Buy Lean - not necessarily, always calculate the percent of fat into the unit price
Avoid Pre-cut - agreed, how hard is it to form a patty
Buy In Bulk - not necessarily, compare the price of a side of beef with what you can get on sale at the store. I don’t pay over $3 lb. at the store.
Look for Markdowns - many stores aren’t doing markdowns anymore. My store is ordering less so when they run out, they’re out.
Try “Meatless Monday” - hmmm, guess it would be too Christian to stick with the old standby of fish on Friday
pre-cooked rotisserie chicken from Costco - Costco isn’t everywhere so I’ve never been to one. The only time I’ve ever bought a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken was many years ago when the store had a promotion that was cheaper than a whole uncooked chicken. Bought several and put them in the freezer.
Add Healthy Fillers - who wants to bet all other grain-stuffs will rise in price, not just corn. Maybe adding grains is a regional thing. We only add crackers to meatloaf and not as a filler but a grease soaker upper.
Grease-soaked cracker crumbs? Try lining your baking pan with foil, place a cake rack on it and then place your meat loaf on it and bake. You can use a layer pan for a small meatloaf. The fat will drip thru to the bottom of the pan. The fat will harden as it cools. Wrap the foil up and throw it in the trash. I keep it in the freezer until trash day.
My local (Newport News, VA) Save-a-lot market marks down about-to-expire meat to 50%. They also regularly mark down discontinued or overstocked items to 25% or the original price.