Reply #100: We've drastically cut back our meat consumption [View All]

[laundry_queen]

I now try to use meat for flavouring (ie stir fries, soups) and when the meal centers around meat I make sure it's a cheap cut cooked well (ie crock pot to tenderize). We only have meat probably twice a week now and one of those times is usually a family dinner at my parents' house. Beef is even more rare. Ground beef is pretty much the only kind we use unless the other cuts go on deep discount or my parents clean out their freezer. And I've now started to add the fake soy ground beef TO whatever ground beef I have so I use less of it in each recipe. My kids can't even tell the difference.

Instead of meat we do things like spaghetti with a chunky sauce filled with cheap veggies like onions and mushrooms (I'll saute veggies and add the jarred sauce), or we have a good vegan recipe for a mushroom/asparagus risotto (we cheat and add some parmesan occasionally). Another favorite is rice burritos which my kids love. I often make indian food, like dahl and roti or chickpea curry. I buy ready-made palak paneer for $1 and a little goes a long way. I can't say the kids care for indian food though. My kids don't like meat on their pizza, so we buy frozen cheese ones and add veggies, or if the 'gourmet' stuff is mega on sale, we buy the veggie kind. I've recently experimented with making thai food and putting in eggs or potatoes instead of meat.

I'm really lucky in that our local grocery store usually has a really really deep discount on at least once cut of meat a week. Last week it was a beef round roast for 70% off. It was still $10 for a large roast, so I will cut it in half and have a small roast one day and stew the next. The week before it was cut up chicken parts. I got a few bags, each bag had 2 breasts, back still attached, and 3 or 4 drumsticks with thighs still attached. Each bag was $3-5. One bag makes a buttload of soup with tons of chicken in it that lasts for DAYS. Or I'll separate the pieces myself and cook my grandmother's old hungarian chicken paprika recipe. Again, that lasts at least 2 days for my family of 5. I make sure we have large amounts of side dishes when we have meat. We'll have lots of potatoes and veggies, or rice and veggies and often salad or coleslaw (again, our store has their own brand that is cheapcheapcheap, like $1 a bag). And sometimes we have homemade buns or bread with them (or I'll get the giant bag of buns at Costco for $5 and keep it in the freezer taking out a few at a time). So our local grocery store has really helped by having those 60-70% off specials.

I've cut down on our cheese consumption too, since our cheese here in Canada is so expensive. The name brand packages have gotten so small, it's hilarious. You can't even cut a slice wide enough to cover your cracker anymore. So I never buy name brand. I buy store brand nearly all the time. It's still too expensive.

As for beans - my kids hate them. I've tried numerous recipes and my kids just won't eat them once they taste the beans. I've even tried homemade refried beans spread thinly on the tortilla in the rice burritos, and covered it in sour cream & salsa, and my kids knew right away I added something different. So I'll take any and all bean ideas and recipes right here :)