Creating meals around meat: How to fit meat into your meals without blowing your budget!

Do you want to add meat into your family meals, but aren’t sure how to do so at a reasonable cost? Here are some tips that can save you money at the grocery store:

● Stretch ground meat with mix-ins

When cooking with ground meat, you can make the meat go further by adding other ingredients like rice or beans. Try these vegetable stuffed peppers and add a small amount of ground meat to the recipe. When making ground beef tacos, mix drained black beans in with the meat and seasonings.

●     Replace ground beef with ground turkey

On the topic of ground meat, ground turkey is usually less expensive than ground beef. It is leaner than beef and your family won’t even notice the difference! Test it out in chili or make turkey meatloaf (for an extra vitamin boost, mix in shredded veggies like zucchini and carrot).

●     Make meat an accent ingredient

Instead of the focus of the meal, use meat to enhance the flavor of a dish. This way you can use less. For example, use thin slices of meat in a veggie-heavy stir fry or toss small cubes of meat into a pasta sauce or salad.

●     Choose a whole chicken or thighs

When shopping for chicken, chicken thighs are often cheap and on sale. If you buy a large family pack, you can remove any bones or skin and place in smaller freezer bags to make perfect portions to freeze for later. Whole chickens are also a great deal. Roast one at the beginning of the week, remove all the meat from the bones, and shred or dice. Then you have cooked chicken ready for multiple recipes, like this one for Pasta with Greens, Beans, and Chicken.

●     Opt for Pork Loin or Boston Butt

If you are looking to cook some pork, choosing more affordable cuts can help. Pork loin is a leaner cut that remains moist when roasted whole in the oven or cut into pieces and cooked on the stove. Avoid the ones that come pre-seasoned, as they are more expensive and you can easily flavor it yourself with a mixture of your favorite seasonings. Barbeque fans might also suggest the Boston Butt, which actually comes from the shoulder. This piece of pork is fantastic cooked low and slow, perfect for a slow cooker! Add some barbeque sauce and you have easy pulled pork, ready for sandwiches your family will love. Don’t forget the coleslaw!