Butchers "Value" packs.....

[Uncle_Alvah]

I'm wondering if anyone here buys those freezer pack deals that I see meat markets offering.
Endless variations, but essentially for one price, say $90 or $179 or some such number, you get X number of pounds of various cuts of beef or pork, some packages include chickens, hot dogs, whatever. The list spells it all out, how much of what is in each package.
However, with all the different items included, it would seem difficult to know just how good a deal you are, or are not, getting.
As opposed to say, finding pork loins on sale for $1.89 a pound and just grabbing up $50 worth or so, then doing the same for bacon on sale, chops, chicken, whatever.

[MYellowRose]

* Many year ago, in 1970 to be exact, my sister signed up and got a "free" freezer by agreeing to buy those packs monthly. *That deal was a ripoff because in addition to the per pound price for the meat she also had to pay to have it wrapped!
* My neighbor got a small pack a few months ago when it was just her and her son at home and she expected it to last them several months.
* Personally I won't spend the money on them because I seldom ever buy meat with bones in it and part of what you're paying for is the weight of the bones!
* I generally buy boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, pork for carnitas (I found out that this is just the trimmings from everything else but it's good and cheap), roll sausage, extremely lean ground beef, occasionally a small roast that I cut up, boneless beef ribs, or boneless pork chops. * Once in a blue moon I'll buy a 10# bag of chicken leg quarters if I can get them for 29 cents a pound, I then wrap them individually and freeze them. *Since these are usually frozen into a solid block I tend to avoid them because you're not supposed to refreeze thawed meat unless it's cooked first. *Since I'm by myself I buy only what I'm sure I'll eat. * If I had a family or at least one other person to shop and cook for I'd still probably avoid buying those packs as many times they contain things I either don't eat or don't want to bother with such as a whole chicken. *
If you've got the freezer space I think you're better off with the idea of buying a large quantity of sale items and then freezing them. That way you get what you know you will use at a reasonable price. One thing I wouldn't do though is purchase more, even on sale, than my family could use in one year as I think most food starts to deteriorate after one year, even that which is vacuum packed.

[Wise_Tioga]

I have found that if you have a vacuum-sealing machine you can get all sorts of good deals on meats and veg's. and then package them to fit your own personal needs and of course you can keep then a lot longer in the freezer without worry about freezer burn, etc. Just my 2¢ worth.

[leera]

I have been buying what's called "meat bundles" from the local store here.........since the only meat processor in the area closed up.

For $97.00 hubby and I get enough meat to last us roughly six months......

This is a box that contains hamburger,hotdogs,pork sausage,pork chops,pork steaks,bacon,beef roast,pork roast and smoked suasage,bologna,chicken leg quarters and sometimes ribs.

It's all wrapped in large packages,but not yet frozen,so when we get it home we divide it up into meal sized portions,vac.seal and freeze....

it is a good deal cheaper than buying it all seperate,and the next best option if you can't buy direct from the meat packer or a local farmer.

[JakeLeg]

It's an interesting question, and math problem, which makes me want to solve it.

Actually it's pretty easy.

If you know the exact quantities of the different cuts of meat in the value pack, you can calculate what you would pay at the store and compare the price of the value pack.

You could set up a 3-column table with the columns being:

1: The amount of the cut of meat in the value pack.
2: the price per pound you WOULD pay at the supermarket
3: multiply (1) time (2) to get a number for column 3, gives total cost of total pounds that you would pay at the store.

Lets set up a simple one. Let's say a value pack consists of the following:

15 pounds 90% lean ground chuck
5 pounds rib eye steak
10 pounds mild italian sausage
3 (4-pound) round beef roasts (12 pounds total)
3 (2.5 pound) pork tenderloins (7.5 pounds total)
9 pounds thick cut maple flavored bacon

then let's say that these are the prices per pound at the supermarket for the exact same cuts of meat:

ground chuck = $2.49
rib eye = $7.99
italian sausage = $3.49
beef roasts = $5.49
pork tenderloin = $4.99
bacon = $3.79

so a 3-column table might look like this:

15# ground chuck...............@ $2.49/lb..........= $37.35
5# rib eye...........................@ $7.99/lb..........= $39.95
10# italian sausage............@ $3.49/lb..........= $34.90
12# beef roasts..................@ $5.49/lb..........= $65.88
7.5# pork tenderloin...........@ $4.99/lb...........= $37.43
9# bacon.............................@ $3.79/lb..........= $34.11

Grand Total for the above is $249.62

So, if you can get the value pack for less than $249.62, then it's worth it.

On a related note, my mom always bought a whole hog from a local hog farmer. He has a butcher shop and smoke house on the farm, so she would call him and order, say a 250# hog, and in a couple of weeks she would get an entire hog's worth of meat including roasts, hams, bacon, sausage, chops, scrapple, etc, already packaged, smoked, and frozen, ready to go in the freezer. The price was very good because she was buying right from the farm.