****Official Food/Recipe Thread*****

[RandyForRubio]

Not really. I just buy what's on sale. Lately it's been plenty of chicken legs and thighs with rice and homemade teryaki sauce. I can't argue with $.75 per pound.

I try to plan a few really cheap meals once or twice a week (spaghetti and pigs in a blanket type meals) so we can also have lasagna and steaks and stuff. I just bought chicken breast for an insanely low $1.00/lb so that helps.

Hitting $2-3 is really unrealistic but it's my dorky goal. $5-6 average per dinner is easily attainable with my family though.

I don't think I'll ever find sales like that. Downside to not living in the city. It's why I eat so much red meat. Moms side of the family are ranchers, so I get beef and just have to pay the butcher to cut it up. And wild game. But .75 a lb is crazy. I hate you.

 

[RandyForRubio]

I usually eat healthy but one of by biggest challenges is ice cream.

So, I got this machine call Yonanas. It takes just raw frozen bananas and makes it into velvety ice cream. Then I add raw walnuts and dark chocolate chunks to it. It's the perfect healthy dessert that still feels like I am eating premium ice cream.

Tell me more

 

[franklin]

I don't think I'll ever find sales like that. Downside to not living in the city. It's why I eat so much red meat. Moms side of the family are ranchers, so I get beef and just have to pay the butcher to cut it up. And wild game. But .75 a lb is crazy. I hate you.

There's a country premium in rural Utah as well. We're in the sweet spot where we don't have the big city premium yet. Utah is soon going to get a huge tax shock though with our growth rate and since we've pretty much underfunded every vital resource possible. Tax creep is already set in.

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I've been able to buy drumsticks or thighs for $1.19 or less ever since I can remember. I used to love buying pre-seasoned bbq drumsticks for $.99 at Macey's and grill them over a charcoal stove while fishing. If I was at a bait-allowable lake I would even use them as catfish bait. If you buy a fatty thigh cut you can make a roux out of rendered chicken fat and I use the bones for stock. The next time, the thighs get served stuffed with fontina and covered in a chicken fat or butter roux mixed with chicken stock and all the common spices (garlic, salt, pepper, onion) or whatever I feel like adding in (used lime and Rosemary last time as I didn't like the flavor; I didn't care for it, wife liked it a lot).

 

[franklin]

I don't think I'll ever find sales like that. Downside to not living in the city. It's why I eat so much red meat. Moms side of the family are ranchers, so I get beef and just have to pay the butcher to cut it up. And wild game. But .75 a lb is crazy. I hate you.

That's awesome. I called the butcher yesterday and it's $3.05/lb here for cut and wrapped. That's a pretty reasonable price considering what you get.

My wife finally wants to be a stay at home mom prayemoji so I'm going to load up on about $1200 worth of beef, $500 worth of chicken, and put another $1500 cash into the freezer for next year. We're currently loading up about 5 years worth of nonperishable crap like soap, laundry detergent, etc. when on sale.

 

[RandyForRubio]

That's awesome. I called the butcher yesterday and it's $3.05/lb here for cut and wrapped. That's a pretty reasonable price considering what you get.

My wife finally wants to be a stay at home mom ray: so I'm going to load up on about $1200 worth of beef, $500 worth of chicken, and put another $1500 cash into the freezer for next year. We're currently loading up about 5 years worth of nonperishable crap like soap, laundry detergent, etc. when on sale.

Man, that's a high butcher cost. I'm probably half that.

 

[franklin]

Man, that's a high butcher cost. I'm probably half that.

That's the total price including the beef. I think I saw butcher only cost was $50 plus $.75/lb to wrap. I was curious because I was thinking about buying one at auction and chopping it up myself. Turns out it's cheaper to get it already packaged.

 

[RandyForRubio]

That's the total price including the beef. I think I saw butcher only cost was $50 plus $.75/lb to wrap. I was curious because I was thinking about buying one at auction and chopping it up myself. Turns out it's cheaper to get it already packaged.

Get it vacuum sealed. Worth the extra money. It'll last twice as long.

 

[LogGrad98]

I have a new in for cheap beef. My daughter is getting married next month and her husband's family run a small cattle ranch. Every year they take one or two of the cattle that are young but not really what they would call marketable and butcher them for family and friends. I already have dibs on about 200 lbs of beef from the event this year, including ribs, ribeye, a few roasts and the full loin primal (think T-bones, porterhouse, etc.). Gonna be fun grilling this year!

The good thing is they don't really care for the ribs or the skirt and other kinds of cuts like this but I love them, so I have eternal dibs on those. Brontosaurus ribs on the smoker this summer.

edit: oh yeah I get all the briskets too, or at least most of them. they like the brisket but not that much and I have been going through brisket withdrawal. 16 hours on the smoker for a full packer brisket. yeah.

 

[bigb]

I have a new in for cheap beef. My daughter is getting married next month and her husband's family run a small cattle ranch. Every year they take one or two of the cattle that are young but not really what they would call marketable and butcher them for family and friends. I already have dibs on about 200 lbs of beef from the event this year, including ribs, ribeye, a few roasts and the full loin primal (think T-bones, porterhouse, etc.). Gonna be fun grilling this year!

The good thing is they don't really care for the ribs or the skirt and other kinds of cuts like this but I love them, so I have eternal dibs on those. Brontosaurus ribs on the smoker this summer.

edit: oh yeah I get all the briskets too, or at least most of them. they like the brisket but not that much and I have been going through brisket withdrawal. 16 hours on the smoker for a full packer brisket. yeah.

My uncle runs a couple hundred head of cattle. I can get a half or even a full any year I want. It's glorious.

 

[RandyForRubio]

Long live ranchers and farmers.

 

[JazzGal]

I have a new in for cheap beef. My daughter is getting married next month and her husband's family run a small cattle ranch. Every year they take one or two of the cattle that are young but not really what they would call marketable and butcher them for family and friends. I already have dibs on about 200 lbs of beef from the event this year, including ribs, ribeye, a few roasts and the full loin primal (think T-bones, porterhouse, etc.). Gonna be fun grilling this year!

The good thing is they don't really care for the ribs or the skirt and other kinds of cuts like this but I love them, so I have eternal dibs on those. Brontosaurus ribs on the smoker this summer.

edit: oh yeah I get all the briskets too, or at least most of them. they like the brisket but not that much and I have been going through brisket withdrawal. 16 hours on the smoker for a full packer brisket. yeah.

Nice that your daughter picked such a useful husband. My sister-in-law's father is a rancher, so he gets a similar deal (and sometimes it trickles down to me).

 

[franklin]

Recipes/ideas?

Here's one.

I made a decent chicken cacciatore last night for somewhere around $7 including cookies and milk that made enough for two meals plus all the bones and some leftover chicken (4.7 lbs of thighs) for chicken noodle soup. I figure I'll be easily under $12 at the most for three meals after all is said and done (family of five).

Salt and pepper chicken and then dredge in flour. Fry in olive oil until golden brown (3-6 minutes per side). Set aside.
Add onion, bell pepper (optional, doesn't really add much except cost IMO), and garlic to the pan and saute until done to your liking. Deglaze pan with white cooking whine or regular wine if you want and let simmer for a few minutes.
Add the chicken back in along with a can or two of diced tomatoes, rosemary, bay leaves, salt and pepper.
Let cook about 30 minutes until chicken is done.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pretty easy recipe but it does take a bit of baby sitting. Grab a beer and cigar for in between waiting times.