Meal Planning February 10 – 23 and How to Afford Meat

This post is sponsored by Plan to Eat.

Meal planning is on our minds as often as we eat.  Three times a day for seven days a week times 356 days in a year… that’s a lot of thinking!

Instead of spinning our wheels and spending time (and energy) toward something that we all struggle with at some point or another, let’s take action and start solving our meal planning problems.

There have been two meal-planning giveaways on Crumbs so far (the third is currently in process – enter today and Plan to Eat could help you plan your meals for an entire year!)

In both giveaways you were asked to share what you struggled with most in regards to meal planning.  Instead of ignoring your woes and expecting you to deal with them on your own, my goal is to address one specific meal planning issue each time I share my own bi-weekly menus with you guys.

By the end of the year, we will have covered 24 major issues we, as a community, have with meal planning.  If we still have problems come 2014, we’ll just keep on going.  With that said, I encourage you to leave your meal planning woes in the comments.  Your trouble will get added to the master list, and perhaps another reader who has or does struggle with the same issue could provide some insight and tips as well.

Meal Planning Problem #1:  Affording Meat

Whether we buy conventional meat or organic, affording meat can definitely be a challenge and can also easily take up a significant portion of our budgets.  Here are five tips that have made a huge impact on how we afford meat.

1. View meat differently.

If we allow meat to be the key component of every meal, we’ll end up spending $300 or more each month on meat alone.  My budget certainly cannot afford that.  Our dinners are based largely around vegetables and whole grains, with meat being an accompaniment.  It’s not that I don’t like meat, but one whole organic chicken costs $13.  The price tag alone doesn’t permit whole roasted chickens to be on the menu very often.

2. Eat meat less often.

Sound familiar?  Day 21 of the Fresh Start series challenged you to go meatless.  For good purpose too – planning more meals that require less (or no) meat means “chicken” and “beef” don’t appear on your shopping list as often.  If you’re just starting out, including one day each week that’s dedicated to a meatless meat is an excellent way to start.  Gradually move up to two days, then three days, then four…, and so on.  Soon your menu will be filled with so many meatless days, that you’ll have to take some off to include meat!

3. Know a good price.

Educate yourself on what various meats should cost and always aim for that price.  One pound of organic ground beef costs $5.99/lb in my neck of the woods, so when Whole Foods had a one day sale of organic grass-fed ground beef at $3.99/lb, it took severe restraint not to buy up 10 or 15 pounds.  Same thing when they have whole organic free-range chickens on sale for 99¢/lb, but at least their limit of 10 per customer will keep me in check.

4. Recognize a quality brand.

We’ve committed to buying organic chicken, but we haven’t made the same commitment to beef because we simply don’t eat it as often.  However, that doesn’t mean we turn a blind eye to what we’re buying.  There are lots of smaller companies that practice sustainability methods and have organic standards, yet haven’t forked over the fee to be officially labeled (and inspected and certified) as organic.  Get to know your local brands and do your homework.  You may be happily surprised at what you find!

5. Change how you cook and serve meat.

Shredded chicken and diced beef goes much further than whole breasts or steaks.  For tacos and pitas (or similar meals), cook the meat whole and dice it into bite-size pieces before serving.  The smaller the piece of meat, the less will be needed for each serving.  Also consider reducing how much meat you cook in the first place.  For example, instead of allowing one chicken breast per person on sandwich night, pound out the breast to 3/8″ or so thickness and cut it in half.  This will still give you a piece of chicken covering your entire sandwich, yet you’ll get twice as many servings.

Below is our menu plan for the next two weeks.  You’ll notice of the twelve meals planned, (since family dinner is hosted by my parents), only two showcase meat (see #1 above).  Only four of the twelve have meat at all (see #2).  The beef use in the spaghetti sauce is from a company practicing sustainable and organic (yet not certified) methods (#4).  The chicken was bought whole, for the best price I can get it for (#3) and the breasts will be pounded out before cooking (#5).

Each meal includes a bulleted list with tips, suggestions and to-do’s for the following day.  Feel free to borrow as much or as little as you’d like!  I’d love to hear what you guys think about the new format – leave me some love (or constructive criticism ) in the comments!

WEEK 1

(S) Family Dinner [eat leftovers, a simple dinner, a meal from the pantry or start a new family tradition]

• soak and cook 1 lb white beans (we’re using this method)
• prepare a batch (6 qts) of hearty spaghetti sauce, adding 2 cups of cooked beans before pureeing; freeze/can in 1 qt portions
• freeze remaining white beans in 2 cup portions (should yield approximately three portions)
• make one batch of buns, shaping half into submarine rolls and half into long sticks

(M) Chicken Parmesan Subs, Roasted Potatoes, Seasonal Veggie x2

• uses approx 1qt of sauce and half batch of buns
• set aside leftover vegetables for Wednesday

(T) Spaghetti Night, Seasonal Veggie

• uses approx 1 qt of sauce
• make two batches of rice; store separately in fridge

(W) Vegetable Fried Rice

• uses one batch of cooked rice, bag of frozen mixed veggies, leftover veggies from Monday and one portion (2 cups) of frozen white beans

 (T) Hearty Minestrone Soup

• uses any remaining leftover vegetables and one portion (2 cups) of frozen white beans
• can use any leftover pasta from Tuesady
• serve with second half of buns from Sunday
• time saver:  soup can be prepared the night before in a slow-cooker and turned on low in the morning

(F) Homemade Pizza Night [or replace with your own fun family tradition]

• marinate chicken overnight for Saturday

(S) Greek Pitas with Shredded Chicken or Ground Beef, Greek-Seasoned Rice with Vegetables, Tzatziki Sauce, Seasonal Veggie, Hummus

• uses remaining rice from Wednesday
• time saver:  everything can be made earlier in the day

WEEK 2

(S) Family Dinner [eat leftovers, a simple dinner, a meal from the pantry or start a new family tradition]

(M) Lemon Caper Chicken or Tilapia, Veggie x2

• set extras aside for the pot pies

(T) Vegetable Pot Pie with Biscuits

• recipe from Better Than a Box
• substitute white bean sauce for “cream of” soups using last portion (2 cups) of frozen white beans
• make double batch of biscuits

(W) Clean Out the Fridge Night

• second batch of biscuits is off-limits
• make a batch of little bother bread for Saturday

(T) Tomato Basil Soup

• serve with second batch of biscuits and shredded parmesan
• time saver:  soup can be prepared the night before in a slow-cooker and turned on low in the morning

(F) Homemade Pizza Night [or replace with your own fun family tradition]

(S) Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Leftover Soup

• add any vegetables you may have in the fridge (i.e. sliced tomatoes, bell peppers, etc.)
• use bread from Wednesday
• use pesto or herbed cream cheese for variation

I’ve included links to the recipes for you here, but they’ve also been loaded to the recipe collection in Plan to Eat so you can drag and drop them into your own planner.  Be sure to sign up for their free 30-day trial and use discount code NoCrumbWasted to save 30% off their subscription (code valid through March 31).   If you prefer to take the gamble, sign up and then back to this post for the opportunity to win it!

How do you like the new and improved meal planning?  Do you have any tips on affording meat?

This post is shared at OrgJunkie.

Disclaimer:  Plan to Eat sponsored this post.