Need to make meat box last 2 weeks

vicky1001

am new to this, have fridge and freezer never cooked whole chicken would not know what to do

here what need to last 2 weeks

lamb joint 650gpork + herb sausages x 6 450gbeef frying steak 200gpork chops x 2 500gchicken legs x 2 600gbeef mince 450gwhole chicken 1.8kg
total weight 4.65kg

any ideas / recipes / meal plan would be fab for 14 days:A

JCS1

How many people is this for? And what type of meals would you usually make with similar boxes?

Might also be worth adding a list of storecupboard ingrediants that you have in, so people can suggest meals where you will already have (most of the) ingrediants in,

Puddleglum

I'm in a similar position to you. I got a meat box for the first time to see us through these two weeks. MIL brought a turkey with her and that should do another 5 or 6 meals so that has taken some of the pressure off. So far I have made a chicken, leek and sweetcorn pie that served 6 from 2 chicken breasts by boiling the chicken in water and using that to make a white sauce. I used to large leeks and a tin of sweetcorn along with the diced chicken and put a rough puff pastry lid on it.

The large chicken will be roasted on New Year's Day and will have to serve 5-7 people with plenty of veg. The shoulder of lamb is earmarked for roasting on the following Sunday. MIL goes home the following day.

Some sort of sausage pasta should be ok with plenty of veg in it for one day. Cook the sausages and then cut them up into slices and add them to a sauce made of onions, grated carrots, tinned toms and maybe spinach before adding to pasta.

The mince can also be padded out - some people on here swear by padding mince with porridge oats but I haven't tried that yet and then used as a base for another meal. I am thinking about casseroles but being a reluctant meat eater can not help you with any recipes - I will have to wing it when the time comes.

Hope that this is of some help. Other, more experienced cooks will probably be along soon.

Puddleglum

vicky1001

this is the first box of its kind we having - 2 people for 14 days ! we have normally fruit/ veg (carrots / broccili that type of thing and potatoes - can buy things like pasta and sauces oh we also have onions

vicky1001

there is a whole chicken in there and i would not know where to start with it to make it last - i am so lost with all this really i need a dummies approch as i dont even know if it can be done - i dont want to go to bed hungry

rising_from_the_ashes

Hope this doesn't come across as "cheeky" but going for the approach I needed when I first cooked one!

Roast chicken

The packaging should have instructions somewhere on how long to roast it.

• Unpack the chicken, cut off the band thing round the legs and rinse under a cold tap (inside the chicken which will be empty).
• Pat dry & stick it in casserole dish (one with a lid)
• Add a little water in the bottom of the dish and some chicken seasoning on the top.
• Pop the lid on, stick in the oven and leave until about 1/2 an hour before it's due to be ready and take the lid off for it to brown/crisp up.
• Remove the breasts and serve (with whatever else you're having with it).

Making stock:

Pick all remaining meat from the bird - you'll get bigger bits from the legs etc and smaller bits from all over (even underneath) ... you'll be amazed at how much comes off it.

Put the bones into a large pan, add a fair bit of boiling water (certainly enough to cover the bones & a bit more) and simmer for a couple of hours.

You can add a bought stock cube, old bits of veg you've got lying around etc but these aren't essential and you can experiment as you get more confident.

Strain the liquid / bones through a sieve into a large bowl & rinse the bones with a small amount of boiling water to get every bit of goodness out.

That's your stock made:) - it can be used as a base for soup (which you can also use some of your smaller bits of leftover meat for) or for many things - such as the Risotto below.

Chicken & Leek Risotto

Link to a really easy (and yummy) Risotto that I discovered:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/48018523#Comment_48018523

Chicken, split yellow pea & veg soup (and leftover bits of chicken if wanted)

Really easy .... add the stock to a pan and add a handful of split yellow peas. Simmer for about an hour until the peas have disintegrated.

You can either do this & add to the above - or add without cooking separately ......chop & gently fry some onions and/or leeks (I don't eat a lot of onion so tend to stick to the leeks) in a little butter until soft, add whatever other veg neeeds used up (carrots, potatoes, swede etc - and the chicken if being used) and cook gentle for 5-10 mins.

Add to pan with stock/split yellow peas in and cook for around 45 mins until the veg is tender. Depending on preference serve straight away, or blend if you like smooth soups.


Have a look at the recipes at the front of the Grocery Challenge for more ideas https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3617081
many are really easy and, honestly, once you start and build your confidence, you'll be ready to tackle anything.

yonk

Jamie online and Delia online or BBC recipes.

hex2

I would make the beef mince into chilli con carne - I stretch it with red lentils rather than oats (1 of 5 a day being my logic). For that amount of mince I would use three tins of kidney beans, whatever spare veg I have (usually peppers and mushrooms), a tin of chopped toms and then fill the tin again with water, onions, tea spoon of cumin, tea spoon of chilli, a beef stock cube and half a pack of red lentils. You can then serve it with rice or jacket potatoes, or in wraps with some cheese. ETA Good post here for mince: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=11306305#post11306305

Sausage casserole with the sausages would do two meals for the two of you.

Plan it out so you don't get bored - day 1, 8 and 14 for the chilli, 2 and 9 for the sausage casserole for example.

Stews (beef, make it with dumplings or serve in yorkshire puddings with lots of gravy - you can add lentils or pearl barley to the stew as well), casserole, risottos, jambalaya (chicken scraps) and stirfrys (the pork chops, the frying beef) all help to stretch the meat.

Good luck with it!

valk_scot

It's actually quite a lot of meat for two people for two weeks. 4.65 kg pounds of meat is just over 1,000 g per person per week and the recommended portion size for meat is 100g per portion. So that gives you nine or ten portions per week, even allowing for bones and without stretching it or making vegetarian or fish dishes. I buy less than that for my family of four (2 adults, two older kids) for a fortnight than you're buying for two adults for the same amount of time, so don't worry, you'll have more than enough.

What kind of meals are you cooking at the moment, and what kind of food do you like? How are your cooking skills? Do you have any other restrictions, like someone not liking vegetables or refusing to eat pasta or rice dishes?

zippychick

these threads should help

lamb joint

sausage recipes please

frying steak

pork chops

chicken legs

more exciting mince recipes

how to roast a whole chicken

leftover chicken recipes please

hope these help and we will merge this later

Zip