What's the secret?

Hi reader, One of the biggest questions I get about grocery budgeting is how to afford quality meat. Want to know my secret? We eat a lot of meat-less meals. Notice I didn't say "meatless" but meat-less. Don't get me wrong, we do love our meaty meals like sweet and sticky chicken, giant meatballs, and slow cooker pot roast. But in between meals like those, I plan meals that allow me to stretch our meat. This is how we can make our monthly Butcher Box fit within our budget! A while back I shared a Ground Beef Meal Plan that takes two pounds of ground beef and stretches it into eight meals. Yep, you read that right – EIGHT! The trick I use is to add quality fillers, like veggies and lentils, and then portion out the beef/veggie mix so that I only use a limited amount in each recipe. (Go check out the magic HERE.) I love to stretch ground beef using veggies because it increases the nutrition, the kids don't really notice, and I can make LOTS of meals from one pound of ground beef! These veggies work really well, especially when they're shredded or diced finely: carrots mushrooms celery onions cabbage And these are other ideas that have been suggested to me, but I haven't tried them all: beans lentils oats rice barley homemade breadcrumbs potatoes (roasted not mashed!) corn tofu If you're never stretched your ground beef before, here's a quick tutorial: Start with whatever vegetables your family likes the most. (You can always experiment with other veggies the next time.) Generally speaking, you can add 1-2 cups of COOKED filler to one pound of raw meat. (Different veggies cook down differently, so be prepared with 2-4 cups of raw diced/shredded veggies to get the 1-2 cups of cooked.) Add the raw meat into the same pan that you cooked your vegetables so the flavors can meld together. Then substitute 2 cups of this stretched meat for one pound of ground beef called for in a recipe. If you start with one pound of ground beef, you should come out with 6 cups of stretched meat… that means you'll have SIX meals worth of stretched meat! Oh yeah, this works with ground turkey and pork and chicken too! Don't forget – you can still get the summer grilling bundle from Butcher Box. In you first order you get 6 hamburgers, 8 hot dogs (the good kind without icky fillers!), and up to 3 lbs of chicken breasts! This offer is good until September 5th. But if you order now you'll get you order in by Labor Day Weekend. A great time to pull that grill out and share with friends! → Click here to order! ♥ Tiffany PS – Butcher Box offers grass-fed, organic, and pastured meat delivered right to your door! You can read my first review on Butcher Box HERE and my most recent experiences HERE.

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