Get ready to learn my biggest shopping secret!

If you’re anything like me you’re obsessed with chicken. I kid you not–we eat chicken for nearly every meal. It’s no secret that buying boneless skinless chicken breast at the store will put a small dent in your wallet.

Most quality chicken breast at the grocery store is in the $5-10/lb range. The chicken I normally get at Hy-Vee runs about $6.99/lb. Do the math–(6) 1 1/2lb packages of chicken will run you about $62.91 before tax.

Fun Fact: When shopping at the meat cooler at Target, an employee was stocking the refrigerated section & noticed I was comparing the different brands of chicken. HE LET ME IN ON A SECRET! The Good & Gather brand of chicken literally comes in the same box as the Tyson chicken (which comes with a MUCH higher price tag).

SO HOW DO I DO IT?

My entire chicken haul was 14.95 pounds of chicken which I purchased for $14.84. If I would’ve purchased this amount of chicken at Hy-Vee (where I usually buy my meat), the same exact amount of chicken would have cost me $104.50. That is a grand savings of $89.67 . . . seriously INSANE!

Let’s get down to it!

Target sells big packages of Good & Gather boneless skinless chicken breasts at $1.99/lb in packs that weigh 5-7ish pounds. Not on sale, this will run you somewhere around $10.

They way to save major cash is by checking the expiration dates. If you notice that Target has a pretty high stock of packages that are close to the expiration date, come back the day before or the day of the “best by” date. At this point the chicken is still totally safe to eat & maintains its quality.

When the chicken reaches its “best by or freeze” date, Target slaps $5 off stickers on it to get it out of their inventory. The attached coupon made each of the 3 packs of chicken I bought roughly $5 each, give or take. They will also put $3 off coupons on the smaller packs of chicken breasts that are 3 pound(ish) packages. Since it is so close to the “best by” date when you purchase the chicken, it is important to get it prepped & in the freezer right away.

If all of the packages you pick up have a coupon like the one pictured below, they will all ring up at a discounted rate! When I purchased 3 packages I was able to use $15 worth of coupons, so basically half of it was FREE!!!

After I got that CRAZY steal, I prepped the chicken by dating freezer bags, trimming the chicken, & separating it out–2 chicken breasts per quart freezer bag. Make sure to get all of the air out of the bag before you seal it to avoid freezer burn.

I ended up with 9 portions of chicken out of my haul, all of which I stacked in my freezer to use for oven recipes & crockpot meals. In the end, each bag of chicken ended up costing $1.64. Compared to the $7 you’d spend at Hy-Vee, Walmart, etc., that is MAJOR SAVINGS!

Wishing you happy savings & happy, CHEAP meals! I can’t wait to hear how much you save on chicken breasts from now on. Don’t settle for paying hundreds for meat any longer . . . you’re welcome! Let me know in the comments section how you will be using all your newfound savings!

xo, Han