Dinner...
This tends to be the
most expensive meal of the day. I try to combat this by using lower-priced cuts of meat and low and slow cooking techniques. Buying a
pork shoulder at sometimes less than 99¢ a pound, and with most pork
shoulders averaging 9 to 10 lbs., that gives you a lot of protein for
very little money. Considering I'm only cooking for one, a pork
shoulder will give me many meals and plenty of snacking options.
Anyone who's had good pulled pork or Puerto Rican style pernil knows
how good this cheap piece of meat can be! Besides the protein
aspect, I usually try to have a starch and a veggie or two with
dinner. I'm a definite meat and potato guy so potatoes are a dinner
constant. Mashed, roasted, fried, or scalloped. I love them all!
There will be plenty of rice and pasta sides too... I just love my
taters!
The
basic rundown of my weekly dinner menu consists of chicken as the
primary protein source. Most of my chicken will be in the form of
chicken leg quarters. Not only can I get them in bulk for between 49
and 89 cents per pound for a 40lb box, but they really are my
favorite part of the chicken. Once you learn to efficiently de-bone a
leg quarter it makes this cut about 50 times more versatile. The
darker meat takes to grilling and pan searing beautifully. It always
stays moist and (I think) it is much more flavorful than white meat.
I will also be including shrimp, pork and beef in the rotation,
figuring on one meal of each per week for dinner. I'm expecting to
eat the pork and beef on the weekends when I'll have more time for
longer preparations and that will leave the leftovers for lunches on
Monday and Tuesday.
I'm
hoping ...
to be camera equipped shortly so I can get started with the
cooking and posting up something besides a bunch of text. Keep an eye out for new updates and please comment and share!!!!
I love pork shoulder. We slow roasted one in the oven a few weeks back and froze the leftovers. I'm curious where you find them for .99 cents a lb. We bought by the case at Sam's club and paid 1.49 a lb. Very cool site. I found you from Reddit.
ReplyDeleteHey thanks! Congrats on being the first person to comment on my blog! I have a local IGA Grocery store that has very,very good prices on meat. It's the same place I get my 40lb boxes of legs quarters and the butchers there are really helpful and friendly. As I'm writing this the pork shoulders are $1.29lb but every month they have a "truckload sale" and they can be as low as $0.89/lb and that's when I try to get them :) I'm planning on posting up a recipe and pics for my next smoked pork shoulder/pulled pork adventure so be sure to check back in!
DeleteHello from Boston...You look like you really know your way around a grill...Ever try brisket?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment and the kind words! I love smoking brisket! Brisket and my pork spare ribs are the 2 most requested items when I'm bringing BBQ to a party. I'll have to dig up and post some pics until I get a chance to do another one!
ReplyDelete