Ditter43

One of the stores here has the 80/20 on sale for $2.00 a pound. Another has whole chickens on sale for .99 a pound. I plan to buy both!
We have put in a large garden this year and bought a small freezer. I plan to can a lot of tomatoes and green beans. We are eating green onions from our garden, and will be eating radishes within a week. I have stocked up on dried beans and brown rice. :D

butterflywing

i don't normally shop at wegman's because of the prices, but on sale the chopped beef at 90% lean is still $1.99. you have to buy the family size, but i portion it at home and deep-freeze it. we don't eat that much red meat anymore, anyway. but chicken and fish prices have shot up, too. again, i wait for sales and deep freeze. the freezer is paying for itself and then some.

Sandee

I also feed my 2 Weimeraners partly raw food diet. They weigh about 76 lbs each. I feed them 2/3 cup Taste of the Wild dry food & in AM they get a raw egg & cottage cheese on food & at night they get 2/3 cup dry with ground turkey, thawed(1/3 lb.) or the dry & a can of tuna or dry & 1/3 can salmon. Used to alternate with hamburger but price keeps going up. Also they get canned vegtables, anybody's leftover pork chops, unfinished meat, etc. in place of other raw meat but if BBQ sauce or something on meat, it's completely washed off first.. Not every kind of table scraps! Mainly meat & cooked/canned vegtables.Like what would be in VEG ALL can.They are 8 & 9 years old now & have the energy of 3 yr old dog. Very healthy & look like they are young.

Halo

It is over $4.00 a lb here too. Even bread is over $4.00 a loaf now & the only wages going up is the government officials. I do stalk up when I am able to find a good sale on things.

meemersmom

The prices are all over the board here in Western New York. But one store (Wegmans) has actually advertised they will not be raising the price of about 100 staple items for families, with chicken and ground beef being two of those. 80/20 ground beef will stay at $1.99/lb and whole chickens are 88 cents a pound. Milk is also $1.89 a gallon. They promise to keep this pricing in effect at least thru the end of this year. Also, there is a small butcher/market nearby that has incredible specials, but you have to buy large quantities. Just last week, a friend of mine and I split a 40 lb box of chicken wings -- we paid 99 cents/lb. If bought at the grocery store, we would have paid about $2.19/lb. This week, that store has porterhouse steaks on sale for $4.98/lb -- the weather is supposed to be nice, so it just might be the official start of grill season!!

butterflywing

the best way to get the most for your food dollar is to buy in bulk, split the cost and bulk with someone if you can, reportion and rewrap at home, take advantage of the best sales, never, ever buy what you wouldn't have bought anyway, serve casseroles and other one-dish meals that stretch meat and plan meals around the meat you have.

i check to see the veggies on sale that week. then i match it up with what i have in the freezer. between canned, fresh and frozen, there's always something. i make a lot of soup/stews for healthy one dish meals that use lots of veggies and a little meat.
i buy bread on sale and freeze it, but not for long. and remember to cook once for two meals. when i'm down to just a little thick soup or a little stew, i pour it over rice and call it casserole. i hardly throw anything away. and eggs are still a bargain protein for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

CarrieAnne

I have been buying more eggs too, so many ways to use them. And tuna, another super cheap protien!

arimuse

another way to use ground meat is to buy the least fatty and take canned black beans, mash them with a fork (you dont want a paste, you want it to look like it has bits in it) and mix half meat half beans and use it as you would ground beef for meat balls, hamburgers, meatloaf - the skins in the beans make it look like cooked meat and the flavor is just the same as burger meat. Its healthier and cheaper, share t

Carrie

I watch for Manager's Specials on beef roasts and grind it for hamburger and freeze right away. This last batch came to $2.04 lb and is very lean and I know what is in it. The 85% lean was $3.89 that week; so quite a savings.

Julianna

Thanks, I'll try this.