Frugal Friday: Saving Money on Meat

One rule to keeping to a grocery budget is to stick to your list and avoid impulse purchases. However, another good rule is not to stick to your list if you find a deal on something you need and use. For me, this especially applies to Manager's Markdowns at my Kroger. I've found that when I shop on Friday mornings, I can get some great markdowns. Today I got bananas for $.39/lb, 2 dozen brown and serve rolls for $.50, and a 5 lb package of ground beef for $5.99. That makes the beef $1.20/lb! None of these things were on my list for today, but I knew these were about the lowest prices I could get on these items so I purchased them today anyway.

Here's what I did with the ground beef. Notice I did not throw the whole 5 lbs in my freezer as that would make it practically useless.
First, I made up a tray of hamburgers. This is WAY cheaper than purchasing premade patties. I will freeze these until hard and then put them in a Ziploc bag so I can pull out just 1 or 2 at a time, since I am really the only one who likes hamburgers.
Then I divided the rest into meal size portions. These are probably about 3/4 lb each. Most recipes call for a 1 lb of ground beef, but I've found that we don't even notice the difference. I have a picture of all 4 Ziploc bags lined up on the counter, but Blogger absolutley refuses to upload it.

Anyway, Manger's Markdowns are a great way to save money on meat as well as produce and bakery items for which there are not usually coupons.