I was at Walmart the other day and I saw a 24lb beef brisket which they just put on close out for $1.25 per lb. I asked the clerk could they grind it up for me to make hamburger meat, she said that it would be better than anything they offer for hamburger meat, but they did not offer that service. So I bought it anyway, I found an attachment for my KitchenAid mixer that is a grinder. I cut it up, trimmed all the fat off of it and that was about 4 lbs of fat and then ground it up. It made the best hamburger I have ever had, It was so lean it barely had enough fat to cook in the pan. I figure I got 20 lbs of 95% lean beef hamburger meat for $1.50 per lb
I have a grinder for my Kitchen aid mixer and I would never have thought about doing that. How ingenious! I remember the lessons we learned in Homemaking in high school about buying larger Porterhouse steaks and cutting them into two ...having a strip steak and a tenderloin steak for much less $$ per pound. I've done that, but who would have thought about grinding up your own meat. I wonder if brisket would make good stew meat? That is about $4-4.50 a pound if the butcher cuts and cubes it up. You are a good shopper moorsb!
NancyB-- I only bought stew meat once--too fatty,and pieces too large. Also not cheap. Usually I buy a Chuck steak or two about 1" thick, depending on price and how big a batch of stew I'm making. Trim the rim fat off and cut out the bone. Cut the meat into 1" cubes. Throw a little tenderizer on it, then proceed with your normal stew recipe.
Brisket is the absolute best long-cook meat - but don't cut it, cook it whole. Wrap it in foil with a pkg of onion soup mix on top and cook away. Then you'll have lucious gravy, and plenty of leftovers for chili etc etc. It is usually as expensive as regular "stew meat"
If you want to make it into hamburger, after trimming the fat off of it, cut it into 1inch strips or what ever your grinder can handle, but be sure to cut it across the grain of the meat that way it will not get stringy and clog up the grinder.