Stretching the food budget - meats

[Paula]

I have always cooked with a lot of meat and I know we've eaten way more than we should over the years. I need some ideas on how to stretch meats to where I can use less per meal. This will help my budget as well as our health.

In the wintertime, soups are so easy. I make a lot! I can get a lot of ingredients packed into a soup pot and use less meat. Do you continue to cook a lot of soups in the summertime?

I am working on more bean meals and that is helping. (I used to always put sausage in my beans to give it some *meat*. I'm not doing that anymore.) I'm going to try and cook beans for at least one meal each week.

I have thought about making my taco meals with half taco meat and half smashed leftover beans.

I now use about half the amount of hamburger in my spaghetti sauce than I used to and my family hasn't noticed!

Last time I made chili, I put in extra beans and less meat and, again, my family never even noticed.

I don't want to go totally meatless for a lot of meals. But I would like some ideas on how you all cook with less.

I have the opportunity to order grass-fed meats from a local place and I'm so very excited! But of course, they're more expensive, especially considering I usually buy the cheapest meat I can find at WalMart. This will be a HUGE change for us and I can't wait!!!! But I have GOT to come up with a plan for cooking with less so it is not such a strain on my budget.

I am interested in beef and chicken ideas. I don't like to cook with pork.

I have a husband (BIG eater), two teenage boys and an 8 yo daughter who eats almost as much as the boys (and she's skinny as a rail - it's just not fair).

Thanks for any help/recipes that you can give me!

Paula

[Mom2boys]

We had stuffed cabbage tonight which was some meat with rice and other things. I will have leftovers for lunches ...

How about meatless pizza night? I guess it depends on what your family likes on their pizza.....

I'll have to think more on this and get back to you. We eat quite a bit of meat in our house still.

[Katie]

I do a lot of the same things you do, Paula. A pound of ground meat (usually turkey) usually lasts for two meals around here. The good turkey (organic type) is much less expensive than the beef. Adding a bit of worcestershire and thyme gives it a different taste. My family actually prefers it to ground beef.

The one exception is I do buy a pound of grass fed ground beef so we can have hamburgers every month or so. Ok, so it's $5.69 a pound, but we each get a good size hamburger, served on a nice ww bun, with organic lettuce, tomato and raw milk cheese. It is so worth it!!! I figure it's still cheaper than eating out and a lot better for us.

Other main dishes/ideas include:

*Bean and rice enchiladas
*Using whole wheat pasta - it really fills a person up and doesn't taste any different than the white stuff.
*Spinach lasagna!!! Yum! Everyone loves this.
*Veggie pizza like Tina mentioned.
*Stir-fry...a little meat goes a long way. Again, using brown rice adds a lot of bulk and really fills people up.

I figure the amount I save when buying bulk grains, nuts, dried fruit is balanced out when I buy the good meats/cheeses.

Edited to add: I stretch chicken as far as I can. I almost always start by stewing it. Then debone, save some stock for other meals. One chicken will usually keep us going for 4 or 5 meals. Chicken noodle soup (with homemade noodles), chicken and dumplings, chicken and rice casserole, chicken gravy over biscuits (made as healthy as I can!), chicken and veggie stir-fry.

[Paula]

Thank you for the replies, Tina and Katie!

Tina, if the stuffed cabbage recipe is easy, I'd sure like to have it! I've always assumed that recipe would be tedious and time-consuming to make.

Katie, you've given me some great ideas! I'd like your spinach lasagne recipe if you don't mind! It sounds really good! Also, how do you make your chicken and rice casserole? Since I've quit buying canned cream soups, I haven't made ANY casseroles!

I don't make veggie pizza, but I've cut down considerably on the amount of meat I use. And I add lots of good veggies.

Good ideas!

Paula

[Katie]

Paula,

Here's my basic spinach lasagna recipe. I don't have an actual recipe, it just sort of evolved...and fits my lasagna pan. ;D All ingredients are organic or as close to natural as possible.

Ingredients

*whole wheat lasagna (12 pieces altogether. I make either a 3 layer or 4 layer lasagna depending upon the kind/size of pasta I purchased)

*one 15 oz can tomato sauce
*one 15 oz can diced tomatoes or 2 cups fresh tomato (num!)
*a bunch of chopped fresh spinach....maybe about 4 cups
*a large container of cottage cheese
*2 or 3 cups mozzarella (or less)
*parmesan cheese
*2 eggs
*basil, oregano, pepper, garlic cloves (all fresh if possible)

First, I mix together the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Add in garlic, basil, oregano, pepper. You don't need to cook it, just give it a stir. If you used fresh tomatoes, make sure that you have enough liquid. Add a little water to give a total of 32 oz.

I then slightly beat the eggs and stir them into the cottage cheese. I usually toss some fresh parsley and a smidge of parmesan in for fun.

You do NOT need to pre-cook the pasta.

Layering order:

Spread a bit of sauce in the bottom of the pan to prevent the noodles from sticking. Then layer lasagna noodles, sauce, spinach, cottage cheese and a bit of mozz. Repeat until you run out of ingredients. Don't worry if it's kind of lumpy, it will turn out fine. Also, I tend to save most of the mozz for the top, especially if I don't have a lot on hand. More parmesan cheese on the very top.

Cover the pan tightly with foil. Bake at 350 for 45 - 50 minutes. Removed from oven and let stand about 10 minutes before cutting.

Everyone in our house loves this - even the picky one that wouldn't eat spinach if her life depended on it.

We gave up canned cream soups a while back. At first, I didn't make any casseroles either. But! All you need to do is make up a white sauce and substitute it any time you used a can of soup. It works pretty slick and tastes really good. I'll try to get back her tomorrow with the chicken/rice recipe.

[Mom2boys]

Here is the stuffed cabbage recipe. I did not use a dutch oven. I used my Pampered chef deep dish baker and baked it at 350, so it was basically assembling everything and popping it in the oven. I cooked covered for one hour and uncovered for two. I used brown rice and it was cooked through when I took it out of the oven.


I also used 1/2 cup sucanat instead of brown sugar. I will use less next time because it was a bit sweet for us.


Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
large head cabbage
1 pound ground chuck
1/3 cup rice, raw, can use instant or regular
1 small onion, grated
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 large onion, sliced
1 large can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
3 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes
3 to 4 teaspoons lemon juice (1 large lemon)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 to 1 cup brown sugar



Remove about 15 large leaves from the cabbage; cut off very thick part of each leaf. Pour boiling water over the cabbage to wilt the leaves.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine ground chuck with the rice, grated onion, eggs, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Place a mound of meat mixture in cupped part of each softened cabbage leaf. Fold over sides of cabbage leaf; roll up. In bottom of Dutch oven, place a few of the remaining leaves. Arrange layers of cabbage rolls, seam side down, and sliced onions in a Dutch oven or large casserole. Pour on tomato sauce, tomatoes, lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Bring to a boil on stove top. Sprinkle with brown sugar, to taste. Bake, covered, for 1 hour. Uncover and bake 2 hours longer.

[Paula]

These recipes look delicious! I've copied them off and plan to try them soon.

Paula

[Katie]

Paula,

Here's how I now make our chicken and rice casserole. Please forgive the format, I'm just going to type it as I make it. There's no actual recipe.

First, I cooked up some brown rice. I would imagine you would need to start with 1.5 - 2 cups for your family.

I cut up two cooked chicken breasts (left from a stewed chicken earlier in the week.)

Chopped up some celery and onion. Please don't ask how much.

Mix all that together in your casserole.

I then made a thick white sauce using butter, flour, chicken broth, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper. Cook that until it thickens and pour over the stuff in the casserole.

This time I also stirred in some chopped broccoli (it's pretty color-less otherwise).

Toss it in the oven and baked for about 40 minutes.

You could also add some carrots for fun.

This isn't the same as that terrific chicken-rice hotdish with all the soups and pieces of chicken, rice and milk, but it tastes good. I suspect you could make the traditional version and just double the white sauce in place of the soups.

Another thing we really like to eat around here is quiche. Our current favorite is broccoli/tomato.

[Paula]

Perfect, Katie! So you use all chicken broth instead of half broth and half milk? I think I'll give it a try!

Paula

[Katie]

I did use all broth, but you could certainly use milk or a combo.

[Samantha]

So this is where you two have been hiding out!

My favorite way to really stretch chicken is to make this dish. it is really good and dh loves it!

You can use whole wheat pasta if you like. i never have.

Take 1 cup of diced chicken, any kind, white or dark

left over broth or make a strong broth from bullion, your choice

make a white sauce out of half broth and half milk, about 3 cups worth.

have fresh/frozen broccoli florets
fresh/frozen mushroom slices

cook your pasta and drain. mix the pasta with the chicken, broccoli and mushrooms. Pour the white sauce on top of everything and top with some shredded mozzerella cheese. Bake until hot clear through and cheese browns on top.

it is so good! season it to taste (the broth) with salt and pepper. This makes a huge 9 x 13 dish full with just 1 cup of chicken! we have enough for dh to take for leftovers. i usually serve this with a good salad and some garlic toast.

Another one we like that is not very much meat is stuff peppers. if you want a recipe for that, let me know. I use a 1:4 ratio of meat to rice, so i use really only about 1/4 pound of burger to 1 cup or so of rice, maybe even more rice.

We love to make cheese enchiladas....don't know how healthy it is, but it sure is good and i use left over pinto beans and make homemade refried beans to serve along side the rice and 'chiladas. You can make either mexican flavored rice and/or spanish rice if you want some meat in it, the spanish rice is scrumptious! Again, you could get away with using 1/4 pound of burger for that too, for your whole family.

What kind of beans do you make? We do regular brown beans, cornbread and fried potatoes (i know, not healthy). but we also like white beans and if you add a tad bit of cumin, some diced up onions and some garlic, it tastes really good, even with no meat to season it up with. I love the 15 bean soup packet from walmart and i usuually use 1/4 of a turkey ham that i dice up into peices for the meat in that.

we make mexican soup with chicken, about two thighs only and it is really good.

i can make sour cream chicken enchiladas for an entire family with just three chicken thighs, again served with h/m rice and h/m refried beans. it is yummy! you can make it with the regular sauce also, either way or both.

go have your dh or someone go hunt you up a big ol' doe! If you lived closer to me, or you ever come up my way, you can have all you want. i am sick of venison and it is really healthy to eat too!

I have noticed that if i use less meat, my family doesn't ever notice if i have a lot more "sides" to go with it. Dh likes to have AT least four things on the table, and he is happier when there are five.

Chicken casserole is good and you only have to use three thighs for that also. not very healthy though cause i use those horrid canned soups

[Paula]

Hey, Samantha!

I'm trying to get healthy, so I've been bombarding everyone over here with all my questions lately.

I'm going to print off your post and keep your suggestions. They're good! I'm trying to come up with more bean recipes, so thanks for your idea for white beans. I got adventurous at WalMart the other day and bought about six bags of different kinds of beans. I usually only cook red beans with cornbread. I've been doing my potatoes in the oven with olive oil, but I sure like them fried on the stovetop better!


I've told my dh that he needs to go deer hunting (and on a turkey shoot!). My dad lets some guys hunt on his land every Thanksgiving and they usually get at least one deer. But my dh hasn't gotten the bug for it yet. He used to hunt a bit when he was younger, but he's older now, you know. ;D

Paula