Tuesday, November 30, 2010

15 Tips for Saving Money on Meat Dishes

From the U.K. Money Saving Blog. This correlates directly with my Meat Manifesto.

"Going vegetarian can save you a lot of money on your grocery shopping if you choose in-season local vegetables. However, there are a lot of people who don’t want to eat vegetarian food all of the time. And there are people who have favorite dishes that include meat as a main ingredient. So how do you keep your meal costs down when you’re a meat eater?"

1. Eat the whole animal (article advocates eating bony chicken parts--I disagree, because once you strip the meat off those bones, you find you actually paid whole carcass prices for very little usable meat. No matter how hard you try, you can't eat bones or empty space from hollow cavities--this is called a FALSE ECONOMY)

2. Choose cheaper cuts of meat

3. Replace meat with beans (or eggs, or nuts, or quinoa) in recipes (rethink your protein sources)

4. Make meat the side dish of your meal (or part of it, such as chicken salad, which allows you to use less meat)

5. Skip meat dishes when dining out (or dining in--have a designated "veggie night" or two a week)

6. Buy meat in bulk (or buy it from an agricultural college)

7. Purchase your meat at the end of the day

8. Barter for your meat

9. Mix hamburger with cheaper stuff to make it stretch further (like TVP, eggs, bread crumbs, finely chopped beans, etc.)

10. Learn to cut meat yourself (this requires learning which knives are worth keeping around, and how to care for them)

11. Get to know a hunter (and offer him/her ammo or some other useful goods/services in exchange for meat)

12. Look for post-holiday meat sales

13. Buy meat that is close to its expiration date

14. Use discount codes and look for sales (if any exist--rare in the U.S. without a further purchase, like 1 lb. of hamburger for a gallon milk purchase)

15. Always eat your leftovers (and learn to eliminate waste)


Remember: you don't always have to COOK to get proteins--you can BAKE them too.

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