Thrifty!
thewrongtim and I spent most of yesterday in a cooking frenzy. In an effort to save some cash, we've decided to take a Dream Dinners-esque approach to our meals- we're buying ingredients in bulk, spreading throughout different meals and then freezing them so they're easy to defrost and eat when we get home from work.
On Friday night, tim put two chickens in the slow cooker before we went to bed so we could wake up on Saturday and get rolling. He pulled out the chickens and let them cool while I watched Story, then we both turned into Super Dinnner Making Commandos!
First up, I picked/shredded the chicken and divided into three parts- one for Chicken and Quinoa Soup, another for B-B-Q Chicken and the final portion for Kathryn Enchiladas. I put the latter two portions in the freezer, then set the soup chicken aside while I attacked the beef.
I will rat Tim out here and say that he doesn't really get his red meat cuts. He bought brisket at the store, mostly because of the cost. Those of you that know your meat, know that brisket is a low cost meat because it's full of marbled fat and connective tissue that make it good for little else besides cooking over long periods of time so that they tough tissues break down. Well, he bought this for use in beef vegetable soup (not too bad, though it's hard to chop into chunks) and for kebabs (a terrible choice). So, this left me, a very befuddled wifey, trying to figure out just how I was going to butcher this meat so it did double duty. I can say that I have won in the end. I divided up small bits for soup, then cut what larger pieces I could get for kebabs, marinated them and set them in the freezer. I then took the fatty/unusable pieces and braised/boiled them for the soup stock.
Now for the story of SOUP. Soup is wonderful because it's relatively healthy, can be loaded with veggies which are cheap and delicious, and you can spread your protein source out over multiple meals. For people being budget conscious, soup is a very wonderful way to spread your food budget and still be healthy and full. So began SOUPFEST 2009.
Yesterday, we made:
Beef and Vegetable Soup
Chicken n Quinoa Soup
Sweet Potato n Pumpkinn Soup
I just couldn't stop... I became a soup machine. I also made french onion lentils, which were nummy nummy. But yeah, it was kind of insane. Our freezer is now packed with so much soup, it should be illegal.
But I feel really accomplished. So, there ya go. I'm also happy that we have at least 10 servings of each soup available, which will really help cut some of our costs down. Woot! It won't be considerable money, but it's a start.
OK off to do chores. Ick.
On Friday night, tim put two chickens in the slow cooker before we went to bed so we could wake up on Saturday and get rolling. He pulled out the chickens and let them cool while I watched Story, then we both turned into Super Dinnner Making Commandos!
First up, I picked/shredded the chicken and divided into three parts- one for Chicken and Quinoa Soup, another for B-B-Q Chicken and the final portion for Kathryn Enchiladas. I put the latter two portions in the freezer, then set the soup chicken aside while I attacked the beef.
I will rat Tim out here and say that he doesn't really get his red meat cuts. He bought brisket at the store, mostly because of the cost. Those of you that know your meat, know that brisket is a low cost meat because it's full of marbled fat and connective tissue that make it good for little else besides cooking over long periods of time so that they tough tissues break down. Well, he bought this for use in beef vegetable soup (not too bad, though it's hard to chop into chunks) and for kebabs (a terrible choice). So, this left me, a very befuddled wifey, trying to figure out just how I was going to butcher this meat so it did double duty. I can say that I have won in the end. I divided up small bits for soup, then cut what larger pieces I could get for kebabs, marinated them and set them in the freezer. I then took the fatty/unusable pieces and braised/boiled them for the soup stock.
Now for the story of SOUP. Soup is wonderful because it's relatively healthy, can be loaded with veggies which are cheap and delicious, and you can spread your protein source out over multiple meals. For people being budget conscious, soup is a very wonderful way to spread your food budget and still be healthy and full. So began SOUPFEST 2009.
Yesterday, we made:
Beef and Vegetable Soup
Chicken n Quinoa Soup
Sweet Potato n Pumpkinn Soup
I just couldn't stop... I became a soup machine. I also made french onion lentils, which were nummy nummy. But yeah, it was kind of insane. Our freezer is now packed with so much soup, it should be illegal.
But I feel really accomplished. So, there ya go. I'm also happy that we have at least 10 servings of each soup available, which will really help cut some of our costs down. Woot! It won't be considerable money, but it's a start.
OK off to do chores. Ick.