Stocking The Freezer

When we were in Amish country a couple of weekends ago, one shop was selling sides of beef (or whole beeves*) at $2.49 per pound. This is for all cuts of beef, from T-bone steaks to brisket to roasts to ground beef. The beef was grass and corn fed, with no growth hormone or antibiotics. We had the chance to look at the meat and it looked excellent. A side of beef is approximately 250 pounds, which means the cost with sales tax would have been approximately $650. Unfortunately, with my recent dental work, some recent repairs to Shane's work truck, and winter coming on (with possible workdays lost to bad weather) we decided it wouldn't be a wise move for us to spend that much money all at once.

Instead, we're going to stock up on meat in smaller quantities from the grocery store. It may not be the same quality or cuts (I doubt we buy many steaks), but it will keep us fed. This week one of the stores in our city had beef arm roast at $1.89/lb. I went yesterday and bought 15 pounds worth, which was seven small roasts. The cashier thought there was a limit on how many packages I could get, but when she checked with the meat department, they said there was no limit. Shane and I decided that we might like to get another 10 pounds, but when he stopped by the same store on his way home from work, they had posted a limit of two packages, so grabbed the two largest roasts in the case, which amounted to about six pounds total. We had no beef in the freezer, but this will stock us up for a while. In addition to serving them as roasts, I can cut the beef into smaller pieces to make beef tips, fajitas, stew, cubed steaks or kabobs.

Another local store had whole pork loins for $1.19 lb. I bought a 9-pounder and cut into chops and small roasts. We already had 4-5 pounds of pork loin in the freezer, so I decided to stop at just the one. Like the beef, the pork loin is versatile. I can make chops, roast, fajitas, cutlets, kabobs or cook it with dried beans.

A third store has bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts for 99¢ per pound. I'm still trying to decide whether to take advantage of this sale or not. These are cuts I typically DO buy and fillet myself (saving the meaty bones for soups), but we have some chicken in the freezer already. 79¢ and 89¢ per pound are not uncommon, and I've seen these go as low as 69¢ per pound, so I will probably wait until either the price is lower or we run low on chicken in the freezer.

While Shane and I were both disappointed to pass up buying a side of quality beef, it looks as if we'll be able to fill our freezer on even less money, and at a pace we can handle without draining our savings account.

Who else out there buys meat when it's on sale and freezes it for future meals? Or do most of you buy whatever looks or sounds good at the time?


*Is it beefs or beeves? The dictionary shows both, but I'm not comfortable with either. Not a word I have to use often, thank goodness.