I’m super excited because, as I mentioned on my Facebook Page a few weeks ago, my husband surprised me with a new deep freezer! I’ve always just had over-the-fridge freezers (except for the short stint when we had the freezer disaster and ended up getting rid of the the blood-soaked and stinking freezer when we moved because we were too scared to try using it again!) so I was thrilled — especially because I wasn’t expecting that we were going to get a freezer for at least another year or two.
And one of the first things we did was buy twenty pounds of local grass-fed ground beef. My parents bought a cow a few weeks ago and they kindly let us buy some of the beef from them. It was $3.80 a pound — which is a great price for this high-quality beef. I can’t wait to make hamburgers, meatballs and meatloaf with it!
I also went to Target and purchased the items pictured above — you can see the full price breakdown here.
Also purchased and not pictured: chicken, butter, peanut butter, oats, fruit, and veggies from Aldi, farm-fresh eggs
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hi all! just added my finds from target, jc penny, macy’s & old navy.
What a great present! We have a chest freezer for quite a few years now. We live in Western PA and keep ours in our (then) unheated mudroom which is warm enough that it stays about 40* throughout the winter. Now thankfully this was when it was almost empty and we didn’t lose much but apparently if its cold enough outside of the freezer it will turn off. That Summer we added a heating vent to the mudroom! And after a few stints of my kids forgetting to close the lid to the freezer I purchased a freezer alarm from my local hardware store, you can also find them on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=freezer+alarms&x=0&y=0
Wow stocking up on meat at those great prices is awsome. We live near cincinnati and if anyone could recomend a good farm to try this at I would love to try!!
Thanks in advance for any recomendations…..
Thanks for providing the linky so I can share my yard sale savings!
I LOVE our deep freeze. Don’t know how I would live without it! 🙂
only $3.80/lb?!?!?! YOWZA!! I can’t get it for less than $4.75/lb! JEALOUS! our deep freeze just stopped freezing (never a good thing) so my stock had to be tossed. Sadness. YEAH for you to have a lovely new freezer!! 🙂
The price varies a lot by region. We pay $4.65 for ground. I’ve looked around and that’s the best price I can get within a reasonable driving distance.
My in-laws bought a cow last year not only was the beef AWESOME it was great to have so much in our freezer. We were able to eat a lot of meals we wouldn’t normally eat, because we had already purchased the meat.
We moved across country away from our beef source of my parents who farm. I HATE HATE HATE store meat, prices and quality. So we found a beef farmer and bought a 1/4 of cow to try him out, besides we had a pratically empty freezer and meat is one thing I love having stocked. It has been wonderful the steaks are tender and the roasts are awesome and the rest has been great. We paid 1.80 on the rail plus packaging making it out to be about 500.00 for everything and it is totally worth every penny!!!!
Can any KCers give me a recommendation on where to buy grassfed beef besides the grocery store? I’m definitely interested!
My (pseudo, yet to be married) mother in law is buying a 1/2 cow soon and is going to share it with us! As college students living on a budget, this means quite a lot.
We will be purchasing 1/2 of a cow in a couple of weeks from a friend. We will split it with my husband’s parents which will be about 300 lbs (maybe a little less). It will cost us $375 each or $2.50 a lb. I am so excited!
You got a great deal on everything! And getting a freezer sounds exciting. LOL… Can you tell I like to be stocked up? 🙂
I’m also interested in finding out where your parents purchased their meat from locally. the couple places I’ve talked to at Farmer’s Markets haven’t been anywhere near that cheap!
i am just looking at getting an upright freezer and am wondering if the 13+- cf size is too big or too small. we are a family of 4 and until i started couponing in april i only bought for a week at a time. now my freezer is full and i am about nuts at how hard it is to find anything. freezers jump from 5cf to 13cf it seems and i don’t want to buy the 5 if i will regret it. i am looking for some advice so i can buy before i go insane!!!
You could look at a 7 cft freezer. My husband and I found the best price at Sam’s Club for a brand new one. We haven’t been able to find a good used one. Hope that helps!
My parents raise a few beef cattle and I was so spoiled growing up! The first time we ran out as a married couple and I had to buy store hamburger I almost gagged at the grease in my pan. Now my parents make sure we stay stocked up!
One tip: You may notice how VERY lean (I’m betting) this meat is. So for hamburgers you may need to do a little extra adding of ingredients (eggs, bread crumbs, etc.) to make sure they stay together. Since there’s no fat to keep the meat together. Yum!!
The grass-fed beef hamburger that we buy is 92 to 94 percent lean, if that helps.
Yay for your freezer and your beef! Idea from Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve, for the letter Hh: Make a Huge Hambuger. Use that round King’s Hawaiian bread you have there, with a pound of hamburger meat make into one giant burger – my kids LOVE it when I make a Huge Hamburger like that. We admire it a while, then slice it like pie and devour it. It’s awesome. 🙂
Oops, “made” into a giant burger. 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing the idea of making a huge hamburger! 🙂 That sounds like such a fun meal to share with my family! My boys will love it, they are 6 & 10. Thanks again for such a great idea! 🙂
I mean this kindly … ladies, beef does not come from cows. Milk comes from cows. Beef comes from steers.
🙂
I mean this kindly, but milk comes from all female mammals, not just cows.
That made me laugh because my Dad, who grew up on a farm, had to tell me the same thing. I kept saying we were “cowpooling” to get meat but we were really “steerpooling.” Good farm lesson….I’m sure all the farmers would laugh at me (I once had to ask the difference between straw and hay…embarrassing!)
What a wonderful gift! Just in time to freeze fresh blueberries, peaches, all sorts of summer fruits and veggies for winter!
We will be getting 1/4 of a cow in a few weeks. It will cost us max of $375 for about 150 lbs which is about $2.50 a pound. And I am pretty sure it is grass-fed as well. Super excited!
I saved quite a bit this week. Today we saved almost $26 at Martin’s Grocery, $3 at Bed Bath Beyond and tonight… I saved $83.97 purchasing $99.99 + tax + shipping with Catherine’s. I got a discount liking them on Facebook, then I got 60% off some sale prices, 50% off some sale prices, and used my Perks Card. Purchasing “out of season” clothing which will be fall and winter clothing at less than $10 each on sale was great.
Love the linky thing! 😀
Crystal –
We’ve known each other through the blogosphere for what, 5, 6 years now? But $3.80?? Is it that expensive in Kansas, or have you taken leave of your senses?
Organic, grass fed beef in WI is no more than $S3.49 a pound! Eeks!
(And this is said after I told my husband that we’re going t o have a more ‘vegetarian diet’ than a carniviorous diet.
It’s a great price here. I’m always very excited when I can find high-quality beef for less than $4/lb. at the grocery store. And this beef is much higher quality than what I can buy at the grocery store.
Yikes! I found a farmer down the road from us that does the grass fed thing (cows as well as organic chickens and pigs), and beef is $3.49 a pound. I guess I expected that since you’re really in the Heartland for beef to be even cheaper there since it seems like much of your other grocery prices are also less than ours here.
And I’m jealous of that grass fed beef. I’m still waiting on my cow…. 😉
How much do you post on Facebook? I’ve never had FB at all and don’t plan too. But are there certain types of things that I’m missing out on more by only seeing what’s here on the blog?
Oops! Had to fix my name misspelling! LOL
Thanks for hosting the link up 🙂
You are going to love it!!! We bought our 2nd half cow a few weeks ago from our cousin. $3.60/lb. All natural grass fed beef bargain! Congrats!
Wow! We must be lucky. We can get grass fed beef for $2.25/pound in Lancaster, PA, and not just ground beef, either, that includes all the cuts, and the processing too!
Is that the hanging weight or the final weight? That’s a fairly significant difference.
I am pretty confident that is the final weight, because last year I paid around $55-56, and got 25 pounds of meat. My mom and I and my sister are all going together this year and buying a whole steer. The woman did say, however, that the price might go up some this year. It is from an Amish farm, unsure if that makes a difference.
Oh, and sorry I posted about this twice. It didn’t go through the first time.
Where in Lancaster? I live nearby and that is a fantastic price.
Any information (Address, Phone, Farmers Market) would be greatly appreciated.
Rob
Where in Lancaster? This would be worth a drive for me!
I’m so looking forward to reading more of your posts because I’ve noticed that you been going down the healthy route and I often find it a struggle to save money since we’ve started eating healthier and following some of the principles of the Diet Solution Life Style. I’ve had a hard time affording the grass fed beef from Whole Foods, so I’m going to start looking for farmers outside of the Chicago area to see if we can save some money. Thanks for your hard work and sharing with all of us!
Crystal, Until you get the freezer completely filled with food you might want to consider filling empty milk jugs with water to stick in there. They run more efficiently if they are full. That way you can just pull out the frozen jugs when you need to add more items and your freezer is always running at it best.
I’m glad to hear you, of all people, say that $3.80 is a good price! We just bought 20 pounds of grass-fed ground beef at the farmers’ market (after using up all the ground beef we got from our side of beef we split with some family members last winter). I hated to pay $3.80/pound (yes, same price)–but the quality is soooo much better than anything I could buy at the grocery store.
I split a half beef with my parents. It was raised by my uncle on his own farm- grass fed and organic. YUM! It was just $2.50 per pound and I got 180# (hanging weight). I got the same amount at Christmas and it lasted my family of 4 six months.
Wow! We must get a great deal here. In Lancaster, PA, we can get grass fed beef (not just ground, all of it), for $2.25/pound. Boy are we lucky!
Janelle,
I am not too far away. Would you mind sharing your source with me? Thanks!
Absolutely I will share my source (as soon as I get it from my mom). She buys and then my sister and I divide it up and pay for our share. This year we will be getting a whole steer. And they aren’t ready until fall. I will let you know as soon as I hear back from her!
OK, I guess I can’t share it. My mom doesn’t know the phone number or anything, and they only raise 2 or 3 steers per year and do not really advertise. My best bet would be to look for an Amish seller. It seems if they farm and have the grazing land, their prices are the best. Good luck!
That is great! I just ran out of our beef. We bought a quarter cow back in November, so I am thinking a half cow will last our family of 5 a year this time!
Awesome job on the hamburger!!! We buy grass fed meat as well, but we buy it by the 1/4 cow. For 250 pounds of bone-free meat we pay $375 for the meat + $120 for butchering, which is $2 a pound on average and includes steak, roasts, etc. as well. It’s an incredible buy.
Congrats on the freezer. Love your site!!!! We raise cattle as well all grass fed, as well as chickens, quails and turkeys! We have all organic eggs and sell them locally. I just finished making a couple of batches of strawberry jam, made butter, grinded whole wheat berries to bake bread tonight! Whole wheat berries are 13.00 for 26 pounds. We are testing some new recipes! Getting ready to make pizza dough now! 🙂
We purchased an upright freezer when we belonged to a local co-op, but the prices (and drive to the homestead) were too much for us after about a year. Thankfully, the freezer is STILL saving us money every day! I recently froze strawberry jam (leftovers from a wedding rehearsal dinner), baked allergy-friendly muffins and cookies for snacks and made a triple batch of vegan waffles for breakfast! I’d love access to grass fed beef, though…
I was fortunate enough to bid and win a 2004 GE chest-style deep freezer at an estate auction this spring. The price? $10!!! What an answer to prayer! My tip for chest-styles: make a simple inventory list on the computer and tape to the top of the lid. I include date, item, quantity, and a place to make the item as used. This makes sure we don’t waste any of our hard-earned money!
*mark the item as used
Oops!
I love my deep freeze as well! We stock it with venison when my hubby goes hunting in the fall. 🙂 We literally did not buy beef our first (very poor) year of marriage. Ten years into it, we still use venison a lot! Very healthy.
Hi Crystal!
Could you please let me know where your parents purchased their meat from? I, too, am in Wichita, and am wanting to purchase a half or fourth a cow. We went to the farmer’s market today, and bought meat from several of the farmers, but I would LOVE to hear your recommendation!!
We purchased 1/2 beef almost 2 years ago. We ended up splitting it with my in-laws. We are down to our last pound of ground beef and still have some roasts left. It was a grass-fed Black Angus and boy was it a lot of beef!!
Congrats on the new freezer. I love mine, especially because I’m able to stock up on even more deals!
Wish I could find some beef for that cheap!
We too purchased beef recently (1/2 of an 1100 lb steer). We ended up with 432 lbs of beef for less than $3.00 a lb. We bought it from a local FFA student 🙂 I am thrilled with the meat and hoping it will last our family of four 9 mths to a year! 🙂
We have a deep freeze and decided to purchase a 1/2 side of beef this year. It averaged out to be about $3.80/lb. We paid cash and get to enjoy steaks, roasts, hamburgers, etc all year. It’s definitely worth it! Plus, the ground beef really does just taste better!
My hubby said I could get a freezer once I filled up our new, bigger freezer/fridge we bought. I still haven’t managed it!
Jenn – Lol.. want some help? =P I’ll fill it up for you *wink wink*
Congrats! What a sweet present. We buy a half a cow every year. I just picked ours up this week. Nothing like the taste of fresh grass fed beef. Once you eat it that way, it is so hard to go back to the store bough stuff! Enjoy!
I spy an upright freezer! Congratulations! I have one and love it; my old one was a chest freezer and I’d lose food down there! 🙂
We bought the grass-fed beef earlier this year as well and are loving it. We have half a cow though! (It’s a lot more meat than I expected!) We got it from a local farm and paid $2.60/lb, including processing. I’d never bought meat like that, so I was simply stunned at how cheap the price was! The t-bones are simply fantastic. YUM!
We LOVE our freezer! It has really been a worthwhile investment. In fact, when we bought it, I classified it as “investment” 🙂
Congratulations on the freezer and that is a great price for the meat!!!