Cuts of meat that will stretch your grocery dollars

Inexpensive cuts of beef and veal
Flank: A thin and flat, lean, fibrous, well-worked, but delicious muscle from the hind belly of the animal, flank steak is a wonderful choice for braising, broiling, or grilling. There are two keys to a less-chewy flank steak: the marinade and slicing technique. Choose a recipe that contains tenderising ingredients, such as: tomato or citrus juices, wine, vinegar, pineapple or papaya juice, or ginger, and when you serve, slice thinly against the grain.
Try it! Rosemary Flank Steak

Skirt or Hanger: This long, flat, cut is the animal’s diaphragm muscle. Highly flavourful but rather tough, this cut benefits from braising or marinating and grilling for traditional fajitas.

Oxtail: Literally the tail of an Ox, skinned and cut into short lengths. Now, most often from beef or veal, oxtail is quite tough—think of all that fly swatting—but so full of flavour and with a silky, gelatinous texture once stewed or braised long enough. This most humble of all beef cuts is hugely important to the cuisines of Asia, the UK, and the Islands, where it’s used to delicious effect in soups, stews, and curries. Look for oxtail at any West Indian or Jamaican grocer.
Try it! Oxtail Two Potato Stew; Chinese-Style Oxtail

Shank: A tough but tasty section of leg, this cut can be purchased bone-in or out. It can be sinewy so braising is the only way to go. Veal shank on the bone is braised to succulence in wine and stock for the Italian classic, osso bucco. In North America shank meat is used to make lean ground beef.
Try it! Osso Buco

Inexpensive cuts of lamb
Shank: Braised lamb shank is a classic dish found on the menu of many European and Asian cuisines. Slow, moist cooking renders this stringy, lean, and tough cut, fall-off-the-bone tender. As with beef, lamb shank meat is also sold ground for kebabs and burgers and cubed for stews and curries.
Try it! Braised Lamb Shanks

Neck and shoulder: It seems the muscles that work the hardest, also develop the most flavour. Somewhat fatty and with many bones, these cuts are best braised or stewed. Marinate - think mint infused olive oil and lemon - and grill chops cut from the shoulder, which are leaner, and less expensive than those cut from the loin.
Try it! Honey and Beer Braised Lamb - Canadian Living Cook of the Year 2008 winning recipe!

Breast, Including Spareribs and Riblets: This lesser know part of the lamb can be purchased bone-in or de-boned, ready for stuffing, rolling, and roasting or braising. The meat tends to be fatty and not as tender as we might expect in a baby animal, but well suited to exotic, slow-cook recipes such as curries, stews, and tagines.
Try it! Lamb Korma

Poultry
There really are no strange cuts in chicken, turkey, or duck - other than a steamer of chicken feet at dim sum - but in the spirit of waste not want not:

• Save the carcass for soup stock.
• Save the fat for roasting and frying.
• Don’t throw away the neck. Sure, it might look kind of creepy to some of us, but between those vertebra lurks some of the most tender, tasty meat to be found on a bird.

Try it! Chicken Noodle Soup with Homemade Broth

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