If you know anything about couponing, and if you have read the info on this site about Stockpiling, you know that one of the best ways to save money is to wait for items to hit their rock-bottom price and then stock up on what you need until it goes on sale again. This keeps you from having to run to the store and buy something when it is not sale, costing you a lot more $$.

One of the things I love to stock up on is meat- especially when Family Packs are even LOWER in price! But what do you DO with all of that MEAT??

I generally will wait for meat prices to fall under $1.99/lb- for anything except steak, which I don't usually buy, and bone-in chicken breasts, which I only buy if they are under 99 cents/lb. I will buy the biggest packs available, usually several of them. For BSCB, I put one or 2 in a ziploc bag (not touching), separating the entire pack this way. Some of them I will cut into strips, like chicken fingers, and freeze 3 or 4 in a pack (not touching). This makes it very easy to defrost only what my family needs for a meal instead of a whole pack, and makes them easier to store in limited space. I do the same with pork chops and fish.

When it comes to bone-in chicken breast, I will go ahead an cook those by boiling them (I don't often use bone-in chicken for anything else, but they can be frozen individually as well). After they cool, I cut the skin and fat off and then shred them or chop them up (and don't forget to freeze that broth!), and put the shredded chicken in ziploc bags in the freezer. That way I have them cooked and ready to add to soups, chicken pot pie, etc.

As for ground beef and turkey, I will usually go ahead and brown it completely, drain it, and let it cool for a while. Then I will measure it out (into 1 lb. increments) into ziploc bags. This way, when I am making spaghetti or tacos or anything else that needs ground beef (anyone eat hamburger helper?), it is cooked and ready to go. Nuke it in the microwave for 2 minutes to defrost, and a! It is quicker and easier on busy nights, and a lot cheaper than buying the 1 lb. packs from the store. :)

Be sure to label your ziploc bags with whatever is in it and the date that you freeze it! I hope this tip helps you- it saves us a lot of money and a lot of time on busy nights!
 


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