No, you don't need to buy a half a cow to save money on good meat. We were at Kroger yesterday and while we buy half beefs we also always look at what is available.

Yesterday they had some Nolan Ryan Grass Fed Beef on sale, it was all chuck roasts. Why? They were 4 days from the sell by date.

This s PREMIUM beef, price 3.98 a pound. All were forward parts, so no chuck eye or Denver steaks. No problem, just ground it all.

The cheapest ground meat they had was 7 bucks and it was shitty garbage. Took may be 20 minutes to cut it, grind it, pack it and clean the grinder.

A 150 dollar grinder pays for itself VERY FAST this way. But keep making excuses for your shitty dietary choices.