Posted on 06/12/2012 6:10:26 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
I don't often post new editions of The Coupon Whisperer but when I do, you know they are good. And in this edition I will show how you can drastically CUT your food expenditures.
If you are even a casual couponer you know it is not difficult to score stuff like toothpaste and body wash for FREE or close to it. Plus you should have no trouble finding coupons for many food items. However, the major part of any food budget is meat and where do you find coupons for those packages of steak and other such goodies? Well, GOOD NEWS!!! I accidentally discovered a way to drastically cut down on meat costs. Here is what happened:
(Excerpt) Read more at couponwhisperer.blogspot.com ...
I refuse to shop at Target, knowing that some portion of my spending there - however small - goes to causes I loathe.
We’ve done pork, too, but not lamb. The family isn’t big on sausage or pork roasts so I end up giving a lot of that away. That really doesn’t make it very cost-effective though, does it? LOL
I always sneak the beef tongue into someone else’s pile... Never tried it and don’t think I could ever work up the courage.
Your guy needs to find a good basic cookbook and sell it along with the beef... might increase his business. Thanks nodumbblonde - interesting comments.
Thanks. Does Publix do this? I’ve never seen meat marked down there like this.
My tip: Winn-Dixie has this savings option that allows you to buy discounted fuel at Shell stations. Some products you buy give you $.05 off a gallon or more, or you spend $50 and get $.05 off a gallon (for each $50).
Anyhow, the real deal part of this is that WD seems to frequently give $1.00 off per gallon for filling a prescription there. This is either for a new prescription or a transfer.
Now a dollar off of a gallon of gas is definitely worth it especially for something I absolutely have to buy anyhow. But the best part? Walgreens was offering a $25 gift card for transferring a prescription to them.
Sooooooooo ... :-)
Thanks, PJ-Comix.
The grocery stores in our area all have what I call “the cheap meat section”. Sometimes there’ll be a coupon attached to the meat, pork, chicken or a reduced price label. We have a foodsaver so I repackage as soon as I get home.
Like you said, you have to get to the store early to take advantage of the best deals especially in the winter when the snow birds are here!
I'm not that involved, I drop off a few bags of feed every now and then.
I trained the kids early, so they wouldn't think of the cows as pets: girl cows make milk and boy cows make steak. They love steak!
You can even go and "pick your cow". If you pick a calf you can go and see him during the growing time.
I don't bother any more. I know the farmer and we have been buying from him for five years now.
You’re welcome!
As a guy who makes a living raising cows, you can imagine how appalling that was to him! Outraged may be the more correct term!
I think we’ve just lost the art of cooking a proper meal somewhere along the way.
There's a bi-weekly small animal auction near me. Recently pigs were being passed over at $3.00 each! Unbelievable! I'm going to have to talk to my 'cow guy' about expanding our meat crop.
"But Grandma said that when you were young..."
"Hush! We are not poor enough for me to cook beef tongue!"
Excellent book but no longer in print. Copies can be found on ebay, etc.
I like to put ground lamb in my meatloaf mix, it adds a delightful flavor that even the anti-lamb people love.
http://www.newyorkfirst.com/gifts/the-cattlemans-steak-book-70/
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Sounds like a good choice — thanks for sharing. (Amazon does have some MUCH cheaper...)
“The Cattleman’s Steak Book”
$45.00
Larry Ellman, a onetime student of accounting from Brooklyn whose big ambition in school was to become, in his words, “a tycoon.” Starting with a $2,000 investment in ten Coke machines in 1949, he built up a thriving vending-machine and cafeteria business that he sold for $50,000 in 1958. He then sank the proceeds into a modest Manhattan steak house. He redecorated it in dude-ranch western, renamed it the Cattleman, promoted it fiercely with various gimmicks, including free stage coach rides for the kiddies.
Ellman’s New York City institution recaptured the charm and manly elegance of a plush San Francisco saloon or hotel at the turn of the century, and became one of the nation’s most successful restaurants. Naturally, beef was its specialty, and The Cattleman’s Steak Book’s 200 recipes capture the flavor of distinctively Western dining from “the adult Western restaurant.” Offering a rare First Edition copy.
“The Cattleman’s Steak Book”
Item #01970
Works for me, as well. Who cares about "almost expired" when I'm going to immediately use it or freeze it until I do? Our grocery store has a manager's special bin where they put all the almost expired, marked down meat. It's a treasure trove. Hubby and I have been using it for years. We're noticing a lot more people are checking out the contents now. Couple weeks ago they had Hormel spiral cut hams for $1 a lb. I bought two 15 lb. each. Yum!
My brother drove their stagecoach with a pair of matched greys back in the early 70’s. Adults rode in it too. When he left for college, my brother-in-law took over the job. The restaurant served its dinners on pewter plates. It was a real cool place, too bad it closed.
Cool story - thanks for sharing.
>>> “I always sneak the beef tongue into someone else’s pile... Never tried it and don’t think I could ever work up the courage.”
A delicacy in some cultures, not so much in ours. I was tricked into eating it by friends from Venezuela. Tastes good like beef should but not a grained meat texture at all. There was some kind of extra stripping (veins or gristle?) that took place in the kitchen that I didn’t know about, as they distracted me from seeing, LOL.
I would guess it’s not worth the hassle if you don’t already have a liking for it.
Was it tender? More like liver? I think it’s the texture (or the way I imagine it anyway) that I can’t get past!
Right up there with my Dad’s all-time favorite food: brain sandwiches. *hurk*
Over a decade removed, the experience is hazy these days. It didn’t make me automatically think “tongue.” I’d recently spent a year where sushi was common fare and dried seaweed (yech!) was vended as snack food. My friends were eating the same thing (obviously something sneaky and humorous about the meal) so I waited for the reveal after eating hearty.
But brain sandwiches? Like getting mad cow disease if the animal had it? Oy. *hork* right along with you!
There are plenty stories of poor country folk with a preference for squirrel brains, but I wonder how many of the little suckers it takes to make a meal...
I guess those would be brain “sliders”, right? Lol
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