The Money Saving Secret Behind Sunday Dinner

Nobody likes to feel deprived, especially when it comes to food. I’m letting you in on a secret that

Sunday Dinner

experienced cooks have known forever. It’s a secret that allows you to feel blessed by abundance, all the while you reap the savings of a little planning. The secret?  Make a big Sunday dinner. 

Whether you make it Sunday dinner or Saturday night dinner or any other day the important thing is to have that big meal. It provides a feeling of satisfaction for the whole family and great leftovers for quick easy meals. Don’t overlook this as too simple. It makes a huge difference for your budget, your convenience, and your family’s feeling that they eat well no matter what the economy is doing.

The great thing is that the big meal is really easy to make. Get a large beef roast or pork roast (shoulder roast is a good buy) or any other meat you like. Chicken can be done this way also, if you cook enough of it at a time. Buy the “family pack” to get the best deal and cook it all at the same time. (If it’s a nice day, masses of chicken can be grilled outside to get added flavor.) Bake it in the oven along with vegetables like potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, and any other veggies you have. If you have a lot of veggies, just put them in a separate pan with some olive oil; they will taste terrific!

The more side dishes you have the less meat will be eaten. Put out the applesauce, pickles, raw veggies and dip, lettuce wedges, a jar of beets, macaroni and cheese, loaded baked potatoes–whatever will tempt your family that costs less than meat per pound. Consider adding some kind of bread and/or dessert to the meal to round out the feeling of a feast. Let the family work together on this meal to make it an even more memorable tradition. It won’t hurt that the kids can learn some cooking skills at the same time. 

The idea is to let your family eat to their heart’s content at this big meal. Afterwards, pack up the leftover meat into freezer containers with the right amount of meat for a future meal. You might want to label each package with the name of the recipe you plan to use it for if the amounts are different. Date the label & sit back with your favorite beverage to congratulate yourself. You have just banked several future meals that will be quick and easy to pull together. And the meals will use less meat per serving than in your “big meal.” Money saved and healthier too!

• stir fry
  

  Add More Side Dishes!

• pizza
• egg foo yung
• barbequed pulled meat sandwiches
• soup, stew, chili, etc. (can add gravy from the roast)
• fajitas, quesadillas, enchiladas, burritos, etc.
• pad thai
• wraps and sadwiches with lots of vegetables
• as part of appetizers
• pocket sandwiches with vegetables
• salad toppings or add-ins
• omelettes with vegetables
• toppings for pasta with alfredo sauce and cooked vegetables
• pasta salad
• part of crepe fillings
• fried rice with vegetables and meat

You can probably think of more if you think over the recipes you make often. Suggestions?

After a few “big meals” you will find you have quite a nice choice of meats in the freezer to choose from when you want a quick meal. Your family will think you are such a good cook and so creative. You’ll know that you’ve been using less meat in these creative meals that are the best convenience foods ever. With the cost of meat being one of the most expensive parts of most meals, you are continually saving money. You can also add a meatless meal to your menu rotation once or twice a week to save even more money. 

I find this more manageable than the well-known Once-A-Month Cooking. It’s not such an ordeal in my experience. Do whatever works with your schedule, energy levels, and freezer space.

You can’t prevent inflated food prices, but you can learn to outsmart rising meat prices. And nobody needs to feel deprived with all this goodness being served on your table. Enjoy!

Click on any of the labels below this post for recipes that work with this.