by Steve and Annette Economides
You can score big meat savings by not paying for the convenience of ground beef at your local grocer. Read on to find out how easy and cost-effective it can be to grind your own beef.
No matter where you live, you’ve likely noticed beef prices just seem to keep going up and up. Our food budget has certainly noticed it.
In order to keep our food budget in line, we’ve had to be more careful and creative in our purchasing habits.
One thing we’ve done for many years isgrinding beef. We’ve had friends who were butchers suggest that we rinse all beef and thoroughly cook it (150-degree internal temperature) to minimize exposure to or kill any bacteria. And they further suggested minimizing the purchase of ground beef products.
We have stopped buying the cheapest ground beef in five-pound chunks and started looking for inexpensive cuts of beef that we could grind at home.
Learning To Grind Beef Is Easy
We purchased a meat grinding attachment that was designed to fit on our heavy-dutyKitchenAid® mixer and set out to learn the finer points of making ground beef.
Initially, we trimmed all the fat off the meat, but we found that 99 percent fat-free meat was so lean that it burned easier, had a different taste (more “gamey”), and didn’t stick together well for meatballs and meatloaf. Now, we intentionally leave some fat, but our finished product looks similar to the most expensive super-lean ground beef in the grocery store.
Knowing How To Handle Meat Safely Is Very Important
In order to minimize the possibility that we could spread bacteria when we’re handling our meat, we rinse the uncut meat under running water, then slice it on a plastic cutting mat.
When we’re done grinding the meat, we disassemble the grinder attachment and wash it along with the knife and cutting mat in hot, soapy water with bleach added to it.
Being safe takes a little extra effort, but the peace of mind is worth it.
Adding Up the Savings
The money savings for grinding your own beef are substantial, especially if you are able to stock up on meat when it is on sale. To do an actual cost comparison, we had to take into account the waste (fat and bone) to see if we were really saving money.
The inexpensive ground beef we previously purchased was reported to contain 20% fat. At the time we compared prices, we were paying approximately 99 cents per pound for it (yes, it’s been a while since we started grinding at home). The actual cost of the meat, less the fat, would have been $1.19. These days, the lowest prices we see for “fatty” ground beef are quite a bit more.
We’ve found that purchasing boneless cuts, on sale, provides the lowest cost and least waste. On the other hand, purchasing bone-in chuck provides wonderful bones for boiling and making beef broth. And once boiled, they make wonderful treats for our large dogs.
We’ve done several cost comparisons of our home-ground beef versus the store brand super lean, premium-priced ground beef. Whew, talk about savings. For ground beef with a fat content of 5% or less, we can achieve savings of 60 to 80%! Unfortunately, since we never purchase such expensive meat, the savings are just on paper. However, as with so many other economizing strategies, we are enjoying a higher-quality product without the associated cost.
Grinding Your Own Beef Does Take Time
A couple of downsides to grinding your own beef are that it takes some extra time and it can be messy. To minimize the mess, we tape a piece of waxed paper to hang loosely over the opening where the ground beef comes out to prevent splattering on the kitchen counters.
But for the cost savings, we think that grinding our own beef is worth the time, and so do the kids. When they were younger, they used to fight over who got to operate the meat grinder on cooking day (don’t worry, the attachment is kid-safe). To minimize conflict, we kept track of it on the kitchen calendar.
We hope that this concept has encouraged you to stop beefing over higher hamburger prices and start looking for udder ways to save more moolah.
This excerpt shares only a few of the hundreds of money-saving ideas from the book Cut Your Grocery Bill In Half with America’s Cheapest Family.
About the Authors
Steve and Annette Economides areNew York Timesbest-selling authors and internationally recognized personal finance experts frequently requested on NPR and other radio programs. They have been featured onGood Morning America,The Today Show, ABC’s20/20, Fox TV’sYour Life with Neil Cavuto,The Dr. Phil Show, and inGood Housekeeping,People, andReal Simple.
To learn more super practical ways to save tons of time and money, visitMoneySmartFamily.com.
