Where do you find meat...

[tj7933]

Here are some general guidelines you can use for buying meat. If you search, chicken breasts can almost always be found for under $2.00 per pound; and whole chickens, drumsticks, and thighs can be found for under $1.00 per pound. For ground beef, try not to pay more than $1.50 per pound although it is getting harder and harder to buy good quality for that price.

In Canada, I have never seen these prices, at least not in the last 5 years. We tried going to a local farmer, but with teh 100 mile diet being in style many have valued their products as value added and cost more than the retail stores. If you have any Canadian frugal moms, can they please tell me where to find the meat at such incredible prices.

Right now Our goal is no more than $4/lb for chicken or fish (and this is next to impossible to find!!!).. Ground beef no more that $2.50, preferable $2 when on sale. I want to be able to follow the guidelines but my menus turn out to cost double or triple the $200/mnth, the site says I should be able to reach.

Is anyone else having this problem???

TJ

[cailey3]

TJ, I am not in Canada but I can tell you we don't have prices like that here in South Carolina either. Maybe when I was a child( I am 36)

[familyof6]

I'm thinking first off that there is a difference between the American dollar and the Canadian dollar...that may attribute to some of the difference.

I always get the boneless skinless chicken breasts from Kroger. Every so often they go on sale for $1.99, $1.89, or $1.69 per pound. Whenever they have those sales, I stock up....even if I already have some in the freezer. I can't usually find ground beef much cheaper than $1.89 per pound. But, I haven't really checked out the meat at Costco because I don't feel like dividing up a bunch of portions to put in the freezer. It could be a good option though when I want to freeze a bunch of meatballs or something though.

[tj7933]

Well, we bought a 1/4 of a cow at $3.60/lb. This is as close to organic you can get ( I think the only place not organic is the slaughter house). The ground beef is Extra, Extra Lean and we will get everything seperated into 1lb servings or servings for two.

As we have watched this is anywhere from $1 to $4 less per pound depending on the cut. So I think we did good. I only wish we could find reasonable chickens and seafood???

TJ

[Mishkia]

Those prices are little under what I pay here in Indiana.. but they are getting higher and higher. Personally I avoid Kroger here like a bad habit... they are the most expensive store in the area! I can go to Aldi or Walmart and get a 3 lb bag of frozen chicken breasts for about $6... Kroger will be about $8 for the same bags, so stores play a big factor in what prices are too of course.

[familyof6]

But Kroger frequently has the boneless skinless chicken breasts for $1.99 or $1.69 a pound, which is cheaper than buying the bags of frozen chicken. I stock up like crazy when they have those sales.

[carriearmagost]

I live in PA and we have many "meat shops" in our area. They do their own butchering and I've found the meat to not only be a lot fresher than grocery stores, but cheaper as well. They're not paying the costs to have it trucked in and there's less overhead costs. I never pay over $2 per pound for ground beef. When I buy in bulk and freeze it, I can get it even cheaper. I watch for their specials and buy several pounds of chicken, pork, etc. and stock my freezer.

[tj7933]

I am watching for "meat shops" out here, but nothing cheap yet. I wish we had an Aldi.. have heard miraculous things about the prices there!!

TJ

[Mishkia]

But Kroger frequently has the boneless skinless chicken breasts for $1.99 or $1.69 a pound, which is cheaper than buying the bags of frozen chicken. I stock up like crazy when they have those sales.

Each Kroger is central to an area... where I am its Louisville that they use and I never see the 1.69, once in a while they have the 1.99 price but I can get the 3lbs of boneless skinless for $6 at Aldi all the time so I dont have to wait and watch for that sale price.. and I really like those bags too because I can pull out as few or as many pieces as I need and not have to worry about using the whole package if I dont need it.

[tj7933]

Chicken out here is all around 4.69/lb or greater.. So Chicken is being cut out of our diet. We will buy a roast chicken to eat once every 2 or 3 weeks, but otherwise it is just not in the budget.

TJ

[familyof6]

.. and I really like those bags too because I can pull out as few or as many pieces as I need and not have to worry about using the whole package if I dont need it.

I can see how that is convenient. When I had less or no kids, I would open the packages and put each breast in a baggie before freezing. Now the kids eat just enough that one package is exactly the right size. The time will come though that I have to start splitting them up again.

[Mrs. Cleaver]

We don't have Kroger but it's sister is Ralphs her in Cali. As for the Aldi we don't have them either. I can get pretty cheap cuts of meat and lean ground beef at Stater Brothers. Ground beef 7% is like $4 lb. I stocked up when they have Top Sorlion Steaks for $1.28 lb CHEAP and good. Chicken is one of those things that you have got to look for. It depends of the farmers and how many have died due to the heat. Now as for seafood... most of the time it is cheaper frozen.

I shop at WinCo for everything else and they do have some good prices on meat, chicken, and seafood.

[mythreem]

Most everything I buy comes from Wal-mart- I'm a one stop shopper and DH is a dept manager there so we get a discount on Gm and produce. Wal-mart comps other local stores (but not their sister stores). You do have to have the sales ad for the other stores. I can usually buy boneless, skinless chicken for around 1.39-1.99 a pound. Hamburger meat and pork chops usually in the same price range. I don't buy steaks from Wal-mart- I get it from Kroger or Food Lion and only when it on sale. I buy large quantities and freeze into portions for meals.

[sadonathan8839]

Many different areas offer different prices. These prices can drop considerably for a very short amount of time. I do all my months shopping on or about the beginning of the month. Between the 1st-3rd old sales end and new ones begin. I once went to my local walmart and they had overstocked on whole chickens. They had I believe 30-40 all for .25 a pound each one was roughly four pounds. I got 20. I spent $20 for 20 chickens. I had a little over 80 pounds of chicken that lasted for a long time. Same way with meat and other products. If you compare prices ans are willing to make an entire day of shopping you can save. I bought roughly 6 months worth of meat for $300 the regular price was to be around 600. I used mygrocerydeals.com a free service that compares grocery store sales in your area. Different holidays bring different sales. For example during Easter holiday you can get ham for .69-1.00 a pound. Some stores have done buy one get one free turkeys, etc. So when there is a sale on a meat you like- clean them out. I recently did this with some pork lion that was 60% off and it is in the freezer when I get on adding it to my omac list. Please understand that I have a very large chest freezer, an upright freezer, and a side by side. I put the omac items in the side by side and store in the others. But just because these prices mentioned are unquie doesn't mean they aren't out there.