# Not a recipe, just talking about meat at Food Lion



## WNCRick (Sep 24, 2007)

So I took the little one out this morning to do our grocery run. Food Lion had $1.49 pork butts so that was my first stop(they were .99 last year, but that is as cheap as I've seen em this year). I'm outta Q so it is time to smoke something. Then I hit lowes foods cause that's the only place in town that sells chicken that isn't shot up with saltwater or broth to make it weigh more. 

Anyway, I wanted to check out the meat case for any reduced steaks and couldn't find it. It was gone. No more packs of steak, stew beef, or anything at Food Lion. Apparently they no longer cut meat in the stores. It all comes in pre packaged and vac sealed. I stood there with a confused look long enough that the meat worker offered me a coupon. I tried those vac sealed fillets once, and fed them to my dog. So I respectfully declined the coupon. Then it must have been a manager that walked by and told him "If he wants to try something, just give it to him". I guess I'm not the only one afraid of this stuff. The guy picked me out a nice looking choice ribeye to the tune of $16 and gave it to me to try. That was cool. I'll pair that with the 2.99/lb snow crab clusters mispriced as chicken breasts and call it dinner. I'll let you guys know what I think about it.

Just wondering if any of you guys have tried this stuff and what you thought of it? You might get a deal if you go by one and do like I did...... Never hurts to try. 

Just sharing!

Rick


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## dialout (Feb 5, 2011)

$2.99/lb for crab clusters is an awesome find. Hell that's probablly not bad for split chicken breast either. Good eye to catck that.


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## Outrigger (Nov 6, 2006)

Giant Food stores are trying to eliminate the meat cutter's position from its stores here. They were offering an employee I talked to a paltryish 40K to accept an early out. I'm assuming then that would be the easiest way to eliminate the position versus tussling with the employee's union. She said the meat would arrive pre-cut and they would wrap it up and shelve as demand warrants.


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## wdbrand (May 24, 2007)

Meat man at FL told me he hadn't picked up a knife in 8 months.


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## wdbrand (May 24, 2007)

Dialout, 2.99 for split chicken breasts isn't worth a crap for a buy. I bought a 10# bag of split breasts with the skin and bones. Skinned and de-boned it and ended up with 5# of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. At 99 cents, they still come out to what you can buy the boneless, skinless packs for which is 1.99/pound.


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## WNCRick (Sep 24, 2007)

still a dang good price on snow crab legs tho.......work getting in 
the way, may try that steak tomorrow?

Rick


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## Peixaria (Dec 31, 2008)

If you have a regular Food Lion that you shop and an extra freezer, that you need to fill. Become accustommed to working out of the circular. Every week the advertised specials go on sale on Wed morn at 8AM, and at 4 or 6 pm the following Tuesday the market personnel are marking down everything that looks like it will betaken off the shelf for experation or that would be going off of the previous weeks sales. The idea is get first what is likely to be boxed and donated to whatever food pantry is in your locality. In Avon they apply red stickers advertising 1 day to go with a reasonable discount and then a double stamp within 12 hours of the removal of whatever meat. It is still perfectly good. My Food Lion tends to be extremely wasteful during the season and I try and take advantage whenever I can.
Figure the window when market is changing over and marking down the previous weeks steaks or whatever and be there grab it. I save hundreds in a summer and eat T Bone and Rib Eyes for about 3.50 a pound and bone in split breast for about a buck, Memorial day to Labor Day. Because I dont have a 501C I am forced to steal [as they wont box and set asidefor me]all of the organic garbage and scraps from produce. I amounts to several thousand pounds of leaves ,cuttings, sometimes perfectly good fruit and vegetables for compost and to feed my deer heard. Dumpster diving is alive and well in Avon.
Lots of good money to be saved at the Kitty if you know how to work it.


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## wdbrand (May 24, 2007)

px, FL is my store. The wife does Kroger. Also have a pig pen store[piggy wiggy] that just came in. And, they still cut their own meat daily. They run some decent buys quite often. Stopped at the kitty this AM and they had two boneless half loins marked down to $1.93/pound from $3.99/pound. They now live in my reefer.


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## Peixaria (Dec 31, 2008)

That's what I am talking about. Early bird gets it at the LIon.


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## WNCRick (Sep 24, 2007)

Cool tip pex, appreciate that, I knew their ad started on wed, I check em all on Wed. morning to see if I need to run out and get any "while supplies last" deals before they disappear. I've been getting 1.99 lb st. Louis cut and BB ribs at times for the smoker. I love it when they reduce stuff that's on sale that week, that's when I really buy. I'll be sure to go hang out one Tuesday evening after work and watch for that. Maybe I can get some of those $1.49 Butts marked down and be able to afford to eat BBQ again.

Now If I can just find a cheap source for packer briskets, have gone up at Wally World from 2.38 to 3.68 in the last year......

Thanks
Rick


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## Peixaria (Dec 31, 2008)

No reason to hang out. Just ask the butcher, he would much rather sell it at half price than pack it up a give it away for free. It makes his numbers look better at his store, because he is selling more.
501Cs for free food are banking on the fact that nobody else has time to pay attention. Everytime that group of packed boxes leaves a store you know who is eating off the top for free right? I am not referring to the underprivelidged that visit whatever pantry winds up being the destination of that days particular consumables. Not to mention I am sure creating huge tax brakes for possibly retired,or on fixed income folks that run these organizationsCome get some! 
"An educated consumer is still our best customer" still holds true, at least at Lion.


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## WNCRick (Sep 24, 2007)

The verdict is in.

I tried out the vac sealed steak a couple nights ago. Started with a 1.4 lb choice ribeye. I put a light coating of oil on it, then seasoned it with fresh ground sea salt, cracked 5 peppercorn blend, and a touch of garlic. I seared it over a screaming hot grill for just a couple minutes each side till it got a little better than rare after resting. Some people let em rest and finish them off with a pat of butter. I did my usual and allowed it to rest with a mixture of butter, bleu cheese, coriander, and parsley (Something about a nice bloody steak and bleu cheese just works for me). Here's the before and after served with a side of crab legs.

















Now for the verdict..... It looked like a normal steak after unpacking it. It cooked normally. It tasted normal. I'm not afraid of it any longer. It was as good as anything I've bought recently. I even stopped by the store a few minutes ago and picked up some of the reduced specials for the week.

Thanks for all the info

Rick


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