- Joined
- Nov 23, 2021
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- 466
Not sure I'm in the right place for this thread, so if it needs moved, that's ok with me.
One topic that keeps coming up in my world is how many meals can you get from meat. Whether it be a pound of beef or pork or? Or from a whole chicken.
My family is currently the 3 of us. Myself and 2 young adult sons (22 & 20)......plus 2 dogs that want atleast a topper of wet food (homemade or canned) on their dry kibble though they would prefer to skip the kibble entirely and gorge on the wet stuff, and 7 chickens for clean up. We also have a cat, but she won't eat anything that isn't her dry kibble....so she doesn't count and I guess the chickens don't either, cause I never plan for them in our meal preps. They have their own and only get whatever is left of ours as a treat, if & when it's available.
Normally, beef & pork cuts are roughly a pound per meal. Except burger and that depends on what is made with it. If doing burgers, tacos or meatloaf, I usually use about 3/4 to a lb for 3 of us. Dogs not included. Anything else like spaghetti, chili, SOS, goulash, or whatever, I cut that back to about a half a pound for the meal.
As for chicken, that's another story. I usually buy whole bodied chickens, then cut it up myself. Most, if not all the time, I do up several birds at once just because it's easier to package it as meals. So to break it down easier, I'll use 10 birds for an example.........
1 bird saved for baked/roasted or cut up fryer, minus the wings that are saved for a 'wing feed'.......we eat what we want from the first meal, then I can usually get atleast 1 or sometimes 2 meals from the leftovers, not counting a couple of sandwiches for their work lunches. The carcass & leftover bones & neck is saved for stock.
All wings are sectioned and bagged (I use Ziplocs) together, wing tips are saved for stock.....so that's 40 pieces for 1 meal, plus 1 or 2 lunches or snacks as leftover (all depends on how hungry those boys are)
Leg quarters, 1 per person per meal,.........9 birds makes 6 meals, leftovers optional, but usually into dog food
Breast halves.......18 total, 1 per package but only for 14 meals. I count 2 meals using 1 half per person, and the rest is 1 half per meal for all of us.
Wing tips, necks, carcasses, leftover bones all go to the stock pot for soup, along with any leftover 'clean' meat or pickings, that hasn't been given to the dogs.
Instead of going by weight or calories, I go by serving size that is roughly the size of a deck of cards. When meat is cut up into smaller pieces, I figure one cupped handful per person or about 1/2 cup.
So that comes to roughly 25 meals from 10 birds??? And that's being generous. If push comes to shove that can be stretched to 30 meals, maybe more as long as I provide more sides and/or fillers.
How do any of you use or package your meats to get the most out of them and make them stretch further? This could be an important thing to think about or do, as meat and prices become out of reach and we have to ration what we have or lucky to get our hands on. As that time nears, I'll be working on how to get more out of what I have or can provide.
Anyone have other ideas of how to stretch a meal?
*Note*.....I have stretched burger in tacos to using 1/3 to 1/2lb of meat mixed with refried beans.
One topic that keeps coming up in my world is how many meals can you get from meat. Whether it be a pound of beef or pork or? Or from a whole chicken.
My family is currently the 3 of us. Myself and 2 young adult sons (22 & 20)......plus 2 dogs that want atleast a topper of wet food (homemade or canned) on their dry kibble though they would prefer to skip the kibble entirely and gorge on the wet stuff, and 7 chickens for clean up. We also have a cat, but she won't eat anything that isn't her dry kibble....so she doesn't count and I guess the chickens don't either, cause I never plan for them in our meal preps. They have their own and only get whatever is left of ours as a treat, if & when it's available.
Normally, beef & pork cuts are roughly a pound per meal. Except burger and that depends on what is made with it. If doing burgers, tacos or meatloaf, I usually use about 3/4 to a lb for 3 of us. Dogs not included. Anything else like spaghetti, chili, SOS, goulash, or whatever, I cut that back to about a half a pound for the meal.
As for chicken, that's another story. I usually buy whole bodied chickens, then cut it up myself. Most, if not all the time, I do up several birds at once just because it's easier to package it as meals. So to break it down easier, I'll use 10 birds for an example.........
1 bird saved for baked/roasted or cut up fryer, minus the wings that are saved for a 'wing feed'.......we eat what we want from the first meal, then I can usually get atleast 1 or sometimes 2 meals from the leftovers, not counting a couple of sandwiches for their work lunches. The carcass & leftover bones & neck is saved for stock.
All wings are sectioned and bagged (I use Ziplocs) together, wing tips are saved for stock.....so that's 40 pieces for 1 meal, plus 1 or 2 lunches or snacks as leftover (all depends on how hungry those boys are)
Leg quarters, 1 per person per meal,.........9 birds makes 6 meals, leftovers optional, but usually into dog food
Breast halves.......18 total, 1 per package but only for 14 meals. I count 2 meals using 1 half per person, and the rest is 1 half per meal for all of us.
Wing tips, necks, carcasses, leftover bones all go to the stock pot for soup, along with any leftover 'clean' meat or pickings, that hasn't been given to the dogs.
Instead of going by weight or calories, I go by serving size that is roughly the size of a deck of cards. When meat is cut up into smaller pieces, I figure one cupped handful per person or about 1/2 cup.
So that comes to roughly 25 meals from 10 birds??? And that's being generous. If push comes to shove that can be stretched to 30 meals, maybe more as long as I provide more sides and/or fillers.
How do any of you use or package your meats to get the most out of them and make them stretch further? This could be an important thing to think about or do, as meat and prices become out of reach and we have to ration what we have or lucky to get our hands on. As that time nears, I'll be working on how to get more out of what I have or can provide.
Anyone have other ideas of how to stretch a meal?
*Note*.....I have stretched burger in tacos to using 1/3 to 1/2lb of meat mixed with refried beans.