cheaper cuts of meat

puddy

notatvstar wrote: »

Breast of lamb, neck of lamb (not neck fillet) are (I think) the 2 cheapest cuts of lamb. Beef - shin, skirt or oxtail. These cuts have to be cooked slowly so find special recipes... they taste GREAT though. Pork fillet is usually fairly cheap as well (I think - might be wrong)... What I usually do is I buy bacon off-cuts at our local farm shop (I think you can get them in most supermarkets now - but I feel I can't buy supermarket meat any more for animal cruelty reasons... sorry - that's just me...).

You can get 3 days worth of main meals out of a medium size chicken - 2 very greedy adults). Sunday roast. (Just eat the breast meat). Monday chicken fried rice or stir fry (legs, olives, thighs) and Chicken soup on Tuesday (crack bones, boil carcass add veg! - simples:))

... no freezers were opened during the course of this message I also have a weird thing about frozen meat.

yes, ive been looking at ox tail. the second problem apart from a lack of freezer space is that i have a very fussy OH who wont eat things if they are bought too far in advance (at the most a week) and who wont eat left overs on a tuesday from a dish we ate on sunday. he will very reluctantly eat left over chicken on a monday.

the problem also is that one breast wouldnt be enough for him, he usually eats a leg and a breast.

we currently have milk wars going on at the moment, i try to buy long life milk in bulk packs of 6 litres (he wont drink normal milk and likes long life milk in porridge on saturdays and sundays). but even though i plan that 6 litres will cover 6 weeks, he drinks it like water and will easily get through that pack in one week.

its got me thinking because i keep reading about feeding a family of 4 per week on £50 or less but we spend that easily for just 2 of us. i notice that the key seems to be that portions seem small or meals are stretched for several meals, my OH just wouldnt tolerate that and its such a dilemma expecting him to not eat snacks and use up provisions but also accepting that i am not 'in charge' of him and cant act like some sort of dictator when it comes to meal sizes.

straight after a large meal, he is up eating bits of bread, cooking up baguettes, one of which he will eat, then he eats fruit and will eat nearly a whole pot of greek yoghurt in one go

dixie_dean_2

One cut of meat that I think is really great and very cheap is pork shank. I've only seem them in morrisons but really nice meat and £2 is enough for a roast for 4.

dixie_dean_2

Is he a big bear?

puddy

dixie_dean wrote: »

One cut of meat that I think is really great and very cheap is pork shank. I've only seem them in morrisons but really nice meat and £2 is enough for a roast for 4.

I dont eat pork as i said.

no he's not! but is very fussy about what he calls 'sell bys'. what he means by that is basically anything that isnt bought that day with a long use by date. he wont allow reduced stuff in the house and has actually taken things out of my hands when ive bought them. ive spoken about it on here at length, theres no reasoning with him. its not a solution for him to do the shopping or not to pander to him as he'll simply go out and buy kfc or mcdonalds or some rubbish like that for every meal. he will buy branded processed products if left in charge of his own shopping and meals

dixie_dean_2

Sorry. What about quorn and mince. Qorn is often on offer and is very cheap when it is.

puddy

oh yes we use mince and i halve it by adding lentils to everything. quorn we like very much but find it very expensive for the amount. i usually buy things in small bulk where i can and freeze them in portions, like 500g of mince will do 2 meals for 2 people (125g each) or a pack of chicken breasts separated into 2 breasts portions but the freezer wont hold much more than that with bags of frozen veg and fish.

quintwins

can you not buy reduced stuff then put it in food bags we do this to make the most of our freezer but it would also mean theres no date on it

i use 500g of mince for 5 of us (more like 4 as the 3 kids don't have adult portions) and i only use chicken breast in casarole and 2 does all 5 of us (maybe 3 if there small) so he must eat an awful lot, can you not bulk his plate out with lots of veg or salad?

Farway

puddy wrote: »

. However, supermarkets dont tend to do things that I have read about like shin of beef or ox tail.

No idea if one near you, or the price, but Morrison's do both of these

puddy

he doesnt eat salad and will only pick at veg

it depends what sort of dish. if i do a curry i will use 2 small breasts or 2 thighs which i cut up becuase it will be mixed with other things. if i am serving the breast stuffed with stuff and wrapped in ham, then he will have a big breast (200g or so) and i will have a small one (100g or so). that way, we have 300g between us.

i wouldnt use breast for a casserrole as its too expensive, i would use legs or something. i use the 500g to serve 4 meals in total (2 meals for 2)

since ive been dieting and trying to really enforce not spending too much (its been a constant struggle since we moved in together as i used to virtually live on pasta and eggs which he wont eat), he has lost weight without even trying but we have a lot of rows where i feel very guilty about trying to regulate what he eats. i feel as if i shouldnt really. he is an adult after all!

puddy

quintwins wrote: »

can you not buy reduced stuff

no, see above, all hell would break loose!!