Inflation is coming! (according to my mother) And the price of groceries is going to skyrocket. Are you getting a good deal on your meats? Will you be able to afford to eat the same high-quality food if/when it does hit? Do you shop around? Do you check your weekly ads? I personally answer ‘yes’ to all three of these questions and so can you.
Of course, we all know it is best to purchase free-range meats but this is not always possible for a number of reasons. When I am unable to do so, I shop around and buy what’s on sale. This means that each week, I search the weekly ads of the local stores online to see what’s on sale (i.e. vons.com, Albertsons.com, Ralphs.com, henrysmarkets.com). It is only after doing so that I plan what I will be cooking for the week.
I used to cook for anywhere from twenty to one hundred people per day when I ran M Good Meals. Sometimes I even catered for groups of up to 300 people! Because of this, I learned how to spot a deal and I am about to pass my knowledge along to you.
I recently went to Henrys with a friend and he was amazed that I walked out of there with four bags of groceries and spent less than $30 on them when he had one bag that cost nearly $50. It’s all about the sales and knowing what price is a good price.
Here is a handy reference guide that I have pulled from deep within my noggin for you! Buy these items when they meet these standards. Don’t be afraid to buy extra and freeze in portions you will use. For example, the pork loin roasts listed below are usually on sale at Vons about once a month. They come in eight to ten pound hunks. I buy the whole thing and divide it into three or four roasts. Each roast is about five or six hefty portions that cost under a dollar per serving—holler!
Poultry
Boneless skinless chicken breasts, chicken tenders >$2/lb.
Boneless skinless thighs > $1.79/lb.
Bone-in chicken breasts > $1/lb.
Whole chicken > $.69/lb.
Cornish game hens > $.99/lb.
Ground turkey > $3.50/lb.
Whole turkey > $.99/lb. (unless it is Nov. or Dec. in which case it should be > $.50/lb and is sometimes free with a $25 purchase at Vons or Ralphs)
Pork
Pork loin > $2/lb.
Pork tenderloin > $3.50/lb.
Pork butt, Boston butt, picnic roast > $.99/lb.
Beef
Tri-tip, ribeye steak, strip steak, flank steak > $5/lb.
Ground beef > $1.29/lb.
Pot roasts > $.99/lb.
Prime rib > $4/lb.
Fish & Seafood
Salmon, cod, mahi, scallops > $5/lb.
Tilapia/snapper/calamari steaks, clams > $3/lb.
Halibut > $6/lb.
Shrimp > $4/lb.
Lobster tails > $5 each
Lamb
Rack > $10/lb.
Shank > $3/lb.
Roast > $5/lb
Showing posts with label chicken. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chicken. Show all posts
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
There's no such thing as a buffalo turkey!
Yesterday may have been Labor Day to you but to me and two of my closest friends, it was Girls’ Day. I had Nichole and Sage over to hang out, eat, and plan our friend Katie’s baby shower. So yes, we mixed business and pleasure and ended up hanging out well into the night but the tiredness I am feeling today is totally worth it.
I played tennis in the morning with an awesome group of people (who actually asked me to join them again so I must not have been too terrible) so I prepped for Girls’ Day the night before by making the buffalo-turkey patties so they’d be ready to grill when I got home.
Tennis ran long and the girls beat me to my house so I did not hesitate to put them to work when they offered. Sage made the salad and Nichole took notes on the baby shower while I grilled up the burgers even though according to Sage, “there is no such thing as a buffalo turkey.” Sage may be an expert in many areas like Olympic Weightlifting and advice-giving but she doesn’t know that much about cooking (yet) which is why I usually have her over to eat instead of the other way around.
We wrapped the burgers in lettuce and ate them alongside Sage’s lovely salad while sitting in the back yard and catching up on all the things going on in each of our lives. We proved many things that day and one is that time really does fly when you are gossiping with a gaggle of good friends. Before we knew it, it was nearly 5PM and Sage took off for the grocery store and then home to study. Nichole stayed around to hang out so I decided to give her an impromptu cooking lesson. She was in a pretty bad car accident a few weeks ago and has just now got back to a regular routine including proper meals and has, admittedly, never really known how to navigate the kitchen.
I opened the fridge to see what was available. Since I probably should have joined Sage at the store, there wasn’t much to the naked eye but what I saw was potential for an Asian-inspired almond chicken. I quickly thawed a couple chicken breasts and whipped us up a meal in about 10 minutes. Nichole seemed highly impressed so I let her take home some of the leftovers for making me feel so smart.
Buffalo-Turkey Burgers
2 lbs. ground bison (Costco has started carrying this along w/ bison NY strips)
1 lb. ground turkey
3 cloves minced fresh garlic (or 3T pre-minced stuff in a jar)
Fresh basil, finely chopped (I got it from my friend Krazy K’s garden but it was probably 2 store pkgs.)
Salt & pepper
Put all ingredients in bowl and mix well. Form meat into about ten baseball size balls and flatten each into a patty. Grill what you are going to use immediately then individually plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze the rest for a quick meal later on. Serve on large pieces of lettuce w/ all the fixins.
Almond Chicken
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced
½ onion, thinly sliced
1 small red or orange bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 cloves fresh garlic (or 2T pre-minced)
1 jalapeno, minced or a sprinkle or three of red pepper flakes (optional for heat factor)
2T sesame oil
4T almond butter
4T (approximately) chicken broth (I always have a container in the fridge for such occasions)
2 cups raw broccoli, chopped into bite size pieces
Sautee onions, peppers, garlic, and jalapenos in sesame oil on medium-high heat until veggies start to soften. Add chicken and cook through. Turn heat to medium-low and add almond butter and chicken broth and mix in until a sauce forms and coats the meat. Toss in broccoli and cook for 2-3 minutes. Serve.
I played tennis in the morning with an awesome group of people (who actually asked me to join them again so I must not have been too terrible) so I prepped for Girls’ Day the night before by making the buffalo-turkey patties so they’d be ready to grill when I got home.
Tennis ran long and the girls beat me to my house so I did not hesitate to put them to work when they offered. Sage made the salad and Nichole took notes on the baby shower while I grilled up the burgers even though according to Sage, “there is no such thing as a buffalo turkey.” Sage may be an expert in many areas like Olympic Weightlifting and advice-giving but she doesn’t know that much about cooking (yet) which is why I usually have her over to eat instead of the other way around.
We wrapped the burgers in lettuce and ate them alongside Sage’s lovely salad while sitting in the back yard and catching up on all the things going on in each of our lives. We proved many things that day and one is that time really does fly when you are gossiping with a gaggle of good friends. Before we knew it, it was nearly 5PM and Sage took off for the grocery store and then home to study. Nichole stayed around to hang out so I decided to give her an impromptu cooking lesson. She was in a pretty bad car accident a few weeks ago and has just now got back to a regular routine including proper meals and has, admittedly, never really known how to navigate the kitchen.
I opened the fridge to see what was available. Since I probably should have joined Sage at the store, there wasn’t much to the naked eye but what I saw was potential for an Asian-inspired almond chicken. I quickly thawed a couple chicken breasts and whipped us up a meal in about 10 minutes. Nichole seemed highly impressed so I let her take home some of the leftovers for making me feel so smart.
Buffalo-Turkey Burgers
2 lbs. ground bison (Costco has started carrying this along w/ bison NY strips)
1 lb. ground turkey
3 cloves minced fresh garlic (or 3T pre-minced stuff in a jar)
Fresh basil, finely chopped (I got it from my friend Krazy K’s garden but it was probably 2 store pkgs.)
Salt & pepper
Put all ingredients in bowl and mix well. Form meat into about ten baseball size balls and flatten each into a patty. Grill what you are going to use immediately then individually plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze the rest for a quick meal later on. Serve on large pieces of lettuce w/ all the fixins.
Almond Chicken
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced
½ onion, thinly sliced
1 small red or orange bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 cloves fresh garlic (or 2T pre-minced)
1 jalapeno, minced or a sprinkle or three of red pepper flakes (optional for heat factor)
2T sesame oil
4T almond butter
4T (approximately) chicken broth (I always have a container in the fridge for such occasions)
2 cups raw broccoli, chopped into bite size pieces
Sautee onions, peppers, garlic, and jalapenos in sesame oil on medium-high heat until veggies start to soften. Add chicken and cook through. Turn heat to medium-low and add almond butter and chicken broth and mix in until a sauce forms and coats the meat. Toss in broccoli and cook for 2-3 minutes. Serve.
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