Bulk Meat Purchases: Planning Ahead for Freezer Day

I've been making freezer meals for a year now. On my first freezer meal cooking day, I took it easy by making just 1 1/2 weeks of meals, and I was immediately hooked.

It took me awhile to get used to buying things in advance and saving up for the next freezer meal day. Especially the meats. I didn't know what was a good deal, and what wasn't. In the past, I knew that I needed to buy a particular cut of meat, and I would simply buy the cheapest package that I could find.

But it didn't take me long to change my way of thinking. Grocery stores don't want to hold onto meat indefinitely. So to move them out quickly, they'll drop the price of meat to make it more affordable and appealing to you, the customer.

And that is exactly what I look for when I start buying my meat for the upcoming month.

I've also started buying the meat in bulk. Whereas in years' past, I would buy just a pound or two for a particular meat, I now take advantage of the sale, and stock up on several meals' worth.

On a recent trip to IGA, family packs of ground beef was on sale for $1.38/lb. I have found IGA's ground beef to be fairly lean, and with the price, it's an incredible deal in my world.

I bought 2 packages for $10.53 total.

Then divided each package up into 4 meals, for a total of 8 meals, or about $1.32/meal.

I tried sealing the ground beef up into food saver bags, but my food saver was acting up, so I resorted to wrapping food saver bags stuffed with ground beef into foil. I figured it was double-insulated and should be okay that way. I'll be using this ground beef in my March freezer cooking day, which is coming up in less than 2 weeks--it's almost here!

I'm also looking ahead to April's freezer meal cooking day. I haven't set a date yet, but I need to. Save-A-Lot had ground turkey on sale for $1/lb (I also noticed the regular price was $1.29/lb, in which case who needs ground beef when I can get ground turkey for $1!). Food Lion had 61-70count shrimp on sale for BOGO Free. I got this bag of shrimp for just $3.99, and I'll be able to split it up into 2 meals, which makes my actual cost about $2/meal.

I like being able to buy and plan ahead, knowing that I'm saving my family money. Doing so definitely works for me, and hopefully, it will work for you, too. :)