Stock Up Prices - Page 2

[youngspiritmom]

Originally Posted by IngaAnne 

Youngspiritmom, have you found that you get as much meat as expected from a whole chicken? I always feel like there's a lot of weight in the bones and giblets plus most of the meat is dark meat (which is the cheap stuff), so it's sort of a wash price wise to buying legs, wings, and breast separately. It seems like you should get a lot better deal buying the whole bird, I just always feel jipped! Maybe I'm imagining things.

Actually, I do kind of agree with you. After cutting it up, it doesn't seem like that much meat, and I suppose you are paying for the weight of the bones, skin, parts etc. We have no preference as far as white meat vs. dark meat. But I guess maybe buying breasts isn't really that much more expensive if you can find a decent price (sure is more convenient that all that slimy cutting up)!

[RosemaryS-F]

Whole chickens are much better for the environment, though. Much less processing and packaging. Just a thought.

[JudiAU]

In my experience, the food at Target is pretty low quality and the prices are high. 15% wouldn't make it competitive with other local stores. I live in Los Angeles. I wouldn't assume that it using your DP's discount is the best price for the quality in your area. Most stores have better prices for similar quality. Restraraunt supply, ethnic markets, and many chain supermarkets (which run sales and discounts) are far cheaper

For instance, if you are willing to spend $3-4 /pound on chicken you could buy best quality farmer's market or Whole Foods chicken at that price. If you are buying generic, caged birds like those sold at Target it should be less than $1/pound. I'd rather have a roast chicken for dinner than something made with chicken breasts any way and then I use the carcas for stock.

I am too concerned about food safety to buy ground beef in a store unless it was ground on site. Much, much lower risk of contamination and no ammonia washing. This is one area where I would consider spending a premium if I had small children. You can probably find a local butcher at that price.

We generally buy animal shares so we can get better meat at a better price. If you live in a rural area it is worth seeking...

[JudiAU]

Originally Posted by IngaAnne 

I found out this week that chicken is on sale in my area for the prices I'm always seeing people talking about on here! It's $1.99 a pound for fresh skinless boneless chicken breasts at Dierbergs (one of two locally owned grocery chains) and $1.88 for skinless boneless chicken breasts at the local Shop'n Save. I bought 6.5lbs and froze it for later. Plus I got 2lbs of ground turkey at $2.20/lb (usually over $3.59/lb). Hopefully, I can find another sale before that runs out, but today's buys filled up half our tiny freezer.

Youngspiritmom, have you found that you get as much meat as expected from a whole chicken? I always feel like there's a lot of weight in the bones and giblets plus most of the meat is dark meat (which is the cheap stuff), so it's sort of a wash price wise to buying legs, wings, and breast separately. It seems like you should get a lot better deal buying the whole bird, I just always feel jipped! Maybe I'm imagining things.

I find it cheaper to cut them up myself because then I get the "other stuff" which is useful for stock.

2 chickens cut up myself = four thighs (1 dinner), four breasts (1 dinner + 2 kid lunches), four legs (kid dinner), wings, backs, skin, and scraps with yield enough stock for soup.

1 chicken roasted whole = 1 dinner with guests + enough leftovers for another chicken dinner like a pasta with some chicken in it or a lunch for 4 + carcase for soup x2

[Carson]

I'm in the city of Chicago.  We have a discount grocer, but their meat is kind of iffy.  Contrary to my previous sentence, looking for clearance meat deals at nicer grocery stores actually is better quality!  I just drop it all in the freezer straight away when I buy it.

Bone in chicken breasts - $1/lb

Boneless skinless cb - less than $1.50/lb (can wait for sales and find these 1.66 lb)

Whole chicken 80c/lb

Boneless Pork $2/lb

Beef - varies, somewhere less than $2/lb if I'm going to grind it, will pay more for steak/nice big roasts

Butter 2.49/lb if it is land o lakes

Get a food scale and weigh your bone in meat before you trim it, then measure the yield you get, and calculate a new price per pound. IIRC, bone in chicken breasts had to be around 88c/lb to match boneless skinless ones around $1.50.  A lot of times with chicken they include a lot of extra skin and fat to bump up the weight of the package. 

Sometimes we buy a 1/4 of a beef from a local farmer, but his prices went up to $5.50/lb this year and I just don't think we can swing it.  So some years I'm not actively looking for beef to buy.  I love to grind my own though, makes me feel so much better about where it's been, even if I can't buy local beef.

[heatherdeg]

I moved from northern NJ (NYC metro area) to the Chicago 'burbs and the cost (and availability) of good food here is horrible.  I wanna go hoooommmme... waaaaaaahhh 

We have a freezer and just ordered a side of beef even though I don't love that this farmer's butcher has a 40% ground beef rate vs. the norm of 30%.  Finding organic produce year-round is way more expensive.  I haven't found where to buy stuff like rice and dried beans in bulk yet--working on that.

I would also suggest growing some of your own.  You could do an indoor window box of lettuce all winter!