Making lumps of meat look bigger...

valk_scot

Make up some price tags with paper glued to the end of a cocktail stick. Then put the price of his portion on his plate, and your's (and any other family member's) on their's. I'm presuming that you and any kids don;t eat the same sizes of "lumps" as he does of course but it might shut him up if he see's he's getting a £2 portion of meat while the rest of you are getting 50p's worth to balance the budget.

Anyway, eating too much meat is actually unhealthy. The portion size for a man of any weight is 4 ounces, which is one average size chop. Anything more than this and it's a waste of protein, it just gets broken down for energy or laid up as body fat. And there's a strong link between eating too much red meat and some forms of cancer, remember. The current recommendation is that red meat should only be eaten 4-5 times per week at most and in appropriate portion sizes. It's not just about the money, though that's bad enough if you have to literally take the food from other folk's plates to balance the budget.

Maybe a sit down discussion with your OH about the realities of life re health and money is iin order? Sorry to sound harsh, but he's an adult after all and should be past the stage of whinging when he doesn't get a big enough piece of whatever on his plate.

WhiteHorse

Obviously a cave man. Give him meat on the bone and tell him to gnaw it.

one_hot_minute

The Lidl pork joints are delicious and i'm not even really a big pork fan. I can't beleive how cheap they are too.

Minute steak baguettes with chunky chips go down well in my house and I can bring the meal for the four of us for under £4 with good servings of the meat.

Chicken stuffed with phili, mushrooms and onions goes down a treat too.

torbrex

I'm another one for smaller plates, this has been recommended to me by my diabetes nurse as a way to reduce my 'intake'.
I am trying to find 3/4 sized plates but so far I have only found half size.


As for bulking out meat dishes, my mum was all for adding veg or pastry to fill the plate and dumplings added to mince or stew dishes. Stovies was a huge favourite in our house, amazing what she could do with a little leftover stew, some tatties, carrots, onion and turnip and there was never any complaints about being hungry after that.

terra_ferma

I use lean meat for stews, like turkey (much better texture than chicken for stews, I find). Even diced beef is not too fatty.

Also you could use a meat mallet/tenderizer to stretch the meat, it breaks the muscle and the meat not only is more tender (thus you can buy cheaper cuts), but also bigger.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Quality-Apollo-Wooden-Meat-Hammer-Mallet-Kitchen-Tool-/250910960914?pt=UK_Kitchen_Accessories&hash=item3a6b756d12

rosie383

Thanks for this thread and all the replies. My BIL is coming to stay with us for about 10 days, and I was asking my husband what he likes to eat. Apparently he is a real carnivore and loves big helpings of meat. We eat a very small amount of meat here. Eg, I made cous cous yesterday, and only had 2 chicken drumsticks to use between four of us. Bulked it out with loads of veg. When my dh asked if that was all the meat there was....... I just said he will be eating so much meat when his brother is here, that I was going gently with it now!
So lots of helpful suggestions here.

joedenise

celyn90 wrote: »

Or you could buy smaller plates - that has worked for me in the past

That's what I was going to suggest. I have some small dinner plates and dinners definitely do look bigger on them and makes you think you've got more than you have:D

I also think slices of meat look bigger fanned out on the plate than in a lump. I also think it's easier to eat.

Denise

heretolearn_2

Thank you for all the suggestions and recipes. It is more about cutting down for health/weight reasons than money so I'm trying to avoid adding pastry/breadcrumbs etc, but thanks for all the ideas (we all need to ring the changes sometimes).

the caveman comment made me laugh - yes he is, he even gnaws the ends off the actual bones and eats them! Grew up doing it. I have to say he has great teeth - very strong and white - so maybe all that exercise and extra calcium is good for you!

I do have a couple of smaller plates that I don't use much (cheapo Asda set, turned out to be cheap as mini sized!) so that's a really good idea, use those instead of the full sized ones, and definately put the couple of big plates we have at the back of the cupboard.

Don't mean to make him sound that bad, he has no vices really, just enjoys his grub and I want to try and improve both our diets without making either of us feel deprived.

ubamother

Cheaper long-slow-cook type cuts can give you more meat for your money - brisket is one of my favourites.

ubamother

Just wanted to add that he doesn't sound bad at all, and you sound lovely for thinking about everybody's happiness in your home. Gently, gently is a great way to go. Whether fully-grown adults at work or at home, we all appreciate our views and tastes being respected, and we all respond better in the long term to a positive touch rather than an antagonistic one - well I do anyway. Some may call your approach manipulative or weak, but it's not, manipulation is a nasty thing to ensure one 'wins' regardless of the effect on the other person. I would call your approach using positive management skills (and no, I don't work in any kind of industry that has posters to that effect on their office walls!). Obviously if your loved one was being horrible and demanding about his pound of flesh a more direct approach may be far more satisfying!