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?

[CluelessBaker]

Sounds like a good opportunity to introduce some plant based meals for variety!

Here is a great recipe for an easy veggie bolognese:

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/vegan-bolognese%3famp

And this is a lovely aubergine curry:

www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/vegan/aubergine-dhansak/

Here is a great casserole made with veggie sausages:

www.thevegspace.co.uk/recipe-bangers-borlotti-bean-stew/

[SockYarn]

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.

Just have to boast... we are having salmon tonight. Just before Easter, at the height of lockdown, the manager of my local Asda was doing very odd things with reduced to clear and everything was being reduced to either 5% or 10% of the original selling price.

Got a whole salmon for 59p. At least 8 portions on it. (In the same shop, bought a huge unicorn birthday cake reduced from £20 to 84p. Wasn't anyone's birthday, but the cake was lovely!!)

[Redcrow]

My husband gets sick of chicken but my kids love it. We eat meat 6 or 7 nights a week. We usually have a beef or lamb roast weekly, prawns frequently, minced beef or lamb, sausages and sometimes fish. We usually eat the same as the kids, they dont like steak though so they'll have fish fingers or Turkey unicorns and chips that night

[LaurieMarlow]

We eat lots of meals where meat is made to go along way and bulked out with veg. Pasta sauces, stirfries, curries, risotto, that kind of thing.

[BarbaraofSeville]

Tesco's probably not great value for meat, especially if you're eating bigger portions because you're buying 2 packs and using all of them, although if you have 4 of something you could freeze one and then only buy 2 next time.

Butchers vary quite a lot in price, some will be more expensive than supermarkets, but some will be cheaper, especially if you can buy in bulk and freeze, so try and find a cheaper butcher and buy for the freezer. Look in local markets and small towns in less affluent areas.

[Summermummer]

Wherever you put chicken, you can put a chickpea.
YABU eating that much meat. Cut it out and stop contributing to the killing and exploitation of animals.
So many vegan curries, chillis, pasta dishes and others to try out.

[unchienandalusia]

i would rather eat good quality meat a few times a week than shit meat every night. We do veggie mondays and have fresh fish twice a week - there are excellent online suppliers who will deliver to you. We buy our chicken from a local farm and it really is the famous mumsnet chicken as it will feed us for at least 3 or 4 meals with a roast or bbq, sandwiches, risotto, pie etc. We eat veggie curries and pasta at least another time a week. We love beef but buy it from a local farm shop/butcher who farms it himself a few miles up the road. Yes it costs a little more but really not much. I just couldn't buy cheap chicken etc from the supermarket. Its intensively farmed, had a horrid life and is transported accross the country. I would rather go without.

[Saoirse7]

Chorizo is cheap and so tasty, dice, fry with onions & peppers take off the heat and add double cream or natural yoghurt. I usually add chilli powder & garlic too but it's up to your preference. We sometimes have it with passata instead of cream.

Also we have:

Quesadillas with choice of filling
Burritos with steak mince (add spices of choice)
Bacon, spuds & turnip
Sausage casserole

[BabyLlamaZen]

Why not do some decent vegetarian cooking? Better for your family and the environment. Humans were never meant to eat so much of it. Even cave people only had it once a week.

[Saoirse7]

Butchers over supermarket always as well. Supermarket beef and mince I find poor quality in comparison for only a little cheaper. Chicken fillets in supermarkets also tend to smaller so you think you're getting a bargain but when it comes to weight it's all relative.

[Bluebird3456]

Even cave people only had it once a week

This made me laugh, I'm not sure they had cave calendars to mark 'meat Mondays' on.

[Teadrinker6]

Thanks for you replies.

The chicken we eat comes from our local butcher. He does a large pack of 20 large fresh chicken breasts for 20 pounds. I buy one of these each month and freeze them. I don't tend to buy any other meat from the butcher as I can't work out their prices and I feel under pressure!!

We have spaghetti bolognese made with Quorn mince.

I think my biggest problem is we eat too simply. I don't bulk the meals out so say it was cottage pie.... It would be the meat in Gravy, topped with mash and veg on the side.
A casserole would be beef, gravy, mushrooms, carrots, onions. I have never ever used beans or pulses. I should give that a try.
I don't like meals where everything is kind of mixed together in one sauce, i like it all to be seperated out on the plate lol.

I might give Iceland a try and see if I can buy some in bulk

[SauvignonBlanketyBlank]

Dh isn't bothered about chicken so some of my weekly meals are:

Lasagne made with half a pack of lean mince (other half in freezer for next week)

Pork joint,again cut in half and have with plenty of potatoes and veg.

Fresh supermarket pizza with chips and beans

Frozen (then cooked) King prawns in a stir through sauce with garlic,mozzarella and linguine

[LaurieMarlow]

Why don’t you pick a few new recipes and try them OP?

BBC Food is brilliant.

[BarbaraofSeville]

If you won't eat one pot type meals, that's making it more difficult to reduce the amount of meat that you eat and hence the cost, but how about meals where you have a small amount of meat and then a few extra sides, eg pulled pork made with pork shoulder (cheap) and then rice or chips, coleslaw and a bean salad? Brisket is also cheap for beef and can be slow cooked and served with similar meals.

With chicken, if you cut it into small pieces, marinade it and make into kebabs with lots of peppers, mushrooms and onions, again serve with chips, rice, coleslaw etc means that you only need probably half a chicken breast per person.

[BarbaraofSeville]

Baked potatoes with a choice of fillings?

Omelettes?

Egg and chips?

[Redleathertrousers]

Get to the butchers. I don't buy supermarket meat now unless really need an item.

[user1471500037]

Just eat Haggis, neeps and tatties

[MalcomTuckerisMyIdol]

Mince (of all types) is your friend. Turkey mince - turkey burgers. Pork mince - meatballs. Obviously need mince is lasagna, spaghetti bolognaise etc.

Also pork chops from the supermarket tends to come in large packs - or from the butchers tend to be massive.

Or - things like a ham or gammon joint.

[zingally]

We all eat roughly the same meal here... But I might just do the simple version for the kids (twins, 3.5yrs). Eg: Sausage casserole for me and DH, just plain sausages for kids.

Things we've had in the last week or so...
Roast chicken with trimmings.
Fish cakes
Spag bol (I stretch the mince with a couple of carrots, stick of celery, mushrooms)
Sausages and mash
Tuna pasta bake
Cheese pizza & garlic bread
Bacon, egg & chips

We enjoy our meat and fish here. The only meat we don't have is a joint of pork, but only because I don't like it!

[MalcomTuckerisMyIdol]

It’s a shame you don’t like one pots - it’s a great way of making fish/seafood stretch a lot further.

[PurpleGhost]

I find gammon joints are good value for money.

[GameSetMatch]

We love the new vegan Richmond sausages, you get 8 in a pack so enough for four people, we have them as hot dogs with fries and salad or in a ‘all day breakfast’ or sliced up in an omelette. Cheap and versatile.

[Fatted]

I don't buy a lot of chicken. My kids don't like chicken breast and I don't like legs. Pork is really cheap. My kids also like Gammon. Turkey is a cheaper alternative to chicken breast.

I'd also recommend shopping around and buying frozen meat and fish instead of fresh. Iceland are actually really good value for frozen fish.

[gingercat02]

On an average week we have
Sausages (with pasta or mash or chips and veg)
Chicken (in a stew or casserole or fajitas or traybake or lemon and herb chicken)
Pork pieces (paprika pork and rice)
Beef Mince (Bolognese or cottage pie or meatballs or mince and dumplings)
Pork mince (Vietnamese sticky pork)
Gammon or bacon on scouts night as ds doesn't like it and has tea early (fish fingers etc)
We need to eat more fish but I'm not very brave 🐟