Question for carnivores

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
H

Haynie

Member
Joined
May 20, 2011
Messages
3,515
Location
Page Arizona
You seem like an honest group and the opinions here are varied and from all over the place so thought I would ask it here.

Where I live the food prices have gone insane. Because we are a tourist town food prices reflect that as does the particular items on sale. As an example:
Bone in New York Strip steaks 4.99/lb
Rump roast 5.99/lb

Don't get me wrong I like NY strip but the fact that a far lesser cut of meat is more expensive bugs me to no end.

We are a one income family and that is a teacher's salary and it is summer so things are tight. Here are my questions:

Does anyone buy meat by the side or in bulk packages?
If so are you happy with it?
Has it been a way to save money for you?

Raising our own meat is not an option. I don't hunt, nothing against it as long as you eat what you kill, just choose not too.

Any pointers would be nice too. I am new to the whole buy in bulk thing.
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
My family in AZ has been going directly to the slaughter houses and buying a quarter or a side of beef for years and freezing it. They butcher it up for you and it does save a lot of money, it also makes eating a steak for breakfast convenient when I am out there.
 
We have discount places out here in Ga that sell in bulk at a pretty steep discount. We buy as much as we can and freeze it. Might have 3 or 4 days a month food gets to being scarce. I'd say buying in bulk is a very effective way of doing things.
 
I bought one of the Foodsaver machines and now buy all my steaks either in bulk (Costco/sams) or when they have a good sale at the local markets (Porterhouse or Ribeyes at $5 a pound). Seal and freeze and have been very happy with the quality of the frozen steaks weeks/months later...key is to get them out and let them thaw naturally before they hit the grill.
 
I don't hunt either..I'm with you there. Maybe I grew up cheap but I think a sirloin tastes best to me. Most butchers are cheaper than stores from my limited experience anyhow. I'd simply look in yellow pages.
 
Well over 90% of our food comes from the land and waters of Alaska, I haven't purchased fish in over a decade, however every once in a while I do purchase beef or pork do to lack of a harvest. Buying bulk is always cheaper, some times substantially cheaper especially if your willing to cut it yourself. NY strip at $4.99 would be a steal up this way!

You also bring up a point that bugs the snot outa me.........if you dont eat what you kill you are NOT a hunter your a sport killer and more than a bit sick! I even go so far as to eat most of what comes off the trap line, beaver and lynx are actually very good table fare. (grow up we dont want to hear your oral sex jokes......)
 
We have a local butcher that puts together package bundles and they are cheaper than any of the big name stores. The meat is also fresher, less fat and with no preservatives. He runs the specials weekly and sends out flyers. He gets the meat in fresh and processes it then tells you what day to pick it up. He will cut and wrap just about anything you want and still do it cheaper than anyone. There's nothing better than fresh "side" in the AM.
One thing is critical to bulk buying and that's a foodsaver as Goodturns pointed out. Your meat will last much much longer. If it goes into the wrapper pink, it will come out pink. We usually buy in bulk and use a sharpie to write the cut of meat and date on the package. The food saver is not limited to food either. You can vacuum seal just about anything you want to save or water proof.
 
Feed me meat!

Last year, my wife and I bought 3/4 of a cow for around $2.55 a pound average. We got 275 pounds of meat, in the cuts we wanted, and tossed it all in our upright 26cf deep freeze @ -20 degrees. We also bought 3/4 of a pig, only because one of the people involved in that animal backed out of their 1/4 at the last minute. For the pig we paid $1.97 a pound average and got 162 pounds. I got to see the pig 3 weeks before it was butchered and "D@MN, it was a monster!!!"

In all honesty, we did get a great deal, as the people we bought from raised the animals themselves, and he has a butchers license, though he isn't a butcher by trade.

This year, we are looking at buying 1/2 a bison, but the price will be substantially higher, roughly $3.90 to 4.20 a pound.

If you can make the initial outlay, and have the freezer space available, it is a great way to save money. At -20 temps, meat that is properly packaged will last 2 years.

As I am not even close to vegetarian, :eek:, all that meat lasted us 16 months, and I have 2 roasts, and a couple steaks left.

Look around in your area for bulk meat, and check the prices. You will be amazed!

CdirtO
 
cdirto said:
This year, we are looking at buying 1/2 a bison, but the price will be substantially higher, roughly $3.90 to 4.20 a pound.
Click to expand...

now i'm jealous!

location, location, location.... we have a small bison farm near me.... stew meat (offcuts) is $9.99 a pound....flank steak 15.99
 
Nothing in our area that I can find. You'ld think being smack dab in the middle of mormon country there would be a place that catered to really large families. Might be some special super secret gotta know the password place I have not heard of.

Hey rick, agree with you on the sport killer. Really hard not to make jokes though. If I lived in Alaska I would be eating nothing but Salmon I caught myself. Someday I will get up that way and fish for salmon. Someday.

From my research it averages out better than the store but the initial outlay is a smack I am willing to figure out.

From what you folks are saying it sounds like a good deal. Time to expand the search. I figured I would have to travel to get this stuff. Good thing dry ice exists.
 
GoodTurns said:
I bought one of the Foodsaver machines and now buy all my steaks either in bulk (Costco/sams) or when they have a good sale at the local markets (Porterhouse or Ribeyes at $5 a pound). Seal and freeze and have been very happy with the quality of the frozen steaks weeks/months later...key is to get them out and let them thaw naturally before they hit the grill.
Click to expand...

I also have a foodsaver, and I don't thaw mine before they go on the grill because we like them browned on the outside but rare in the middle. I preheat my weber gas grill to 500 degrees, toss the frozen steaks (cut about an inch thick) on the hot grill and close the lid. Cook 10 minutes, turn, cook another 10 minutes...perfect rare steak in the middle, lightly charred on the outside...just the way we like them

The foodsaver is great. We have friends up north in Flagstaff that keep us supplied with deer and elk. The foodsaver keeps it perfectly. I buy all my meat at Sam's when it has reached it's pull date and is marked down, take it home and vacuum pack and freeze it immediately. I've never had a bad piece of meat from Sams from their markdown meats.
 
Go to the Coconino County fair in Flagstaff the end of August and buy one of the feeder steers from the 4H show. (Especially if you can get someone who can share it with you). The showgrounds has all the info you need for having it butchered and frozen.
 
Bulk meat + foodsaver is a must! We go through them kinda quick but like I said we pack all our protien ourselves. The commercial vacume sealers do work better but we have found we eat whatever meat is on hand before it the food saver bags go south, who has $1500 for a sealer?

Haynie
Thanks to media and the hunting industry most folks don't realise what true subsistence hunting is all about. Its about living a more natural and healthy lifestyle that keeps me in touch with my place in the natural world, lower environmental impact and more freedom, NOT killing for fun or "horn porn"! Been eating wild game for over 40 years and I have yet to find a way to make antler edible!

Salmon everyday? Ya I don't think so. Believe me it gets old! Very old! I don't care how into fish you are salmon everyday lasts about a month before you want a hot dog, marmot, hell the neighbors house cat anything but more salmon! Stuns me how much folks pay for the stuff! I dip net enough that we have salmon about 3 dinners a week for the rest of the year every summer............it's like hamburger helper night here. I could post some pics of dip netting if you'd like? If you ever make it up this way drop me a line, I'll turn you on to some local spots away from the crowds.
 
sbwertz said:
Go to the Coconino County fair in Flagstaff the end of August and buy one of the feeder steers from the 4H show. (Especially if you can get someone who can share it with you). The showgrounds has all the info you need for having it butchered and frozen.
Click to expand...


And the money gose to a youngster, often trying to raise money for college.
 
Haynie said:
You seem like an honest group and the opinions here are varied and from all over the place so thought I would ask it here.

Where I live the food prices have gone insane. Because we are a tourist town food prices reflect that as does the particular items on sale. As an example:
Bone in New York Strip steaks 4.99/lb
Rump roast 5.99/lb

.......
Any pointers would be nice too. I am new to the whole buy in bulk thing.
Click to expand...

I can't address your direct question but can't help but wonder if you are comparing sale prices to regular prices.

Wherabouts in northern Arizona? We are in the northeast part, Show Low, and just last night I went to the Safeway with my wife to pick up a couple steaks.

Not seeing what we wanted on the shelves, we asked the fellow behind the meat counter who happened to be cutting up some Bone in New York top steaks at the time how much they were. The sign said $8.99 lb for the bone in and $12.99 lb for bone out but he was packing these in "family packs" of 4, 5, or 6 steaks and was pricing them at $4.99 lb.

So....... the regularly price of $8.99 fell to $4.99 just from buying a small quantity.

If the price is cut nearly in half for just four or five steak quantity I wonder what they would say if I asked what the price would be for 25 or 50 steaks at once? Now that I'm curious, during the next visit I'll ask and let you know what they say!
 
One thing to keep in mind. Bigger stores selling meat have to mark it up to make up for overhead what doesn't sell. Our butcher KNOWS his meat is sold, thus the lower price.
 
Location has a lot to do with prices. We do not have a stand alone freeze like when I was a kid. So buying half of a cow would not work for us. We do watch our local grocery and they have some pretty good sales on meat about every three weeks and it is only on Saturday. My favorite is getting a whole boneless pork loin for $1.88 a pound. I love to use my smoker and pulled pork is about my favorite. We also got one heck of a deal from Omaha Steaks last year. Ended up with 16 NY strips and they were 8oz each and they literally were free including shipping.

You just have to go out look for the deals and not be part of the herd that is led to slaughter so to speak.
 
Both were on Sale. It is the norm around here for the premium cuts to be on a better sale throughout the summer to satisfy the boaters.
 
We buy meat in bulk packages from BJ's Wholesale club. Generally cheaper than other places and same quality. As long as you have a freezer for it you are fine. We generally repackage it to smaller portions before freezing. Large pices of meat we cut into smaller steaks.
 
Just found one place all the way in phoenix and their econo packs (no prime cuts) averages out to 4.55 a pound. Considering the cuts that was still very high. Maybe this is a real sign of the times.
 
There is a small butcher shop by me, at the end of the day what ever is in the show cases gets wrapped & frozen put in freezers The price for the frozen is way less than out of the regular case, it is wrapped & ready to go. In a sense you are buying a "pig" in a poke, especially if it is pork chops:biggrin:. But in 20 years of buying there have never gotten meat I was dissatisfied with. They also sell quarters & halves, just do not have the freezer room
 
I can't remember the last time I bought a steak or even a pot roast. There's only
one market close to me, and they stink. They also have an agreement with the town
that they won't allow another supermarket. Chicken legs ..$3.49/lb. Brisket $5.99/lb.
That's for brisket! The cheapest cut of meat on the whole animal.. I'd expect something
like $3.29 maybe.. much more than that and it isn't worth it anymore.
But 3 and a half for chicken legs? that's insane.
I'm sort of a semi-vegetarian now by default.
 
I guess we are spoiled. Just need to take the golf cart up to the pasture and pick out the one we want. I always want the Angus, but the little ones are usually much better than the great big ones.

One of the advantages of living in the State's Dairy Capitol. Just can't do veal anymore.
 
Last edited:
We have a cabin in a resort area in New Mexico, higher prices on a lot of items. We usually try to fill a large cooler and bring most from home. If we are there for more than 3 weeks at a time we sometimes make a day trip to one of the larger non tourist towns and restock our supplies. We usually try to tie this in with some other reason we need to go there. Usually it is because my wife wants to go to Hobby Lobby to more buy more yarn, or I need to go to a big box lumber store.
 
Find your local Agriculture Extension Office. They have knowledge of which farmers in the area will sell meat on the hoof and any private slaughter houses in the area that do custom butchering. The slaughter houses will be able to direct you to someone that sells meat or they will have some for sale right there. Before yo buy your meat, you will want to research the seller's rep. Not all butchers are created equal in honesty. and you will be dropping a wad of cash. As always, YMMV
Charles
 
Good advice Ctubbs. Had not thought about the extension office. I checked out our finance drain last night and the majority is food. We hardly eat out anymore so the drain is grocery related. It was disheartening. Oh well off to the scrap yard with a load of junk.
 
Growing up we would eat read meat 4-6 nights a week. I still would but my wife and son dont care for it as much as I do so its more like 2-3 night now. I like better meat and dont mind paying for it. 8-10 years ago the meat place we go to for the prime cuts had ribeye for $6.99lb now its $13-14lb.
Been thinking about getting a freezer for a few year. My grand mother would get 1/2 side about once a year. Its good if you can do it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom