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Chanonn asked, "How in the world do you stretch a family pack of hamburger and a bag of chicken breasts 2 weeks or more???? Holy Moly!"
Well I had never really thought about it too much before, but I think there is a few ways...
1. Let me clarify although we are a 4 person family, 2 of those members are under the age of 10...our 9 year old sometimes-vegetarian daughter and our 4 year old randomly-changes-my-mind-about-what-food-I-will-eat son. So, my family eats less than the normal 4 person family. And my husband eats less than the normal American male is expected to eat... Three years ago he started cutting back on food and losing weight (he's lost over 40 lbs and has kept it off for those 3 years ) and one of the major things he did was just becoming aware of how MUCH he'd been eating (me too, I lost 4 lbs!) and so he/we just STOPPED eating that much, (crazy concept, right?)...anyways all that to sum up, we probably eat 3/4 of what a "normal" 4 person family eats at dinner (maybe less) so that also equals less meat.
2. I buy about a 6 lb pack of ground beef (low fat, try to keep it under 10% fat) and then split it into 8 packs of beef, wrap and freeze them...why 8 packs instead of 6...well it's not that much less meat per meal and it stretches the meat to two more meals, so one 6 lb family pack of ground beef equals at least 8 meals if not more with leftovers and such...
3. Chicken Breasts...I buy the large bag from either WinCo or Costco...(prefer to get it from Costco, but HATE dividing my grocery shopping into more than one spot so I only get the Costco chicken if I'm there for something else!...)...and then yes, back to the crazy small amount of meat/food that my family consumes, when making a meal that calls for cut up/cubed/shredded/sliced chicken I only make one (1) chicken breast...yes, one...for our entire family...(we are getting to the point that I'm going to have to go up to two breast soon...our sometimes-vegetarian daughter has started eating a lot more food recently...someone's getting ready to grow a few inches...she's gained 13 lbs since August!)...anyways, not really sure how many chicken breast come in a family pack, but even if there's only 7-8 pieces that gives me 7-8 meals...so now between the beef and the chicken we have 16 meals...
4. I have other items on my menu that don't include ground beef or chicken breast...like a whole chicken about once a month (usually buy a package with 2 whole chickens use one and freeze one for the next month)...a beef roast (both the whole chicken and beef roast end up equaling more than one meal, I use the leftover meat for some sort of casserole or something), pork chops or tenderloin, pre-made meatballs (the last recipe I posted), etc...
5. There is usually at LEAST one, if not more, nights in a two week "menu" that we won't be eating at our house...
So, Chanonn, I hope that answered your question about how I stretch the meat...and I hope I didn't bore the rest of you with our ChambersMade meat habits...is this a weird blog topic???
Well I had never really thought about it too much before, but I think there is a few ways...
1. Let me clarify although we are a 4 person family, 2 of those members are under the age of 10...our 9 year old sometimes-vegetarian daughter and our 4 year old randomly-changes-my-mind-about-what-food-I-will-eat son. So, my family eats less than the normal 4 person family. And my husband eats less than the normal American male is expected to eat... Three years ago he started cutting back on food and losing weight (he's lost over 40 lbs and has kept it off for those 3 years ) and one of the major things he did was just becoming aware of how MUCH he'd been eating (me too, I lost 4 lbs!) and so he/we just STOPPED eating that much, (crazy concept, right?)...anyways all that to sum up, we probably eat 3/4 of what a "normal" 4 person family eats at dinner (maybe less) so that also equals less meat.
2. I buy about a 6 lb pack of ground beef (low fat, try to keep it under 10% fat) and then split it into 8 packs of beef, wrap and freeze them...why 8 packs instead of 6...well it's not that much less meat per meal and it stretches the meat to two more meals, so one 6 lb family pack of ground beef equals at least 8 meals if not more with leftovers and such...
3. Chicken Breasts...I buy the large bag from either WinCo or Costco...(prefer to get it from Costco, but HATE dividing my grocery shopping into more than one spot so I only get the Costco chicken if I'm there for something else!...)...and then yes, back to the crazy small amount of meat/food that my family consumes, when making a meal that calls for cut up/cubed/shredded/sliced chicken I only make one (1) chicken breast...yes, one...for our entire family...(we are getting to the point that I'm going to have to go up to two breast soon...our sometimes-vegetarian daughter has started eating a lot more food recently...someone's getting ready to grow a few inches...she's gained 13 lbs since August!)...anyways, not really sure how many chicken breast come in a family pack, but even if there's only 7-8 pieces that gives me 7-8 meals...so now between the beef and the chicken we have 16 meals...
4. I have other items on my menu that don't include ground beef or chicken breast...like a whole chicken about once a month (usually buy a package with 2 whole chickens use one and freeze one for the next month)...a beef roast (both the whole chicken and beef roast end up equaling more than one meal, I use the leftover meat for some sort of casserole or something), pork chops or tenderloin, pre-made meatballs (the last recipe I posted), etc...
5. There is usually at LEAST one, if not more, nights in a two week "menu" that we won't be eating at our house...
So, Chanonn, I hope that answered your question about how I stretch the meat...and I hope I didn't bore the rest of you with our ChambersMade meat habits...is this a weird blog topic???
2 comments:
It did...and makes sense!! Thanks for sharing:)
One way to make up for using less meat is to add a can of beans. It's great for you, great protein, filling, and adds another texture to your dish. I add them to tacos, stroganoff, soups, casseroles, even hamburgers :)
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