if there's not meat, there's not a meal. That's my husband's mantra. So I buy a lot of meat.

My main tips are to buy in bulk and watch sales. I mostly shop Walmart because they price match, so I can check all the local ads, find the best price on meat, and get Walmart to price match. I'm about to buy a bunch of chicken breasts for 1.69 a pound. Then I wrap them into 1-lb servings and toss them in the freezer. If you're concerned about keeping them too long, date them.

Also, check and see if you have a local meat market. They usually have better prices on hamburger and things like that. And there's a local grocery story that has a 10-lb meat sale once in a while.

Our Walmart will not price match meat. They say it is brand specific and none of them carry the same meat.

I go through the sales adds every Wednesday. Then look only at the meat sales. When one of the stores has a really good sale, I will buy at least 4 meals worth of meat that is on sale. (Usually more). Then I repackage and vacuum seal once I get home.
I have never bought Rib Eyes for over $4.99LB. Split chicken breast for over .99lb. ect. I am a little leery of the reduced section. (Mainly because I worked in a meat market when I was a teenager!)

PS…I love my vacuum sealer.

Yes, Take advantage of the sales. I portion and wrap tight in saran wrap and then put in freezer bags and toss them in the freezer. If you are pork eaters here is a tip, I buy a great big pork loin roast (I get mine from Costco) and slice it into chops myself. I usually get about 20 chops out of it and pay around $13.00.

I go to an actual butcher in my city that has a Freezer Box deal. The meat is a little more expensive than walmart would be, but I am getting local meat, supporting the economy, and the meat is already packaged for the freezer so I don't lose any to frezer burn.

If you have a local butcher they're also likely to have deals on cuts that aren't selling as well too

Look for the ziplock vacuum bags that come with their own little vacuum pump (they're getting kinda hard to find) OR actually invest in a vacuum sealer. I got one for about $70 off of Amazon. It's an up-front expense, but it pays for itself because the reason things get freezer burned is because there is air in the bag. also consider buying a roll of butcher's paper.

I did all of these and can keep meat in our deep freezer for months. I usually buy the big family packs of beef, chicken, and pork (or I'll go to the local butcher when they have the 15lb bags of boneless chicken breasts on sale) and then separate them out into dinner servings (4) or single servings (1) and freeze them that way.

Build up your vegetarian recipes and eat less meat. Problem solved! haha sorry someone had to be that annoying vegetarian and it might as well be me.

Seriously, one of my favorite dishes to make is vegetarian chili. it's super cheap, freezes well, and is much healthier than a meat chili. And no nasty ground pink slime, ammonia soaked beef from Walmart. Lentil soups are also good because they have that hearty feel in your tummy and are cheap and easy. You can also substitute fish in place of meat for some meals. Fish freezes really well and is often pre-packaged for the freezer. You can also find some good sales.

One more idea, sometimes you can buy large quantities of meat or even an entire butchered cow for a value price if you go directly to a farm, etc. Sometimes families chip in and share a cow. You need freezer room to store it but it's a much higher quality meat then some of the bargin grocery stores. You should check out that option in your area.

I have become the queen of beans - I cook a lot of different kinds. With meat for seasoning plus lots of herbs, onions, garlic, celery, etc.

OMG - the men who live around me love it. There's no way you can cook beans for two people so we share a lot with the neighbors.

I kid DH and tell him that I could be like the pied piper with my home cooking. I also tell him that all I'd have to do is wave my beans, cornbread and pecan pie in front of one of these guys and I could replace him in a minute.

I shop safeway sales & clearance & the local hispanic grocery store that has great meat sales.
I wrap in plastic wrap and then put in freezer bags.
If its a bit freezer burn it used in the crockpot with cream of whatever soup or bbq sauce.

First off, if your meat is packaged properly before putting it in the freezer, it can last a long time without getting freezer burnt.

Secondly, buying in bulk and repackaging yourself is a great money saver. I wrap my chicken breasts each by itself. That way I can take out more if it is a main course meal or only one if it is for a salad or something.

In my semi-rural area, you can buy a pig/half-pig or a cow/.5 or .25 from the ranchers in the area. My hubby also gets a lot of venison from friends and coworkers. If you know anyone who loves to hunt or if your DH hunts himself, that is a very economical way to get meat. My DH loves to smoke things on his smoker so sometimes they will trade him some meat in exchange for him smoking some of theirs for them.

I mix things with hamburger to stretch it. Beans for tacos or chili, bread crumbs for meatloaf or hamburgers.

You can get very inexpensive cuts of meat and cook them in a slow cooker and they will be as tender as any expensive cut.

You can do things like buy an entire chicken and have oven or crockpot roast chicken for the first night. Then take all the leftover meat bits and freeze them for a casserole or fajitas or whatever some other time. Then take the rest (bones etc) and make a soup out of it with added seasonings. It sounds weird if you've never made your own soup but it gives a really good flavor plus there are always bits of meat that are still stuck to the bones. Of course, take the carcass out before eating the soup.

In fact, we have an empty ice cream pail in our freezer where we throw in bits of leftover veggies, etc and we have "garbage soup" by throwing it all together. Cost is minimal to ZERO as this stuff would otherwise be thrown away.

Another upfront investment if you don't have it yet is a deep freeze. That way you can stock up when you find the deal of the year on meat. You can also make double when you make certain types of things and freeze one for some other day when nobody feels like cooking but you don't want to spend the money to eat out.