Freezer Stock Up Tip
So recently I was at my local Ma and Pa grocery store and ran across some really great meat deals. Shopping local you know the meat you are buying is fresh and well, local! At our local store they have the reduced meat days on Saturday morning. You can get really great deals on these items. Last weekend I was able to pick up a whole bunch of reduced priced good to stock my freezer. In case you don't know what "reduced" meat is, it is when the packaged meat gets close to the store's sell by date but the meat is still totally safe and good to eat. You just have to eat it within a day or two or repackage it and freeze it right away. With the price of groceries these days, any thing I can do to help stretch my grocery budget is more then welcome. That is why I thought I would share my findings with you.
I will break down the costs and how many meals I think I will get out of my shopping trip at the end of this blog. Hopefully this shopping trip will help you save some money during your next grocery trip.
First of all, let me share with you what I actually bought. If you are at all squeamish about the sight of raw meat, you may want to scroll to the very end of the blog.
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| I actually got two pacakges of the pork chops but forgot to take a picture of the second package. It was only $2.09 |
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| Three large sized shoulder steaks. We like to fry these up on the grill or "Shake N Bake" them! |
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| Both of these packages of chicken contained four huge chicken thighs each. I didn't freeze these. I marinated them in McCormack's Brown Sugar Bourbon marinade for a couple hours then cooked them on a 425 degree grill over indirect heat for 4 minutes on the skin side and then an additional 20 mins of the meat side. OH MY GOSH, These came out tremendous! |
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| I also got two packages of their Ground Chuck ground meat. It wasn't reduced but I still felt that the prices were so much better then if I'd got them at a big grocery store. Just shy of 1 lb at only $2.72 for the one package and I think $2.94 for the second. |
The first thing I did when I got home was repackaged all the meat that I bought. That way it would last longer. Not too long I happened across a great find at Aldi's and was able to pick up this food vac saver for only $20. No joke!! It's not as strong a suction as a name brand FoodSaver Vac but it does what I need it to do. I'm not freezing my meat for half a year, usually only a couple weeks or a month at most.
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| Simply add the meat to the vac bag. |
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| Follow the directions of your specific Vac Sealer and suck the air out of the bag and seal it. |
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| See! Nicely packed up. Make sure you label the bag before adding the food. I learned this the hard way. If you put the food in the bag first, the coldness of the meat will make the bag unable to be wrote upon. |
Not too shabby huh?
So give it a try, next time you go to your local grocery stop by the meat department and see what they have to offer. I really love the money it saves me and I like the added bonus of shopping local and supporting small businesses. Just make sure you check dates as always and repackage and freeze these reduced priced meats right away. Don't let them linger in your fridge for a day or so or you will be throwing all your food savings out the window.
Happy shopping! Cheers :)
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