The One Thing You Should Know Before Buying Meat At Walmart

Being an early riser has its share of benefits. Sometimes it means beating morning traffic, snatching the best Black Friday deals, getting the freshest breakfast sandwich at McDonald's, or being able to watch the sun rise. It can also mean getting the lowest prices on certain items at stores like Walmart.

Although Walmart is known for its "Every Day Low Price" guarantee throughout the day, did you know the store sometimes offers discounted prices on specific items before noon? According to The Penny Hoarder, Walmart marks down their prices on certain meat items that are approaching their sell-by dates in the morning hours.

So if you need to buy meat for tonight's dinner, don't wait until lunchtime to head to Walmart. Even if it's not for tonight's dinner, you can still buy some meat in the morning to freeze for later. But keep in mind that you might end up making an unwanted sacrifice in return.

Everyone loves to save money, and even though low-priced meat in the morning at Walmart is enticing, there's an important caveat to consider first. Unfortunately, Walmart isn't known for having the highest quality of meat (via Mashed).

In 2015, the multinational retail corporation ranked 67 out of 68 by Consumer Reports for quality and freshness. Walmart has also had several recalls on their beef over the years for safety reasons in 2016, 2018, and 2022. There was also a recall on one of their black forest ham products in 2022 (via USDA).

The marked-down meat varies from store to store, and the discounts may not always be applied to their beef or ham. So if you're heading to Walmart specifically for their low-priced meat in the morning, be sure to check the FDA's safety recalls webpage for the latest information on food recalls first.