Markdown Meat Purchases

 

I almost always look for sales, discounts, manager's specials or marked down meats every time I go into a grocery store.  This is the only way I can afford to buy meat on an extremely low grocery budget and I've managed to fill a chest freezer in my garage quite nicely by doing so.

 

I got all of this for half price!  There are several meals here

Last month I picked up three packages of meat - a large package of chicken leg quarters, four pork chops and two cubed steaks.  As soon as I get home I "process" these packages of meat by either cooking them or repackaging them for freezing.  This time I put one of the leg quarters into my small slow cooker seasoned with lemon pepper and that is enough for me to have for two meals.  I placed the other leg quarters into quart sized freezer bags, labeled them with the date and cost, for tracking purposes, and then into the chest freezer they went.  I placed the pork chops into freezer bags, two each, labeled them and placed them into the chest freezer as well.  The cubed steaks were cooked the very next day and were delicious.

 

This makes it super simple to prepare a meal

When I am repackaging meats I try to do it in meal sized portions with the idea that I will get two good meals out of each one.  That way I have just the right amount to prepare.  By adding the date I am able to rotate items and use things up before freezer burn can ruin them.  By adding the cost of each item I'm able to control how much money is spent preparing each meal and that helps me to stay on budget as well.

 

Cubed steak and a nice big garden salad

My stores have no problem taking back any discounted item that may be spoiled so I don’t have to worry about the freshness of an item.  I've only had to return something once in the past five years, it is very rare for me to buy something that is past its prime.  Buying markdowns helps keep food out of the landfill, saves me a lot of money and allows me to have cuts of meat, especially steaks, I otherwise would not purchase or get to enjoy.