Cheap Meals: Eating on a budget.
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Burns
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Those frozen bags of flat chicken are indeed mediocre. They can do well if used for some casserole recipes that call for cubed up or shredded cooked chicken, but other than that, meh.
I think most people here catch fresh (water injected) chicken when it's on sale at various local stores or Sam's/Costco; then load up on 20+ pounds of it. Dividing it up and vacuum packing it (removing almost all the air) will keep it from getting freezer burn for a long time (at least a year or more).
Daidraco
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Theres a local farm that sells chicken just once a year and it tastes great. They just have a limit on how much you can buy and only raise Chickens as a side-line product next to their beef cattle. The rest of the year Im basically going without eating Chicken. Kroger, Walmart, Food Lion, its like they all have the same chicken with the same funky after taste. I didnt pick up on the flavor until AFTER I had COVID. Lost taste/smell, and when it came back - Im getting new, lets just say "Flavors", that I've never experienced before. A friend of mine says he quit eating Chicken a decade ago because it just didnt taste good anymore. ... I think its just the water filled Chickens. Otherwise, I couldnt explain why the farm raised Chickens taste so much better than ... what I think, is just Tyson chicken.
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Cutlery
Kill All the White People
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I don't buy frozen chicken. I mean, I'm sure it is frozen at some point (most of the meat in the grocery store is), but I just buy the "family packs" of chicken breasts because they're a dollar cheaper per lb (usually 2.99).
5-6lbs is $15-18, and then depending on whos home when I grill, sometimes the kids get chicken and I get 8-10 meals out of them or sometimes i get 10-12 6oz portions.
Sludig
honestly, the best ones I've found for cheap are the Ziploc meals prep things. Yes, they're plastic. But the specific plastic they are doesn't get brittle in the freezer, and that's the important part. They stack flat, so I can fit a shitload of them in there too. Plus I figure if I'm not reheating sauces, plastic leeching should be minimal. Fuck, I only toss em in the microwave for 45 seconds anyway to warm them up. I mean, do what works best for you guys, but for me, 10 meals of 50g of protein for $18 is pretty solid, and I'm not sure I can do better. Also, my ex wife only ate chicken (no red meat, very little pork), so I got really fucking good at grilling it, and I can eat it all the time. A lot of people can't, whatever. Alternate it out with pork loin or pork shoulder or whatever is on sale. The biggest thing for me is just buying bulk, meal prepping bulk, and not having to spend a shitload of time doing it.
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Sludig
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I don't buy frozen chicken. I mean, I'm sure it is frozen at some point (most of the meat in the grocery store is), but I just buy the "family packs" of chicken breasts because they're a dollar cheaper per lb (usually 2.99).
5-6lbs is $15-18, and then depending on whos home when I grill, sometimes the kids get chicken and I get 8-10 meals out of them or sometimes i get 10-12 6oz portions.
I mean, do what works best for you guys, but for me, 10 meals of 50g of protein for $18 is pretty solid, and I'm not sure I can do better. Also, my ex wife only ate chicken (no red meat, very little pork), so I got really fucking good at grilling it, and I can eat it all the time. A lot of people can't, whatever. Alternate it out with pork loin or pork shoulder or whatever is on sale. The biggest thing for me is just buying bulk, meal prepping bulk, and not having to spend a shitload of time doing it.
Amazon.com
a.co
? Fuck me about $15 a container
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Sludig
I know you said you got a ton of tomatoes and potatoes, this guy's recipe for a simple potato salad looks pretty decent, even if he's kind of a fruit.That's definitely something that I would probably make. I never asked, what type of potatoes did you end up growing where you had retarded amounts of them? Was it red Bliss?
Anyways, I'm glad somebody's garden is turning out to be fruitful.
Cutlery
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No.
This shit.
But get the Ziploc ones. The Glad ones that look exactly the same don't have the ridges and leak in your work bag. The Rubbermaid ones are brittle plastic and will break in your freezer.
Fucker
Log Wizard
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CAFO chickens are inedible. Not only are they water injected, they are fed trash food that fattens them up a huge amount so they can get more $ per pound. Poultry fat is easily some of the most disgusting shit out there, and national brands are full of it. CAFO raised chickens are chlorinated, which is cheaper than not raising them in disgusting conditions.
It tastes like shit because it is shit.
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Burns
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I can't taste the difference in white meat unless it's freezer burnt. The only "good" tasting white meat is breaded and fried or if it's in a casserole, like King's Ranch Chicken. So, I generally eat it for healthy dietary purposes. In that case, it's about what comes out the least dry and shitty, which is the water injected stuff at the store.
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Sludig
Potato del Grande
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That's definitely something that I would probably make. I never asked, what type of potatoes did you end up growing where you had retarded amounts of them? Was it red Bliss?
Anyways, I'm glad somebody's garden is turning out to be fruitful.
At the tail end of tomatoes, partially because she wanted to stop fucking with them, and i sold, traded, used a lot of the taters , down to a 25 lb back of fingerling roasters. Reds and some form of yellow gold, forget exact variety.
Another week or two need to get tilled and ready to plant my fall stuff
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Sludig
Potato del Grande
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How long do you have in freezer, seems like they'd get burnt before long. Guess that's part of the rotation, I shouldn't leave stuff in for 6 months
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Do you mind taking a picture of your potato crop? I'm just curious what your setup is, but that sounds really awesome.
No homo
Burns
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These glass ones from Sam's aren't too expensive ($25 per 12 piece variety pack), but there may be places online where you can just order a bunch of the same size. The Sam's ones aren't as good a something like Pampered Chef, but they are cheaper. They freeze well, but leave air in the container, of course, so they are not good for long term (6+ months) freezer storage.
For longer freezer storage, you need to remove all air to prevent freezer burn (vacuum packing machine in bags). A vacuum chamber machine is the cheapest per bag cost, but large upfront cost.
Member's Mark 24-Piece Glass Food Storage Set By Glasslock - Sam's Club
Buy Member's Mark 24-Piece Glass Food Storage Set By Glasslock : Food Storage at SamsClub.com
www.samsclub.com
Sludig
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They were harvested months ago so nothing to see now, wasn't anything fancy just maybe 15x20 foot square with 8-10 rows probably too close to each other, when they sprawled out couldn't weed better them any more
Wet mild spring and a fortune in mushroom compost from the mushroom farm which was really just spent hay, manure, etc and i think worm castings. I don't think we could have had this result in Colorado.
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Sludig
Potato del Grande
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Wife maybe has something, this is my only photo this is a small portion of what we were pulling up, empty area i already pulled the plant and dumped into compost.
Did about 2 sets of these laid out in guest room to proof.
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Cutlery
Kill All the White People
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I grill every 2 weeks. I always have 3 in the fridge, the rest in the freezer.
No freezer burn issues.
Just to be clear here, because I saw someone else mention marinading raw stuff and freezing it, no.
I buy 6lbs of chicken
Trim it, marinade it.
Grill it 4 hours later
Cut it into strips, put 6oz in each container.
Get 10-12 containers, put 3 in the fridge, rest in the freezer.
I take one to work for lunch every day and the day I take the 2nd one out of the fridge, I pull 2 out of the freezer.
Throw some potatoes or veggies in there if you want too. I am still trying (mostly failing) to get shredded, so I don't want 120 calories of potatoes I don't need fucking up my day, but if that works for you, it works totally fine too. Potatoes, peas, rice, carrots, whatever. Cook it up same day, portion it out, freeze the shit you aren't gonna use within a couple of days, pull them out as you need.
I'm honest when I say all of my meal prep for work takes an hour, maybe an hour and a half every 2 weeks.
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Dude that's awesome. Wish our garden this year was that fruitful. Right on!
Was that a bunch of green onions on the one side?
Sludig
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Red, white and sweet yellow. Stems left on until they were fully dried at the topDude that's awesome. Wish our garden this year was that fruitful. Right on!
Was that a bunch of green onions on the one side?
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