Minor Investment Cooking

When stretching a food budget, buying meat on sale or clear-out is essential.  But sometimes that means having to cook a lot of meat right away.  I have mentioned investment cooking to friends before and they often roll their eyes.  "Who has time to spend all day in the kitchen?"  "That's so much work!"  I guess there is a style of investment cooking that would make me say those same things, but that is totally not my style.

So, I'd like to call my style "Minor Investment" cooking.  Yes, it takes a little more time than cooking one meal, but truly just a little bit.  The reward is a jump start on three or more other meals because the meat is already cooked.  It's really like planning for leftovers.  I have several plans that I use, but never all at once.  I don't like eating similar things back to back, so I usually freeze the other three meals and use them later.  Theoretically, you could have a month's worth of dinners if you did them all.  Most of these ideas I got from Women's Day magazine back when I first got married.  We actually eat a lot of Asian food now, so I use these less often.  However, they have survived the test of time. 

I am not really a follow-a-recipe type of person.  I usually wing it.  These are not really recipes listed below; simply the plan with ingredients.  If you want recipes, let me know.  Also, if you see mushrooms listed and you know me, you know I don't actually put those in my food - but to each his own.

Here are my Minor Investment meal plans:

Stew
Make a basic beef stew recipe (only meat, broth, onions, and garlic).  Divide into 5 batches - use one and freeze four.
Meal 1 - Traditional Stew: add sliced carrots, sliced celery, cubed potatoes, beef broth, tomato sauce, oregano, basil
Meal 2 - Tex-Mex Stew: add frozen corn, cilantro, chili powder, cumin, salsa (serve with corn bread)
Meal 3 - Asian Stew: add frozen broccoli, red bell pepper strips, ginger, soy sauce (serve with rice)
Meal 4 - Moroccan Stew: add cubed butternut squash, chopped spinach, tomato sauce, cumin, cinnamon, ground red pepper (serve with couscous)
Meal 5 - French Stew: add baby carrots, mushrooms, beef broth, red wine, thyme (serve with French bread)

Chicken
Make a basic creamed chicken recipe (chicken, onions, celery, carrots, milk/cream).  Divide into 4 batches - use one and freeze three.
Meal 1 - Creamed chicken over noodles: egg noodles
Meal 2 - Chicken chowder: add rice, sweet potato, sausage, corn, and creamed chicken (can be made at the same time as creamed chicken and frozen as a complete meal)
Meal 3 - Chicken pot pie: add peas and mushrooms, top with canned biscuits and bake
Meal 4 - Chicken lasagna: with spinach layer, cheese layer, and chicken layer

Chili
Make your favorite basic chili recipe (I use ground turkey and black beans).  Divide into 4 batches - use one and freeze three.
Meal 1 - Chili (serve with cornbread or tortilla chips)
Meal 2 - Mexican Rice: chili, rice, corn, shredded cheese
Meal 3 - Tortilla pie: similar to lasagna - layers of tortillas(corn or flour), chili, and cheese in a pie plate
Meal 4 - Burritos: chili, tortillas, salsa, shredded cheese, sour cream, etc.

Meat Loaf
Use your favorite recipe and make enough for 4 meals for your family.  Divide into 4 batches - use one and freeze three (before freezing - thinly slice, crumble, or cube based on which meals you choose).
Meal 1 - Traditional meatloaf: serve with vegetables and mashed potatoes
Meal 2 - Meatloaf sandwiches: thinly sliced meatloaf with rye bread, tomato, lettuce, onion, and mustard; serve with salads
Meal 3 - Stuffed peppers: crumbled meatloaf with rice, tomato sauce, and spices, cooked in a bell pepper; serve with a green salad
Meal 4 - Spaghetti and meatballs: cubed meatloaf with marinara sauce and spaghetti; serve with a green vegetable or green salad (You could also do meatball subs.)
Meal 5 - Swedish meatballs: cubed meatloaf with mushroom gravy and egg noodles; serve with a green vegetable or green salad

Turkey
Roast a turkey!  (not just for Thanksgiving - anytime turkey is cheap)  Freeze leftovers in bags.
Meal 1 - Turkey pot pie: add leftover veggies, gravy (or cream sauce) and top with stuffing or biscuits
Meal 2 - Turkey tetrazzini: add noodles, cream sauce, peas, and mushrooms
Meal 3 - Turkey soup: add vegetables and broth (make broth from the bones), could also add rice or noodles
Meal 4 - Turkey chili: add crushed tomatoes, corn, onions, peppers, spices
Meal 5 - Turkey & rice casserole: add wild rice, leftover veggies, cream sauce and thyme

Eat In, Not Out - Breakfast

I woke up to the smell of bacon.  My amazing husband made breakfast this morning.  French toast, bacon, fresh fruit, and coffee... delicious!  We are always looking for ways to save money and this morning was no exception.  We decided to figure out how much breakfast cost.  Here was the breakdown:

Loaf of bread - $0.65
6 Eggs - $0.50
12oz Bacon - $3.50
Fruit - $2.00
TOTAL - $6.65

It's a little more difficult to figure the exact cost of the syrup we used and the coffee we drank.  However, we figured that it cost at most $1.25 per person for our family of six.  And we had leftovers!

Consider the option of eating out.  Last week this same amazing husband took me out for breakfast for my birthday.  Being the frugal people we are, we took a coupon.  Buy one meal and two drinks, get a meal free.  Even with this coupon we ended up spending $20 including the tip.  That's $10 a person compared to $1.25.  Maybe it's occasionally acceptable for my birthday or other special occasion, but eating out often will certainly bust your budget.  To be honest, our homemade breakfast tasted just as good and for the price you just can't beat it.