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! (Psst! If you missed how to get more meat out of your monthly box, click here to read!) A few weeks ago 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 TWO POUNDS of ground beef FREE FOR LIFE when you order from Butcher Box this month! I just checked with my rep over there and the offer is still going, but I'd hurry because this one ALWAYS runs out early! → 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 how we afford it on a budget HERE. Do you want to stop receiving emails about Butcher Box? No problem! Just click here to opt out. You'll still receive the weekly newsletter unless you opt out of everything below.

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