joints of meat and multiple meals, any tips to share?

[wannabedomesticgoddess]

Does anyone have any tips or recipes on how to make a cheap joint of meat last for maybe 3 different meals?

Mainly thinking of pork shoulder or beef brisket. We have a slow cooker so any recipes using that would be good.

Also, are butchers cheaper than supermarkets?

This is a very useful thread. It sort of shows how the supermarkets have conned us into buying the small pricey cuts. A leg of lamb looks very expensive but actually price per meal it's better than diced lamb.

Pork shoulder (currently costing about £6 - £7 in Sainsburys) easily makes two large meals. Cook in slow cooker. Eat half as one meal. Freeze the other half.

The mark up on diced stewing beef is crazy. Its something like £10 per kilo when you could buy cheap steak and dice it yourself for maybe £5-6 a kilo.

Half a cow might not be a bad idea.

I quite often do this sort of thing as it's the only way that I can afford meat. I tend to freeze the cooked meat, though and make 1 or 2 meals a week rather than use it all up at once. That way the kids think that they are getting meat regularly while still fitting in to my budget.

Cook a large ham joint - the kids like it done in cherry cola - and divide into four portions (save any scraps that fall off separately).

meal 1 - ham with potatoes and veg of choice
meal 2 - ham, egg and leek pasta
meal 3 - cheese, ham and potato pasties with salad and coleslaw
meal 4 - jacket potatoes with creamed ham and veg (creamed ham is just shredded ham mixed into a white sauce flavoured with onion and mustard and heated through.)
meal 5 - all the saved little scraps can be made into pea and ham soup with onions, carrots and some leek if you have any left from the pasta.

Other easy meals from cooked ham -

ham and egg bake - cubed bread, cooked ham, eggs beaten into milk, cheese
ham and veg pie
ham and onion potato bake
quiche
ham and bean soup
savoury rice

Cook a leg of lamb

meal 1 - roast lamb with whatever
meal 2 - hedgehogs - 8oz cooked lamb mixed with 2lb cooked and mashed veg. I use 1lb mashed potatoes mixed with mashed carrot, swede and onion. Add a couple of spoonfuls of pickle/chutney/ketchup, salt, pepper and some parsley. Shape mix into croquettes and roll in porridge oats. Bake until crisp. Serve with cabbage or other green stuff
meal 3 - barley mince. Cook 4oz of pearl barley in suitable flavoured stock with a couple of carrots, a chopped onion and some herbs of choice. When it's done, strain of any stock and reserve; add about 6-8oz very finely chopped cooked lamb (or any other kind of meat). Take your reserved stock and make it up to about 1/2 -3/4 pint add back in and thicken with a cornflour paste. Season well. Serve with potatoes and something green
meal 4 - stovies. You only need a little meat for this
meal 5 - make stock with the bone and make barley broth with carrots, onions, leeks, swede, barley and any wee scraps that were left on the bone.

Pork - roast a large pork joint and divide into 4

meal 1 - pork with whatever
meal 2 - pulled pork sandwiches
meal 3 - pork and beans
meal 4 - pork and apple fritters or savoury rice or puff pastry pies

Brilliant post stressed.

I bought a pork leg joint yesterday in asda, £3 per kilo. My Slow cooker is getting its first use today!

We are having pulled pork wraps tonight, pork and sweetcorn pasta bake tomorrow and pork with spuds for DP and ratatouille for me on sat night. Im hoping to get a soup out of it too!

Wannabe

I can't add anything more useful but make sure the DCs eat veg with you. If the man child DP doesn't eat them that's his problem prerogative, but you and DCs deserve a properly balanced diet. And something I did with my DDs when they started on "I don't like peas/whichever veg" I told them if they drop one veg from their diet they must replace it with a new one of their choice. Also, a veggie friend has a mantra- a meal is not complete without something green- hope you enjoy your pork.

Thanks Adora.

DD1 loves veg and fruit. If DD2 is to be the same we are going to have to get out of this rut we are in.

Once I am back to the kitchen there will be a lot more veg.

Wannabe, my DH is the same. the only veg that he will eat are baked beans, brussel sprouts and pickled beetroot. He will occasionally eat onion rings or raw onion in a cheese sandwich but that's the limit. It really annoys me, tbh. He mostly won't eat family meals, either, because he doesn't like mince, chicken except breast fillet, pork except fillet. beef except a nice steak, fish except particular styles of salmon fillet, creamy/cheesy sauces....he eats penne but not macaroni, spaghetti but not linguine... he won't eat homemade soup except minestrone.... The list just goes on. he lives on ready made curry, Linda McCartney sausages (only ones he'll eat), cheese and onion pasties and pasta with Lloyd Grossman or Dress tomato and chilli pasta sauce, all accompanied by oven chips and either beans or beetroot.

I just cook proper meals for the rest of us and then make him his rubbish. We could be doing without it, though. It probably costs as much for his meals as it does for the rest of the family added together.

Hope you enjoyed your pulled pork, the children love it in here.

We got a nice large piece of ham from Tesco just before Christmas (it was half price - roughly £4 per kilo I think). Cooked it last weekend, and since then we have had it in so many guises - fed 8 of us simply sliced with jacket and veg/salad, obviously then as sandwich filling, last night with rosti and eggs (oh yum), and there is loads left over for this weekend for lunch/toasted sandwiches and to add to other dishes such as pasta, risotto, or whatever. Fantastic value and very varied. Not something I had done before but I am really looking forward to doing another one sometime soon.

Just seen stressed's Ham Roast Leftover Extravaganza Post!!!!

Thanks - given me loads more ideas for my next very large ham joint when the price is reduced again!!!!

stressed DP isnt quite that bad thank goodness. But veg is a no go. Carrots are devils food. If something is even in the same room as carrots DP can tell and wont eat it.

Pork is only on today, due to being busy yesterday. So the house is starting to smell yummy!

Some great ideas on here.

We eat a lot (and I mean a lot!) of veg/fish in our house, and not much meat, but do tend to have a roast chicken once a week. A large one doesn't go far between 6 but I've found that if I strip all the really teeny tiny bits of meat off the carcass (the type you don't normally bother with) and keep them in a bag in the freezer, adding to it each time, then after 3-4 birds we have enough bits to make a whole batch of chicken pies.

It sounds mean, but puff pastry is pretty cheap, and so the scrappy bits go a very long way when mixed with onion, mushroom, stock and flour, so I can make 10-12 individual pies.

Lamb scrag is dead cheap too (and my butcher will sometimes chuck some meaty lamb bones in the bag for free)...i make a fab morroccany 'lamb stew' full of chickpeas, sweet potatoes, onions etc using cinnamon sticks, cardammon pods, allspice, cumin etc for flavour which has almost no meat in it, but tastes lamb-y and the chickpeas provide lots of protein.

Brisket is a very, very tasty joint - and even better quality for less money if you have a farm shop near by (true of most joints).

Meal 1:
Cook the brisket with garlic, ground pepper and 1 or 2 stock cubes (depending on joint size) for 3.5 - 5 hours @ 130 degrees (fan oven) or however long your slow cooker manual suggests.

Serve with veg and potatoes, make some of the stock into gravy.

*possible lunch
Cold brisket makes lovely sandwiches

Meal 2
Chop up some leftover brisket and put on one side
cut up some onion and carrots and saute to colour lightly
add peas/celery/whatever other veg you like (cubes of potato makes a heartier meal)
simmer in stock until veg are tender*
Add the brisket and simmer for ~ 10 minutes to ensure the meat is piping hot
Serve with chunks of bread

Meal 3
If a larger amount of the mix between and * is made, some of this can be taken out and left to cool thoroughly. stir in cubes of meat (whilst cold) and freeze in individual portions for pies

I've heard of brisket but never actually seen it in the supermarket? Does it have another name?

We have rubber chicken here

Sunday roast (make double of everything) so we have exactly same meal next day.

Tues - strip meat and add to pasta or if enough make into coronation chicken with rice and serve with salad

Wednesday/thursday make huge pot of soup with chunky potatoes and pasta (chuck in any left overs - dead veg from bottom of fridge) and have this over 2 nights .....

Also batch cook mince sauce in my slow cooker - make a huge batch of mince, galic, toms, peppers, red lentils and onions - freeze in portions and use or anything - Bol sauce, add veg - shepherds pie, add chilli and kidney beans chilli, minestrone soup etc etc

I do the mince thing too. Always useful to have some in the freezer.

nkf: It doesn't have another name that I'm aware of. If you ask at the butchers counter in the supermarket they should be able to advise you if it's available.

To use up leftover chicken and to have a sort of spicy Asian kick to it.
But...without having to buy galangal or however it's spelled. So that it's store cupboard simple.

I am thinking chilli maybe. Ginger. Garlic. What else? And how to do I get that thin but tasty broth?

Do you know the sort of thing I mean Often comes in a big bowl with noodles.

pizza can I have your recipe for the coronation chicken?

I cook some rice and cool it - add chopped chicken, some sultanas (if apples/mangos in add them), mayo and curry paste or powder to taste - if having jackets or sandwiches with it I didn't add rice.

I got a 2kg lean gammon for £10 in coop today. there is me, dh and dc aged 8 & 2. for a main meal I need 300g (100g for each adult and a 70/30 split for the kids).

so out of that gammon I use the spare 200g for 5 days worth of ham and split pea soup for me (will feed me for 5 days at work)'.

600g will be split in 2 and go in the freezer as there is only so many time I can eat gammon in one week.

for the other 4 meals we have

1. pan haggety (potato bake with onions and cheese) with gammon, broccoli and peas

2. gammon, cider and mustard pie served with peas and broccoli

3. gammon, egg, chips and beans

4. gammon with Cajun wedges, and a cross between a salsa and salad of pineapple/sweet corn/red onion/parsley/chilli topped with lime juice.

I also buy big bags of bacon offcuts either from the butchers or supermarket - sainsburys do 650g for about £2. I use 300g to make a lasagne using it in place of the mince. I only put a thin layer of cheese sauce on top and just layer bacon-tomato sauce/veg/pasta for the rest to save on calories. I make the cheese sauce from semi- skimmed milk thickened with cornflour and a little strong grated cheese. I add an extra layer of veg - could be spinach/courgette/peppers/aubergine. I only need 125g pasta sheets (1/4 box) for the four of us.

also 150g of the bacon plus a cabbage and stock makes 5 days worth of soup for me. the rest goes in pasta and tomato sauce for all of us (1 meals worth).

I find roast chicken goes a lot further if I bulk out the first meal with sausagemeat stuffing. my lot don't like skin or bones in their meat, so I cook whole chicken legs (I.e. the thighs and legs, approx £2 in sainsburys) in the slow cooker and then remove the meat and use in curry or similar. none of us really like the texture/flavour of dark chicken meat so I do it diced and in a strong sauce.

I cooked the pork yesterday. It was lovely last night in tortillas with BBQ sauce. Still loads left!

I left the cooking juice in the SC. Can I use it? If I scrape the fat off? How could I use it?