By Marsha McCormick

SNAP-Ed Program Assistant

OSU Extension, Adams County

Meat is the most expensive item many of us purchase at the grocery store and finding the best buy can sometimes be confusing. While we can easily compare the price per pound for different types and cuts of meats, the item with the lowest price per pound is not always the best buy. If you are purchasing meat with a large amount of bone or fat, you will get fewer servings than you will from a lean boneless cut. Not to mention, leaner cuts of meat have some significant health benefits when compared to those high in fat, so the nutritional costs are also something to be considered.

When trying to determine what package of meat is the best value, it is helpful to think about how many meals your family will get from each purchase. For example, a family of 3 may be able to get two meals out of a whole chicken that costs five dollars. Granted, the first meal might be a piece of chicken on each plate and the second might be a soup, casserole or salad made with the leftovers, but if you divide the cost of the chicken by two, the meat cost per meal is $2.50. If you purchase a five-pound family pack of boneless skinless chicken breasts for ten dollars and determine the same family can get four meals from that, you will divide 10 by four to also get a meat cost per meal of $2.50. In this example, the cost is the same, so you would consider personal preferences of taste, preparation methods, food storage space and nutrition.

My family prefers white cuts of poultry over the dark, so unless I want the whole chicken to use the carcass to add extra flavor for soup, I would choose the chicken breasts. However, if I did not have freezer space to divide and freeze a family pack of chicken breasts and had to pay $3.50 per pound for a smaller package of boneless skinless chicken breasts, my decision on which chicken to purchase may change. A two-and-a-half-pound package of boneless skinless chicken breasts which I would serve for one meal at this price would result in a meat cost per meal of $8.75. This makes the whole chicken much more appealing to me.

When money is tight, meats can be stretched by using smaller servings of meats in recipes like a stir-fry, soup, or casserole. Protein sources like dried beans, eggs and peanut butter are inexpensive and can be used to supplement meats or in place of meats in family meals. I sometimes make a stuffed pepper recipe using black beans in place of ground beef for a low-fat and affordable meal. If you are not willing to eliminate the ground beef in recipes like this, you can reduce the amount the recipe calls for by half and add your favorite bean. The finished product will be lower in fat, higher in fiber, and delicious.

For more information, contact me at mccormick.3@osu.edu or by calling the Adams County Extension Office at (937) 544-2339.