Works For Me – Buying Meat

My husband is a big meat-eater.  I’m not so much, but I enjoy cooking what he likes.  So I’m always looking for good deals on his favorite things like chicken breast, hamburger meat, steak, roast, and pork chops.

One of the keys for reducing the overall cost of buying meat is adequate freezer space.  My husband bought me an extra small freezer that I keep in the garage, and it has paid for itself at least a couple of times already since we purchased it two years ago.  Consider buying a deep freezer on Craigslist for even more savings.  Buying in bulk and freezing greatly reduces my grocery budget and ensures that we always have something for dinner!

Because meat is a bigger-ticket item, I find that it is often worth it to scour the weekly ads and consider making a special trip to a store that I might not usually frequent. 

But the best advice I can give to get great prices on meat is to make friends with your butcher.  Almost all meat departments will drastically slash prices on packages of meat when they begin to approach their “sell by” date.  The butchers in two main meat departments in which I shop have been very friendly and eager to tell me about their procedure for marking down the meat.  One store does most of their markdowns every Thursday, and the other store has a butcher that does markdowns every morning.  I’ve tailored my shopping times to fit when I am most likely to score good prices on meat. 

Of course, these strategies will result in fluctuations in the weekly grocery budget.  Some weeks I spend more because I can’t pass up a low price, but it works out because my overall prices are greatly reduced.  And that works for me.

For more works-for-me tips, visit We Are THAT Family.