I know it saves us a lot of money, so I wanted to share it with you to help pass on the savings!!
Whole Boneless Pork Loin: 9.33 lbs
Cost: $23.00 (Not on sale. No coupons. Hormel brand.)
Meals provided: 7 dinners for 2 adults and a 3 year old (and 2 work lunches for the hubs)
Cost per meal for meat: $3.29/meal or about $1.10 per person. (not counting the work lunches)
(Imagine the savings if it HAD been on sale though...or if I had a coupon or something. Yeah, that would've been nice.)
Ok, so you're going to want to prepare a space to cut the meat, and be sure it can be bleached & scrubbed down well afterwards. I also like labeling the bags while they are nice and flat and then filling in the weights/amounts once they contain the pork.
So here's how we cut it up:
2 Freezer Quart bags of slivers weighing just under a pound each. They were 0.98lb and 0.96lb.
3 Freezer Quart bags of pork chops weighing about 1.5lb for the 6 Chops in each pack. Chops can be cut to whatever thickness you like. The ones we cut are usually between 1/2" and 3/4" thick since that is how we like them.
1 Freezer Gallon bag with a large roast weighing 2.83lb. As a family of 3, this will last us 2 dinners (and 2 meals for hubby to take to work for lunch), and probably some leftovers for the dogs. I just change up the sides to keep it interesting on the second day.
This is how it looked like during the process, and before my hands got gross. Hubby was cutting and I had just labeled the bags. See how he's trimmed some of the fat off...not all of it, but that can be done later if necessary. And look at those chops! YUM!
And here is how I season & prepare them, usually:
I make stir-fry with the slivers. I don't add seasoning to the bag before freezing. When it's time to cook them, I toss the slivers in the pan with a little olive oil, cook thoroughly, then I add a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies (and/or fresh if I have some). I add some teriyaki sauce or a few drops of soy sauce. Sometimes, I add the Pampered Chef Asian Seasoning Mix just because I still have some around. Frozen veggies usually cost us about $2 for a bag, keeping the whole meal under $8, even if I add rice. I don't use boil-in-a-bag type rice anymore. It's cheaper and takes only 10mins longer to cook the regular rice.
The pork chop bags get a little olive oil added to them and then a packet or various seasonings before freezing. I LOVE the Grill Mates Baja Citrus pack from McCormick. I don't usually follow the instructions (ever...in anything, really!!) so I just add the seasonings to the olive oil and call it a day. I label the Ziploc freezer bags with the cut, date and seasonings. I'll add lemon pepper, minced garlic, whatever spices we have in the pantry that work well with pork, or the staple around here, Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning. One pack today had Tony Chachere's and olive oil with a little bit of McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning too. The 6 chops I'm making tonight are marinated in a little olive oil and Montreal Steak Seasoning and a pinch of sea salt. I know it's pork, not steak, but it's really good..trust me. I'm grilling them now actually. About 10 mins. on each side does the trick. I always check the temp. with a meat thermometer just to be on the safe side though. Under-cooked pork is NOT something you want to mess with. I like baked pork chops too, but don't do it that often. For cooking pork, check out: THIS GUIDE
Pork chops usually get served with 2-3 veggies as side dishes. Still cheap dinners costing less than $10 for the whole meal, even using fresh veggies!
The large roast is in the freezer with a little olive oil and flavored with Grill Mates Mesquite Marinade. BTW, I'm also a fan of the Grill Mates Mojito Lime and the Tomato, Garlic & Basil packets. No, they're not paying me to say this, it's just what we normally purchase and use.
Again, I didn't mix up the marinade as it calls for, just dumped the packet into the freezer bag and squished it around with the olive oil. When I thaw the pork loin, it will also be soaking up the seasonings, saving me some time and adding amazing flavor! To cook it, I pop it in the oven in a deep baking pan with a few cans or some fresh veggies and bake for about 20mins. per pound of pork or until it reaches the correct temperature*. It's really good to toss in the slow cooker with some veggies and let it go all day, too! Super cheap meal too!
I usually serve this with rice the second day and add some more veggies to replenish what we ate the night before.
*PORK COOKING CHART Yes, I put the same chart on here twice. If there was going to be a test on this subject, this would be on it.
Want some other meal ideas? Check out the recipes HERE!
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