Penny Smart Corned Beef and Pickles?

............Being creative in cooking is one thing and creative buying is another. Creative cooking coupled with creative buying, what a great combination.

............Don’t you love it when you can get a good deal on a purchase? What better deal can you get than one that involves buying something you need: Food!

............Nearby my house is a small general store. I would call it a convenience store but it does not sell gas. The fellow who started the store is always looking for good deals on purchasing stock for his store and one day he had a supply of Corned Beef Briskets.

............What a deal I got on that. Instead of paying $6.97 for 2.42 lbs, I paid $4.84.

Saved myself $2.13

............I usually eat Corned Beef, otherwise known as Corned Beef Brisket, as a holiday meal but the price was right and I could not pass it up.

............I purchased the meat at a reduced price because it had two days left on the “Sell By” date. I bought a few of them and put them in the freezer. The label was marked with these instructions “Use or Freeze before” followed by the date.

............So I did the research and went down to the local Wal-Mart to look for money saving meat purchases. The two meat department guys, Duncan and Randy, were very helpful and I was shown how these savings could be found.

Here are three examples.

Look for the yellow tags!

............Your particular market may label these differently.

Nevertheless, Wal-mart’s meat section labels them this way. I am not sure if you can see the pricing clearly, so I added the numbered notes below.

Image 1:

$13.97/ lb. marked down to $9.78 / lb. (Black Angus Tenderloin)

Image 2:

$4.48 / lb. marked down to $3.14 / lb. (Top Sirloin Steak)

Image 3:

$3.28 / lb. marked down to $2.30 / lb. (Rump Roast)

............These are just few examples. The meat department would rather move these out the door than take a loss on them. If you are feeling a little uneasy about buying discounted meat, remember this food is good and the storeowners will not jeopardize themselves legally if something was off about them.

............Buy them and freeze them and when you cook them up, I will bet no one in your family will know the difference. Your pocket book will. Here is a thought for those who have read the Eye of Round Steak blog.

............Imagine how much per plate the cost would go down if you found one of them priced to sell like these!

(If you have not read the Eye of Round blog look for the link in the upper right corner of this page)

Buy these and freeze them and you will save some money.

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Corned Beef Brisket or Corned Beef?

............Forgive my rambling on about discounted meats and all. This blog is really all about a cheap corned beef meal. I was in the kitchen wondering what to cook and the corned beef came to mind.

............For some, crock-pots (otherwise known as slow cookers) can be intimidating, all I can say is “Stand back, I have a crock pot and I’m not afraid to use it.”

............I looked around, all I had was three large potatoes, my all time favorite, mixed vegetables, and some French cut Italian green beans. I was not sure what I could do with these sparse offerings so I explored a little more.

............As I was nosing about the refrigerator, I saw them… Pickle jars! They were scattered around just taking up room. For some reason I happen to think we have a hard time letting go of them. Call it separation anxiety or whatever but empty pickle jars are usually those things we don't know what to do with when we eat the last pickle, so we …put them back in the refrigerator.

............After a while, they begin to accumulate as if they are supposed to be there and we get to the point where we ignore them. They become as if they are invisible.

............Nevertheless, I saw them and my mind started going. In the crisper was a bag of apples and right away I paired them up as sweet and sour, a good combination.

Here is what I did:

1 ea. 2.42lb Corned Beef Brisket

3 ea. Medium to Large potatoes

1 Apple

2 ea. Clove of garlic

4 tbls. Worcestershire Sauce

2 Jars of pickle juice (24 fl oz) (These were about ¾ full)

1 medium sized pickle

2 cups mixed vegetables

1 cup French cut Italian Green beans

............As I mentioned I used a crock-pot for this meal. If you do not have a slow cooker then you might want to consider picking one up. My wife purchased ours at Target for about $25 dollars. We have the Hamilton Beach 6 qt. model and we have found the slow cooker to be a great tool to have around.

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............If your confused about the difference between a crock-pot and a slow cooker there is a link on the right side of the blog to a website that will explain OR you can copy and paste this site in your browser: http://www.ochef.com/764.htm

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Cut up the potatoes and slice the apple into eight sections.

Dice the garlic.

Cut the pickle in half long ways and cut off long thin slices from each half.

After placing the meat in the cooker, pour the pickle juice from the 2 jars and add enough water to be sure the meat is submerged in fluid.

Add the Potatoes, sliced apples, strips of pickle, diced garlic and Worcestershire sauce.

(I cooked this on high for about 6 hours)

When the cooking time is about to finish cook the Vegetables separate on the stove.

Here is how it came out:

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Dinner for three at $2.25 /Plate

(Would have cost $2.96)

..$4.84 Corned beef

.....59 – Potatoes

.32 – Apple

.06 – Garlic

...............07 – Worcestershire

.................40 – mixed vegetable

........................................23 – French cut Italian Green beans

.23 - Pickle

............$6.74 - For three meals

Or $2.25 a Plate

............If you add it all up the meal before discount would have cost you $8.87 after discount the meal cost is $6.74.

............I don't know about you but I think that is a good savings. It all works out to $2.13 back in my pocket.

So, the next time your shopping, try looking for the "yellow tags."

(There are some videos at the bottom of the page that might give more ideas for cooking. Check them out.)