Carrie emailed in the following tip:
Recently, I bought two whole chickens for $0.98 per pound and was able to feed my family (three adults) four meals! I took three of the breasts off of the bone to use for a future meal. I used two thighs, two wings, four legs, and one breast to make fried chicken. I took two thighs and all of the meat/bones from the back and breast to freeze for a later use.
Here were the four meals I made from two whole chickens:
Meal 1 = Fried Chicken
Meal 2 = leftover fried chicken for lunch
Meal 3 = General Tso chicken with the three breasts
Meal 4 = Chicken and noodles using the thighs and all of the little bits of meat off of the bonesI also bought a whole ribeye the other day for $4.29/lb, and, with a little time and planning, we were able to eat several high-quality beef meals for a very low cost. We cut our ribeye into: 14 steaks, 1 lbs. of scraps for three steak sandwiches, and .75 lb. scraps for stir-fry
When I buy pork butts I will usually have the butcher cut off a three pork steaks for me and then I take rest of pork butt and braise it for more meals. You can braise pork and freeze it in small cooked portions with some of the broth for future meals like: Pork and rice, BBQ pork, and Chinese food. Depending on the size of the pork butt I can get anywhere from four or five meals!
I have been able to reduce the cost of the meals in my house by almost half with a little planning and work on my own part. -Carrie
Note from Crystal: If your family is willing to have less meat at each meal, Laura posted about how she stretched one chicken into six meals for her family!
The biggest way to save is to get out of the mindset that dinner = hunk o’ meat. Americans eat way more meat than we should, anyway! You don’t have to go vegetarian, but chances are you probably already have a lot of meals you love (mac & cheese, casseroles, etc.) which don’t use meat at all. If you work these into your regular rotation, you’ll spend less on meat because you just won’t need that much. Before you cook, think about whether you actually need meat in your meal at all – I like a grilled cheese sandwich just as well without meat as I do with, so I usually don’t bother making grilled ham and cheese. On the other hand, my corn casserole just doesn’t taste the same without bacon, so I leave that in.
When you buy meat in bulk, it gives you a great chance to make one or two big “meat” meals – roast chicken, beef stew, or whatever – and then to save the pre-cooked leftovers for future meals. Not only is it cheaper that way, but it saves on cooking time!
Ask the butcher, if not out for display, for Chuck Eye Steak. Just as tender as new york strip for pennies on the dollar. Usually butchers or main stream super markets don’t put these great cuts out unless they’re asked for, then the butchers take them home for FREE.
I have a whole blog category for to save money on meat! I have a couple of main strategies:
1. Find out what day my supermarket marks down meat — I can get lots of different cuts for as much as 50% off — and yes, this is a mainstream grocery store!
2. Use the whole chicken — I’ll get at least 5 meals from a chicken, plus a lot of homemade broth (no MSG!) from scratch.
3. Purchase local grass-fed meat in bulk ( I buy 40 lbs at a time) to save money – I get ground beef for $3.15 /lb.
4. Stretch what you have — Make chili with mostly beans and a little ground meat or sausage.
From time to time I bake a 12 lb. turkey and have enough turkey for about 5 hearty meals for our family of four. I pay $12 for the turkey and each serving is about .60 cents per person. Who says you have to wait ’til Thanksgiving to eat turkey. I make my own homemade mash potatoes and buy stuffing on sale after thanksgiving.
Ham from Easter. I fed 12 adults and 3 children Easter dinner. It was a spiral ham and the only leftover meat was that which was left on the bone after I sliced the pre sliced ham off. I made lunch the following day for the grandchildren, hot ham and cheese in a pita pocket.
I made hot open faced dilled ham sandwiches on rye with a spinach salad for dinner on Monday.
The rest I froze in little packages that can be used for quiche, fritatas, salads, omelets, ham and beans, ham and pineapple pizza for the kids, scalloped potatoes, mac and cheese or anything else I come up with for quick meal with very little meat. Minced ham is also great paired with cooked greens and green beans.
As far as the bone and what little was left on it I froze to flavor some sort of bean soup.
Since my husband prefers dark meat anyway, I always buy chicken leg quarters for 69 cents a pound at Aldi, or stock up when they go on sale at Kroger for 39 cents a pound. It’s a little less versatile than a whole chicken, but much cheaper, and I’ve roasted or stewed them in all kind of sauces including General Tso’s and made great stock too.
check your local hispanic markets, they have a variety of cuts for 1.49 – 2.99 lb. and chicken leg quaterters .69 lb. for a ten pound bag.
*quarters, ups
I go to our local Walmart when they have their meat marked down (I figured out what day and time they do it) and stock up for 3-4 months. They usually have everything from ground beef to chicken and pork. They are all within their sell by dates but only have one or two days left before they reach them. Recently I picked up a huge 17 lb brisket on clearance and made many many meals from it during a freezer cooking day. We have found that this method of purchasing meat is cheaper than buying a side of beef and it’s already packaged. I can usually squeeze 3 meals out of a whole chicken by roasting it. We eat mainly the legs and a breast one night, make chicken and dumplings or other soup another night and then with the scraps of meat I make homemade dog food (rice, oatmeal, chicken, and scrap veggies) which feeds our mini schnauzer for around two weeks (so much cheaper and healthier than the canned stuff). Happy savings!!
You can make another meal out of the cooked (or raw) chicken bones. Throw them in a pot of water with some carrots, onion, and celery Oran’s make chicken broth. Delicious with noodles or turned into some other kind of soup. Want to save even more money? Save the carrot peels, onion skins, and other veggie parts you would usually throw away and keep in a zip top bag on the freezer along with the bones. When the bag Is full, dump the whole thing in a pot of water to make stock!
There are 2 adults and 4 kids (ages 2-9) in our family. They kids are big eaters for their ages. I agree that planning ahead saves on $ for meat, AND reduces meat consumption, which is generally a healthier way to go.
Some examples:
one whole chicken: roasted whole for the first meal. Leftovers are made into chicken enchiladas, tacos, or quesadillas. I save the broth/stock in the bottom of the pan for later recipes (frozen in ziploc).
Or buying boneless, chicken breasts on sale: 1 breast is more than enough for stir-fry, if I am generous with the veggies (which I am). Everyone is full. But if I were to make a dish where each person gets a half breast, everyone would still clean their plate, but at a much greater cost.
Italian sausage cooked up and crumbled (so it’s not in links anymore) goes a long way in soups or spaghetti sauce. For a big crockpot of lentil soup I only use 1/2 lb and it lasts for 1 and 1/2 meals. I tried putting a whole pound in once, and it was just too much.
If I want to make hamburgers, we need about 1 and 1/2 pounds of ground beef and there are no leftovers. But if I make sloppy joes with 1 lb of ground beef and sneak in some onions, celery, and red bell pepper, it makes enough for 1 and 1/2 meals. Now if I were to serve those onions, celery, and pepper plainly visible, there would be much wailing!
I completely agree, Heather! Just tonight, I had 2 italian sausage links in the freezer and about 4 cups of cooked red beans. I crumbled the sausage and cooked it, put it in with the beans and served it over rice, and my family of 3 teenagers, hubby, and me were able to eat till full AND my hubby has lunch for tomorrow 🙂 If he had seen just 2 little sausage links in the pan, he never would have thought it would be enough for dinner for the 5 of us, let alone enough leftovers for his lunch!! 🙂
I’m all for chopping up the meat and streeettttccchhhiing it! 🙂
I wish I was better about buying whole chickens. There’s so many great recipes you can make from one!
We do save money on our beef purchases by splitting a 1/2 cow each year with my brother’s family. It ends up being $3.10 per lb which is a great deal for grass fed beef. It’s really satisfying when you realize you just made a great steak for such a low cost!
Ground beef 85-90% lean at Costco and Sams is only $2.98 lb I can get 8-9 meals from one package divided into 1/2 lb pkgs.
I also purchase chickens and can get 2-3 meals from one chicken. (there are 3 of us) I also boil the bones for broth.
I love the idea of taking the chicken apart. In our house we buy a whole pig and half a cow from a local farmer and butcher and process the pig ourselves and the cow we have butchered and cut in half and hung like it needs to and then we pick it up and process it at home also. Works out to less than $2 a lb for ALL the beef and less than $1 a lb for the pork. Now we do need a large freezer for this, but I like the fact that I know where my meat is coming from and I am supporting local farmers. I am still thinking about raising my own chickens for meat and eggs, but just not sure I have the time.
I got chicks a month ago. Even with the extra work that chicks bring, they’re still very easy to care for and my boys love it. We are raising them for the fresh eggs and pets :). I can’t wait to have fresh eggs, that I know what went into the chickens food. I’m told they like spagetti noodles. I can’t wait to try when they get a little bigger. You can buy hens that are already a year old, and then you don’t need to have them under the heat light, ect.
I like the idea of knowing where my meat comes from, too, but we don’t have room for a separate freezer; we have just the freezer above our (apartment-sized) refrigerator. We don’t eat a lot of meat anyway, but I did start buying whole chickens recently because it’s so much cheaper.