With the inflation over the past 2 years, I’m sure I’m not the only one looking to lower my grocery bills. It’s been nearly impossible to stay within my grocery budget, but we’re determined to make it work. One big expense in my grocery budget is meat. In my family, going without meat is not an option. My husband would be the first to complain. A few meatless meals mixed in are just fine, but he’s a meat and potatoes guy. Here’s how we’re saving money on meat this year to keep our grocery bills down and stay within our budget.
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Shop Sales
The first step is keeping track of your spending on groceries and the cost of meat per pound in your area. Otherwise, you’ll never know when a good deal pops up. You can often get good deals around special days like Memorial Day, July 4th, or the Super Bowl. If you watch your local circular ads or check out your grocery app, you may also find other deals. My local grocery store runs a special chicken week. When a good sale rolls around, stock up. As you become familiar with sale cycles in your area, you will know how much you need to buy to make it to the next sale.
Canning Meat
Now that you’ve stocked up on all that meat, you need a way to safely store it. And you need it to keep tasting great until the next sale. One of the ways I do that is with canning. If you’ve never canned meat before, it is pretty easy. It doesn’t take much preparation, and it saves space in your fridge or freezer. You could can any meat, but I usually only can beef, venison, and chicken.
Chicken
I love having canned chicken in my pantry, because it’s already fully cooked! That means that on a busy work day, I can open a jar of chicken. It’s ready to use for a casserole, soup, or sandwich, no defrosting or cooking. This also keeps me from reaching for an unhealthy frozen dinner or ordering takeout. When I can chicken, it’s super simple. I may trim a bit of fat if needed, then I put the whole chicken thigh or breast into the jar. Wide mouth pint jars are best, it’s easier to get the chicken in and out. Then sprinkle a bit of salt in each jar. Finally, it is important that you use a pressure canner for meat! Your meats may not be safe if you use a water bath canner. For more on how to can your own chicken, check out this article.
Ground Beef or Venison
Did you know you can can ground beef or venison? You can! I actually only started doing this recently. At first, I wasn’t sure it was worth the effort, as you do have to brown all the meat first. However, just like with canned chicken, having canned ground venison saves me on a busy work night. It makes it easier for me to make good food decisions when life gets busy. After browning the meat, drain the fat and pack meat loosely into jar. Add a sprinkle of salt, then fill with boiling water. Again, make sure you use a pressure canner to keep your meat safe until you’re ready to use it.
Stew Meat
Canning beef or venison as cubed meat is another great time saver. You do not need to cook it ahead of time. Simply cut your raw beef or venison into 1 inch cubes, and place in the jar. Add a sprinkle of salt, and can with pressure canner. Then pull out a jar for a quick, last-minute soup or stew. This could also be used for tacos, casseroles, stir fry, or sandwiches!
Freezing Meat
Overall, the majority of my meat is stored in the freezer. We keep a large chest freezer for our stash of meat as well as our produce from the garden. To keep our meat fresh longer, we have it vacuum sealed before freezing. Because we take our meat to the butcher, they take care of that for us. However, there are many vacuum sealers you can get for home use these days. We own the FoodSaver 2-in-1 Vacuum Sealing System v4400. If you are considering purchasing a vacuum sealer, you can check out my review of our FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer here. Vacuum sealing keeps my meat in good condition well over 1 year. That allows us to butcher and freeze a large quantity of meat and eat it all year long!
Drying Meat
Buy large portions and cut it up
Here are some ideas of what you could get out of a larger cut of meat:
Pork
- Loin = pork chops, pork loin roasts
- Shoulder = pork roasts (use this for the best pulled pork), pork steak
Beef or Venision
- Chuck = roasts, chuck steaks, flat-iron steaks
- Loin = the best steaks: filet mignon, NY steak, t-bone steak, etc
- Round = rump roast, round steak, tip steak
Buy meat directly from the farmer
How many pounds can a freezer hold?
A good rough estimate is that a freezer can hold about 35 pounds per cubic foot. Here is an estimate of the size freezer you need for venison or a portion of pork or beef:
How much freezer will I need?
If you know the hanging weight of your animal, you will be able to make a better estimate of how much meat you will get from the butcher. If not, we’ll rely on the averages to make a close guess so you can purchase a freezer before the meat arrives.
Whole Beef – An average take-home weight is 520 lbs
Whole Pork – An average take-home weight is 160 pounds
Venison – An average take-home weight is 50 lbs
Get Meat for Your Family by Hunting
Benefits of Hunting
The biggest benefit is the cost.
You will initially have to invest in a hunting rifle, ammunition, and training if you need it. But once the rifle is purchased, your yearly cost is very low. Hunting licenses in my state are $20.97, and you may need to spend an additional $6.97 on antlerless deer tags if you wish to take a doe or two. Once you have your deer, you can take it to a butcher and pay for processing the meat. However, you have paid nothing for the meat itself
Venison is healthier than beef
If you think about it, you can see right away when comparing a cow and a deer that the deer is a leaner animal. The meat is leaner too! Grass-fed beef is praised for being lower in fat. Venison is grass-fed! And you didn’t have to pay extra for grass-fed as you would with beef.
What costs should I expect?
Ammunition, targets, and shooting range fees – you should sight in your gun each year before hunting, so you may want to join a Rod and Gun club to get access to their gun range. Ammunition price will vary based on the rifle you choose and how many practice rounds you will need.
Hunting knife – You can find both cheap and expensive options. My husband likes Gerber field dressing sets the best. You can get this field dressing set for about $40.
Butcher processing fees – Fees will vary by butcher, by area, and by your choices in cuts and processed meats. Just for reference, I’ll share the costs at our butcher shop. The cost for skinning and cutting your deer is $113. That may be all you need, but for us this is our red meat for the year. That means that we also want ground venison, sausage, bologna, and even hot dogs. At our butcher, grinding costs $1 per pound, sausage $2 per pound, and bologna $2.29 per pound.
Save even more by cutting up your own venison
If you want to learn, you can skin and cut your own deer, and bring the meat to the butcher to save this cost. That’s what we do to really keep our meat costs low. We still like to have ground venison, and we haven’t invested in a meat grinder yet. So after our venison is cut up, we take portions to the butcher for ground venison or for any processed meat like bologna or hot dogs that we would like. We also like to have our butcher vacuum seal the meat for an extra fee per pound. That way our meat lasts all year long and I don’t have to worry about spoilage. Purchasing a home vacuum sealer is on my list for next year. If any of you have a favorite vacuum sealer, please share in the comments so other readers and I can benefit from your wisdom and experience!
Does venison taste like beef?
When I use ground venison in recipes, I can’t tell the difference in taste. I can tell the difference when cooking it, as there is little to no fat to drain off the venison. There is a mild gamey taste with a roast or a steak, that is more pronounced with reheating as a leftover. I think the flavor is great, and some cuts like the venison backstrap are extremely tender!
What if I can’t hunt where I live?
