Trying to Afford Being a Carnivore!

The cost of meat is continuing to go up and up and up. The problem is that we like meat! We don't gorge ourselves on it to the exclusion of the other food groups, but it is definitely on our favorites list of protein sources. So how to afford being a carnivore is a major grocery shopping dilemma.

Solution one: only buy meat on sale, never at regular price. Buying meat on sale and stashing it in the freezer allows us to continue to eat meats at prices we like.

Solution two: use creative recipes to utilize lesser quality cuts of meat. Marinate or slow cook tougher cuts of meat to tenderize. Never underestimate the power of a slow cooker when trying to use tough meats.

Solution three: use less meat when we can. Stir fries are fantastic for combining solutions one, two, and three. Buy thin steaks, small pork chops, or chicken thighs on sale, then thinly slice them into strips (partially frozen meat slices better for this) and quickly fry them with julienned carrots (microwave for a couple minutes to partially cook), wedged onion, sliced or julienned water chestnuts, brocolli florets, bamboo shoots, baby corn, peas, julienned ginger, sliced garlic, whatever else comes to hand for a stir fry. To make a sauce, add in stock/broth of choice just to cover everything, then thicken with a thick liquid made from cornstarch and cold water. The stir fry can be 1/5 meat and 4/5 vegetable and still have a wonderful meat quality.

Solution four: buy meat in bulk. This can be done in two ways. Check with a local butcher about buying a whole animal, 1/2 animal, or even 1/4 animal. Half a steer will often average out to $2.50 a pound, which is a little on the high end for the ground beef but really low for the roasts and steaks. The other way is to go to a place like Sam's Club. We just bought a whole, boneless pork loin for $1.38/lb. We have gotten 14 1" thick cut center cut pork chops and a 2 pound pork loin roast that I am making into pulled pork bbq for $12.60. Imagine inch thick pork chops the size of your palm for about $0.70 each and that's what we got. We also got beautiful beef round eye roasts for $2.66/lb, which are cut into inch thick steaks bigger than my palm, making steak possible for weeknight dinner at $1.40 per steak. Some will be wrapped and frozen. Others will be put in marinade and frozen; as it thaws in the fridge later it will marinate and be an incredible steak. It literally takes 30 minutes to cut the steaks, make marinade, and prepare them for freezing, and the pork chops take only a few minutes to cut, wrap, and freeze.

Hello, I am a meat eater, and I use tricks to maintain my eating habits. I hope you try them too!