We were almost out of meat at the House of Hills. Being out of meat would be a TRAGEDY! I am pretty much never out of meat. I always have some in the freezer. ALWAYS! That is because I bulk buy my meat.

There are several places to bulk buy meat. I purchase a good bit of my meat at BJs – our local warehouse store. Some people arrange with farmers and buy half a cow. Once I have an outside stand up freezer, I am SO doing that. I also watch for meat on sale at the local grocery and stock up when it’s a really great deal. The goal for me is to always have my freezer full of protiens so that I’m not having to run out to buy a particular meat WHEN IT IS NOT ON SALE in order to feed my family. I HATE paying full price for meat.

Today I bought:
Package of chicken breasts – at BJs- it’s already pre-portioned into 2 breast packages
Package of chicken thighs – at BJs – it’s already pre-portioned into 3-4 thigh packages
Ground Beef – at BJs – 4lbs
Bratwurst – at BJs- 12 in a package
Lil’ Smokies (beef) – at BJs – 2 pack
Mild Italian Sausage – at Publix – on sale – 5 in package
Hot Italian Sausage – at Publix – Manager’s Special – 5 in a package – bought 2

I got home with all this meat and had to do something with it. You can’t just stick those big packages of meat in the freezer. They have to be broken up in to usable portions. It takes a little bit of time on this end, but when it comes to meal prep, it makes it SO MUCH EASIER.

I took 1 pound of ground beef, 2 mild sausages (out of casing) and 1 hot sausage (out of casing) and put them in the frying pan to cook real quick. Once that mixture was done and drained, I froze half with the label, “meat for spaghetti sauce” and put the other half in the crock pot. I added a jar of spaghetti sauce I’d picked up BOGO, a can of petite diced tomatoes from the pantry, some seasonings, and some mushrooms. That’s cooking nicely for dinner tonight. We haven’t had spaghetti in forever!

I took 2 pounds of ground beef and mixed up some blue cheese burgers, made the patties, and put them in a Tupperware container. My Sweetie will grill those tomorrow night for dinner. We’ve found that the patties stay together better if they’ve had time to rest as patties.

I broke down the chicken and put the majority of the pre-portioned packages in the freezer to be used another time. I did save four chicken breasts to grill tomorrow night with the burgers. I went ahead and mixed up my favorite marinade, added the chicken and put it in the fridge next to the burgers. Sometimes when I bulk buy chicken, I’ll use one of my favorite freezer cooking tips and cook some in the crock pot to be used in casseroles.

I put the last pound of ground beef in a freezer bag. I put the rest of the italian sausage in freezer bags (3 per bag). I broke down the bratwurst package and put 4 brats per freezer bag. Then, I put all that in the freezer.

My freezer now has PLENTY of meat in it. Whoop! When I sit down to menu plan for the next few weeks, it will be easy. I’ll just check the freezer to see what I have and decide what to cook from there. No shopping each week for full-priced meats.

Do you bulk buy your meat? Where do you get the best deals?