How We Save Money on Meat

Y’all, I can’t believe I haven’t shared this tip with you!  Actually it’s a disservice that I haven’t done so.  I’m so sorry I’ve been holding out.  I might have mentioned it, but never posted about it.  If you look at people’s grocery bills, the higher priced items tend to be meat (if their a meat eating family).  Meat is expensive, and even more expensive for quality meat.  As I’ve learned more about meat, I no longer just grab whatever chicken, beef, pork, or whatnot that is sitting on the shelf.  I’m definitely more picky about my meat.

One day a friend of mine mentioned where she gets her meat from.  From the farm (not the grocery store).  And for a GREAT deal.  Excited, I talked to my husband and we ordered our first case of boneless chicken breasts.  And you know us…we did a lot of research.  🙂   Where from?

Click HERE to sign up as well.  When you sign up, they will send you deals on current products for sale, so you can usually buy even cheaper than is offered.  I always like to post about it on my personal Facebook page and leave my referral link (you’ll have one once you sign up) and you earn credits towards your next purchases.  For example, one time I earned $19.06 from the last time I ordered, so I applied it to my chicken order and only paid $48.54…making it $1.21/pound.

We eat a lot of chicken so we decided to order a case, even though the case was A LOT of chicken.  I’m talking AAAAAA  LOOOOOOTTTTT!  The chicken comes in a case of 40 pounds for $1.69/lb.  That comes out to $67.60.  Our first case (when we only had a baby) lasted us about 9 months (I can’t remember exactly).  $1.69 is a great price for chicken and here is what they say about their chicken:

• Comes directly from the farm
• Sold by the case — 40 lbs in each case
• Case dimensions—18 in wide x 12 in deep x 7 in tall
• No hormones added. Federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones
• 100% natural chicken, minimally processed, with no additives or artificial ingredients

The chicken tastes great and is pretty large per breast so I’m able to use two, sometimes only one chicken breast per meal.  When I pick up the chicken, I place it in the fridge (you need a whole shelf to store the box) until I’m ready to trim and package it (I do this the same day as pick up).  This is the worst part, but once it’s done, you simply pull out however many breasts you need for cooking.

How I prepare and package it (and store it):
PREPARE: I take out the chicken breasts one by one and trim the fat off (I CANNOT stand any fat on my chicken) with scissors.  I clean off anything that I need to.  I rinse them as I’m doing this and lay them on a large towel or paper towel until I’ve done all the breasts.  Brace yourself.  It’s a chore.  But trust me, it’s worth it.

PACKAGE:  Next, I dry off the chicken breasts with a paper towel (yes, I use a lot of paper towels in this process).  Then I place them in a sandwich (or quart) Ziploc baggie, push all the air out, and ziploc it.  There are usually around 40 breasts.

STORE: I place all the individually packaged chicken breasts in a big box (or plastic container) and place them in our deep freezer.  Now, before we got a deep freezer, we DID store them in our regular freezer and they all (minus a few) fit on the top shelf in a plastic container.  So if you don’t have a deep freezer (or extra freezer), they will fit in your kitchen freezer…you just have to make sure all the rest of your food can fit on the other shelves 🙂

The whole process from start to finish takes about 1-1.5 hours so I usually do this after the kids have gone to bed.  I’m very thorough in the cleaning and drying process too.

It’s so nice when I need to pull out some chicken for a meal.  I just grab one or two breasts and let them thaw.  Since they’re pretty thick (most of them), I pound them out for grilling (or slice them in half down the middle to make two breasts from one), so they’ll cook evenly.

I forgot to mention, it is delivered through what they call “events.”  There is a location spot in your area that you go to to pick up the meat from their truck.  It comes in water resistant bags, in a cardboard box.  You don’t even get our of your car.  You pull up, tell them your name, they place the box (or boxes) where you tell them, and they even put a plastic piece underneath the box just in case.  And you drive off (since you’ve prepaid).  Easier than the grocery store. 🙂

We have been ordering chicken for a couple of years now and a couple of months ago, we decided to order their ground beef too.  I just picked it up last week (depending on when you order, it can take up to a couple of months before the event).  It’s 93/7 lean ground beef.  $3.99/lb and it comes in a case of 40lbs.  That’s $159.60 total.  Here is what they say about their beef:

• Comes fresh, never frozen!
• The beef cattle have a grass diet which is supplemented by grain after they reach approximately 700 pounds.
• 100% grown in the USA.
• There are no chemicals, additives or water added to meat during processing.
• Processed at a USDA-inspected, state-of-the-art plant employing strict operating protocols (including HACCP) and the highest in food-safety standards.
• Prior to processing, inspectors from the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service randomly sample cattle under a monitoring plan and perform testing for antibiotic residues.
• USDA nutrition labeling standards defines “extra lean” and “lean” ground beef based on the lean/fat ratio. While not part of these guidelines, the term “super lean” is often used in the grocery sector to describe ground beef at the upper end of the “lean” category (i.e., “Fresh 93/7 Super Lean Ground Beef”). Our ground beef product is 93% lean and 7% fat.
• Comes in a 40-lb case with four 10-lb chubs per case (approximate weight–see note below)
• LFTB free!

Let me tell you that you will rarely, IF EVER, find a better price for that quality of meat.  We have found 93/7 ground beef for $2.99/lb ONCE before, but every other time it’s been $3.99 or more, BUT that meat is not as great of quality as Zaycon’s.  The beef comes in 4 10lb rolls.  I divided the beef into 1 pound measurements and stored it in sandwich/quart Ziploc baggies (quart size is best for both ground beef and chicken).  This make for fast, easy thawing too since it’s flat.

I plan to order more meats in the future as well.  They also have several different kinds of meat (chicken, beef, pork, fish, and turkey…and different types within each).  If you want to cut the cost so you’re not paying so much in one month, you can always split it with someone.  For example, you could purchase 40 pounds of beef for $159.60 and give half to a friend (and they pay you $79.80)…you just have to figure out how to hand off half of the meat to them (Zaycon doesn’t split it for you, but it’s a good way to cut down on cost if you don’t want to pay so much up front).

I could explain more, but their site does a better job answering questions of how it works and what products they provide.  Click HERE to visit their site and click around and check them out.  You have to check and make sure they are in your area.  I hope it’s in your area.  I know there are probably other Farm to Consumer organizations out there in other areas if Zaycon doesn’t come to yours.  If you know of any, can you comment below?

And just FYI, I wrote this post out of excitement, not compensation!!!  They do have a referral program that credits you $5.00 for any referral’s first order and $1.00 for every order after that (I do get that compensation if you order from my link or mention my name…just being honest), but that’s not why I wrote this.  I’m not sure if it’s $1.00 on that same referral’s future order or a new referral.  It’s not the best referral program when you’re spending so much money, but every little bit helps right?  And at least they have one.

I can’t say enough good things about this company.  I’m not sure what parts of the country they sell to, but you can look that up on their site.  I hope this might have helped some of you save some money on meat.   Here are a couple of pictures of the meat in action 🙂

Click HERE to sign up and try Zaycon!