Ok Pat, I think you're the one who suggested I write this one up:

Confessions of a Butcher/Eat Steak on a Hamburger Budget and Save$$$ by John Smith, published 2006 by Ark Essentials. $11.95  You order it from Amazon or any book store, or directly at www.arkessentialspublishing.com

If you buy your meat from the store (versus grow or hunt your own) this book will save you some serious cash plus allow you to add higher quality meat to your diet without raising your grocery budget.  I don't dare buy any piece of meat I'm not familiar with until I look it up in this book.  John does his confessions with humor and really spills the beans on how the butcher can cut a piece of meat and change the price from under $3 a lb to almost $9 a lb,  by say cutting top sirloin into kabob cubes, etc.   He includes how to choose the best turkey and what to do with the leftovers.  Who knew that if you ground up a pork butt roast it could make great extra lean aprox 15% "hamburger" for $1 a lb!  Ark Essentials even guarantees you'll  save the price of this book buy using what you learn to purchase meat, probably on an  average of 2-3 trips to the grocery store.  This book will help you steer clear of consumer "traps"  and get out of the marked down hamburger bins and get that steak you've been lusting after onto your plate!  I use this book for wedding gifts as newlyweds have no clue on how to buy or how to  prepare meat.   Most of us on this forum are really frugal and don't dare go near the more expensive end of the meat case.  With this book, you can peruse the meat available and really "see" what's offered for what it is.   Confessions already has tons of great reviews so I hesitated in writing this but I know that after this current printing is sold out the price will be going up as the e-books are listed at $24.95 marked down to $19.95 and selling like hotcakes on one particular affiliate site.  You can always do what I do, get your library to buy a copy, or buy a copy-take notes, and then give it away as a gift.  You can visit John's meat site www.all-about-meat.com and glean more good stuff for free but the majority of money-saving tips have been excluded at this point. 

joan of ark:

Ok Pat, I think you're the one who suggested I write this one up:

Yes, I did, and I'm glad you did it. This is an impressive little book. I got it quite awhile back and still use it for reference (my memory isn't so great any more). I'm so glad that you reviewed it.

For anyone who hasn't seen it, find a copy. You'll be surprised at how much money you're wasting just to get a good cut of meat.

joan of ark:

Who knew that if you ground up a pork butt roast it could make great extra lean aprox 15% "hamburger" for $1 a lb!

 Thank you for suggesting this book. I sounds very interesting. I already do a number of things you mentioned, so getting this book might even improve my practice! I really like your idea of using the book as a wedding present. I am always looking for the practical that is also special.