Aibu to be sick of eating chicken?

[Teadrinker6]

We are a family of 4. Like most simple foods, nothing too fancy.
We mostly eat chicken, and occasionally fish. I am sick of making food every evening that revolves around chicken. I like all meat tho.

Can i ask you what meat do you usually buy each time you shop, and where do you purchase it from?

I shop in tescos and I'm finding that meat such as casserole beef/mince/ pork joint) salmon fillets etc are not enough to feed 4 people. Only 2. So I need to buy 2 packs of everything. It is so so expensive.

Do you and your children all eat the same meal as each other every day? I'm not a very good cook and like to keep things simple. Any tips?

Sausages. Pork steaks. Mince. Brisket. Prawns. All seem big enough for 4 from Sainsbury's.

try some of the meat alternatives, or make some meat free dishes with pulses etc. It works out cheaper (if you use pulses- the meat substitutes can come to around the same price as chicken)

i didn’t have any suggestions but i read this as ‘AIBU to be sick of eating children?’

i think i need more coffee

Buy one pack and bulk out with vegetables, pulses, lentils and beans

Surely beef mince is cheaper than chicken?

Macaroni cheese
Sausage casserole
Pork fillet
Beef stew

I get meat from Iceland big bags of chicken portions, pork chops, minced steak, lamb chops ,sausages, all plenty for 4 people and reasonably priced, good quality too you just have to remember to get the meat out of the freezer the day before

I try to buy from my butcher as much as possible. Its waaaaay better quality and only a few quid more.

I've cut down on a lot of meat. I like to eat less meat of greater quality and pack in the veg and pulses/lentils. Once you get round the idea that the meat is the star of the dish, it opens up a lot of other possibilities.

Saying that...

Pork shoulder is great value - Pulled pork seems to go on forever.
Pork Belly, cheap and IMO, the best cut for roasting
Turkey steaks - Great for bread crumbing and grilling, with chips and salad
Sausage and bean stews
I'm really in to lamb shoulder right now - Slow roasted, spiced, pulled apart. Yes its more expensive but its not an everyday thing.

Go to your butcher or fish monger and see what deals they will cut you for a bulk buy.

Sausage casserole
Pork chops, cauliflower cheese & veg
Turkey burgers
Lasagne
Bacon omelettes
Prawn & chorizo jambalaya
Fish cakes
Tuna/salmon nicoise
Bean chilli
Veggie fried rice
Tofu tacos
Veggie ramen
Stuffed peppers

Bulk everything up with veg, beans, pulses etc. Everything. BBC Good Food is a great place to start for simple recipes.

You don't need meat in every meal. We eat a lot of vegetarian meals. Aubergine and cauliflower are both a great vehicle for herbs and spices.

Like you, I find meat often very expensive so we do the following:
Shop at big supermarkets if you can - the limited choice in convenience stores often mean you end up paying more
'Cheap' meat: pork, sausages and turkey thigh mince are often very reasonable
Tinned fish: tuna, crab and salmon can make great fish cakes (call them 'burgers' if it helps the kids to try them!!) and pasta bakes
Meals where meat is not the 'star': potato and bacon hash with a poached egg, sweet potato and chorizo stew, cheese and ham omelette, ham and mushroom pizza
Frozen meat: bags of frozen salmon, lamb and mince are an awful lot cheaper than fresh - I personally don't like frozen beef mince, but I do like the meat-free soy version
Bulk up with vegetables and beans/pulses: anything with mince is often well bulked out with oats, grated/food-processed veg and/or lentils, currys are great with almost anything: mushrooms, aubergine, peppers or chickpeas
Meat free: tofu, soy mince, chickpeas, pasta bake, cauliflower cheese, cheese and tomato pizzas, lentil bake, dhal and baked beans can all make great meals
Pricey meat is reserved for treats and special occasions.

I agree wit hyou OP- chicken is a lot cheaper than some meats, but I would echo what others say.

If you cut down the amount of meat you serve it will be healthier and cheaper.

So if you make jajitas for instance one pack of pork fillet will easily feed 4 or 5, cut into thin strips, and add at least as much veg cut into similar sizes into the marinade- pepppers, onions and mushrooms.
Stir fry the mixture and then pile into flat breads with salad and sauce.
Same with thin cut beef steak for frying great in stir fry chinese noodle dishes with loads of veg.
If I make a curry then I will use some lamb, but again add chickpeas, potatoes, root veg to bulk it our. Ditto for cassoulet, with butter beans.
Beef mince lends itself really easily to being bulked out with lentils or veg for a bolognese, same with lamb mince for a shepherds pie, lots of chopped veg , carrot turnip, celery.

Pork is cheap.

Try using that.

Well mince is cheaper than chicken for a start and you can do all sorts with that and a 500 g pack for about £3 absolutely should feed 4, especially if you put some vegetables and pulses in the meal too (eg spaghetti bolognese, chilli, keema curry with potatoes, peas, mushrooms etc, cottage pie with veg.

Pork steaks usually also quite cheap and can be sliced up to cook in a rice dish with peppers, onions, bit chorizo, green beans and spices and it doesn't matter how many steaks you have because everyone gets some bits sliced up, rather than a piece of meat on a plate.

Buy in bulk.

I buy a whole salmon (£16 when half price at Tesco) and ask them to slice into portions. I then freeze in portions of 2 and defrost as needed.

Same for chicken breasts.

Minced beef is £5 for a half kilo at my local butcher, which is more enough than enough for a family of 4.

@Teadrinker6

We are a family of 4. Like most simple foods, nothing too fancy. We mostly eat chicken, and occasionally fish. I am sick of making food every evening that revolves around chicken. I like all meat tho.

Can i ask you what meat do you usually buy each time you shop, and where do you purchase it from?

I shop in tescos and I'm finding that meat such as casserole beef/mince/ pork joint) salmon fillets etc are not enough to feed 4 people. Only 2. So I need to buy 2 packs of everything. It is so so expensive.

Do you and your children all eat the same meal as each other every day? I'm not a very good cook and like to keep things simple. Any tips?

That's too much meat. For the planet, your health and wallet, eat less! Meal plan in my family includes toad in the hole with veggie sausages, spag bog with lentils not meat, lasagna with mixed veg, pasta with roast pepper and almonds. There's a brilliant one pot pasta I found on Mumsnet Here

Mince gives lots of options, and is cheap

@Etinoxi love that recipe. One pot spaghetti was a revelation for me! Adding frozen prawns is great too as you can get them out of the freezer and defrost in cold water within 10 minutes.

I also love this veggie chilli recipe. Much prefer it to a meat version

cookieandkate.com/vegetarian-chili-recipe/

When meal planning, I do 1/2 veggie, 1/2 fish, 1/2 chicken, 1/2 red meat so I'm not eating the same things all the time. A pack of casserole beef is 400g, which should be enough for 4 if you throw a can of some kind of beans in too. Pork chops/loin feed about 5 billion people. Packets of fish are on the small side, but we are recommended to eat 2 portions of fish a week so I would bite the bullet and get 2 packets (or use the fish counter).

I shop at tesco and am feeding 2 adults (plus a picky 20mo DS). Meat wise, I bought a pack a salmon, a 500g pack of lean beef mince and a 600g pack of chicken thighs. I also got a butternut squash, a sweet potato and some chickpeas. Menu this week:

Salmon, rice and green veg
Chicken curry
Sweet potato tagine
Butternut squash Mac and cheese
Chilli con carne (I'll freeze half)
Something else with the other half of the chicken, not decided what yet
Something from the freezer

How much meat do you have in a meal? We're a family of 5 (two teens and a pre-teen). 500g of mince is more than enough for a meal. 600g of casserole beef is ample (but 400g is just a bit under what we need).

Do you have a slow cooker? Then you can get the cheaper cuts of meat from butcher and do lovely stews etc. Also bulk out mince with red lentils, the meat goes much further, it's healthy and dc (mostly!) won't notice.

As a family of 3 (1 adult, 2 teenagers) we eat a lot of chicken (breast and thigh), mince (beef, lamb, sometimes turkey), pork fillet, sausages and sometimes lamb steaks. However, it tends to be meals where the meat is chopped within it and I don’t use anywhere near the amount a recipe says. I only ever use 2 chicken breasts and that comfortably serves the three of us with leftovers. Steer clear of joints of meat, particularly lamb, which is too expensive.

Beef mince
Sausages
Prawns
Seafood mix
Smoked Haddock (or basa for a cheaper alternative)
Buy whole chickens or joints of pork, beef, lamb and have roast one day, and then leftovers in stirfry/pie etc the next. (Pork is pretty inexpensive, but beef and lamb are pricier.)
Salmon or white fish can be bought frozen which are cheaper.
Mushrooms, halloumi or various other cheeses are often the main component in a meal or two each week.

Chicken is very versatile though, it might be worth googling some different chicken dishes to ring the changes.

I'm getting the same, I eat all meat but conscious of the health implications so tend to stick to chicken / turkey and fish. I also try and buy the best quality I can. I have tofu in stir fries and use quorn mince for things like spag bol, cottage pie and chilli. I made a great cottage pie with quorn mine and a back of those ready cooked green lentils. I can't eat too many pulses though, the fibre doesn't agree with me!

Pork is cheap and versatile, and you can use it in all the same sorts of dishes as chicken.

Also sausages - a current favourite in our house is to remove the skin from the sausages, fry the meat and have with pasta and a stir in sauce.

Other chicken dishes we like are home made breaded nuggets, satay with noodles, chicken burgers (whizz up the raw breast, mix in an egg, breadcrumbs, veg, herbs), a chinese style noodle broth thing.

Oh and chorizo. A small bit of chorizo goes a long way in flavouring and giving a meatiness to lots of dishes. Ditto with bacon. We make a pea and bacon risotto which we only put in about 4 rashers of bacon to feed the 4 of us, something like carbonara where a small portion of lardons is all that is required. Not all meals have to have large chunks of meat in, sometimes only a little (or no) meat is required.