Frugal Friday

Zaycon Foods offers bulk meat at a great price. The boneless skinless chicken breast is $1.69/lb. I am ordering enough for 6 months. I will freeze about 2/3 of what I buy and can the rest. Little Pumpkin LOVES canned chicken and it's far less expensive to can your own than to buy it already canned.

I have ordered chicken and ground beef from them in the past. You just have to be aware that the meat is in bulk packaging so be prepared to repackage it into meal size packages. In other words you can't just bring it home and pop it into the freezer or you will end up with a 40 pound chickensicle. However, for me, feeding a family of 6, this is a great price and hopefully it will help me save on my grocery budget in the long run.

Buying Foods in Bulk

I am always looking for ways to save money on food. So I buy in bulk when things are on sale, December is the perfect time to stock up on your baking goods-flour, sugar, etc.

I also use some coops like BountifulBaskets.org to get bulk fruits and vegetables for canning. Last month they had tomatoes 25 lbs. for around $15, and since I was pregnant I didn't get salsa canned last summer, so I was able to do that this fall. The nice thing about Bountiful Baskets is the price and variety. They try to get items in season, so it's a nice opportunity to cheaply try new things. Your initial basket fee is cheap and if you don't want to buy each week, you don't have to. You buy when you want!

Check and see if they are in your area! BountifulBaskets.org

I also use Zaycon Foods https://zayconfoods.com/refer/zf126340 to buy meat in bulk. The chicken runs about $1.89 a lb. for hormone free boneless, skinless breasts. The chicken breasts are HUGE and come in a box of 40 lbs. These breasts have never been frozen and are fresh. You will need to package them for freezing or canning, so plan for that. They generally have their "chicken event" twice a year.

I also have gotten their ground beef-no pink slime and also hormone free and never frozen. The beef is 93/7 and comes in a box of four 10 lb. "logs" (about 40lbs. per box) so be prepared to process it as well. I have canned the beef, made meatballs for freezing and packaged it into 1 or 2 lb. bags for freezing. It usually runs about $2.99 a lb.

Zaycon usually has an event once a month, check and see if they come to your area. Also if you get a 40# box of something and it only weighs 39.8 lbs. they will credit you the difference. They also have a referral program https://zayconfoods.com/refer/zf126340

I also like Sprouts, they will have weekly deals and on Wednesdays they have last weeks and this weeks deals-so it's a good time to go, if you have one in your area. Overall their produce prices are really good. They usually have hormone free boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $1.99 about every 6 weeks. I got great deals on peaches, green peppers and pears last summer.