You can usually get the most meat for your buck through purchasing it at Sam's Club or Costco, but I want to tell you about how to you can make that meat for cheaper and last longer.
The first thing I do when buying meat at Sam's is divide and freeze it. About once a month I buy 4 lbs of ground turkey (Shane likes it better than ground beef), whole chickens, and a pack of steaks or pork chops. When I get home, I divide the ground turkey up into 8. I put 2 of the 8 sections into ziplock bags and freeze them. Then I cook the rest with some onion, salt, pepper, and garlic in a skillet until brown. I then re-divide the meat, bag it, and stick it in the freezer. I cook some of the ground turkey in order to make some meals like spaghetti and nachos a little more instant on late nights or when I'm just cooking for one. For steaks and pork chops I pack each individually in sandwich bags, then freeze.
The first thing I do when buying meat at Sam's is divide and freeze it. About once a month I buy 4 lbs of ground turkey (Shane likes it better than ground beef), whole chickens, and a pack of steaks or pork chops. When I get home, I divide the ground turkey up into 8. I put 2 of the 8 sections into ziplock bags and freeze them. Then I cook the rest with some onion, salt, pepper, and garlic in a skillet until brown. I then re-divide the meat, bag it, and stick it in the freezer. I cook some of the ground turkey in order to make some meals like spaghetti and nachos a little more instant on late nights or when I'm just cooking for one. For steaks and pork chops I pack each individually in sandwich bags, then freeze.
Why I buy Whole Chickens
(Don't read if you are a vegetarian or grossed out by meat)
A few years ago I, like most people, had been buying bags of frozen chicken breasts. With some research, it dawned on me that I could buy whole chickens instead and get more cluck for my buck! So I bought the heaviest pack of 2 Tyson Chickens I could find for $0.89/lb (chicken breasts are sold at $2/lb),
brought them home and cut them up...
brought them home and cut them up...
I end up with 4 chicken breasts, 8 wings/ winglets, 4 thighs, 4 drumsticks, and some meat left on the body. I individually bag and freeze the pieces I cut, but take the remains and throw them in a crock pot with some chopped up onion, garlic, salt, and pepper and cook it on the high setting for 4 hours.
I hand pull the cooked meat off the bones and put it all in a ziplock bag.
Last but not least, I have 8 cups of chicken broth to bag!
I hand pull the cooked meat off the bones and put it all in a ziplock bag.
Last but not least, I have 8 cups of chicken broth to bag!
So I was able to take 2 whole chickens and get breasts, wings, thighs, drumsticks, about 1 lb shredded meat, and enough chicken broth for at least 2 meals! That's over 8 meals of chicken (each breast is about 1) for Shane and I with generous servings! Here's what I plan on making with all of this meat:
- Bbq Chicken Sandwiches
- Gumbo
- Hot Wings
- Fried Chicken
- Chicken Pasta
- Grilled Chicken
- Enchiladas
- Tortilla Soup
I hope I have encouraged and taught some of you how to get meat for less! The first time it took about 30 minutes for me to cut up the first chicken (I had to watch a couple of youtube videos to figure out what I was doing), but the second chicken took less than 2 minutes!