On the "Used Meat" section....

[catnhatnh]

Which my family refers to as the "diseased meat" section....

which is actually just meat marked down in price as it nears it's sell by date.

Because during the summer I run a food stand I usually visit my local supermarket every day. Marked down meat is a bonus and if you learn the patterns of your store they are easier to find. Most food stores send out a circular that takes effect on Sunday mornings. This means overhauling the meat case on Saturday night but I seldom see that effect the cycle....Sunday is the busiest day and they overhaul the case overnight to be fresh for the slower days that start the week. Again Wednesday night they overhaul the case for the balance of the week. Overhauling Sunday and Wednesday night is when they mark down less fresh meats as fresh stocks are introduced-you have to understand that during overhauling the affect will be that meat with older sell by dates with a less attractive appearence gets marked down-not for any flaw, but because with fresh meat there it becomes less desirable at the same price. At my primary market the reduction is about a third. And Monday and Thursday mornings are your best chance to find them. If your store has an in-store bakery and they run a weekly special, then Sunday morning when the new circular kicks in is when the bakery products already marked down the day before will get a second reduction. As in day old bakery products for less than 1/2 price.

Anyhow, my drift here is that you need to know not just where the markdowns are placed but on which days. The bin with dented cans is every day but items that are freshness dependent need a sense of flow.

[Lucinda]

1. We buy meat that way all the time. Bill is an avid "used meat" supporter

Good info! Thanks for posting this. :)

[Tesha]

2. We can find mark-downs every day

just scan the row for the yellow stickers - it appears to be quite random. Whenever we have to stop there we always swing by the meat cases just in .... case.

The best price reductions are always on the high-priced section. If we're planning something special in the future this can be a life saver. Isn't that why we have a freezer? says Mr T.

We have walked up to the checkout with little yellow tags shaving us as much as $10+ on a beautiful roast to $.50 on a tiny pack of lamb stew meat. It's all good! Happy Day!!!

[Lucinda]

6. In our case it happens REALLY often on great cuts. It seems like the

meat prices get jacked up on the heavier tourist days of the week and get slashed right afterwards. "In season" it's a little more random because it's always tourist day, but for a couple of months in the winter you just don't shop right before the weekend if you can avoid it.

[hippywife]

3. When the day comes that I can no longer

afford to buy meat fresh from the local farms, I will stop eating meat altogether. Reading and everything I have, there's nothing that can persuade me to by even regular meat from the grocery store, let alone the stuff they mark down because it's old.

And it's not a matter of being a food snob, either, it's a matter of avoiding food borne illness and unneeded antibiotics in my diet. Buying that stuff is playing Russian Roulette with your health. :scared:

I'm sorry but the thought makes me want to hurl. :puke:

[pipoman]

4. I agree

We buy our meat from a local processor who buys directly from local farmers, or we raise it ourselves. Raising our own definitely costs more per # than buying corporate farm raised in the grocery store. The quality is so completely different that most people who don't buy locally raised, grazed, and fed beef simply don't believe it is possible. I would far rather have our own sirloin over store bought tenderloin. Our sirloin, if cut round and bacon wrapped you would think it was a fillet, it is that tender, flavorful and lean. A sirloin from the grocery is just flavorless and tough. Why the difference? I don't know exactly (though I do have theories) but it is true.

[hippywife]

5. Pips!

Good to see you! I wish it were just a quality issue, too, but that certainly helps. LOL There's no comparison to the grassfed beef we are able to get rather than the feedlot beef that's been gorged on corn (and who knows what else) along with the antibiotics to keep them from getting too sick on it, which they do since it's not what they are supposed to be eating. I read that nearly 75% of the antibiotics produced in this country goes for use in factory farmed agriculture. No wonder antibiotic resistant infections are on the rise.

How are things in your kitchen? :hi:

[pipoman]

37. Today was a little slow

we had an ice storm Friday night and some people are hold up, we fed around 150 brunch.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

10. That's a great luxury you have .......

Not everyone can afford to be as selective as you and, for some, the local market is the only place where they can shop. We get our meat from Harris Teeter and from Omaha Steaks and, in restaurants, we eat whatever they serve us after we order. So far, we've not had to endure any "food borne illness" and the "unneeded antibiotics" don't seem to have bothered us.

I'm sure, though, that we're just seething cauldrons of sickness waiting to boil over. I anticipate a horrid death any moment now.

But, we're still going to finish those great chuck eye steaks, as disease-ridden as they probably are.

It's regretful that the choices of others make you throw up.

[bicentennial_baby]

12. ...

:applause:

[hippywife]

13. We make less in a year

together than most single people make alone. I made less than $18k last year and easily a third of that went to pay for our medical insurance. We purposely don't spend the money to eat out because we'd rather spend the extra money and have food we know we can trust because we know the farmers and are welcome to visit whenever we want.

I used to feel the same way you do in that post when someone would try to tell my how bad the food in the stores and restaurants really were because of factory farming practices. But then I found out for myself, did my own hunting around and research. Once I had the facts I said never again. And we didn't eat meat in this house for probably three years until we joined the coop. And we still only eat it once or twice a week. It's a matter of eating well by making better choices.

So it's not about luxury. I probably don't spend as much on my "luxury meat" in a year as you do eating out.

Once you learn of the practices on feedlots and at the big meat packers, it would make you puke to think of eating it ever again. I wish no one anywhere had to eat what they're peddling.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

14. Yes, things are difficult

and the point of my response was that you have the luxury of being able to purchase locally-raised meats. The use of the word "luxury" had nothing to do with income. I don't know how you read my post as implying that you were some kind of wealthy. That was hardly the point.

Yes, enlightened individuals are all aware of how bad things are in the meat and poultry industries. And, let's not forget that our waters are contaminated, too, and anyone eating seafood - particularly shellfish - are devouring waste, for that's what these denizens consume.

You missed my point completely, which is unfortunate, for your defensiveness now, perhaps, might render you incapable of understanding what I am writing here again:

Some people - in fact, the vast majority of them - do not have the luxury - and by that, I mean the easy access to your local merchants - of being able to buy such impeccable products as you do. To be able to do that is, of course, quite wonderful, and you are very fortunate. For the rest of the world, it's buying at the market. Not everyone, in fact, very few, can live where there are farmers and cattle farms and folks who make their wares available to the locals.

That's what is meant by "luxury." Your income was never at issue here. And I don't "feel the same way you do." Please don't impute that to me. I know from living in this world for as long as I have that - as previously stated - buying local is a rare advantage and you are very fortunate.

In the meantime, we'll just consume our filthy, disease-ridden meats and vegetables and wait to die agonizing deaths.................

[mtnester]

15. I think she got your point exactly

but since I cannot speak for her, I know I did..loud and clear

[hippywife]

16. I extend the olive branch to you, TL.

I never meant anything I said to come off snobby or whatever. This is such a passion for me because I'm seeing scary things that I believe are directly related, at least in great part, to the foods we eat. I work with the elderly and we are all noting the rise in dementias and Parkinson's among the population we serve. I am seeing too many of my contemporaries struggling with cancers and too many of them losing those struggles at too early an age. The rise of diabetes, strokes, and heart disease in the general population at an astronomical rate these last thirty years. Dementias in people my age...only 50.

Sometimes the diseases borne by factory produced foods can be immediate such as the cases of salmonella and e coli that have their immediate effects. But most of it is quiet and insidious, taking years to manifest themselves.

Cattle were never meant to eat corn and stand ankle deep in manure sludge for months. It does make them deathly ill, and feedlot cattle only survive to butchering through the routine use of antibiotics. Antibiotics you and I rely on when we're ill, antibiotics that are slowly but definitely becoming ineffective.

I've also seen the difference it's made in my own health when I stopped eating the stuff that is passed off as food these days. I can't eliminate every last thing but I do what I can. It's the reason I spend every weekend, all weekend cooking as much as I can for the week. The changes have been dramatic, enough to totally amaze my doctor.

Then there's supporting these companies that recruit and import from poor countries what amounts to slave labor. These people don't often become whistle blowers because they have no where to go but the hell they find themselves in.

And access to fresh local food isn't as rare as it's been the past couple of decades. www.localharvest.com

I want to see every single person be able to have access to the safest, healthiest food possible. I want no one to have to worry about what they are eating. It's because I care that people have what they need to live full, healthy, long lives.

Again, I apologize for approaching it the way I did. It just makes me so angry I see red sometimes.

[hippywife]

20. Actually, I'm a little jealous of you.

You have access to something I don't. The farm of the recognized guru of sustainable, local farming is within a morning's drive to you.

http://www.polyfacefarms.com/

[Tangerine LaBamba]

24. Really?

You consider a 340 mile round trip a viable way to grocery shop?

I don't. A 170-mile drive is hardly my idea of ". . . a morning's drive . . .".

Since you still don't get the point of my post, let me try one more time:

Where would shop for food if you lived in Frackville, PA or LaPlata, MD or Compochte, CA, or Steger, IL, or Oakdale, FL?

Assuming you did not have unlimited resources, maybe didn't even have a car, where would you shop and what would you eat?

If you don't understand this, then I quit. No point in an olive branch - that's for wars, and this is hardly a war. Just an effort by someone who is struggling with the English language to make someone understand that not everyone has access to the same purveyors that she does.

Color me Sisyphus.............

[hippywife]

26. It would be worth the trip to stock

up the whole freezer with safe, clean, high quality meat once in a great while, combining it with a nice day trip into the country. Not as a simple shopping trip, but I think anyone could understand that.

And I'm not saying every single person has access, yet. It's a wish of many people who are working to make it happen for as many people as possible. People are working on to make this possible all over the country. These coops, CSA's and farmers markets are cropping up in so many places where access was previously limited, if not unknown. Many of them are totally volunteer driven. People give their time and sweat to make it happen for others.

I guess I quit, too, if you can't accept an apology and an admission that I approached the subject in the wrong way, then I have nothing left to say to you at all.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

28. If you're familiar with this area,

a round-trip of over 300 miles is hardly a "... nice day trip into the country." The area is developed and you're on highway - big highway - almost all the way.

Imagine the gas burned, not to mention the time spent, just to stock my freezer with meat? That's the ultimate in enlarging the carbon footprint, and any value that might have been gleaned from the virtuous meat would be cancelled out by all the negatives attendant to that trip.

I regret, too, that you chose to lock into a topic that is obviously very dear to you, but which, if you look at the OP and at the responses to the OP, was entirely superfluous and certainly indicative of the passion you have on the subject.

What you didn't seem to understand while you were vomiting at the idea of foods that most other people eat is that your spiel had nothing to do with the great and really helpful information catnhatnh posted for the benefit of those of us who eat as well as we can, given whatever limitations we might have. I think we're all familiar with Upton Sinclair and how things are in the business, but, as I tried and tried to say, you have the luxury of nearby purveyors of the kind of things you choose to eat. Not everyone has that luxury.

But, still, if you lived in Frackville, PA, where would you shop and what would you eat?

Or would you just throw up at your limited choices?

[hippywife]

31. I think I made it clear in my initial post

that I would stop eating meat entirely, and we have when there was no other option.

The other reason I buy this way not just for myself and my husband, but because I feel I should do my part to make the powers that be see that the status quo where food is concerned is not acceptable. I feel the responsibility to do this for those who currently cannot so that this becomes a more accepted and acceptable and sustainable a concept, and in doing so becomes more and more accessible for more and more people. It's casting a vote with my food dollars that the big corporate ag is not acceptable for anyone and the system must be changed. The current system puts everyone in danger.

And what can you not seem to accept that I apologized for my approach to the subject and continue to badger?

Whatever, I feel you just want to argue when I've tried to make amends. I've never felt the need on this list before but hey! welcome to ignore list.

[pipoman]

36. There are options for anyone who wishes to try

mail order is an option. Forget Omaha Steaks and other elite sources. Many smaller processors will ship to you for a fraction of Omaha Steak prices. This is the processor I use, I have been in this plant and would eat off the floor in most areas. The quality of the meat is great, the 'source verified' meats all come from local farms. The process for feeding among local farms here is to graze beef 9 months out of the year on corn stubble, wheat grass, and pasture. Three months out of the year cattle are penned and fed bale hay supplemented with a very small amount of grain. When the cattle are around 15 months old they are brought into the pens and fed mainly grain, molasses and a small amount of alfalfa or hay for around 180 days. Then the cattle have reached optimum weight and are processed. The resulting meat is unlike any meat you have purchased at the grocery store in the last 2 decades. The cost is slightly higher, the quality is miles beyond.

http://healthymeats.net/

This thread is about meat. There is nothing off topic about hippy's post. Her post is helpful to those who aren't dead set on 'the way I do it now is the only way'. Most cities still have local meat processors or distributors who buy from local (100-200 miles away) farms, many just choose not to buy their meat there.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

38. Do you think

your meat folks take food stamps?

Have you noticed how many people are using food stamps to eat these days?

Mail order meat, no matter how good they are, are an incredible luxury, as are Omaha Steaks (I get ours at a local outlet store, where they're discounted and there are no shipping charges - I'd never pay the regular prices, and the shipping fees are ridiculous.)

You, too, don't seem to grasp the concept of people not being able to eat the way you do, so it's laughable that you (incorrectly) see my stance as "the way I do it now is the only way." You do realize, don't you, that we're in an especially hard economic time for a lot - a lot - of people, and food costs having soared the way they've done in the past few years make it absolutely vital that people get the best they can for their buck.

Or their food stamps.

It was 'way off topic, and it was offensive. The OP was about "used meat," not "meat," and how to get the best deals. The comment that the poster would vomit at having to eat those meats was so off as to be shameful. We all know that the processing standards aren't what we'd like, but some people aren't blessed - like you - with the luxury of being able to procure the immaculate cuts that you get.

The thickness on this subject is astonishing, and the incredible smugness and superiority - as in other people's food, just the notion of it, making someone ill - is downright sad.

[pipoman]

39. Yep,

Krehbiel's certainly do take food stamps. They also have monthly and daily specials. Here are their current email specials (cut and pasted directly from their email):

#2 Bundle includes 32 lbs. of Beef:

3 Roasts

2 T-Bone Steaks

2 Ribeye Steaks

2 Sirloin Steaks

2 Round Steaks

15 lbs. Ground Beef



Sale Price $134.00 (Regular Price $154.00)

-snip-

Only $99.00 for 37 lbs. of Pork

$2.69/lb. - Save $64 off the retail price

Includes:
7-9 lbs. CENTER CUT HAM STEAKS

8 pkgs. BACON (12 oz. ea.)

14 BONELESS PORK CHOPS (1" thick)

1 - BONELESS PORK ROAST (2 - 3 lbs.)

12 lbs. SAUSAGE (you choose the variety)

-snip-

Everyday low prices on the following items:

Fresh Ground Round $3.49/lb.

Fresh Ground Beef $2.59/lb.

-Ground Fresh Daily-

-snip-

Krehbiels Meats believes that your family deserves the safest and highest quality meat products available. We are committed to delivering the most wholesome and best tasting meat you can find, at an affordable price.



Give our Source Verified - Identity Preserved products a try. No added hormones or antibiotics, all natural.



In addition they have daily specials with marked down meat just as grocery stores do.

Frankly the term "used meat" makes me want to puke, and certainly doesn't entice me to run right out and buy some.

There is no superiority, a suggestion that people look beyond one stop shopping and explore their local butcher shops and meat markets, they are in business too and offer sales just like Krogers or Price Chopper, difference is meat is their specialty.

I grew up 20 miles from one of Omaha Steaks processing plants and know several people who worked there for periods of time. They buy their meat from the same places that grocery stores do, that is factory/corporate sources. What makes Omaha Steaks different is their dry aging process, not the initial quality of their meat. In general Omaha Steaks are too expensive and are an elitist source for imitation high quality meat.

[Tesha]

40. however...

shipping via FedEx 2 day - shipping the meat plus the packaging plus the dry ice

the packaging that needs to be recycled

the meat you get is never fresh always frozen

you need to always plan to defrost something


For some of us this solution simply will not work. Local butcher shops carry the same stuff that good grocery stores carry. Local protein producers simply cannot match the price of the big guys, land here is expensive. I'm afraid I'll just need to continue to get mime from the meat case at my local store - and when I'm lucky and find a good deal I'm not going to pass it by.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

41. Do you know anyone who is

actually living on food stamps? I do. And here in Virginia, a couple gets $154.00 a month, on the average, to buy food. Those people go month-to-month, spending so carefully so as not to run out of funds before the end of the month.

The local food banks routinely run out of food. People who once donated to those food banks are now going there to get whatever they can to keep from going hungry. And this is a relatively affluent area.

Do you know that a lot of people don't have cars and can't get to wherever they might get better quality meats, or even better prices on everyday grocery items?

So the deals offered by your seller, while they might be appealing to you, are totally beyond the reach of others. I trust those prices didn't include shipping costs, but even if they did, they would be impossible. People on food stamps don't buy to stock their freezers, and they don't buy steaks or roasts or pork chops. They buy chicken on sale, the cheapest parts they can find, and they buy canned tuna and store-brand cereal, if it's cheap enough, and they have to work hard to make their money last.

So the term "used meat" makes you ill? Alas, your sense of humor seems woefully impaired, and your sense of how people live in this country seems downright bizarre.

Good for you, and your ability to pay for those, as I said, immaculate cuts of meat. May they guarantee you a long and disease-free life. In the meantime, the regular people who don't have your financial wherewithal will just have to keep on eating the stuff that you disdain. But I hope things never get so hard for you that you have to eat the way most people do.

[bicentennial_baby]

42. Again...

:applause:

[pipoman]

43. Christ, certainly not everyone on this thread or forum are on food stamps

For those who are, I am sure they know how they must shop to make the most of their allocation.

I would be willing to bet that the vast majority on DU aren't living on food stamps if for no other reason than the vast majority of Democrats aren't living on food stamps. Most Democrats work, own a car and shop for groceries with income they earned. Whats more when I have been looking for areas to cut in my budget internet and cable TV were the first to go so with this in mind what percentage of people who are reading this thread do you really believe are on food stamps?

It seems, as I said before you are simply unwilling to accept that nobody really cares what you eat, the entire point of the original post in this sub-thread was to point out there may be other options beside corporate farmed meat. Again, I certainly couldn't care less what you eat.

I am done with you. If I were looking for an argument I would go to GD. The cooking forum is generally a friendly place to share ideas where people don't go around looking to buy an argument.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

45. It IS a friendly place,

and that, I trust, is why catnhatnh posted his expertise on knowing when the "used meats" - I know that phrase makes you ill, but that was what it was about - and why others joined in with their tips on "used" baked good, cheeses, deli items, even wine.

Just a while ago, I got back from the market with two gorgeous pies, marked down to $4 each, along with a loaf of Challah (my favorite - and this store's bakery makes a great Challah)) marked down to $1.50. A box of croissants - one dozen - for $4, and a box of 8 cream cheese-topped cinnamon buns for my best buddy. All on the "Used Baked Goods" rack. I thought of C&B as I cackled over my finds.

I don't presume to know anything about the financial states of the people who post on DU. I lack your gifts of "knowing" something that cannot be proven. I do know that I see people posting who are out of work, who are living on unemployment, who are getting ready to lose their homes, who have no jobs and no prospects. Money is tight, or nonexistent, for them. Whatever food they can buy has to be cheap.

The subject was not foods that make others want to vomit or phrases that make others ill. The thread was about finding deals. And you seem to regard that as beneath you, since your meat supply is so obviously superior.

You seem to care what I eat. You seem to care a great deal that I don't eat as you do. We were discussing some great buys on meats and other food items, getting the most bang from our sorely battered bucks.

You seem to care greatly about what YOU eat, too, and I take no issue with that. What I do take issue with is the idea that everyone should be able to indulge in same sort of precious meats that you ingest, and, if they don't, your intimation is that they are somehow inferior. lacking, ignorant, or just incredibly uncool.

This was never an argument. You'd never win an argument with me, but that's not the point. This was me trying to explain the obvious to you - that your recommendations, while certainly heartfelt, are inappropriate and impossible for the majority of Americans.

So, tell me, since you didn't reply - do you actually know anyone who lives on food stamps?

if so, have you ever suggested to them that they order their meats from your place?

When you did that, what were their responses?

Enquiring minds want to know ...................

[Tesha]

7. I can't even get fresh local eggs around here...

much less farm raise organic beef. I'm lucky enough to have a farmers market 3 months of the year, and I have no space for a garden. Peppers and tomatoes in a pot, and some herbs are the best I can do.

I have to admit I'm grateful for the local store that carries high quality food and has high requirements for cleanliness. The marked-down meat always has a sell-by and use-by date and we've never had a problem with anything from there - you do, and you get your money back - and if it's store brand, you get double back.

I also feel really good when I can get a deal.
;-)

[hippywife]

8. Maybe not right in Nashua

but this is what I turned up on www.localharvest.org

http://www.localharvest.org/search.jsp?map=1&lat=42.766575&lon=-71.465576&scale=10&ty=-1&nm=&zip=03064

Granted you probably wouldn't be able to shop these places weekly but could do a once a month or so and stock the freezer.

Are there any meat producers that come to your farmers market?

:hi:

[Tesha]

9. no, not really

the meat is caribou or something, already frozen in patties - yuck. and there are only 2 of us so a large freezer is not a very green alternative. The local turkeys for thanksgiving sold around here are something like $4 lb+. The land is just too dear for farmers to afford to keep, because it drives the costs of everything up. Even keeping the local strawberry fields open is tough.

But when summer comes we eat everything local we can find... we alone probably are responsible for the local corn grower staying in business - and the tomatoes and the squashes and the potatoes and.... is it summer yet?

[hippywife]

11. All of the meat we buy from our coop

is frozen but it thaws just fine. There's only two of us, too, and the only freezer I have is the one over my fridge. I've had it packed all winter with fruit I picked and corn I blanched and cut off the cob, I don't know how many containers of turkey stock, bags of cranberries, and, of course, Bil's ice cream and the bowl for the ice cream maker. LOL Then add in the monthly meat, which isn't all the much since we don't eat that much to begin with. I usually order a chicken, a couple pounds of ground beef and/or bison, maybe a ham steak or sausage, or bacon, some stew meat or a steak. Everything except the whole chicken is frozen in small packages so I can always find room for them. Sometimes I think I can condense any space to find room for just. one. more. thing. :rofl:

[grasswire]

17. thank you, HW...

...for encouraging me to try harder to look for better (more sustainable, natural) meat buys.

[hippywife]

21. You're welcome, grasswire.

How's the pie baking coming? And did you decide what to do for the farmer's market? I'm dying to know what it's going to be! :hi:

[Tab]

18. I shop in the afternoon, not so much the morning

but when I am out in the morning I see a lot of marked stuff, that is either going to expire that day or the next. Usually by afternoon the good stuff is gone.

Since I tend to shop daily for my meats, that's fine with me, because I'd likely be using it either the same day or the next day anyway. You can't buy them and then just let them sit in your fridge for a week, but if you're using it relatively soon there's nothing wrong with them.

Red meats seem to go quicker than whites (like chicken). Ham, or cured meats, on the other hand, last a lifetime. Maybe it's just more obvious on the red.

More than anything it gets a look and smell test. Mainly smell test. If it's turned, it's pretty obvious, and I ain't cooking it, expired or not.

[Inchworm]

19. Same with cheeses

It is my method of shopping actually.

It's nice to get there just after the prices were dropped. Another cool thing is that it takes the planning out of supper or snacks. Blue, Gorgonzola, Swiss, Feta, Gouda..etc. at less than half the normal price. If you are like me an occasionally buy a wine for your snacks it will also help you choose a wine.

Gorgonzola for $1.99 a block? Guess that means I'll need Black Pepper Triscuits and a Shiraz.

I don't call the meats "used meats" and surly not "used cheese." I call it smart shopping and part of the mystery of supper :D

:hi:

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

22. When do they put the cheese on sale?

Is there a particular shop or a particular time like the used meat? 'Cause I am soo there! Never met a cheese I didn't love & the prices are gasp inducing.

Any tips you can share? I've got all the markets within driving distance. Shoot, for a great price I'll drive halfway across town.

[catnhatnh]

32. Two places for cheap cheeses....

First is the in-store deli and almost all have cheese ends left over from slicing orders. Locally cheese ends sell for $2.49 per pound. The downside is that most often the ends will be of two or three varieties in a single package but it is great stuff for cooking or snacking. Just ask a deli clerk whether they sell ends and where you can see them. And of yeah-they probably sell the ends to all the deli-meats they slice too.

Now a funny thing about cheese....I just got a good deal on some because it was approaching the "sell by" date. This stuff said "Best Before 02 April 2009" on the back of the package. Meanwhile it carried a serious price because on the front of the package it said "Matured 18 Months!". Now where to find this is the deli case with the large variety of imported cheeses...but no special routine I could find there...but just by keeping constant watch I've hit deals this year on a pecorino romano with peppercorns and this week's. This last find was McClelland "Seriously Vintage Cheddar" imported from Scotland in a 7oz package. These had a $2.99 sticker installed in such a way as to hold a $2 off coupon to the package.
I bought all 8 they had left which comes to 56oz=3.5 lbs for $7.93 total or just under $2.27lb. Not bad...

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

33. Thank you. I'll keep a lookout.

We were just at a cheese factory & were watching them cut & wrap it. DIL & I noticed that they cut a sliver off of all 6 sides - these were 50 pound blocks. We were wondering what they did with it & at the counter when we were checking out I asked. The clerk said that they were sold as odds & ends for 40% off, but you had to be fast because they sold as soon as they hit the counter. We're by there all the time & DH & I already plan to stop & look.

[Inchworm]

35. That's my spot

in-store deli. I'll never pay those ghastly prices.. well, if I hit lotto ...

Get acquainted with the dude/chick at deli and you'll get all your inside scoop. They know. My bet is that they see good stuff being tossed in garbage or something.

:hi:

[TreasonousBastard]

52. I get cheese on sale all the time...

Deli cheeses not so much, although I'm sitting on a few pounds of half price Jarlsberg, and there was some very nice cheap Quebec brie around lately.

Every week, though, someone has factory cheddars and such on sale for 4 bucks a pound or less-- just picked up a bunch of Cabot 8oz packages at 2 for 4 bucks. And Mozzarella shows up for 2-3 bucks a pound every so often. Lotsa cheese BOGOs.

Not that you're ever going to find the real fontina or a good goat cheese cheap, but if you're looking for bargains you're not looking for gorgonzola. We can, however, get reasonable taco topping and grilled cheese sammich stuffings around here.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

23. We hit the used counter, but I was vague on the days that they

re-stocked. Definitely adding this to my notes. Thanks for the tip.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

25. Good info, no?

I know that our markets have stands with dented cans, damaged packaging, stuff like that - I've stocked up on all kinds of things from those stands. But I never see cheese on sale, which blows.

As for having discovered the used meat section, you better believe I took not of catnhatnh's expertise (hats off to ya, champ!), and I'll certainly be prowling those places from now on.

I once even found some discounted wine - a very nice wine, too - in the shopping carts filled with marked-down stuff at Harris Teeter. Just once, though.

In this economy, every little bit helps.

I have another nice meat story from the other day, though: Bone-in pork butt roasts were on sale for $1.99/lb. So I was to get one for a friend and one for me. We figured they'd be about 4 pounds.

When I found them, they were 8 pounds. 'Way too big for each of us, so I found the nice meat lady and asked her if they had any smaller ones, or if they could cut one of the 8-pounders in half and wrap them separately for me. She said she'd check, and disappeared into the back.

In a few minutes, she came out with two packages. Two beautiful pork roasts, really lovely, and about 4 pounds each. I was delighted, and asked her where she got them. She said, "I just took them and relabeled them."

Boneless. They were boneless, and she'd marked them at $1.99 a pound! I was plussed. "Are these on sale?" I asked her.

She tapped my arm and smiled, and said, "Our little secret."

How's that for service?

Gonna rub that roast with dry rub, then wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Let it sit in the fridge for a day or two. Then, put it on a rack, pour some beer in the pan, wrap the whole thing tightly with foil, stick it in a 225 oven, let it go for maybe 5 or 6 hours, unwrap it, rub it down with garlic and Baby Ray's, and do it another half hour or so at 325.

I am anticipating serious pulled pork around here.....................

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

27. I've gotten wine on sale in the discount bin lots of times.

I'm not much of a wine snob & I love the fun new names. I like the good stuff, but plonk works just fine with dinner too.

I needed ten pounds of chuck for Beef Bourganion - can't even begin to spell it - & I had to wait for her to load the counter. She covered the roasts with $2.00 off stickers. I was as thrilled as if I'd won the damned lottery.

Speaking of these hard economic times; we have directtv & the price went up AGAIN. I called & whined & made noises about either canceling or cutting back to a smaller package. He took five bucks off the bill for a year plus threw in 3 months of a premium channel. $60 bucks for 5 minutes work was well worth my time. I'm ragging on DH to call his cell service & see what they can do.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

29. I think everything is negotiable .......

I spent my professional life making deals, and it's spilled over to my personal life.

Like you, I'll buy whatever wine I find marked down, but it doesn't happen very often here. Or else I miss the opportunities. That TWO DOLLAR markdown would have made me faint. Then I'd have bought 20 pounds. I do love a deal.

I just did that with Comcast. Got a notice that my monthly rate was going up, so I called and told them I'd be cancelling and switching to Verizon. They dropped everything - phone, internet, and TV - back to the original $99 a month for another year.

Your DH should certainly give it a shot. The competition for your business is fierce, and the options are many.

A deal is a deal, and in this economic environment, what choice do we have?

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

30. I am the queen of negotiating at retail, but

have never tried it with services like direct tv or my ISP - which has hit $50 bucks a month, or the phone or anything else. Just never thought about it. Retail, I'll argue every damned day. And DH was re-depositing some CDs. The rate - natch - had dropped. He wheedled & the manager OKed the higher rate. Maybe because it was through the credit union & not a national bank, but still it would be worth it at a national bank too. What's the worst they can say? No? I've had No said to me my whole life.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

34. In my life as a lawyer,

I learned that "No" means "Now we can talk."

[eleny]

48. Hubby recently negotiated with Comcast for the tv pricing...

The previous negotiation lasted a year so he went at it again when the time was up - the deal got even better. And just today I noticed that Disney movies aren't included in our package which is the super duper one. So I called and asked for it to be thrown into our deal. I'll hear by tomorrow. If we don't get what we want, we'll be looking into a dish. They know that already so it should go our way.

A few weeks ago I was in Michael's crafts. I was looking at crayons and noticed the Crayola jumbo crayon wheel but it was pricey. Then I noticed that there were two crayons with busted tops. I asked if they'd knock off some of the price and I got them for 40% off.

Like you say, all they can say is no.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

49. Good job!

Retail, I'm good at negotiating, services not so much.

I was at a Pottery Barn & there was a set of bowls that I loved. One had the tiniest chip on the bottom. I asked if they would take something off. She came back with 10%. I was cool with that.

When arguing retail, have they ever accepted your first offer & you thought, Shoot, I should have offered less? I have. :hide:

When the year is up - heck, when we lose our 'premium channel' I will argue again. Thanks for the tip1

[eleny]

51. Good luck!

I'm going to start asking more about getting a bargain more often at retail shops. Perhaps I've hesitated because most stores are large and corporate. Negotiating used to feel easier when I lived in NYC and shopped the small shops around Delancey St.

I'll never forget the time I bought a leather coat in lower Manhattan. I asked for a deal and the owner lady started to peel the coat off my back. I fought to keep it on. She told me how great it looked and how worth the tag price. So I started to take the coat off and she pushed it back up onto my shoulders. We finally agreed on a price we both could live with. That was maybe 35 years ago and still fun to remember over time.

[Gormy Cuss]

44. I lived a couple of blocks from a supermarket for years and used to game the markdowns that way.

Going to the market the day after a holiday where specific meat items are featured was another way to get good discounts.

I also heard from a friend who was a deli employee at one of the national chains that part of reason deli counters expanded was to use up close-to-sell-date foods. By cooking those meats and selling them as toppings for salads, sandwich fillings or as part of complete heat-and-eat meals the supermarkets were able to sell them at full price. Another way the shelf life was extended was by marinating the meat and selling it as easy fixings.

These days the places where I shop don't have marked down meat sections. I hadn't thought about that until I read this thread. Hmm.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

46. You reminded me of

a friend from long ago whose boyfriend worked at a Giant grocery store.

He told her never to buy their rotisserie chickens, that those birds were the ones that hadn't sold in the poultry case, their sell-by dates passed, and so they were slapped into the oven and cooked up and sold as Deli items.

I never bought them, but your post reminded me of why. I never buy already-prepared chickens anywhere except at Chicken Out, which has really, really good stuff.

Thanks for jogging my memory.

Viva la USED FOOD!!!

[Gormy Cuss]

47. That rotisserie chicken trend started it all.

There's really nothing wrong with it if they're using the product before it's spoiled but it does makes it harder for thrifty customers to find those marked down packages.

[eleny]

50. I get most of my Red Bird brand chicken as markdowns

I always seek out Red Bird organic chicken. The nice thing is that the marked down chickens are all left in the chicken case. I buy whatever is marked down for quick sale be it 1 or 3 or 5 birds and put them in the freezer right away. If it's a cut of chicken, I transfer it to a freezer bag.

I also buy Organic Valley milk marked down whenever I can find it. Our store marks it down way before they need to and it keeps well for a long time. I used to worry about milk turning quickly but have since learned that it keeps longer than we think. Especially in a fridge whose door is opened maybe twice a week. If I was concerned about a specific half gallon I'd pour it into a crock with a spoon of sour cream and make yogurt like my folks did.

I also visit the day old Oroweat bread store for 3 loaves for $3.39 plus a freebie for every $5.00 spent. The bread stays fine for weeks in the spare fridge that doesn't get opened like the house fridge.

There doesn't seem to be a pattern of marking down at my supermarket - except the after holiday deals like hams after Easter. But I'm going to ask next time I shop.