Getting Along With Less Meat

I promised I would write again about tips and tricks which have helped us to eat less meat per week than we normally have.

Tip #1: Grow a garden. I know, I know. A garden is extra work and it's so easy to buy whatever you need at the grocery store. But for us, a garden has really helped us to cut back on meat in the summer. Why? Well, I personally can't stand to see food wasted. It conjures up images of starving children in Africa whenever I have to throw out something that's sat long enough to go bad. The advantage of a garden is that once it starts producing there is a short window when the vegetables have to be eaten or they will spoil. So instead of focusing meals around meat, I find I have to focus them around tomatoes instead because I'm swamped with tomatoes. You'll also find it's also much less work to eat the veggies fresh in meals than to work with preserving them in cans or even the freezer.

Tip #2: Frequent your local farmer's market, especially when you're hungry. This will cause you to buy FAR more fruits and vegetables than you could possibly eat in a week and you'll be stuck with a dilemma much like Tip #1.

Tip #3: When you do use meat, use it in one-dish meals which encompass all food groups and make extra to freeze. This may seem like an odd tip, but consider the difference between 1/2 pound of steak in one piece, and 1/2 pound of hamburger in a casserole with 1/2 pound of pasta and 1/2 pound of vegetables and 1/2 pound of eggs/cheese. The second option is better because you stretch the meat to go much further in your meal, and you also get the vegetables in without consciously planning for them. I don't know about you, but (especially in the winter months) I just don't focus on vegetables as much as I should. If you make 3 times the casserole/soup you need at one time and freeze the rest, and do the same every time you make a new dish, your freezer will be stocked and then you'll be in a situation where you'll have to eat that older food to make room in the freezer. So I guess this tip is all about forcing yourself not to have a choice to eat that steak... Making extra also has the advantage of ready-made meals when you are in a pinch for time. If you're the kind of person who doesn't particularly like to cook, it helps you to cook less often.

Tip #4: If you're buying the same cuts of meat all the time, try to imagine how many animals went into producing the meat you use in a month. If you're always eating the same cut you're going through a lot of individual animals. Note: this does not apply as much to ground meats as it does to solid cuts. Try diversifying the cuts you buy and prepare. This will actually help prepare you for buying a whole or half animal because you'll know what to do with that cube steak as well as that roast.

Tip #5: Going along with Tip #4... Try using more unconventional parts of the animal, especially in stock. This is especially relevant if you decide to buy your meat locally and order half an animal. Are you sure you can't use the bones, the heart, liver, kidneys, tongue, jowls, even the feet? These are all things that we have learned how to use. Are you throwing away the bag of giblets when you buy a whole chicken? Why? Even if you don't eat the giblets you could at least add them to a batch of chicken stock and release their nutrients into the water. This is another way to stretch the purchase of an animal. The plus is that most of the organ meats are exceptionally rich in vitamins, fatty acids and minerals - much richer than meat which comes from muscle. You'll also find that they are quite cheap because demand for them is low. And nothing can beat real homemade chicken stock when you're sick.

Next time: Recipes!