Saving on Meat

The weather has turned cooler here in Southern California, ushering in our version of winter. Okay, so the rest of the country would call it fall, but we take what we can get, and this is the time of year I break out those favorite winter recipes, like stew. I have been keeping my eye out for a good price on stew meat lately, and the best price I had found was about $5 a pound. Needless to say I passed on that!

This past weekend I was grocery shopping and made a point of perusing the entire meat section, and found a top of the line brand roast marked down for $1.99 a pound. That is pretty much as good as it gets on beef around here, so I scooped one up. (I was tempted to grab 2, but was determined to keep to my budget! Even the best sale is a bad sale if it does not work in your budget)

And what do I plan to do with my roast? Cut it up for stew of course! That really is all stew meat is, except it is usually the lesser cuts of meat.

I was chatting with my favorite check out lady who loves to see her customers save money, and she agreed this was the way to go, and then she said something very interesting to me. She said that at her store (a Pavilions) the family cuts of meat are selling well, so they are not being marked down as much. But the premium brands of beef are being selling poorly, so that is where to look for a deal.

Of course I could not keep this tip for myself! Hope this helps someone else!