Cheap grilling meats...

[DitchPanda]

So like many of you I basically live off grilled meat, especially in the fair weather months. But as I'm sure your all aware of meat ain't exactly low price these days. For cheap grill eats I often lean heavily on chicken thighs and pork steaks ( cut from a Boston butt)...but I'm wondering if I'm overlooking any cuts?

[slonezp]

You can slow cook just about anything to make it a "good" cut of meat.

[throttleplate]

1 hour ago, DitchPanda said:

But as I'm sure your all aware of meat ain't exactly low price

 

 

 

[Columbia Craw]

Chuck steaks.

[PourMyOwn]

I smoked a top round to 125 and made a nice roast beef out of it. For 3.99 a pound I had to try.

[cyclops2]

Reduce meat prices.

 

Drive more carefully !

[12poundbass]

I have done any grilling with the exception of burgers and brats since last summer so I really haven’t priced and cuts of meat lately but pork loins used to be priced pretty fair. 

[Catt]

Country style pork ribs

 

Country-style ribs don’t actually come from the rib area of a pig. Instead, they come from the shoulder area — specifically from the fatty, muscular section of the shoulder blade near the loin. When country-style ribs have a bone in them, it is not rib bone but the scapula or shoulder blade.

 

[NoShoes]

Pork probably the cheapest thing out there. I still just grill what i want to eat though, it’s all expensive 

[DaubsNU1]

Think about getting a 1/4 or side of beef. Wife has a connection from work (local farmer), who sings to our steer : )

 

By the time we pay him, and the processor, and drive an hour to pick up...it works out to less than $5 per pound.

 

Granted, I have to have a full size freezer in my basement to store all that meat...but it's tasty and less expensive than store.

[TnRiver46]

Cheapest meat for grilling is ……. All those bass you’ve been setting free all these years! 

 

Also, landowners can donate wild hogs that they trap on their property, I’ve gotten about 8-10 pigs for “free.99” over the years 

 

the grocery store can kiss my rear end 

[T-Billy]

11 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Cheapest meat for grilling is ……. All those bass you’ve been setting free all these years! 

Fried five 14"-16" LM just the other day. Slathered the fillets with a sour cream and sriracha mixture, rolled em in seasoned flour, and into the 400 degree peanut oil. Served with jalepeno hush puppies. Mmmm GOOD!!!

[Bird]

[NHBull]

Flank steak can still be had relatively cheap and can be prepared as good as a sirloin……just a little more work

[throttleplate]

12 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Cheapest meat for grilling is ……. All those bass you’ve been setting free all these years! 

 

Also, landowners can donate wild hogs that they trap on their property, I’ve gotten about 8-10 pigs for “free.99” over the years 

 

the grocery store can kiss my rear end 

never ate wild hog, does it taste the same as store bought cuts or maybe even better?

[BayouSlide]

56 minutes ago, throttleplate said:

never ate wild hog, does it taste the same as store bought cuts or maybe even better?

 

Much leaner...and a heck of a lot more work than store bought when you have to haul it from the woods and do the butchering yourself. Only the shoulders, hams, loins and backstrap are worth dealing with.

 

Dragged the first one (176 pounds on the scale) I ever shot two miles out of the woods with a dog chain and dog training rope attached to a stick. Had been bird hunting when my dogs cornered it. Had to wait for a passerby to help me load it into the back seat of my 4Runner. ?

 

Better prepared since that day and have an area in a local wildlife management area that I can access by boat that holds a sounder or two which I'll hunt every year. They wise up quickly so it's easier to target (and haul out of the woods) the young 80- to 90-pounders.

 

The shoulders and hams need to be cooked long and slow, either in a ceramic smoker or the oven, and makes pulled pork as good as anything from the store.

 

The big old boars supposedly are pretty rank smelling so they won't make good meat, but the smaller males aren't and are as tasty as the females.

 

 

Here's what a 176-pound wild hog looks like (for comparison, I'm 6 ft. 1 in.).

[gim]

2 hours ago, T-Billy said:

Fried five 14"-16" LM just the other day. Slathered the fillets with a sour cream and sriracha mixture, rolled em in seasoned flour, and into the 400 degree peanut oil. Served with jalepeno hush puppies. Mmmm GOOD!!!

You could have just done that to hot dogs you know.

 

The industrialized farming and processing system of livestock we have isn’t going away. The common person out there isn’t going to go hunt wild pig and then butcher it. As long as people are willing to buy it, there will be a market.  Meat companies like Tyson and JBS are enjoying record profits right now.

 

I think what @DaubsNU1 does is probably the best way to go. Buy in bulk and freeze it.

 

Your grocery bill could always be worse. Like if you had 3 teenage boys at home with a sky high metabolism.

[MN Fisher]

26 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Your grocery bill could always be worse. Like if you had 3 teenage boys at home with a sky high metabolism.

Sometimes it only takes one.

 

When I went into the Air Force - there was still mom, dad, and my sister at home - but mom's grocery bill was cut in half...ya, even at 20 I ate that much.

[TnRiver46]

10 hours ago, throttleplate said:

never ate wild hog, does it taste the same as store bought cuts or maybe even better?

Pretty much the same. You definitely want a smallish sow if possible. I have eaten the boar up to about 150 lbs, old timers tell me they get kind of funky after that 

8 hours ago, gimruis said:

You could have just done that to hot dogs you know.

 

The industrialized farming and processing system of livestock we have isn’t going away. The common person out there isn’t going to go hunt wild pig and then butcher it. As long as people are willing to buy it, there will be a market.  Meat companies like Tyson and JBS are enjoying record profits right now.

 

I think what @DaubsNU1 does is probably the best way to go. Buy in bulk and freeze it.

 

Your grocery bill could always be worse. Like if you had 3 teenage boys at home with a sky high metabolism.

Although I wouldn’t say no to a corn dog, fish is a lot better 

[gim]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

Pretty much the same. You definitely want a smallish sow if possible. I have eaten the boar up to about 150 lbs, old timers tell me they get kind of funky after that 

Although I wouldn’t say no to a corn dog, fish is a lot better 

I would try a wild pig if given the opportunity.  We don't have any around here though.  I know they are a serious problem in the south in some areas and can be difficult to hunt.

 

I like a corn dog too.  The foot longs at the fair dipped in a little ketchup or mustard...tasty.

[TnRiver46]

9 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I would try a wild pig if given the opportunity.  We don't have any around here though.  I know they are a serious problem in the south in some areas and can be difficult to hunt.

 

I like a corn dog too.  The foot longs at the fair dipped in a little ketchup or mustard...tasty.

They are pretty crafty , but if you set a trap it “hunts” for 24 hours a day 

[roadwarrior]

If you are interested in wild pigs there is an open season in most

Southern states. No limit, no season. They are a nuisance and we

would like them ALL killed. Unlike most game, you are not required

to eat this animal.

[BayouSlide]

12 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

If you are interested in wild pigs there is an open season in most

Southern states. No limit, no season. They are a nuisance and we

would like them ALL killed. Unlike most game, you are not required

to eat this animal.

 

An invasive species, a varmint that just happens to taste good ??

 

Check your local regulations though: here in Louisiana, even though considered "an outlaw quadriped," you can only hunt them on state and federal land during open hunting seasons for game and only with weapons legal during that particular game season.

 

On private lands, no restrictions.

 

As Roadwarrior states, they are incredibly destructive to the land and to crops: they breed twice a year and it has been estimated that you would have to kill 80 percent of the population each year just to keep their numbers from increasing.

 

And they are smart: once they are exposed to hunting pressure they go nocturnal, to traps, they grow wary and avoid them.

[TnRiver46]

In Tennessee, hog hunting is actually now illegal. They tried open season for years and that resulted in more hog problems. But, if you can prove to TWRA they are damaging your property, they will issue a special permit for you and 9 of your best friends to kill or trap them any way you like 

 

You can also call the fed and they will catch hogs for ya, I’ve got 3 buddies I graduated with that deal with them 40+ hours a week

[gim]

Another potential meat source that we are not utilizing anymore but easily could is horse.  Years ago, there actually used to be USDA-approved horse slaughtering plants.  Most people consider them to be companion animals nowadays, but there are a lot of horses that die every year that simply end up in landfills or rendering plants.  European countries eat them with regularity.  I've never had horse meat but I would try it given the opportunity.  I have heard its similar to beef but has a sweeter, leaner taste.