Saving Money: Buying Meat in Bulk

If you have a weekly grocery budget, meat is an item that can easily break that budget.  When I see a good deal on hamburger, I certainly want to take advantage of it! The intimidation factor is high because it’s usually in a 5 or 10 pound package.  I saw a 5 pound package the other day while shopping at Costco and I thought I would show you how I make it usable for our family.

First, I use my kitchen scale to weigh out each pound of beef.  (I’ve decided that 1 pound increments work for me the best.) You can also just “eyeball” the amount that should go in each baggie if you’re not picky.  I’ve found Ziplock freezer bags to be the best to store the meat.

Label your bag and date the baggie.  I didn’t date mine because I know I will use it all this month.

Plop the meat into the ziplock bag. You could store it in the freezer this way, but it would take up a lot of room and it would take a while to thaw.

Next, I flatten the beef into the baggie so that it lays flat and is all the same thickness. (The beef will defrost faster it it’s uniform in size.) Make sure you squeeze all of that air out!

Here are my packets, all ready to go into the freezer. But WAIT!  Either find a flat spot in your freezer to lay one at a time or lay them out on a cookie sheet and put into your freezer.  You want them to freeze FLAT.  It’s not a good idea to stack them (as in the pic below) to freeze.

After they are good and frozen, you can store them in your freezer stacked OR I like to store them like books on a bookshelf to save even more room! (There’s more room for ice cream that way! Ha!)

If I know I’m going to make tacos, I simply pull out 2 baggies to thaw.  Spaghetti takes only 1 baggie and I’m good to go!!

Hope you found this helpful! I didn’t learn to do this until recently- I was just too scared to break up a HUGE package of beef!

One last thing:  Always check the date on the beef that you buy.  Often the meat is discounted because it is close to the expiration date. Get it in the freezer as soon as you can!!

 

Linking up with Grammie Time!