In spite of America’s growing preoccupation with eating meals away from home, most people still make the weekly pilgrimage to the grocery store for everyday needs.
And without question, one of the biggest parts of anyone’s food bill continues to be meat and poultry. Sure, there are weekly specials or extra savings per pound if you buy more than you might need in a week. But maybe with a little work and know-how about what you’re buying and when to buy it, you can do even better.
Consider what you could save by slicing your own roasts into other portions of meat you might commonly buy.
“You can buy a ribeye roast and cut it into steaks yourself just as easy as slicing bread,” said Ron Dorfler, who owns a meat market in Buffalo Grove. “You’ll have to spend more than $20 for the roast, but you’ll save a couple of dollars per pound over the price of individual steaks.”
“People can buy hind quarters of beef and then have them processed by the meat cutter,” said Jim Wedell, owner of Jim’s Quality Meats in Darien. “Wholesale prices can be as low as $1.50 per pound. We’ll advise people not to buy the hind quarters until the prices come down.”
Having an extra freezer dedicated to short- or long-term storage allows some families to take advantage of bulk buying, which almost always results in extra savings.
Other options Dorfler notes include buying a strip loin that can be rendered into 10 to 12 steaks and can save up to $20.
“It’s at least $1 cheaper or more than buying the individual steaks,” he said.
A whole pork loin yields two roasts and about 15 chops. Butcher shops that are dedicated only to meat sales will cut the portions for you at no extra charge.
“The whole pork loin often runs about $2.39 per pound, and the single chops alone would run you $3.49,” Dorfler said.
John Johnson, a meat cutter for 30 years who works at Caputos in Hanover Park, advises buying boneless center-cut pork roasts at around $3.99 per pound and slicing them into butterfly pork chops, which can cost $1 more.
He also suggests buying a choice beef rib roast and having it deboned. “Once that’s done, you can easily turn it into ribeye steaks.”
Another favorite is baby-back ribs, which often run well over $4 a pound. Buying a center-cut rib pork roast allows you to enjoy maybe the best of both worlds.
“You can often buy the roast for around $3 a pound, and the baby-back ribs come right off the top. Plus, you’ll have a nice roast to use as well,” Johnson said.
Beef is graded in four ways, from high to low quality: prime, choice, select and utility. Be sure you’re buying the right grade in order to get the quality steaks or roasts you’re looking for from the larger meat portions that offer greater savings.
Prime features the best texture, tenderness and marbling, which produces quality flavor and moisture. Most butcher shops pride themselves on selling only prime and choice quality meats.
Select meats are cheaper per pound and often are the most common grade of beef found in grocery store chains. They’re great for dishes that feature slower, tender-cooked meats such as stews, chili, sloppy Joes, soups and crockpot dishes.
The utility grade consists of the scraps or bench trimmings left from rendering roasts, chops and steaks, and is ground up as hamburger meat.
Experts say to look at ground meat with an eye toward its uses. Ground sirloin is what you’ll find in 90 percent lean ground meat. It’s the leanest grade, but also the driest when you cook it.
“The 90 percent is the most expensive and it can be dry, but people on restricted fat diets are told to buy it,” Johnson said.
The 80 percent lean grade comes from ground chuck roast and is the most recommended grade to buy, according to butchers. The 70 to 75 percent lean has the most fat content, and although it may cost more than $1 less per pound than the top grade, 25 percent of what you’re paying for is fat.
“Use 75 percent lean ground beef for burgers on the grill, and all you’ll have is a fire,” Dorfler says. “We gave up selling anything less than 80 percent about four years ago.”
Johnson’s 30 years in the business have helped him identify seasons when meat prices typically drop. Here are his suggestions:
– Beef.January through March, Johnson says, are typically not as strong for markets because the demand for beef is down. You can buy and save more.
“As the weather warms up, the barbecues come out, plus all the resorts start to open, and they’ve serving the same grilled meats,” Johnson said.
So stock up and freeze steaks before the weather breaks, and, of course, watch for sales.
– Pork. October through February are good for pork because, as Johnson says, those are the months the farmer is attending to the pork market.
“If you think about it, the farmer is dealing with crops throughout the early fall and doesn’t have time to bring a lot of pork to the market,” he said. “Once his farming is over, he’ll turn his attention to his pig market.”
Buy back ribs and roasts before the summer rush arrives, since demand goes up and supplies go down.
– Chicken. Summer can be bad for chickens because intense heat can cause many birds to perish. Expect prices to rise during any exceptionally hot summer. Prices seldom fluctuate more than 10 to 20 cents per pound throughout the year, according to meat experts.
“The breast is always your most expensive piece, with legs and thighs the least expensive,” Dorfler said. “You can save money on whole chickens, and at a butcher shop they’ll usually cut a whole one up for no charge.”
“Whole chickens are fine, but how many do you want to buy just to get the wings or legs you need?” Johnson said. “I’d recommend people watch for the sales on particular sections.”
Establishing a relationship with someone who regularly cuts your meat has many advantages. You can get consistent quality and size for the cuts of meat you want once your preferences are known.
Butchers also are a great source of cooking knowledge.
“I’m kind of a dinosaur these days with all the eating out at restaurants,” Wedell said. “But we still have people coming in with cookbooks and recipes, and we do the best we can to help them make what’s in the picture.”
