Why it makes sense to do rotation protein .

We all know by now that buying a meat (protein) on sale is a good thing to do.  Buying a bulk quantity of that meat is a better thing.   Buying enough for the family to eat that particular meat for a predisposed amount of meals saves a lot of money when you purchase enough to cover you for four to six weeks.  

Case in point:   Pork loin was .99 a lb this week at our Kroger.   (QFC and Fred Meyers) .  Normally, you could easily spend 2.00 a pound.   I bought two 1/2 loins for a total of 8.5 pounds.   I cut pork chops from most of it. (20) or enough for 10 of our dinners.   I also ground the scraps to provide 1.1/4 pounds of ground pork that was a bit more fatty.  The upshot of that was enough for a stirfry.   Bottom line, I got 11 dinners and enough ground pork to add fat back into two meals of meatballs or meatloaf from 5 percent fat hamburger.   11 meals divided by 8.50 is .77 a meal or 1.54 for 4 people.  Buying pork chops at 3.50 a lb would cost 29.75– twenty dollars more.   They are both from the same cut of meat.  

Boneless skinless chicken breast is as much as 8.00 a lb at the deli and you dont know where it came from.    Breasts can be as low as 1.77 a lb and you can buy local chickens.   The last split chicken breast I purchased was about 1.50 a lb.  It takes a little work, but you get chicken broth and some more small pieces of chicken for soup, or enchaladas , tacos, or casseroles.   Debone the rib portion and cook it in the slow cooker overnight.  Add scraps of veggies—celery, carrot, onion.....pull the meat off the bones and freeze .  Freeze the chicken stock unless you ar going to eat it soon.
The difference between buying a couple of breasts at a everyday low price of 3.49 and paying 1.77 is 1.72 a lb. times 10 pounds is 17.20.   For a family of four, that is ten dinners for 17.70 or 1.77 a meal.  


Hamburger:   The lowest fat is the best quality.   Our price for 10 percent fat hamburger is about four dollars a pound.   I just bought sirloin roasts for 2.40 a pound at safeways with a basket coupon .   By grinding it myself in the food processer, I spent about 1 minute per batch using the pulse button and saved 1.60 a pound.   Ten pounds makes at least ten meals, sometimes more for soup or tacos, or less for meatloaf or hamburgers.   That is 2.40 cents a meal instead of 4.00. Or 16.00 savings.  

Consider 2 meals a week for 5 weeks, your total protein would be 50.40 or 1.68 a meal.   That leaves you 5 meals to fill in with perhaps a vegetarian meal of breakfast for dinner or pizza or mac and cheese.  

Snap guidelines, I just read, are 1.40 per meal, or 5.60 a meal for 4 people.   My meals are based on:  four people, one meal, five bucks.   1.68 leaves you 3.32 for a starch and a vegetable.   Bulk rice is .03 a serving, and vegetable should be less than a dollar a pound.