Here in San Diego, CA a pound of regular bacon (not on sale) cost around $8.49. That is RIDICULOUS! I used to only buy it if it was BOGO or a great sale/coupon.
Before going grocery shopping one day I was looking in the store ad and saw that the butcher's cut applewood smoked bacon was $1.99/lb. I thought it had to be a typo so I had to investigate.
Sure enough, when I went up to the butcher's case there was a sign for $1.99 on the bacon. What surprised me even more was that the normal, non-sale price was only $3.99! I have been paying more for bacon that isn't as fresh, has more preservatives, and doens't taste as good. Unbelieveable.
Buying the bacon this way also gave me a great idea of how to stretch my dollar even more. When we buy the pre-packaged stuff I just throw it in the freezer until we need it. I cook the whole package and that's the end of it. Since this bacon wasn't prepacked I decided to layer it between sheets of parchment paper/aluminum foil (it's double sided). I put 4 pieces on one side then folded the paper in half and added 4 more. I continued wrapping and stacking until I had all 3 lbs wrapped. I wraped it again with press and seal plastic (you want to keep as much air out as possible to prevent freezer burn) and placed it in a flat, open spot in the freezer. Once frozen, it will keep it's shape so you can put it anywhere.
This keeps the bacon slices completely free from one another so you can take out exactly as much as you need even when it's still frozen. Now, instead of cooking up 16 pieces like I used to, I only take out 6-8 pieces that we need and put the rest in the freezer. Not only is it saving money, it's also saving the extra calories from when I'd graze on the extra bacon througout the day.
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