I buy a significant portion of of grocery items in bulk nowadays but that was not always the case. However, I have bought meat in bulk for as long as I can remember. It is not because we eat a lot of meat, in fact, we eat less now than we ever have. Convenience is the name of the game and sometimes it is more cost-effective, too.

Yesterday I bought 10 chicken breast fillets and 2kg of premium beef mince. This cost me $80 which works out at $2.22 per serve. That is based on using 250g of mince or 1 chicken breast fillet for a meal for the 2 of us. Depending on what I make there can be leftovers for lunches or it may make 4 serves. Lasagne is a case in point where I actually stretch 250g of mince to make a lasagne that serves 4-6 people.

I generally go to a butcher where I am happy with the quality and price as well as ensuring that I can take my own containers. This is what my purchase looked like when I arrived home.

I spread the chicken on trays to freeze them individually then I bag them up in large bags.

The mince is weighed out in 250g portions and flattened in freezer bags which makes it quicker and easier to thaw when required.

Finally, when I was digging around in the freezer I found a bag of green tomatoes from last summer. I have thawed them ready to make some chutney. They are sliced and resting overnight with the diced onion and I will make the chutney tomorrow. The recipe is here.