Boneless, skinless chicken breast is very low in fat which makes it particularly vulnerable to overcooking via The Daily Beacon.

Unfortunately, you can't cook chicken medium-rare unless you want to play a game of salmonella Russian roulette. That leaves very little margin for error between dangerous and dry. Other cuts of chicken have more fat, so they remain juicy and delicious when cooked to a safe temperature.

Plus, they're also cheaper which makes it a win-win. Since the breast is the least delicious and most expensive part of a chicken, you're better off skipping it.

If you really want good beef for a reasonable price, it's best to forget about steaks. Great deals can be found in tougher, fattier cuts that need to be cooked for a long time in order to release their deliciousness.

The good news is that these tough, load-bearing muscles are exceptionally beefy and flavorful. It's no secret that fat adds flavor. For the perfect combination of taste and value, seek out beef chuck roast via Fine Cooking.

It comes from a cow's shoulder and shares many of the attributes of pork shoulder: It's flavorful, fatty, and loves being slow-cooked. That's still not too bad, however, and the flavor is worth it. Try making our recipe for slow cooker pot roast if you want to taste just how deliciously meaty and tender chuck becomes when it is treated the right way.

Here is a sentence that may chill your spine: "A product like sausage may contain a limited amount of mechanically separated species that may contain bone particles. Mechanically separated meat is made by shoving animal carcasses that have had most of the meat already removed through a "mechanical deboner" that scrapes the rest of the meat from the bones.

This material is then ground into a paste by being pushed through sieves that also filter out most but not all of the remaining bone matter via Meat Science.

Ultimately, a large portion of mechanically separated meat is not muscle tissue, but instead, connective tissue, fat, and possibly skin. Rest assured that high-quality sausage is probably not going to have any mechanically separated meat in it.

According to Liz Earle, the cheapest sausages are more likely to contain unsavory ingredients. Sausages can make for a wonderful meal, but it's best to stay away from the bottom-shelf stuff if possible.

What part of an animal is a hock, exactly? According to The Pioneer Woman , hocks, which are sometimes sold as pork knuckles, are part of the pig's leg.

In Germany, slow-roasted pork knuckle with crackling-crisp skin is a traditional meal during Oktoberfest. The ham hocks in American grocery stores are usually cured and smoked, which gives them a rich, bacon flavor.

The little bit of meat on a ham hock becomes meltingly tender if it's cooked for long enough, but the main appeal is its ability to make anything it's cooked with exceptionally flavorful. Boiled ham hocks produce a deep, intense pork stock, and they're the perfect cut for flavoring greens, beans, other vegetables, or soups.

The salty, smoky, fatty taste of a ham hock can enliven even the blandest dish and turn it into something special. Being a type of sausage, hot dogs are also liable to contain mechanically separated meat. However, as we've previously mentioned , the USDA banned mechanically separated beef for human consumption in If you spring for the fancy all-beef hot dogs, you can rest assured that no mechanical separation happened to the beef in your tube steak.

Beyond concerns about industrial meat processing practices, premium all-beef hot dogs simply taste better. In our ranking of grocery store hot dogs , the worst contender was Bar-S, a value brand made from chicken, pork, and turkey.

Jennie-O turkey franks were almost as bad. Don't punish yourself by buying the cheapest hot dogs at the supermarket. Chicken thighs are everything that chicken breast is not. They are flavorful, fatty, and delicious. As Allrecipes explains, thighs are much more forgiving if you happen to overcook them.

You won't be left with dry cardboard if you neglect to take them off the heat for a couple of minutes. They're way less bland than even the best chicken breast and they're cheaper too. If you're not down with skin and bones though, in our humble opinion, you should be , you can easily buy boneless, skinless thighs at most supermarkets.

You can use a chicken thigh in pretty much any way you'd normally cook a breast, and you're guaranteed a tastier result. If you need a little inspiration to get you started, our list of chicken thigh recipes is filled with enough inspiration for weeks of chicken dinners. If you're worried about your health, rest assured that chicken thighs aren't really less healthy than chicken breasts.

We now know that avoiding fats isn't necessarily the healthiest dietary choice you can make. Chicken nuggets are another type of meat where it pays to spend a little bit extra for the nicer brands.

In our ranking of store-bought chicken nuggets , the generic store brands from Target, Walmart, and Sam's Club all fell toward the bottom of the list. In terms of pure horror, Walmart nuggets were the worst offenders. Reviewers on the Walmart site found a variety of foreign objects in their nuggets, including large bone fragments, feathers, and possibly pieces of plastic.

Reviewers who didn't get stabbed by their nuggets reported an off-putting rubbery texture and deficiencies in the breading. Compare that with our winning nugget, Tyson Fun Nuggets , and the difference is stark. The Fun Nuggets have an almost five-star average review, and customers rave about their taste and texture.

As a bonus, they also look like dinosaurs. Chicken thighs have had something of a renaissance lately, increasing dramatically in popularity over the last several years.

The other section of a chicken's leg — the drumstick — has not achieved the same level of renown. Indeed, even as American culture has realized that dark meat chicken is worth buying, drumsticks have actually gotten less popular via Taste.

Clearly, we're all aboard the thigh bandwagon, but we're not exactly sure why the rising dark meat tide failed to lift the drumstick's boat. Drumsticks have many of the same advantages as thighs.

Their generous levels of skin, bone, and fat give them a strong, rich chicken flavor, and they're difficult to overcook. Drumsticks are also any easy piece of bone-in chicken to eat, as they have only one large bone. Why not try picking up a pack of them and testing out this ingenious TikTok drumstick hack?

Pork is generally guaranteed to be fatty and juicy, which makes dry pork chops especially disappointing. While any kind of pork chop can dry out if you cook it for too long, the worst offenders are boneless loin chops. As HuffPost explains, the number one way to prevent the tragedy of a tough, leathery pork chop is to select the right kind of meat.

Try this Beef and Pasta with Asian Peanut Sauce recipe that uses thin strips of Top Round Steak that are quickly cooked in teriyaki sauce before joining thin spaghetti noodles and cucumbers with a flavorful peanut butter sauce. Use ramen or rice instead and your choice of veggies.

The Top Round Roast is a lean roast that should be slow-cooked to improve its tenderness, then sliced thinly across the grain. If you're looking for a great recipe for this affordable and lean cut, try this Garlic and Herb-Crusted Beef Roast.

A quick rub with common seasonings give this dish a delicious flavor. Whip up a few side dishes while the roast is cooking. This boneless, lean cut is a superstar in the world of "low-cost cooking". The Sirloin Tip Roast makes great stir-fry strips, kabobs, stew meat or Cubed Steak.

Looking for a fast and Easy Beef Stroganoff recipe? This classic recipe has been tested and perfected just for you! Use any can of creamed soup instead. Plain Greek yogurt could be substituted for the sour cream, too. A tremendous value cut that is lean and boneless. The Eye of Round Steak is ideal for marinating, then grilling or skillet cooking.

This Kung Pao Beef recipe is quick and easy and uses prepared sauce and frozen veggies to make a delicious, fork-tender meal. Use any pre-prepared Asian sauce and veggies on hand. A good everyday cut, boneless and lean. Marinate and broil or grill and slice thin.

Enjoy your favorite BBQ flavors with this BBQ Beef Skillet with Cornbread recipe! Great value and very lean, this cut is best for roasting or slow-cooking and slicing thin. The smell of a roast simmering in salsa will have your mouth watering for this flavorful meal.

Bring on dinner with this Southwest Beef Pot Roas t recipe. An economical and flavorful cut. Best when slow-cooked. Got a hankering for delicious shredded beef? Try one of these Four-Way Slow Cooker Shredded Beef recipes that are sure to please everyone at the dinner table.

One of the most tender cuts to grill, roast or broil in the oven. These steaks take center stage in this delicious, yet super simple Italian-inspired Beef Steak Al Forno recipe with only 5 ingredients. The leaner half of the whole Brisket also known as the "first cut," this full-flavored meat can be sliced or shredded.

Love beef and beer? Who doesn't?

Beef brisket Pork shoulder Chuck eye steak

Budget-friendly Meat Selection - Ground beef or ground turkey Beef brisket Pork shoulder Chuck eye steak

The secret to a well cooked skirt steak is to cook the meat no further than medium, which will avoid it becoming tough.

As opposed to conventional lamb neck, lamb scrag is taken from the top of the neck rather than lower down nearer the chest. Again, scrag is one of the least expensive cuts of meat - but this does not mean that it lacks flavour.

Last but not least, organ meats are perhaps the most affordable and the most nutritious, inexpensive meats of them all. From heart to liver and even kidneys, brains and intestines - organ meats, also known as offal, are classed as off-cuts and sold extremely cheaply.

We always like to champion organ meats as they're so nutrient-dense, but lots of people don't know where to start when it comes to preparing and cooking offal. Check out our recipe and article below to discover just how easy it is to start cooking with organ meats.

Cooking with less expensive cuts of meat requires a little more TLC to ensure a juicy, tender and flavoursome end result.

Getting enough quality protein in your diet isn't always just about prime cuts of meat - you can get just as much taste, nutrition and satisfaction out of cheaper cuts.

Broadening your horizons with less expensive cuts of meat is a great way to save some of your hard-earned cash too. All information provided on our website and within our articles is simply information, opinion, anecdotal thoughts and experiences to provide you with the tools to thrive.

It is not intended to treat or diagnose symptoms and is definitely not intended to be misconstrued for medical advice. We always advise you seek the advice of a trained professional when implementing any changes to your lifestyle and dietary habits.

We do however recommend seeking the services of a trained professional who questions the conventional wisdom to enable you to become the best version of yourself.

DISCOVER NEW GRASS-FED GREATNESS: ORGANIC TALLOW Shop now. Search articles Search. Written by Hunter Gather. The price difference between various cuts of meat can be astounding - so here's how and why you should grab a meaty bargain next time you visit the supermarket!

You get what you pay for, right? However, some people might argue that eating meat is expensive. Pork Shoulder When it comes to cheap cuts of meat, it's hard to beat pork shoulder for value.

Beef Brisket Beef from the supermarket is usually always Grass Fed, so is a brilliant source of vital nutrients. Brisket is a cut of meat taken from the lower chest or breast of beef or veal. Beef Mince Beef mince is one of the most versatile meats there is - you can use it to make anything from Bolognese and kebabs to homemade burgers and much more.

Skirt Steak Skirt steak is taken from the underbelly of the cow. You can also use a meat mallet to tenderise the meat and break down tough fibres before cooking. In fact, scrag packs in the rich, tasty flavour of lamb that we all know and love.

Cooked correctly, scrag is a great addition to stews and casseroles. Organ Meats Last but not least, organ meats are perhaps the most affordable and the most nutritious, inexpensive meats of them all. Here are some golden rules to follow when cooking with cheaper cuts.

Instead, cooking at a low temperature over a longer time allows the connect tissues in meat to loosen and relax - for juicy and tender meat, even with tougher cuts. Marinate - Marinating your meat isn't just about flavour although that's a bonus too!

Using acidic ingredients in your marinade such as lemon, vinegar or wine helps to tenderise the surface of the meat as well as penetrate it with a deeper flavour. The longer you marinade for, the better the results! Check the temperature - As well as cooking at lower temperatures, different cuts of meat will cook best at differing temperatures.

Be sure to do your research and check which temperature is best suited to the cut of meat you've chosen. Investing in a meat thermometer is also a great idea to take out the guesswork! Tenderise - Using a meat mallet is a simple and easy way to tenderise meat instantaneously.

The good old fashioned elbow grease of pounding the meat with a mallet helps to break down the muscle fibres, to loosen them up and create more tender meat.

This works really well with inexpensive cuts of steak such as skirt steak. Carve it right - Always carve across the grain, that is against the direction of the muscle fibres in the meat. Cutting across the grain will shorten those muscle fibres, for meat that's more tender and less chewy. Try it in: Pan-Roasted Brined Pork Chop.

Also known as: Pork collar Great if you love: Pork rib chop or loin. A cylindrical extension of the loin, the collar is most often seen cured in Italian salumi. But we think this supremely well-marbled cut is so much more versatile when fresh.

Kept whole, it shines when marinated and grilled slowly to a juicy medium, but can also stand up to long, gentle braising; cut into steaks, it's great pan seared and then slowly brought up to temperature in a low oven.

Try it in: Habanero-Marinated Pork Chops with Mustard Greens Slaw. Found on the underside of the pig close to the belly, this lean, loose-grained cut is tasty and quick-cooking. It's the porcine answer to beef skirt steak, and you can prepare it basically the same way: Season with salt, sear it hard on both sides for a couple minutes, and slice it against the grain.

Fire up the grill—it's taco night! Try it in: Tecate Skirt-Steak Tacos. Also known as: Blade chop Great if you love: Lamb rib chops. Enter the shoulder chop, which is beautifully marbled, plenty tender, really flavorful and, like, half the price. Weeknight lamb chops?

Yes, please. Try it in: Mint and Cumin-Spiced Lamb Chops. Think of this cut as a lamb-ier oxtail—there's plenty of rich, well-marbled meat surrounding loads of collagen-rich bone and connective tissue, all of which slow-cooks to tender, lip-smacking perfection.

Perfect for braising, this bargain pick is the stuff of ragù dreams. Just remember to take those little bones out before shredding up the cooked meat for sauce. Try it in: Ragout of Lamb and Spring Vegetables with Farro.

This is a small, super-tender roast taken from the top of the hind leg where it meets the loin. This is absolutely the way to go when you a Don't want to cash out for a whole leg of lamb or b Are only feeding three or four people. These little guys cap out around 1½ pounds, and are equally great trussed and roasted with rosemary and garlic or simply grilled just the way you would a leg of lamb.

Try it in: Shawarma-Spiced Braised Leg of Lamb. Alex Lau.

Budget-friendly Meat Selection - Ground beef or ground turkey Beef brisket Pork shoulder Chuck eye steak

We show you which cuts of pork, beef and lamb will offer value for money. Cuts like brisket, skirt and shin are thrifty choices but offer plenty of rich flavour.

Cheap cuts: How to buy beef. Get to know the best butchers cuts and enjoy lamb at a lower cost. Cheap cuts: How to buy lamb. Discover the cuts of pork that offer you the best value for money and are too delicious to be overlooked. Cheap cuts: How to buy pork. We have lots of cheap cut recipes for you to try too.

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Back to Recipes High-protein vegan High-protein lunch recipes High-protein snacks High protein bowl recipes. Back to Recipes Vegan dinner recipes Easy vegan recipes Vegan slow cooker recipes Vegan soup recipes. When shopping for ribs, look for ones that have plenty of meat and a small amount of fat.

The fat will keep the meat moist while it cooks, but don't pay for excessive amounts of fat. At least half the weight of a rack of ribs is bone so take fewer bones for the price if you can find it.

Maximize the meat and get the most for your money. Make sure you talk to your butcher so you are sure of what you are getting. Chuck steaks are not as tender as their more expensive cousins and will benefit from a good marinade.

This will make the meat more tender so you won't notice that you save yourself some money. Also, avoid overcooking chuck steaks. They are perfect at medium rare, but tough at well done no matter how you prepared it before it hit the grill.

Nowadays people seem to be coming up with hundreds of ways of making a better burger. Truth is keep it simple and it will be perfect. Choose fresh ground beef, handle it as little as possible, and you will have a great burger every time without spending a lot on expensive meats and ingredients.

Another tip is avoid making your burger patties too thick. This may sound like a good idea, but thick burgers require a longer cooking time meaning a dryer burger. Also, you can stretch your ground meat farther by making a patty that fits your bun, not your eye. Of course the secret of turning these tough pork roasts into a wonderful meal is to smoke them low and slow and turn it into barbecue pulled pork.

This is one of the most popular types of barbecue and has been a mainstay of American cooking for centuries. The reason for this is because this is not only an inexpensive cut of meat, but an inexpensive way to prepare it.

Once you have your pork smoked and pulled, pile it up on cheap white bread buns and you have the perfect sandwich. Inexpensive, versatile, and easy to prepare chicken is always a favorite. The secret to saving yourself money when buying chicken is to avoid the pre-cut pieces.

With a little practice you can easily cut up a whole chicken and save yourself some money. Particularly if you like your burgers cooked rare or medium, it's much safer to pick out a whole piece of meat and have a butcher grind it to order.

That way, you know it's all from the same cow. This also lets you choose which cut of meat you want and the degree that it is ground. Freshly-ground beef requires much less processing, which we prefer. You're going to see a lot of pork and chicken among the recommended items on this list. In terms of value, almost any cut from these animals beats all but the cheapest cuts of beef by a mile.

Take pork loin: It's a tender, juicy cut that can be cooked in many different ways. It has just enough fat to give it flavor, but not enough that you need to slow-cook it to be palatable via The Kitchn. You can buy it deboned for convenience or choose a bone-in loin roast that is basically a budget-friendly alternative to a rack of lamb or prime rib.

Any cut of beef that combines this much convenience and flavor is going to be at least a little bit expensive. Pork loin, on the other hand, is shockingly cheap. If you're willing to eat around bones, a bone-in loin pork shoulder blade roast costs half that by weight.

If you're a beef lover looking for meat deals, maybe it's time to reconsider the hog. As we've already covered , chicken breast is the most expensive cut of chicken.

Just because something is cheap doesn't make it a good deal, though. Boneless, skinless chicken breast kind of sucks.

And you don't have to take our word for it; Chrissy Teigen agrees with us. According to The Daily Meal , in a series of Tweets, she wrote that "chicken breast is extremely popular for being literally the worst part of a chicken," adding, "I dunno I just like moisture and stuff.

Boneless, skinless chicken breast is very low in fat which makes it particularly vulnerable to overcooking via The Daily Beacon. Unfortunately, you can't cook chicken medium-rare unless you want to play a game of salmonella Russian roulette.

That leaves very little margin for error between dangerous and dry. Other cuts of chicken have more fat, so they remain juicy and delicious when cooked to a safe temperature.

Plus, they're also cheaper which makes it a win-win. Since the breast is the least delicious and most expensive part of a chicken, you're better off skipping it.

If you really want good beef for a reasonable price, it's best to forget about steaks. Great deals can be found in tougher, fattier cuts that need to be cooked for a long time in order to release their deliciousness.

The good news is that these tough, load-bearing muscles are exceptionally beefy and flavorful. It's no secret that fat adds flavor. For the perfect combination of taste and value, seek out beef chuck roast via Fine Cooking.

It comes from a cow's shoulder and shares many of the attributes of pork shoulder: It's flavorful, fatty, and loves being slow-cooked. That's still not too bad, however, and the flavor is worth it.

Try making our recipe for slow cooker pot roast if you want to taste just how deliciously meaty and tender chuck becomes when it is treated the right way. Here is a sentence that may chill your spine: "A product like sausage may contain a limited amount of mechanically separated species that may contain bone particles.

Mechanically separated meat is made by shoving animal carcasses that have had most of the meat already removed through a "mechanical deboner" that scrapes the rest of the meat from the bones. This material is then ground into a paste by being pushed through sieves that also filter out most but not all of the remaining bone matter via Meat Science.

Ultimately, a large portion of mechanically separated meat is not muscle tissue, but instead, connective tissue, fat, and possibly skin. Rest assured that high-quality sausage is probably not going to have any mechanically separated meat in it.

According to Liz Earle, the cheapest sausages are more likely to contain unsavory ingredients. Sausages can make for a wonderful meal, but it's best to stay away from the bottom-shelf stuff if possible.

What part of an animal is a hock, exactly? According to The Pioneer Woman , hocks, which are sometimes sold as pork knuckles, are part of the pig's leg. In Germany, slow-roasted pork knuckle with crackling-crisp skin is a traditional meal during Oktoberfest.

The ham hocks in American grocery stores are usually cured and smoked, which gives them a rich, bacon flavor.

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