Thrifty Thursday: My Personal Butcher

First, you need to know that I despise handling any type of raw meat. It actually makes me gag. I suck-it-up though because I need to cook for my family.

In the past, I would buy pre-packaged scuts of fish, poultry and meat based on my recipe. This meant less handling on my part. But it also meant paying for the “convenience cuts”.

Hubby on the other hand doesn’t mind handling the meat. He’s an avid fisherman and cleans and fillets what he catches, so he’s not at all effected by raw chicken or beef.

So now I purchase whole pieces of meat and poultry and let Hubby be my personal butcher.

For example: I’ll purchase chicken leg quarters instead of just of just a package of legs or a package of thighs. The leg quarters are just $0.99/lb right now compared to $1.99/lb when they are separate. Hubby cuts them for me and then I use our FoodSaver Vacuum-Packaging System to bag and freeze them.

Another example: We purchase a whole cut of beef at the restaurant supply store. Last time we bought one it was $5.99/lb. The wanna-be-butcher cuts this up into steaks (ribeyes, filets and NY stips) and roasts. If I were to purchase “convenience cuts” at the super market I’d pay $7.99 t0 $10.00 per pound. This is big savings for us because my boys are carnivores!

If you’re interested in saving money by butchering yourself, I found two great links for you to check out: How To Butcher Whole Cuts Of Meat and How To Save Money Butchering Whole Chickens

ADDED: Moms In A Blog posted a great guide to beef you should check out! Your Complete Guide To Beef

PS If you have a tip for Thrifty Thursday please share in the comments with your link! And if you want, here’s the code for my graphic to use on your post:

<a href=”http://thehouseholdhelper.com/blog/index.php?s=thrifty+thursday” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j189/girlie0226/thriftythursday.jpg” alt=”Thrifty Thursday Tips @ TheHouseholdHelper”></a>