Here are 10 ways to save money on meat that will help you lower your food bill while still making great meals for your family.
10 Ways To Save Money On Meat
Anne, one of our readers, asked me the question, “How do you save when your husband is a meat and potatoes man and meat prices are going up so high?”
Anne, I know it is frustrating that prices are rising a bit. I told Tawra the other day I never thought I would see the day when I would crave hamburger. It is so expensive now that I hate to buy it.
Here are a couple of things you might try to stretch your meat dollar and spend less on groceries in general.
- Stretch any meat farther by using it in casseroles, soups or stews instead of serving it as its own individual serving. If you serve two casseroles and two soups or stews, you instantly have four meals you can use to save money on meat. Then serve your regular slice of meat and potatoes the other 3 nights. That should help save quite a bit.
- Add filler foods. In some recipes, add filler foods. For example, you can add beans to chili and use less meat. I would break up spaghetti noodles to stretch my chili. Use refried beans for your burritos instead of meat or use a combination of both so you don’t use as much meat.
- Stretch your meat even more by cutting the pieces of meat smaller than you usually do. In your stews, soups and casseroles you don’t need huge chunks of meat. You could start by cutting the meat pieces half the normal size and, after your family gets used to that size, cut them smaller again if you need to.
- Use less meat than the recipe calls for. Most families don’t notice if you use half a pound of meat or a full pound of meat in things like lasagne, spaghetti or casseroles. Cut back a tablespoon or two when you make something like tacos or burritos.
- Buy cheaper cuts of meats and either slow cook them or marinate them. If your husband is not picky about what meat he eats then serve meats like turkey or chicken much more often than you serve roast or steak.
- Buy whole chickens and cut them yourself instead of using chicken breasts. I know pre-cut chicken breasts are handy and easy to use but the bottom line is they are also more expensive. You can start using thighs instead of chicken breasts to save money, too.
- Make your meat portions smaller, especially for children. If you do use chicken breasts, cut them in half for younger members of the family and let your family fill up on potatoes, veggies and other things. Cut down on portion sizes for all meats.
- Watch what other foods you do buy and make sure you use everything. Don’t let food go stale or spoil. Watch portions and adjust them to reduce the food left on plates that gets thrown away at the end of a meal. Looking at how much gets thrown away after dinner is the best way to judge if you are wasting food.
- Cut back on the amount of food you cook. I knew a woman who was always bemoaning her high grocery bill but she always cooked two or three times the amount of food that her family could eat. Instead of freezing it or otherwise saving it, she would simply throw it away. Look carefully at your food, eating habits and grocery shopping and see if there is anyplace where waste is happening.
That same woman’s family almost always left 1/4 – 1/3 of a plateful of food per person that they tossed in the trash at the end of the meal. You may say, “I cook double and then freeze the rest or send it in lunches.” She said that, too, but never got around to sending it in lunches and rarely used most of the things in her freezer. Freezing it only to throw it away later is still wasting it.
- Find another meal or food item that you can cut back on. If trying to cut back on meat at dinner isn’t as successful as you’d like, you might also see if your meat and potatoes husband would be willing to give up something expensive he eats at breakfast like bacon in exchange for something less expensive like oatmeal.
Hopefully these suggestions will help you find ideas that will work well for you. If you’d like more details, I have included a lot of ideas just like this in our Groceries On A Dime e-books.
-Jill
You might also check out these articles:
Children, Wasting Food and Portion Control
Click here to get our Dining On A Dime Cookbooks, with tasty recipes and great tips to make your life easier and save you money!
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hi tawra mike gill and family , hope you all are well weather over the pond here in england ive been working really hard at work. trying to pick up a few exrtra shifts. up at work.and really wanting to pay off as much debt as we possibily can.as my husband has said he ll take a second job. to throw at this thing. im also looking for a second job. and my husband is taking me to every place to find extra work. but this is ok so long as i find something. as i had to go and do this before i found myself my first job.as at the time the unemployment places here just had no work for me here and the worring part came when they said that i couldnt even claim any unemployment benifits at all. as ive always worked. the only time ive ever had off from work was when i had to stop work to look after both my mom and dad.and thats all so i came home that afternoon an had a cup of coffee. and that cold dark november day i made my mine up. then and there.and my husband asked me what did i intend to do.and straight after. he said that i had an idea and said i dont know exactley yet. but i said that im not going to sit here all day every day and said justpasss me my computer please.and went and went on different web sites for differt jobes .and also said to my husand that could you take me to a couple of places and knocked on doors. and asked if they had any vaccancies. but do you know the best part was to me was the simple fact was that they might not of had any work for me. at some of these establishments but at the very least they actually took the time to write back to me to say that they hadnt any work for me as theyd filled all the relevant positions that theyd been iterviewing for. so i then went down the channels of looking to see what job posts that they had on line. and had a look to see what jobs. that they had to suit me that i could do. and also went knocking on every door to see if they had any vaccancies. at all but at the time there wasnt anything at first. but then from a bolt right out of the blue i saw this job advert online.so i phoned and also i asked for a appliqcation form which i filled out. and then gave refrences and then they employed me thank goodness. but now im finding im having to do the the exact thing all over again. with the work front.and will have to this all over again but i dont mind doing this but im just getting a little disheartened as im really am trying to get all our debts paid. but some times with what were paying it hardly seems as were making any dent in it. and you you just think hell when am i going to get a head. and would just love to be debt free as we feel as though we are just the worst sinners ever.my husband has said that he will take a job part time until he can get a job driving for amazon. as he says he will deliver pizzas on tempory basis. as he wants to drive for amazon. but says he lldo anything until he can get to do this. and as regaurds to food and shopping well we just aint doing it we are just popping in just to get odds and ends to put different things to make a whole meal. as we re just using up everything that we have.as we cant afford to throw food away. and we cant afford to eat out. so we stay in when weve finished work. and get odd bits that we need before going to work or after work on our way home from work as it really is on our way home.and once every last thing is used we ll be just buying enough food to get us through 7 days.and as soon as we can we want to buy your books and things. and are putting so much out in to a wallet until we have enough to buy your books and things . and love to listern to your show. when we ve got time off from work. as its really really good and really does brighten our sometimes a very hard days. ho by the way keep up the good work and dont let any one deter you.as you really are doing. an awesome job all of you are. and we agree with you with some of the people that tend to give you a real hard time. well im sorry tawra but i probably shouldnt be saying this and and may be god wounldnt really like me for saying this but i really wish you give all them doughting thoamases the victory v sign. or tell um to shove it where the sun dont shine.now im sorry im really sorry but i just had to say it.as am nearyly biting my tongue in half again .and i really dont know how you put up with as i couldnt with out tellig some people off. as im afraid theyd get short shrift with me. as im afraid i just would not under any cercumstances would isuffer a fool gladly no way would i do it as im afraid theyd here a few things they handnt bargined for . so you all carry on and stick to your guns. and dont you ever give up cos of stupid other people.as you help so many people. and youve certinley helped us here and were going to keep listerning to you.you just all keep your chin up. or should i say my mom used to say you gotta get those. big girl pants on and give um hell. but in my moms case she wore what they clled a 48hr girdle which nearly killed her.and she couldnt wait to get the damn thing off. and my dad well just nearly died with laughin at her i can tell you we had happy times. when we were kids.and now as adults we have very happy memories.but some very sad days with out them.so i hope this brightens all of your days like you brighten our days take care of yourselves mike tawra children and gill and family. p.s. keep going all of you!
Wow Diane – what a lovely comment. Thank you so much for the sweet and kind words. Thank you for the encouragement too. We have the super best viewers in the world. I have to say I really think we need to be giving you a thumbs up. It isn’t often we get someone with your great attitude and super great work ethic. It is so refreshing for a change. You are doing exactly what we are trying to explain to people that they need to do to get out of debt so I can’t give you enough thumbs up. You are doing a great job. You are trying your very best in doing your part to help your situation and that is the main thing. God is really a loving Father and like when an earthly parent sees their toddler working really hard at doing a job to fix something – even though the toddler doesn’t feel like they are getting any where- we are still proud of them for trying and God feels the same about us. It is when we don’t try or just give up that is is disappointing and you most certainly aren’t doing that. Actually I am so proud of you. Hang in there. It sometimes takes time and when you are right in the middle of it it feels like it will never end but you are doing everything right so keep up the good work and try not to give up. Holler at us if you have any questions or need a word of encouragement ok. Good job, way to go and a million thumbs up.
Hi, One of the things I do is buy a whole chicken, and then roast it. From it I will get four roast meal portions, I will use leftovers to make a double crust chicken and mushroom/leek/vegetable plate pie, again four portions, and finally boil the chicken carcass with onion, celery and carrot for four hours, strain, and use it to make chicken soup (with rice or vegetables if desired. Again, this serves four.
Many thanks for this valuable resource. I love your articles, and the comments from other readers.