How Dollar Stretchers Are Saving on Lunch Meat

Lunch meat can take a surprisingly big bite out of the grocery budget, especially for families packing several sandwiches each day. Deli-counter prices can be particularly painful, but even prepackaged lunch meat adds up quickly.

Dollar Stretcher readers have found several ways to bring those costs down. Some buy lunch meat only when the price is right. Others bypass the deli counter by turning inexpensive roasts, hams, turkey and leftover chicken into sandwich meat at home.

Here are some of their best strategies for putting meat on sandwiches for less.

Cook and Slice Your Own Lunch Meat

One of the biggest potential savings comes from making your own lunch meat.

Instead of buying sliced roast beef, ham or turkey from the deli, readers suggest buying larger cuts when they’re on sale, cooking them at home and slicing the meat for sandwiches.

You don’t necessarily have to cook something specifically for lunches. When you’re already preparing a roast, ham or turkey for dinner, make extra or set aside part of it before serving.

Barbara suggests rotating what you cook. Buy beef one week, ham another and turkey another. Slice and freeze portions as you go and eventually you’ll have several choices in the freezer.

“Either buy a larger roast when you are cooking one anyway or buy a smaller extra one and put it in the oven or slow cooker at any convenient time.” — Barbara

Turn Dinner Leftovers Into Tomorrow’s Lunch Meat

Readers also make good use of whatever meat remains after dinner.

Leftover roast beef, turkey, ham or chicken can become sandwich meat the next day rather than another container of leftovers that may or may not get eaten.

Clare used to save the ends of roasts, turkey and ham, slice them thin and freeze them in labeled bags. Most of her family’s lunch meat came from leftovers rather than the deli counter.

It’s an especially good strategy when you’ve bought the original meat at a good sale price.

Consider a Meat Slicer If Your Family Eats a Lot of Sandwiches

Slicing meat thinly makes homemade lunch meat more like the deli version and lets each pound make more sandwiches.

Several readers invested in electric meat slicers because their families ate enough lunch meat to justify the purchase.

You don’t necessarily need to buy a new one. Clare (a reader) found a used slicer for $50, used it for years and eventually sold it for the same amount she’d paid.

Before buying one, consider how frequently you’d actually use it. For a household that packs several meat sandwiches every day, it may pay for itself fairly quickly. For an occasional sandwich eater, a good sharp knife may be enough.

Compare Deli Meat With Prepackaged Lunch Meat

Don’t assume the deli counter offers the best value or that prepackaged meat is always cheaper.

Colleen recommends comparing the per-pound price of deli meat with the packaged lunch meats found near the deli counter and those sold near hot dogs and other refrigerated meats.

Sales can change which option is cheapest from week to week.

And compare more than package prices. Different packages may contain very different amounts, so the unit price or price per pound provides the more useful comparison.

Stock Up When Lunch Meat Goes on Sale

If your family regularly eats a particular type of lunch meat, buying enough to get you from one sale to the next can lower your average cost.

Kamia buys lunch meat when it’s on sale, divides it into amounts her household can use within a few days and freezes the extra packages.

The same approach works with whole hams, roasts and turkey bought for making homemade lunch meat. Buy when prices are low rather than waiting until you need sandwich meat.

Just be sure you’re buying an amount your household will actually use and that the product freezes well.