Grocery shopping can be painful to your budget. One of the most expensive items in your grocery budget is likely meat. The cost of meat has gone up as farmers have had to pay more for animal feed due to rising fuel costs and pay more to ship their final products. Fortunately, our bodies do not need the amount of meat that most of us eat. There are many ways to cut down on the amount of meat you use, or use several low cost protein alternatives.
Low Cost Protein
Eggs are a wonderful source of protein and they are very affordable. Costco sells 5 dozen eggs for around $4, much cheaper than the meat alternative. Breakfast for dinner is always fun and affordable but it is not the only way you can incorporate eggs into your diet. Quiche or cheese pie, makes a wonderful meal with either a small amount of meat or no meat at all. A nice big green salad topped with sliced eggs is filling and tasty.
Beans are a great way to add low fat protein to your diet. You can slow cook dried beans for great flavor or buy canned beans (just be sure and rinse them well to get rid of a lot of the sodium). I mix beans in with my ground beef to stretch it further and it’s hard to tell the difference. Add kidney beans to a nice green salad topped with corn, tomatos, chese, and a salsa/ranch mix for a simple mexican salad.
Using Smaller Meat Portions
It’s hard to get away from meat completely, especially with husbands and young kids in the picture, but you can stretch out a smaller amount of meat to save money. For hamburger dishes that I don’t want the flavor of beans in, I mix about 60% hamburger with 40% cooked wheat berries. Wheat berries are easy to cook and are almost unnoticable in hamburger. I put one cup of raw wheat berries in my crock pot with 3 cups of water overnight or for about 6 hours then just add them in the whatever dish I’m making. You can also mix cooked wheat berries into hamburger paties to stretch out the meat in your hamburger.
Chicken or steak salads are a great way to feel like you are getting a full serving of meat while actually using quite a bit less. Grill up a chicken breast or steak, slice it thinly and add it to salad. Burritos can be made with only a small portion of meat and topped with beans and other toppings to make them more healthy and more filling.
Buy Meat in Bulk
Always buy meat in bulk and freeze it in smaller portions. You will save quite a bit of money by watching for sales and buying while the price is low. I use my food saver to freeze bulk purchases into smaller portions because I know I won’t waste any money by throwing away freezer burned food.
Do you have a frugal living tip?
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