Meat is one thing that can be tough to make savings on. Unless you avoid meat or are already at the stage of producing all your own meat, just getting following standard sales at the grocery store isn’t going to cut costs on meat much from your funds.

Here are our tips for saving money by buying bulk meat!

Buying Bulk Meat

Saving Money on Pork

You can buy a huge, long pork loin at Sams Club or Costco. It is just about 24 or more inches long, these can typically be bought for around $2 a pound. They are good to cut in 6-8 inch cut sizes to make roast. You should be able to get 3-4 of these fine size roasts out of a segment. They can be easily whipped up in the pot for shredded pork sandwiches.

You can also purchase a side of pork or whole pork from the local butcher station. If you know your butcher shop has good quality or knows the source of its hogs, this would be desirable. The benefit of buying bulk meat from the butcher shop is that you can get a selection of cuts and there are no further additives in the meat.

Cut side pork is superb for “bacon” slabs, without any of the preservatives. Ground pork is great to add your own spices to and make into homemade sausage.

If you get your pork from a butcher shop or from a rancher and have it processed, the size can differ but keep in mind when you are planning…half a pork is about 100 pounds, a whole pig maybe around 200 pounds. The butcher shop can tell you how many pounds you can a lot for different cuts.

Cutback Money On Beef

make certain that you have your roasts cut into convenient sizes. If you are not serving a crowd, the 3 – 4 pound size keeps it convenient to have for about two meals, sometimes more, without feeling like you are having roast every night. You can also get 1 1/2 pound portions, if you prefer, also, depending on how much your family eats in one meal.

If you are a canner, ask your butcher in relation to meat for canning. They cut the meat in bite size pieces for us and all we had to do was tightly pack the quart jars and run it all the way through the pressure canner. It makes a quick meal, turning it into a tender, fall apart meat, with gravy. These are ideal to use for quick french dip sandwiches.

A full standard size cow (hang weight) is around 800 pounds. Half a cow would be approximately 400 pounds, and a quarter around 200 pounds. Like with pork, your butcher must be able to tell you about how many pounds you can allot for the other cuts. We regularly do not get very much steak back, instead preferring to get more hamburger and roasts.

Saving Money on Chicken

Whole chicken is, in general, the cheapest “cut” you can buy and it’s very practical since when you cook the complete body you can make vigorous bone broth and you still have ample amount of chicken for meals! Ask around your place to find farmers that wholesale chickens. When you find one, be sure to ask them how the chickens are raised (actual free range, cage free, or cages) and what these animals are fed. If the farmer is close by you might also ask to visit the farm and see how they are raised.

Some Things to Remember….

Find out how the animal was raised first. Grass-fed, free-range, no hormones or antibiotics is best.

Do not buy “corn finished” or “grain-finished” meat. This means the rancher fed the animal with a grain to fatten it up before processing. Grain is not normal for cattle and the meat will be fatty.

Ask for opinions and reviews on a meat shop or butcher before you take your product in or before you buy bulk meat from them. All butchers are not similar and have different practices. When you prepare it on your own, you will need to pay per pound on the hang weight, not the weight you get back.