Hello! Welcome Back to Over 50 ways to save Over $50. If you missed the First Two Post in the series Click Here to read them.
Hope everyone is excited it’s the weekend! I know I am – I finally get to “Relax” (although I think I may have forgotten how).
So this week in the series is all about how to save money on Meat. This is a big cost in almost everyone’s food budget and coupons on meat are about as rare as double rainbow :) (next to Soda coupons of course)! So you end up asking yourself “How on earth can I save money here?” Well I have the answer.
Shortly after Andrew and I were married I realized EXACTLY how TIGHT our budget was (it’s one thing to look at it on paper – but an entirely different thing to hold yourself accountable to it every week) I went on a quest to solve this expensive dilemma! The problem in my household was that just adding rice & beans to the menu wasn’t an acceptable solution for me. I like rice – but not every day! So cutting back on Meat and increasing the rice and beans was not an option. I needed to find a way to buy the lean ground turkey I love so much for CHEAP!
On an outing to Aldi (I know – they have cheap prices already – but our budget was TIGHT) I noticed they had a $2.00 off sticker on pack of pork chops because they needed to sell them, so I picked them up because it was a good price. I went to a few other stores that and didn’t notice any meat marked downs (I know because the $2.00 off sticker prompted me too look at the rest of the stores on my route that day).
A couple weeks later, at a local market by my home, I saw a big red sticker on a few different Roasts and a small pack of chicken legs. I looked at the sticker and it was a meat markdown for just under 1/2 the normal price! I was excited and grabbed all the packs that had stickers that day!
The next week I had to get up earlier then normal to work on a project. So I decided to go to Kroger when I was done (If I had not got up early I never would have went to Kroger in the morning … I’m more of a mid-day shopper). I went there to grab some lean ground turkey to make stuffed peppers (my first attempt ever at making stuffed peppers). To my WONDERFUL surprise when I walked up to the ground turkey section almost ALL of the 1 lb. packs were on sale for about $1.49/lb (VERY good price for lean ground turkey – I was used to paying almost $5/lb.). After I grabbed all the turkey I wanted, I turned around and saw that the family packs of chicken legs, chicken thighs, and chicken breasts had markdown stickers as well!
I ended up buying a lot of chicken that day! This got me thinking, I wanted to know when these markdowns were done because I had never noticed them before – which meant that by the time I was in the store they were gone, or I never walked into the store on the day they marked the meat down.
So I walked right up to the meat counter at Kroger and asked what day & time they marked down all their meat.
Now when we are running low on meat I make sure to go to the various stores on the day they do their meat markdowns (I try to get there right after they finish – although sometimes I jump the gun and end up loitering around the veggies until they are done).
Here is an example – it was an old couponing trip I was proud of… but it shows you the amount of meat I was able to get (believe it or not I didn’t even ‘clear the shelf’).
The Trip Break down is: 13 lbs ground lean turkey, 20 lbs of chicken legs & thighs, 3 welches grape juice, 1 sun brew iced tea, 4 Seattle’s best coffee, 6 sugar cookie mix, 2 cooking oil spray’s, 7 bananas
All I paid for that trip was just over $25! (I did use a lot of coupons though)
After a trip like the one above this is what I do. When I get home I set all the meat out in my kitchen. Then I will open the packages & re-package them into the amount that my family would need for one dinner(OR if I’m ‘freezer cooking’ I will set up the dinners). I then Freeze the packages and pull them out every night as I need them! This is the ONLY way I buy meat any more (unless there is a VERY good sale going on like a B1G1).
This is so easy to duplicate for everyone! All you have to do is go to the meat counter (Or call if you would like) and ask when they do their meat mark downs. Then show up on the days (& times) they are making the meat down. Once you’re home you can Freeze it all so it doesn’t go bad (if you buy in bulk like I do).
If you don’t have a freezer I would highly recommend getting one – It has saved us so much money and time. If you absolutely just cannot get a freezer you can still capitalize on this method. You will just buy what you need for the week when they are doing the mark downs – do it on a week to week basis.
I know for a FACT that this method can save you AT LEAST $100 (my family has saved more then that much since December- that’s only a 7 month time period). For the sake of this series I am just going to set the amount saved for the year at $100 – although I do believe you can save MUCH MORE than that.
Please Feel Free to Comment with your savings Journey and remember it will not happen over night, but every little bit will add up! Remember to subscribe so you never miss a Post in this series and be sure to check back Next Friday for another way to save over $50!
Saved with this method: $100 (that’s a fairly low guess too!)
Total Saved: $218
If you Missed any part of the Series be sure to Catch up:
1. Over 50 Ways to Save Over $50: #1 Use Coupons!
2. Over 50 ways to save Over $50: #2 wash clothes in cold water!