Cheaper steaks

In order to conserve money, we have gone the route of buying a cow and a pig each year for our meat intake.  So very Iowa of us, isn't it? :) It's more expensive up front, but in the long run you would be amazed at how much money you save by buying in bulk rather than going the meat counter at the grocery store. 

The problem is the quantity.  We do pretty well eating through the ribs, briskets, steaks, etc but there is so much hamburger and roast that we have more than we can handle. So this year we decided to forgo the cow and just buy steaks until we eat our way through the rest of the roast and hamburger.  Grilling season is upon us and we don't want to be caught steak-less! :)

Costco will sell HUGE hunks of meat for a pretty decent price which you can take home and slice yourself, all while paying HALF what you would pay for single cuts of meat that they butcher for you.  Its really not that hard if you have a good set of knives, and the only things you need are some freezer bags and some room in that deep freeze! 

I like filets as they are leaner and better for you, and Justin likes the big boy cuts of ribeye....so I package one of each steak in each zipper bag and we have an easy dinner to pull out and thaw this summer.  This amount should last us through the summer months (at least most of the way) before we have to buy anymore beef.  We did go ahead with the pig this year as we eat through those faster, and it helps that Justin has a buddy that has pigs we only have to pay for butchering and not the meat.  Anyway, our freezer is now chock full of meat for the summer, which really helps on the grocery bill!