commissary. Their prices are generally the best, and don't tend to vary that much.

 

Sometimes, another store will be close enough to buy a bit, especially for something on sale, but it's generally twice as cheap on base.

[Snickerdoodle]

You need to start keeping check on these things and over time you will get a feel for it.

 

Sometimes, whole chickens go on sale here for 99cents a pound. Then I will buy a bunch and freeze them. Roasting a whole chicken in the oven is easy (I do two at a time and they last couple of days).

 

Sometimes cube steak goes on sale for 3.99 a pound and I will buy a couple of packages because it's one kind of meat that my kids will eat. Just season and fry in a little oil on the stovetop.

 

Oxtail makes good broth if you leave it simmering all day. Sometimes that's 3.99 a pound and I will buy some and freeze it (sometimes it's 6.49 a pound, wow!). We eat a lot of soup. My hubby and I drink the broth with a little coconut milk, a squeeze of lemon and some cilantro/spring onion/hot pepper/bean sprout mix thrown in the bowl.

 

I don't buy ground meat from anywhere that doesn't grind it right there on the premises. At our old residence we had access to an butcher shop that was first rate. Here, I have bought ground meat at whole foods but it's expensive. I have now (finally) purchased a cuisinart and plan to start grinding my own meat (I hope it can do that). The kids miss their meatballs!

 

Stewing meat generally means that it's a tougher bit of meat that is meant for long cooking times. Not something you are going to use for stir fry, for example.

[kiana]

The cheapest I've gotten lately was at a local supermarket's meat sale.

 

Whole sirloin (this was huge!) for 2.61/lb, I cut it up and froze it.

Large packages of chicken bits for .79/lb.

Chuck roast (pot roast/stew) for 1.99/lb.

Corned beef for 1.49/lb.

 

These are pretty low -- the general advice is to try to visit several local supermarkets, if you have them, and get a feel for which of them tend to have cheap meat. They also have an on-site butcher, so it doesn't look as 'pretty' as meat at a national chain because it hasn't been treated to maintain the redness.

 

Another way (if you have a chest freezer, I wish I did) is to see if you can club with someone nearby to get an entire animal from a farm. This has the advantage in that you know where it came from, and it's (usually, sometimes it's aimed at yuppies) cheaper that way. The disadvantage is that you can end up with cuts where you have no idea what to do with them, but you can always google 'rump roast recipes' or something.

[MamaT]

We recently found a local farm where we can buy grassfed beef and pastured chickens.

 

A 60 lb. box of beef is $360 - so $6.00/lb. It is mostly steaks and roasts with some ground beef and stew meat.

 

The chickens are $3.50/lb.

 

It is not the cheapest, but I am willing to pay more for better meat.

[Dani n Monies Mom]

Here's what I payed at our farmer's market:

 

Boneless, skinless chicken breast $1.59/lb

whole chicken wings $1.59/lb

wingettes (for hot wings) $1.99/lb

ground beef $1.59/lb

whole chicken $1.09/lb

boneless pork chops $1.59/lb

 

At Wal-mart I payed

Turkey wings $2.22lb

ground italian sausage cost me $3.99/lb

Tilapia was $13.00 for a 4lb box, so $3.22/lb

 

HTH,

Ava

[Nestof3]

I can sometimes get growth-hormone free ground beef from BJs for $1.99 a pound.

 

I bought 10 whole chickens last year at Kroger. They were around $2.00 each. They were antibiotic-free.

 

I get bonless chicken breasts for $1.99 a pound at BJs and Kroger.

 

We eat meat more as something added into something else as opposed to as a main dish, so it goes a long way.

[Peek a Boo]

 

Boneless, skinless chicken breast $1.59/lb

whole chicken wings $1.59/lb

wingettes (for hot wings) $1.99/lb

ground beef $1.59/lb

whole chicken $1.09/lb

boneless pork chops $1.59/lb

 

 

These are the kinds of prices I look for too.

Between Sams, sales, and the Pilgrim's Pride plant, We try to pay less than $2 per pound for boneless meat. The exceptions would be salmon when it goes on sale.

[dcjlkplus3]

Costco has the best prices for meat I have found.

[ereks mom]

The local Kroger generally runs these items on sale pretty regularly:

 

boneless, skinless chicken breast $1.99/lb.

boneless pork loin $1.99/lb.

ground chuck $1.49/lb - $1.99/lb.

whole chicken $0.79/lb. - $0.99/lb

mixed pork chops $1.49/lb - $1.99/lb.

split chicken breast $0.99/lb. - $1.49/lb.

 

 

The exceptions would be:

 

fresh salmon (I buy only when it's on sale for $3.99/lb. -- this week Kroger has it at this price)

beef roast (I buy only when it's on sale for around $2.29/lb. - $2.99/lb.).

[yarrow]

because we're buying natural beef straight from the farmer and chickens that are "humanely raised" but, as a vegetarian for over 20 years, I find it much easier to purchase meat as local as possible. I somehow find grocery store meat unappealing when I consider how some animals are raised/processed.

 

FYI, I'm paying $5/lb for humanely raised bnls chicken breast and $4.50/lb for a side of beef (that's not hanging weight but actual cost/pound.)