I have a weakness for marked-down meat at my grocery store. I'll walk by and think "Ground beef? I've been wanting to make a batch of chili." ... "Brautwurst? I just read a good sous vide technique." Sometimes the purchase goes straight into the freezer, sometimes it gets cooked right away. Today I saw a whole chicken marked down, and thought "Spatchcock chicken dinner this week!"
Yes indeed. I shop for these deals every time I am in the store. Immediately in the freezer and cooked immediately upon thawed. These days it’s the only way to keep your meat budget under control.
Not so much. Especially not chicken and fish. I do try to shop weekly sales. But I'm pretty bad about my food budget. I'm always attracted to the freshest and tastiest food.
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My first stop in the meat section is the markdown or "managers special " section. I find lamb on special in the section often I think because it is not popular with most shoppers and hits the sell date while on the shelf. I don't look for "managers special " for fish, fresh is best there.
I don't have that problem, just the opposite. I go to the expensive meat section and look for the biggest item I can find and buy it anyway. That's why I'm broke and in need of an intervention
I always take a detour through the meat department just in case there is something there I didn't know I needed. I'm a sucker for the Kroger pork tenderloins that frequently get marked down to $2.99/lb. I love those ~2 lb. twin packs for around $6. Also, they have some nice chuck roasts that sell for $3.99 about once per month.
I just checked yesterday. Found some ugly brown steak and a suspicious-looking chicken. The chicken kept waving me over and whispering "Wanna get sick? I got the good organic stuff!" So I passed. But, as long as I could cook it that same day, I have often taken advantage of the savings.
I go to the "manager’s special" for marked down meat that is getting close to the "sell by" date every time I’m at the store. I’d say my freezer is 90% filled with the the weeks special or manager’s special meats. I kind of steer (no pun intended) away from chicken, pork and definitely fish. But beef ages, so it is just "wet aging" under the cellophane.
Yesterday, from the manager’s special section I got 3 small pork chops (which I cooked last night) for $3.50. I also grabbed 2 - 1 lb Snake River (SR) ribeye steaks (Waygu), cut from the small end (my favorite cut) for $17.50/ea and 2.24 lbs flap meat for $8. All the beef was immediately vacuumed sealed and put into the freezer. Generally for beef, the manager’s special section always has Prime and Waygu steaks marked down but very little Choice. People have a tendency to pass on the better grades of meat because of the price. I don’t think I’ve paid full price for beef in 10 years at the store.
The only manager's special meat I will buy because it has reached the "sell by" date is beef, and I stay away from old ground beef. Pork, chicken, seafood and ground stuff just don't age as well as steaks and beef primal cuts.
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