I absolutely am a die-hard hamburger fan. Especially lately…. I mean, it’s all I want to eat. BUT… depending on the week’s grocery sales, it’s sometimes hard to get Ground Beef for a great price.
I remember just a few weeks ago, Sunflower Market and Safeway had Ground Beef 93/7 for just $1.99-$2.19 lb. I’ll be completely up front here: I will NOT pay more than that… anything over that is way over-priced.
I’m always iffy on buying meat from the store, and other sources – mainly because although it shows the fat content on it, you have no way of knowing whether it’s coming from a good quality or low quality meat. I mean, it’s all packaged together… and one pack may come from a dozen aged dairy cows while the other may come from cows that are actually bred FOR their meat. Lastly, you’ll find that the majority of the places you purchase met (Zaycon included) is from grain fed cattle… not grass fed. Beef from grass fed cattle is highly desirable for folks, as it distinguishes the beef from that of which you purchase at the regular grocery.
And although I like lean cuts, I find that the leaner the meat, the more trouble I have keeping it from drying up in my cooking. For hamburgers, you actually need at least 15-20% fat to get the best flavor..anything less and you’ll find that they end up on the dry side.
So how can you cut down on your “meat” budget? Right now, there are a few different offers for ground beef – between Zaycon, and Safeway… you can really spend a fortune. An easy way to eliminate purchasing meat at an exorbitant price is by having the Butcher counter grind your meat. Do note that not all grocers do that, but I know Safeway sure does. Find yourself a cheap cut of Sirloin Steak or Chuck Roast on sale and you’ll have yourself some pretty cheap meat for hamburgers and meatballs 
So what cuts are best for the traditional menu items such as hamburgers? Recommended cuts for grinding include Chuck Roast, or Marbled Sirlon Steak. You can also use sirloin, sirloin tip or top round steak. All of these cuts have 15-20% fat.
If you’re making meat based sauces, meat loaf or meatballs you’ll want to use boneless beef chuck steak, chuck roast or skirt steak.
So let me ask – have you ever considered having the butcher grind your meat (or doing it yourself)?
I have never done it before. Since I have been doing seriously couponing, I have switched to super lean turkey meat from beef. I do buy steaks here and there (T-bone is my favoriate) but not as often as before. I will ask if my frys provides this service and I might give it a try if we have a party to have hamburger.
thanks Sheryl. hope you are not going through a lot of morning sickness. I remember those days.
xxoo
qian
always have safeway grind it fresh the only way to go.
Ive never tried it but my boyfriends dad his albertsons grind up his meat and they were the best burgers we have had!
I have ground it at home using my food processor. I cut it into chunks throw them in the processor and just use pulse till it gets nicely ground up. It has worked great when I have bought a big roast or something and made it smaller. I use half for one dinner and then grind up the rest for another meal.
I have a kitchen aid mixer with the meat grinding attachment. When Safeway has their B1G1 on boneless roasts, I buy a few, grind them all and freeze in 1lb portions.
I have a Kitchen Aid too.. LOVE IT! Would consider life without it a major pain. I will have to check out the grinder attachment.. Probably worth the investment.
I would love to get a grinder attachment for my kitchen aide!!! I would totally ground my own beef:)
I have Albies do it for me all the time when london broil is on sale! I get them to take the less trimmed ones out of the case and as long as it is earlier in the day (before they clean the grinder) they do it happily for me and it turns out great! I cam come home and freeze the meat is smaller packages and seriously stock up. The added bonus is that the meat actually tastes like a “steak burger” as opposed to the plasticy chub taste. Guests ALWAYS compliment me on the flavor of my hamburgers and chili! YUM
now I understand why you haven’t posted anything about Zaycon coming with their beef.
Thanks for explaining.
If you really want to know what I grew up with……I saw the butcher shoot the cow, and butcher it on our farm. That is what we grew up on. :) It was the best meet ever!
Same here, grew up on the farm! :) SE Minnesota!
I always buy chuck and have it ground at Frys (which they are always happy to do) and then package in 1 lb packages to freeze for meals. By far it tastes better than pre-packaged ground and I get to pick the meat before grinding. Definately recommend it!
I have had the top round steak ground up at Safeway for pretty cheap. Also, if you ask nicely, they’ll package it up into 1 pound packages all wrapped up. I love that. :)
Thank you- this is a very informative post. I was having issues trying to buy ground beef because I was just watching a show that talked about how they rinse nasty inedible pieces of meat in an ammonia/water formula and then are allowed to put up to 15% of that into the ground beef. I don’t want to be eating that.
Its how I almost always keep ground beef stocked up. I had 5 steaks ground yesterday….on sale for 1.99 a lb…..made enough ground beef for about 15 dinner for our family! So I spent about $35 on enough meat to feed 7 people 15 times! Now thats a real bargain! :)
This may be a dumb question, but do you need to tip the butcher when you ask them to grind it for you? (butchers at Frys or Safeway)
That’s a good question. I have never had meat ground by the butcher, but I would think your butcher (at places like fry’s and safeway) would be the same as your cashier. I’ve tried to tip my cashiers or an employee that helps me load my stuff to my car, but they are not allowed to accept tips. I would assume it is the same for the butcher. Hope that helps.
That reallly is a good question! Never even thought of it to be honest! :(
I used to grind my own meat & on occasion I still do for my family if meat is on sale. I have also ground turkey & chicken breast with kitchen aid meat grinder attachment.. It’s works great !!!!
I’ve been seriously debating for a while now if I wanna buy the attachment to grind my own meat at home…. I think I might just do that sooner than later!
Just remember Alyssa….you can have the butcher grind it and package it for you while you finish your other shopping. Mine packs into 2lb freezer packages and he never even acts like Im asking for the world.
We have a lot of wild meat (think elk), and it is SUPER lean (think 97/3.) I have bacon grease all the time and I add that to a pan if I’m browning ground meat, or I will mix it into burger patties. Super yummy!!
Thats what we do too Karly!!! Makes yummy burgers! Just way too dry if you dont add the grease!
I have had the butcher grind beef for me several times. About 2 years ago, Bashas’ had a sale on whole beef tenderloin for $4.99/lb. I usually DON’T buy beef at that price, but I’ll tell you that is FREAP Filet Mignon, my friend. You have to buy the whole tenderloin, but another shopper told me that the butcher will cut it for you, and you can have them grind the trimmings (not to throw them away). I was so excited! I bought several and froze them. We ended up throwing a party for my husbands graduation from the U of A and grilled filet mignon for our guests. It ended up being CHEAPER than having the party catered by our favorite Mexican restaurant. The filets were wonderful and the ground beef was the BEST I’ve ever had! Since then, I’ve watched for when the tenderloins go on sale (usually around Valentine’s day), but we moved last summer and don’t have a Bashas nearby anymore. =(
I still have the butcher grind chuck roasts when they go on sale. I like picking out the roast myself rather than wondering what odd parts were thrown in to make my ground beef!
I used to have our beef ground at the store and our ham sliced…until I had the butcher at Albertsons tell me that they don’t really clean the equipment. He said that they will take your ham and slice it with a blade they just cut raw beef, chicken, pork with. They only cleaned it at night, once per day.
We grind all our own meats using the Kitchen Aid attachment, that way you know that your kids burger came from the same cow as yours.