Food Savings

[smokingkettle]

Ok, so I got back from the doctor's today and my 2 year old son has a condition that will cost me about $600 per month (that's with insurance kicking in) in therapy probably for the next two years at least. While that sucks from a financial standpoint, it's my son and I will do whatever I can to help.

With that in mind, gotta put the dream of the Shirley on hold for the foreseeable future.

Not here to get pity. What I am here to do is to get some ideas on ways to save money each month on the food side to help cover the therapy. I'm looking for ideas that will last me several meals. I have an awesome WSM and feel like I could put it to good use to save money with a good plan.

It's me, the wife, my 6 year old son and my 2 year old son. The problem we have now is waste. While I feel I'm making great strides in my cooking (thanks to this site), I need some help with planning and portions. Heck, an 8lb brisket doesn't get finished in my household. Neither does a full pork butt. When the kids become teenagers that will all change I'm sure.

I would like to hear tips and tricks that some of you use in order to save money on food every month, and am particularly interested when it comes to meats and BBQ related stuff. Should I invest in a cryovac? Are there particular cuts of meat that I should be looking at that are better use of my money etc? It's probably really easy stuff that is right in front of my face, but I'm just not noticing it.

 

[pjtexas1]

sorry to hear about your son. i can relate as my daughter had a medical issue that lasted 4 years. one of the easiest ways to save money is to get something to seal and freeze meats and cook more at once to eat throughout the week. buying meat on sale is another thing that comes to mind. other than that bbq is usually a way to spend not save for me. i would look at other parts of your budget to see where you can save. it's amazing what you can do without when it comes to your kids. hope it all works out and he gets passed this.

 

[blazinfire]

Sorry you guys are going through a tough time. I have vac sealed and froze pulled pork, chicken, brisket from the smoker. I still have some from a month ago I would eat it right now! I see other people freeze racks of ribs, chicken wings. That's a lot better than left overs going to waste. Is there enough left overs for decent portions?

Even looking for meat sales and vac sealing raw meats helps save a ton around here! I haven't messed with Cryovac

 

[bluetang]

Def sorry about your son, prayers sent out for all of yours.
We buy on sale and cook in bulk where possible and either can it or vac suck it and freeze in portions that work for us. We will smoke a couple of butts and devote the meat to Mexican and freeze in pound packs...ez meal. You may not be, but we were paper towel fanatics. We now have a chit load of good old fashioned dish towels and used the heck out of them. Saved a ton just on that. Good luck and better days brother.

 

[Bludawg]

It's called eating till it's gone and using butts & briskets in creative ways. Remember when you was a lil kid and after thanksgiving you ate leftover turkey till Christmas in all kinds of stuff. I cook a 12-15 lb brisket or 10lb butt for just me there aint no waste it lasts about 7-10 days. Think out side the box. Chili, Stew, enchiladas, burritos, tacos, nachos, pasta dishes, pizza, hash, pot pies ect,
Hope things get better soon prayin for the little guy.

 

[smokingkettle]

Thanks for the responses. Now I'm getting some ideas.

 

[Teleking]

Large chest freezer and buy on sale after holidays. Turkey after thanksgiving, ham after Easter, corned beef after St patties day... Etc. make the freezer your friend.

 

[smokingkettle]

Large chest freezer and buy on sale after holidays. Turkey after thanksgiving, ham after Easter, corned beef after St patties day... Etc. make the freezer your friend.

This is making a lot of sense.

 

[Stingerhook]

The first thing I do is check the ads. Anything that is left over goes in the freezer, beef, chicken and pork gets turned into chili, ham makes a great split pea soup. My prayers are sent to your son and family.

 

[LMAJ]

I grew up as one of 5 kids and my mom was the queen of casseroles, and she made use of EVERYTHING.
We ate a lot of ground beef and pasta, chicken and pasta, turkey and pasta, all of the above and potatoes.
There were also no "leftovers" - if there was anything "left over" it was for use in another meal. Think you might get seconds on spaghetti?? WRONG - that is for tomorrow night's turkey tetrazzini.

Nothing about BBQ here, just basics - shop the sales and base your menus around that, and use any and all leftovers. You may get sick of eating the same thing over and over so make sure whatever you cook you can use in multiple ways.

Find a butcher if you can, and learn some knife skills - I can get a whole bone in pork loin cheaper than I can get chops, a little elbow grease on my part and sharp knife saves me some cash.

Good luck with everything.

 

[redchaserron]

Kettle, I'm really sorry to hear about your kid, I hope that all works out well.

Teleking's suggestion about holiday meats is a good idea. Just before thanksgiving you should be able to find Turkey on sale for under 50 cents a pound, that's cheap for lean protein, and turkey last forever in the freezer.

There are certain ethnic foods and styles of cooking that lend themselves to economy while sacrificing nothing in flavor and enjoyment. Most Cajun food came out of poverty. A gumbo is a way to make a little bit of chicken and sausage feed a bunch of people, same with jambalaya, rice is a good cheap filler. By the way, gumbo freezes real good too. Buy bulk packs on sale, Yesterday I saw 10 pound bags of leg quarters for $2.90, that's 29 cents a pound and great on the grill or in a gumbo. I'll buy a big pack like that and break it up into smaller packs for the freezer. Pork and chicken are generally a lot cheaper than beef, and are both really versatile.

On way you can save money and satisfy your smoking urge might be to make your own bacon and ham. Pork belly is cheap and I often see fresh picnicks on sale for cheap too. You'll likely end up with a better product too.

For cutting down on waste, leftover brisket or pulled pork can be chopped and mixed up into a sandwich spread similar to a chicken salad, it's really good. I also make a "Meat Pie", with whatever leftover meat I have plus leftover veggies like carrots, potatoes and peas, cook it together to make kind of a thick stew, add some mustard, the throw it in a pie shell and bake. It's delicious. Good luck.

 

[Teleking]

Oh and a large stock pot or pressure cooker for soups and stock. Ham , turkey, and chicken bones get boiled down into stews and stock base. If I throw it away you can't eat it!

Plant a garden if you can or in containers. I make and can all my own pasta sauce, salsa, sriracha, ketchup, and apple sauce a year at a time.

 

[smokingkettle]

Thanks everyone. This site rules.

 

[landarc]

I am sorry to hear about your boy, that's a hard thing to deal with.

A lot of good tips already,I really like my vacuum packer, but, before I had it, I used freezer paper and ziplock bags to the same effect, and freezer paper is cheap while ziplock bags are reusable.

When I need to stretch my budget, I use the tactic of lots of veggies and small bits of meat stir-fried.

 

[Pocchampion]

Only 3 in our house and I vac seal left over regularly. Works awesome, especially using the sous vide to reheat meat that could dry out if nuked or heated in the oven. I believe the devices have paid for themselves. Bought zippered vac bags and they work great for resealing if you do not finish your leftovers.

I also vac seal meat bought on sale since a lot of the grocery store packaging does not lend itself well to freezing.

 

[Seefyre]

Sign up for the weekly ads from Cash-n-Carry, Restaurant Depot, etc. Also, with the chain grocery ask your meat manager when they make their daily pass with the markdown gun, then mysteriously show up at that time....over and over. :bow:

Utilize a vac packer and deep freeze and you can eat like a king on a paupers budget. I'm blue collar and have been single income w/2 kids for over ten years, it's working' for me.

 

[smokingkettle]

Sign up for the weekly ads from Cash-n-Carry, Restaurant Depot, etc. Also, with the chain grocery ask your meat manager when they make their daily pass with the markdown gun, then mysteriously show up at that time....over and over. :bow:

Utilize a vac packer and deep freeze and you can eat like a king on a paupers budget. I'm blue collar and have been single income w/2 kids for over ten years, it's working' for me.

I don't think I qualify for Restaurant Depot. I'm just a weekend warrior. I would love to shop there.

 

[smokingkettle]

Only 3 in our house and I vac seal left over regularly. Works awesome, especially using the sous vide to reheat meat that could dry out if nuked or heated in the oven. I believe the devices have paid for themselves. Bought zippered vac bags and they work great for resealing if you do not finish your leftovers.

I also vac seal meat bought on sale since a lot of the grocery store packaging does not lend itself well to freezing.

I need to look into sous vide.

 

[luv2smoke]

Tons of great ideas have been presented here. Personally the vacuum sealer and sous vide have probably been one of my better investments. The sous vide is great for heating left overs including BBQ I've frozen in my vacuum sealed bags. Before I had the sous vide I would put the bags in a pot of heated water for a bit. The pot with heated water worked well but you would have to kind of monitor it a little bit with the sous vide there is no monitoring required.

 

[IamMadMan]

I am so sorry to hear about your son, life can dish out some pretty hard things to deal with, but medical breakthroughs are common place now days. Our thoughts and prayers are with your son and your family.

Stock-up on meats when on sale. Even after holiday sales on turkeys and roasts are great prices. Fill the freezer when prices are good, and use them during high price times.

Wholesale clubs like BJ's and Costco are great, but do your homework because they don't always have the best prices on every single item.

Coupons are also great, my daughter recently started couponing and on my last grocery visit she saved me over $100.00. But beware, don't buy just because you have a coupon, buy only what you need/want.

Lastly as someone else had mentioned, a Vac-sealer is a great tool. You can cook enough for several meals and vac-seal then freeze to eat at another time. This is is great when things are hectic and not enough time to prepare a meal, just drop in boiling water, turn off the heat and let sit 15 - 20 minutes and the meal is ready. The Vac-sealer is also great for leftovers, seal them up for another meal, or if smaller quantities seal them up for lunches and freeze for a later date.

When I cook Brisket or Pork Butts I cook at least 1 extra and divide them and package for future meals.

Buy whole cuts like pork loin and cut your own loin chops and make a roast as well. The same is true for many other types of meat like whole chickens, and much more. But whole cuts of chuck when on sale and grind your own ground beef. You can find chuck cheaper than hamburger meat all the time, and at least you know what is in it.

And again, Our thoughts and prayers are with your son and your family.