Before I head out to shop for the month tomorrow I'm making a list...but was thinking maybe I can get away with buying less meat products...what cuts of pork and beef give you more bang for your buck? If you purchase a 6 lb beef roast what are all the leftover meals you can make with it? Thanks so much!!! Janine
With a roast you can slice it to make sandwiches. Hot sandwiches with gravy, french dip, philly beef, cold roast beef, and so on. Shred the beef for tacos, stroganoff, chili, veggie soup, hamburger helper type meals, and whatever else that usually takes beef.
These are kind of meat-heavy meals, so stretch it further with veggies and things like rice or noodles.
I love a pork shoulder (pork butt) for frugality. You can season it for bbq, tacos, or sandwiches. You can also do it with asian seasonings served over rice, or made into egg roll filling. Serve it spiced up with black beans and rice, or make hawaiian sweet and sour pork with it. Pretty much any ethnicity or cuisine you can think of has a recipe for pork shoulder. And it's cheap.
Beef roast are very versatile if you can get a good price on them- slice for steaks, chop up for stews, have as a roast, shred for pulled sandwhiches or in casseroles. The roughly $2-3 per lb I can get them for sometimes (or less if 'marked down') sure is cheaper than the $4+ they charge for stew beef.
Buy a couple hams. They keep for a long time, are a meat you can use at every meal, freeze well &they are on sale right now. Oh don't throw away that bone, great for soup.
if your store has a 'aged' meat section (my nannie called it 'the rotten meat counter-why counter since it was just a section I don't know but she always stopped b y the RMcounter- ah memories). when we ate red meat I got very good buys in this section steaks for 2.00 (sirloin tip), rib eye (3.99) roasts (.99 per lb). my store puts out 'aged' (my mil preferred her meat this way) 3x a wk so there is always a bargain. i've bought chicken breast for .79 per #
Chicken wings, you can make your own drummettes and little mini chickens. The wing tips can be saved to make Chicken stock for a soup. The wing is just cut on each of the connecting joints and you end up with 3 pieces. I just discovered this on Superbowl Sunday when I was making hot wings for my Husband and that is all I had in the freezer. Until I physically cut them, I had no idea that was where a drummette came from.
And all these years, I was wondering what size bird they got this mini wings and mini legs from for hot wings. lol!
Chicken breasts. You can cut off the tenderloin and laterally split the breast for 2 servings of chicken breasts. Really stretches the chicken across several meals.
By a whole fryer/roasting chicken and butcher it yourself. Reference some you tube videos or google for instructions. The first few times, you may really "butcher" it, but as you practice it will get cleaner.
The cost per pound is usually much less than buying the parts (unless various parts have a sale).
I prefer more white meat than red, so that is where my expertise lie.
As far as the 6 pound roast, I guess it depends on the type of meat it is. I do not know my meat. IF it is good meat, you don't often want to "waste" it on something that kills it by cooking it for hours and hours and conversely you don't want a tough meat used in dishes that it won't work with.
But I'm wondering if you couldn't use some slices for some hot roast beef sandwiches, cut some into stew size pieces for a stew (about a pound or two), make kabobs another time....And if you have a stand mixer with grinder attachment, you can grind your own beef.
The best deals can be had in the meat markdown area. Ask the butcher what time/day the meats that need to be sold soon are moved to the area. Plan your trip accordingly. The trick is to know what meats you will not eat and buy accordingly - ie: hate - pork roast, cube steaks, chicken with bones.
chicken leq quarter 10 lbs cooked and pulled off the bone for dumplings, chicken casserole, enchilidias, soup for rainy days.
turkey 49-99 cents per lb
turkey sammies, turkey and gravy, turkey salad
second the pork butt and the ham being Easter
roast is way too much here.... good Luck
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