While the prices of many groceries have gone up this year, beef is shockingly expensive. Now more than ever people are relying on money-saving tricks to stick to their grocery budgets. One way to do this is to shop in bulk at stores like Sam’s Club, but Sam’s Club shoppers have taken it one step further. Enter: the “chuck roll theory.”
Chuck roll theory is a social media trend where Sam’s Club shoppers buy enormous cuts of chuck roll to portion into steaks in order to save money. For big families or people who incorporate a lot of beef into their weekly meal plan, it’s seriously ingenious.
According to one TikTok user, Sam’s Club sells chuck roll for $6.78 per pound — so the TikToker was able to get 21 steaks, each about one-inch thick, for $128.48. That’s roughly just $6 per steak! Creators all across the internet are doing the same and finding similar results.
Another creator who tried this brilliant trick also discovered the key to making it quick and easy to slice your chuck roll into steaks: Put it in the freezer for about an hour before cutting.
Sam’s Club shoppers across the internet chimed in in the comments. “My dad was a butcher, this is how we lived. It is the only way to save money. He would make beef stew tips, ground meat, steaks and milanesas, which are thin breaded beef steaks. It works!” wrote one TikTok user. “You save so much money doing it this way,” added another.
But not everyone was quite as impressed by chuck roll theory. In fact, some people were pretty skeptical (to say the least).
“I’m a butcher by trade; chuck is not the cut to eat as steaks. It’s a braising, slow cooking cut,” wrote one less-than-impressed commenter. Another butcher also weighed in: “It is technically a steak, but it will not be as tender as your better cuts, such as rib eye.” Others are suggesting buying a half a cow from the farmers market instead (seriously!).
Chuck meat is rich in flavor, but often has a lot of connective tissue and tough muscle fibers, so we generally prefer to cook it low and slow to get it as tender as possible. (If you need a refresher on all the types of beef out there, check out our very in-depth explainer to popular cuts of beef.) That said, we haven’t had Sam’s Club chuck roll! If you’re a Sam’s Club member and try the chuck roll theory, let us know in the comment section if you think it’s a worthwhile deal.