I find that grocery stores offer better pricing on occasion: ribeyes more than half off the ordinary market price, etc. If you have the vacuum sealing technology, you can be selective in your bulk purchases to maximize the financial benefits of timed purchases. Costco comes with a baseline level of quality but is less competitive on price. As you stock your freezer, you have the bandwidth to 'wait it out' until the next sale comes.

My experience is that the grocery stores around me with meats cheaper than Costco is not the meat you want to buy in bulk and save for later use. The quality is fine but the meat has been sitting on the shelf for a couple of weeks and is near or past the best by date, which is why it's marked way below market price. That being said the solution is to buy a whole bunch, cook it he same day and freeze that. Doesn't work well if you want cooked whole cuts (roast chicken, pan seared steak, etc.) but for the more processed recipes (stews, stir fry, etc.)

Skip the thaw step and cook those things sous vide.

And eat microplastics? No thanks.

Do you think the steak is microplastic free? It's not: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/08/micropla....

That's a fallacy - microplastic contamination isn't a boolean, more like a floating point.

You can buy a Cinder Grill instead. Same basic thermodynamic concept, but with metal instead of water+plastic for the stable heat source

You probably know this, but sous vide will cook fine from frozen too. You just have to give it an extra hour or so. Heat baths are cool!

I do that sometimes but I started going for thinner cuts of meat and just grill them in 12-15 mins. Sousvide is nice but sometimes takes too long and you still gotta sear.

For nicer cuts of meat, sure, but for flank steak and such, I find it much easier to just let the meat marinate for 24-48 hours and then grill it.