Healthy meat sandwiches on a budget

[deepflatflyer]

Sick of cheap(ish) packets of ham for sandwiches. Suggestions of joints we can roast and keep in the fridge (for how long is safe?) for sandwiches.

Have tried gammon before and it was too salty. Thinking perhaps beef but best cuts tend to be expensive.

Thanks

Soak the gammon before roasting to reduce the saltiness.
Buy beef joints when on special offer. Once cooked, cooled and sliced you can freeze the slices in sandwich sized portions.
Poached chicken breast.
Tongue (boiled, skinned and pressed) makes delicious sandwiches full of flavour and virtually fat free.

Any roast meat will keep for a few days in the fridge, but better to slice and freeze to avoid waste.

Ooh never thought of tongue. Never thought of freezing sliced cooked meat but that makes perfect sense.

Thanks!

Roast a chicken (when on special offer) when cold strip all the meat off the carcass, use the smaller pieces for a meal such as chicken and mushroom pie, and the larger slices for sandwiches.

Make the meat go further and the sandwich more interesting by adding other things, Chicken Caesar salad sandwiches for instance.

I agree that if your ham is too salty, you haven't soaked it for long enough, try soaking overnight with a couple of changes of water too.

I know everyone laughs at the endless MN chicken, but seriously - roast a chicken. Have some for Sunday lunch then strip the meat off the bones (loads of meat on underside of chicken). It will do lots of sandwiches.

Shredded chicken with mayo and lettuce or with melted cheese and jalapenos or with mashed avocado and lemon juice etc. Really versatile, cheap and healthy.

I do it all the time. A small pack of roast chicken breast costs about £3-4 and a whole chicken costs £3.50-5 depending on size.

Look out for discounted joints of pork. Roast and slice thinly.

You can get very cheap frozen chicken thighs. Thaw, marinate in vinegar, oil (1-4 ratio) with some chopped ginger, chopped garlic (optional) ground cumin, salt and pepper then roast and slice for sandwiches.

Nothing nicer than a thick slice of gammon. Agree with pps, soak in water for 24 hours with a couple of changes and then cook in completely fresh water. Also make sure you haven't picked up a smoked gammon by mistake, as they are obviously salty AF.

I think “healthy meat” is a contradiction in terms.

We have a lot of tinned tuna or mackerel fillets in a sauce. My favourites are Prince’s mackerel in a sweet chilli dressing and their limited edition tins of Brazilian mackerel www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/292444206 I also love Tesco’s tuna in a lime and black pepper dressing www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/295543378
My DH has a lot of pate sandwiches.

Can I ask why it has to be meat? You can make some great veggie and vegan sandwiches that are still full of protein

Maybe because they want/prefer meat? X

Roast a chicken. Or roast other joints and freeze in slices. I mostly avoid ham, salami, gammon, pâté etc because of the increasing evidence of the cancer risks of processed meat tbh.

Best value joint is usually pork ime. But not the cheapest, bit the outdoor reared and you get a much better moisture and flavour.
And it's still cheaper than lots of little packs.

I am feeding teenagers at the moment so it makes sense as they are eating a lot. Cooked food is covered while cooling then refrigerated. Everything is used up here by the third day, they get the sandwiches on day 2 usually.

The other thing they like on a sandwich is leftover cooled sausages!

If you are trying to avoiding the nitrites often found in ham and bacon note that normal British style sausage for cooking doesn't have nitrites as a preservative the way salami would. Check the labels.

Aldi cooked meat is significantly cheaper than the main supermarkets, I saw a huge pack of beef scraps (nice quality just a bit wonky) for a couple of pounds.

The Polish aisle in Tesco has nice ham around £1 for 5 big slices, I've heard Polish supermarkets are good but not got any locally.

Leftover roast chicken, I shred the legs etc and mix with mayo and some sweetcorn for a nice sandwich filling.

The flavoured tunas and salmon are in B and M pretty cheaply sometimes, a lot cheaper than the main supermarkets.

Thanks for the ideas. Pork also a good one as I've noticed it's quite a bit cheaper than other meat joints.

I'm a bit funny about cheap chicken though. Although perhaps all cheap meat is suspicious. Generally go for free range or organic but not often due to cost.

I'm happy with cheese sandwiches but my 14 yo DS wants meat. Tbh, given the issues we have with him generally, I'm not going to have a big fight over his lunchtime sandwich but would like to introduce some other variations on meat sarnie.

Best way to cook gammon? Boil? Roast? Slow cook?

Wafer thin chicken and turkey in a packet would make a change.

In terms of joints, beef is great if you leave it pretty rare and then freeze potions. I think three days would be the limit to eat up cooked meat, otherwise.

Unsmoked gammon is less salty than smoked, and yes, soak before you cook.

I slow cook gammon, for about five hours. Less than you think, anyway! I just chuck it in with a bit of brown sugar on it but you don’t need this. Basically you don’t need to add liquid.

Tinned or frozen fish / meat might be a more cost effective and time saving option. You can often get huge frozen chicken breasts from costco. One breast could probably make 2-3 days worth of sandwiches if you add lettuce or other veg.

Trying to get away from all packets of cooked meat tbh. Not adverse to cooking joints just trying to watch the cost and spend wisely. Haven't really got the budget for the best organic etc.

I'm a bit of novice with a slow cooker. Have a small one but don't use it much. So can I really just stick a gammon joint in there with no liquid?

I agree about cheap chicken.

Thighs are better value and taste imo than breast.

Who!e chicken in a casserole ( presumably slow cooker would do it too) with veg is even easier to my mind than roast and provides a stew plus the poached chicken for sandwiches.

You can just stick gammon in slow cooker, as is, yes.
It’s magic.

I’m not sure it would count as healthy but not horrific. I often cook a tray of bacon in the oven until really crisp and then finely chop.
Sprinkle into egg with low fat mayo. Gives great flavour but uses little meat.

Well. I have a 'thing' about gammon and always do a fancy-dan one for Boxing Day, but this year completely forgot the things I needed to gently poach it in a warm bath of organic and carefully selected nonsense so... I did the Nigella ham in coke recipe and omg. Total convert. So yeah. Simmer it in coke. I don't know why it works, but it so does.

Ha! I've always wanted to try the Nigella and Coca Cola thing!