[Mom2CodyBentleyJaxon]

So, I planned my meals for next month and estimated the cost and gathered q's I can use. I wanted to budget $150 and I was able to do under $130, but a big chunk of this will be meat (hamburger, pork chops, etc.) which generally have no q's for. How do you cut the cost of meats? I know there is a q for $5 off meat purchase at target this week, but I have not purchased meat there so I don't know their prices to see if its worth it or not. Any suggestions?


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[tratra]

Their prices are fairly high compared to grocery stores, in my opinion. But if you can find the discounted meats that have $1, $2, or $3 off coupons on them, you can get some good deals.

Otherwise, I shop the grocery stores and don't buy unless I find a good deal. Then I plan meals based on what I buy. That would probably be a little bit harder if you're buying a whole month's worth at once.

[Jesterrose]

Originally Posted by Mom2CodyBentleyJaxon

So, I planned my meals for next month and estimated the cost and gathered q's I can use. I wanted to budget $150 and I was able to do under $130, but a big chunk of this will be meat (hamburger, pork chops, etc.) which generally have no q's for. How do you cut the cost of meats? I know there is a q for $5 off meat purchase at target this week, but I have not purchased meat there so I don't know their prices to see if its worth it or not. Any suggestions?

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I am on the app so I dont know where you are from....

That 5/20 target meat coupon can be used at both harris teeter and lowes foods as a competitor. I am not sure if you have stores that take competitor coupons.

Double dip with markdowns or the bogo sales there.

[Mom2CodyBentleyJaxon]

Originally Posted by Jesterrose

I am on the app so I dont know where you are from....

That 5/20 target meat coupon can be used at both harris teeter and lowes foods as a competitor. I am not sure if you have stores that take competitor coupons.

Double dip with markdowns or the bogo sales there.

Didn't think if that...not sure where I can use it, but probably somewhere! Thanks


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[Jakejake]

Originally Posted by tratra

Otherwise, I shop the grocery stores and don't buy unless I find a good deal. Then I plan meals based on what I buy. That would probably be a little bit harder if you're buying a whole month's worth at once.

I agree so much with this! It's much more expensive for me to plan a month of meals, and then have to buy those ingredients whether or not they're on sale. I work the other way - I get deals, then make them work. Earlier this week I scored 60 corn tortillas for $2. Didn't fully have a plan for them but I have beans so I knew I could use them. But yesterday I lucked out and was in kmart on the sell-by date for their ground beef. They had $5 in markdown coupons on the $7 package, and $3 in coupons stuck on the $4 packages. I got 4 pounds for about a dollar a pound - and their avocados were marked down to 30 cents each.

So now we'll have tortillas with beef and avocado for a few dinners, super cheap. That menu item wasn't even in my thoughts last week.

[LinearChaos]

We eat mostly paleo (meat, eggs, fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds and that's about it) due to my food allergies and we're hardcore carnivores so meat is our biggest expense by far!

Here's my strategy...

I have a deep freeze and I aim to keep it stocked by shopping BOGO deals on meat, here in AZ the place for BOGO is Albertson's. I also asked the meat counter what days they do their mark downs, turns out they do them at our Albertson's on Sunday mornings.

So every Sunday we go and grab whatever's been marked down and grab any good BOGO's. Sometimes I get lucky and find items that are on BOGO also marked down on manager's special.

This morning I scored B1G2 family sized packs of top sirloin steaks which brought the cost to $3/lbs, and we got a bunch of marked down ground beef that brought the cost to about $1/lbs., and marked down pork chops which brought the cost down to about $2/lbs.

Also, at Albertson's if you are shopping the BOGO's and you find yourself without enough in stock to hit the BOGO deal you can sub any other meat that's about the same price as the item you're paying full price for to get your free item.

This has been the best way to stock up on the cheap for us.

[MommaOf2Many]

I always watch for stockup prices on Meat! If the price is right, I will buy as much as I can and freeze it. Markdowns are awesome. Meat prices have increased so much in the last year, it makes me nauseous thinking about shopping for it.

I also have an "in" with my local Family Owned Butcher Shop. If something is on sale and I buy enough in Bulk, he lowers the price even more for me. ...last week the Ground Beef was $2.19/lb if you bought at least 5lbs. I shop for 3 families so I bought 30lbs and he lowered it even more to $1.89/lb. I divided it up and froze it, now I won't need to buy Ground Beef for at least 2 months. Same goes with Chicken, when there is a sale I have no problem buying 30lbs+ to get the lower price. Heck, I feed at least 6 mouths every day, sometimes it doesn't even last as long as I think it will and I wish I would have bought more

I know not everyone can afford to buy in Bulk like that, but once you get a good rotation going in the sales cycles, it's a bit easier. I will put all of my 'Meat Allowance' towards one meat if the sale price is low enough.

[LinearChaos]

Absolutely, you gotta get in front of it and stock pile! Then just top it off as you see the deals.

[Zoey]

I don't know if you are in a NBPR beer rebate state but I am. I trade/buy rebates and send them in for free meat. I mostly buy chicken, I try and catch the markdowns at my local Smith's store on the Tyson chicken cuz I'm a chicken snob. I usually stock up when the prices are low and freeze it, I never buy much when the prices are high.

[rdhtwn]

Also dont forget to check the wine section for winetags for meat. I was able to find 2/1 any pork and 3/1 off beef.

I was able to make money on some of the packages of meat between price matching at WM from our local hispanic food markets and using these winetags and buying the smallest packages of meat.

I made about .49cents to $1 a package on the pork, and 25 cents mm for ground beef. This is a super rare deal so I stocked up.

[pmr]

I was looking to buy some hamburger yesterday - you know, the cheap standby meat. $4.99 lb. for regular hamburger!

[rdhtwn]

Originally Posted by pmr

I was looking to buy some hamburger yesterday - you know, the cheap standby meat. $4.99 lb. for regular hamburger!

Oh my that is crazy. Although is is 3.99lb here not on an awesome sale. Meat has gone up quite a bit as the year has progressed.

[Jakejake]

Originally Posted by pmr

I was looking to buy some hamburger yesterday - you know, the cheap standby meat. $4.99 lb. for regular hamburger!

I've seen some prices like that too - it's crazy!

Smaller butcher shops, especially ethnic ones, can be cheaper than big chains. I'm going tomorrow to a mideast grocer near me that has beef tenderloin for 4.99/lb. I can't believe I can get filet mignon for the price some are charging for hamburger meat.

[kimbra923]

It's about 3.49 here so we eat alot of chicken since it's always 1.99 when not on sale!

[shelleyf]

Originally Posted by pmr

I was looking to buy some hamburger yesterday - you know, the cheap standby meat. $4.99 lb. for regular hamburger!

I was at the store Friday morning and I screamed out loud when I saw the price of the pack of "cheap" ground beef. It said $19.94 on it and it was 4.99 a lb. and the package was less than 5 lbs! for $19.94! I can't afford that. I think it is wrong to package it in that price amount too as someone can't afford that much at one time.

[shelleyf]

It is sad when it is cheaper to go grab a burger out to eat than it is to make one. Hamburgers are becoming a thing of the past in my house. I am making a bunch of casseroles and when I make tacos I have a bunch of filler items to fill us up. Sad actually and now is the time to coupon more than ever but the coupons aren't always that great either and you have to fight the stores more now than ever but I am not scared to fight them, I know I do things right. It is just a pain to keep explaining as I have for many years, that YES that is the right item for the coupon (go check my bags for the millionth time again) and of course I got the right item, and then the famous 1 item per purchase yes I am purchasing 4 of them and 1 coupon for each and a transaction is..... but the meat is high so you got save somewhere.
On another note we just got approved for wine sales in our groceries (which is weird to me in TN not to have it. I am originally from New Orleans and every store sells hard liquor, ) so we shall have wine tags I think of course do they still have them, and will a liquor purchase be required please say no liquor purchase!

[lilhedgehog]

Thats y its cheaper t o just buy a cow n send it to the butcher

[lilhedgehog]

My local ad has beef on sale 5.99/lb

[pmr]

Originally Posted by lilhedgehog

My local ad has beef on sale 5.99/lb

Is that for GROUND beef? I thought $4.99 was bad. For that price I could buy some sort of steak and grind it myself!

I did have one meat highlight this week! Safeway had the Lloyds Baby Back Ribs on sale for $5. Problem was, none of the stores around me had the smaller size that they were advertising in stock ... so they gave me the big rack (37 oz. which feeds us 2 meaty dinners) for the sale price. $5 - $1 any Lloyds product coupon. We had them 2 nights in a row and I bought 3 more racks for the freezer.

[jenlee]

Personally, I rarely buy meat if it's over $2#. I know that sounds extreme, but I can't afford much more. I buy as much reduced meat as I can and I make a lot of soups and stews and use less meat in them since there are so many other ingredients in them.

[pmr]

I did find ground beef on sale for $2.99 lb. a few days ago and made spaghetti sauce and meatloaf today for the freezer. I bought carrots and shredded them to put in both dishes. Aside from meat being expensive, we also don't eat enough vegetables, so I buy whatever veges are cheap and add them to our meat dishes to trick us into eating more of them.

[MommaOf2Many]

Originally Posted by pmr

I did find ground beef on sale for $2.99 lb. a few days ago and made spaghetti sauce and meatloaf today for the freezer. I bought carrots and shredded them to put in both dishes. Aside from meat being expensive, we also don't eat enough vegetables, so I buy whatever veges are cheap and add them to our meat dishes to trick us into eating more of them.

I used to have to do that with the older boys! You can add Cauliflower into the Boiling water with your Potatoes. (I put ours in 5 min before the potatoes) and then drain and mash and they can't even tell!

Our Butcher just had their Chicken Sale this past week at $1.69/lb for Boneless Skinless if you bought 10lbs. I bought 30lbs so they lowered it even more to $1.49/lb

[pmr]

QFC (our Kroger affiliate) has Pork Tenderloin for $2.99 lb. this week. I will stock up the freezer. The tenderloins are versatile and quick cooking,,, also very lean.

[pmr]

These tenderloins are on sale again this week and a local couponer reminded me that our local Entertainment book has many IP (2 for every store location) $2/$10 meat coupons. I will be stocking up at this price, plus the added 20% off.

I hadn't bought an entertainment book for a number of years because they seemed outdated to me. I was able to purchase 2 books for a total of $13. I am sure these will pay for themselves easily with the meat savings alone.

[hotrodswife]

Check ground turkey. I try to get 93% lean for now more than $4 a pound. Go early to the store. If I get to HEB around 9 am if get 25% off some of their meat for markdown. Also I check for sales...today I am in Fort Worth and I saw an Albertsons so I checked their add and I see pork roast is .99 a pound. When its cooked with potatoes and carrots you can't tell its not beef.