How to Stretch Meat in Meals

Jump to:

• What is Stretching Meat?
• Tips for Buying Cheap Meats
• How to Stretch Meat in Meals
• #1 Stretching Ground Beef
• #2 Cheaper Steaks
• #3 Save Money on Pork
• How to Use Leftover Pork Roast
• #4 Trimming Bacon Costs
• #5 Work With Pork Sausage
• #6 How to Save Money on Chicken
• #7 Stretching a Whole Chicken into Several Meals
• My Favorite Tip For Saving on Meat at Dinner
• 💬 Comments

What is Stretching Meat?

Stretching meat is a term used for trying to get a meat product to go as far as possible. An example often seen is people turning one chicken breast into a family meal or making a rotisserie chicken last for several meals. We will cover both of these in more detail later, so you'll learn more about this as we continue learning how to stretch meat in meals.

The practice is actually fairly simple. It can be a little time-consuming when you’re working to portion the foods out, but it's worth it in the end. You save money on meat by extending it into multiple meals.

But first, let's save as much money on meat as we can, before bringing it home.

Tips for Buying Cheap Meats

• Buy cheaper cuts
• Swap meats for the cheaper alternatives
• Look for discounts and markdowns
• Meal plan with "on sale" meats
• Buy in bulk or buy family packs
• Buy whole animals from butchers
• Shop at Aldi
• Plan meatless meals throughout the week
• Avoid buying the middle portion of cows and pigs (these are the expensive cuts)
• Grind your own meat
• Learn to Braise and Roast
• Buy from a butcher shop instead of the grocery store
• Use the free cutting option at your local grocery store
• Trim meat yourself
• Buy after holiday sales
• Portion and freeze meat

Swapping meat for the cheaper alternatives

Pork is a cheaper meat option than beef and is often favored by me as an alternative due to the price. A pork roast versus a beef roast- pork comes out cheaper.

While I love a good Slow Cooker Beef Roast, sometimes a Garlic Brown Sugar Pork Tenderloin is easier on the budget. Swapping beef stew meat for ground beef can also have you going from Stove Top Beef Stew to Poor Man's Beef Stew, and saving money in the process.

Pork ribs versus beef ribs- comes out cheaper AND with more meat on the bones. Not to mention you can’t get good bacon from a cow. Instant Pot Beef Back Ribs are great but there's a bigger bang for your buck when you swap it for Baked BBQ Pork Spare Ribs.

Chicken and turkey can also be used interchangeably in a LOT of recipes.

You can even take a regular beef roast and cook it up like a prime rib for a simple Poor Mans Prime Rib dinner.

Grinding your own meat

You can buy a manual meat grinder for under $30 and use it over and over again to get the BEST savings on meat! Ground chicken, ground turkey, and ground beef can all get pretty expensive when it's not on sale.

I personally love to buy discounted meat like beef chuck, pork chops, or chicken breasts to run through my meat grinder. This gives me the savings I want because I spent so little on the meat and it gives me control over how much fat goes into the meat. I can also choose to add seasonings, making mealtimes a little faster (and tastier).

Learn to braise and roast

Tougher and thicker cuts of meat, like the ones often used in braising and roasting recipes can save you a fortune. They're usually larger in cut, priced cheaper and when cooked properly, taste really good!

Roasting meats has been made much easier thanks to the invention of the crockpot, but there are still several ways you can make a good roast in the oven too! But don't forget you can roast practically anything from Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Carrots to Roasted Chicken with Potatoes and Carrots.

Buy after holiday sales

After Thanksgiving, Easter or Christmas, you'll find meats like ham and turkey going on sale as stores try to clear them out of their stock. This is a great time to stock up and save money on these big guys! See: Easy Ways To Celebrate Easter On A Budget

I personally have 5 or 6 turkeys in my deep freezer by the end of February because I buy them when my store sells them at $0.39lb. It's great savings and I can enjoy turkey throughout the year.

Then it's just a matter of how to cook them. My go-to for a whole bird is Oven Roasted Dry Brined Turkey, but for smaller cuts, I love Cajun Turkey Breast and Air Fryer Turkey Breast.

Portion and freeze

Properly portioning out meats after you come home from the grocery store or butcher can greatly help you reduce your costs on meat. One of the big issues with grocery shopping is buying huge family packs of meat and by the time you get home, you're too exhausted to portion it out.

This leads to the meat getting tossed in the freezer as a whole, and then thawed and cooked at once. Making the meat not last through nearly as many meals as if you had portioned it out, bagged it up and froze it in smaller portions perfect for your meal plan.

Tip- You can make meat last longer in the freezer and reduce the chance of freezer burn by using a vacuum sealer machine to securely bag the meats in the first place.

How to Stretch Meat in Meals

You can save a lot of money on meat by stretching it into multiple meals. There a large number of ways that you can choose to stretch the meat.

I'm going to highlight my favorite ways to do so, with a few popular cuts of meat. These are all fairly simple to do! I'll make this easier by organizing by animals, beef, pork, and chicken.

#1 Stretching Ground Beef

Ground beef is expensive and as such, is rarely seen in our house, so we will start here. As such, meatloaf recipes like our Meatloaf Without Eggs, Meatloaf with Ritz Crackers, and Meatloaf Recipe with Oatmeal are usually rarely on our menu plans.

When considering what to add to ground beef, there are 3 options that I love to mix and match, but I'm sure a little research could give you other ways as well.

Reducing portions

When portioning away your ground beef, don’t cut it into pounds. Yes, recipes do call for 1 pound here or 1 pound there. But really, no one will notice in the slightest if you used ¾lb, or you can get by with ½ lb as well.

*If your dish looks like the meat reduction took away from the eating portions and now it needs some bulk, just throw some more of another ingredient into the meal so it's more filling. Corn, whole beans, rice, and pasta, as examples.

Adding Oats

OATS. While you can also use lentils or beans, to stretch ground beef, I prefer oats. Mostly because I am intimidated by lentils and I don’t know what dish I’ll be throwing the beef into. I also don’t want to put legumes into it if I'm going to put it into spaghetti.

Quick cook oats, when mixed with meat and cooked will absorb the beef fat and cook thoroughly. This makes it almost unnoticeable in the dish itself because it blends in so well. YAY, food camouflage! Not to mention oats are high in fiber and low in calories, so it’s a healthy choice as well.

Use about ¼ cup of oats per pound of meat. Don’t choose the leanest of the ground beef, or else whatever you make will risk drying out.

You’ll want ground beef that has 15%-20% fat content. It won't taste greasier, and if too much fat oil is produced, you can always drain it.

I have used up to 1 cup of oats per pound, but I suggest starting small and working your way up to see where you are comfortable in this.

Adding Veggies

VEGGIES!! You just can’t get enough veggies, especially when it comes to those picky kids, am I right? Mushrooms, carrots, squash, sweet potato, celery, onion, or anything you can puree. Wash, chop, boil or sauté until soft.

Then blend the heck out of it so it's velvety smooth. Mix into your beef at a rate of ¼-1 cup per pound. And unless you have supertasters in your presence, they’ll never notice.

This is a great way to remove calories, add nutrients, and provide a healthy meal for everyone. Just make sure to cook out as much water from the veggies as you can before mixing it with the ground beef, so it saves you time down the road!

Tip- Find already pureed veggies in the baby food aisle and use those to reduce time. This is great for those on WIC (See: EBT Extra Benefits (WIC Included))

#2 Cheaper Steaks

You can have a cheap and good steak with this one trick!

Steaks are delicious, but you can cut some money by buying the cheaper variety. You know, those tougher cuts. Because there’s a secret not enough people know about.

Good cheap cuts of meat to use for steak are- Chuck Eye Steaks or Eye of Round Steaks.

1. Make sure you have kosher salt or coarse sea salt on hand. Lay your steaks out and sprinkle salt on each side of the meat. Rub it in gently but try to apply it to as much surface area as possible.
2. Now let it sit for 45 minutes, a little longer is fine, especially for thicker cuts of meat. Afterward, wipe off some of the salt (if it's still visible) then pat them dry. Rinsing in water is not necessary and will remove some of the "crust" we just created.
3. Season as desired and cook on the stovetop.

How to cook steak on the stove:

Place steaks on a hot pre-heated pan and sear each side for 3 or 4 minutes, until the outside is browned. Then pull the steak off and let rest 5 minutes before cutting into it. Steaks continue cooking after they're removed from the heating source, so pull them off 5 degrees prior to the temperature you want to eat them.

You’ll notice the meat is much softer and comparable to the more expensive cuts now. This is also referred to as a poor man's filet mignon.

Why is that?

..you dry brined your meat. The salt drew out the natural juices of the steak which then dissolved the salt. This created a brine and most of it was reabsorbed by the steak. It continues to tenderize the meat throughout the cooking process.

It's Magic.. well... It's Science.

According to Bill Nye the Science Guy, Science Rules!

[Side note] Dry brine is also a great way to lock moisture into your turkeys when cooked whole. <- My favorite way to cook a turkey.

#3 Save Money on Pork

Stretching pork is a little more difficult than ground beef because it mainly plays into the creativity of the chef, but once you know how to stretch meat in meals, it gets easier!

For example- Let's say you buy a large bone-in pork shoulder for $20. While you could make Honey Mustard Pork Shoulder Roast, you could also make several meals instead of one.

After you get home from the store cut it into 3 smaller roasts, fat and all. Set the bone aside for another dinner dish. You don't have to do all of the pork roast meals back-to-back, you can scatter them throughout the month. Just make sure the meat is properly sealed, frozen, and labeled.

Night #1

Make pork roast as desired and serve with sides. Reserve the bone.

Night #2

Make a crock-pot overnight bone broth with the pork bone. In the morning add beans and chopped veggies. Now you can enjoy a delicious homemade soup by dinner time.

Night #3

Make a pork roast as desired. Throw a baked potato and a side salad on the plate, maybe even some steamed veggies. Your family is so full from a large (inexpensive) meal.

Thanks to your freezer these nights do not have to be consecutive. You can spread them out as far as you like. You can even make extra baked potatoes for homemade hashbrowns. See: How to Make Frozen Hashbrowns

How to Use Leftover Pork Roast

What to do with such a thing!

• Shred it, dice it, and reuse it.
• Throw it in enchiladas, tamales, fried rice, pulled pork sandwiches, etc. The only limit here is your own creativity.

#4 Trimming Bacon Costs

One of the easiest ways to figure out how to stretch meat in meals, is with bacon. Bacon comes in large packs of slices, if you freeze the whole package, you have to thaw and cook the whole package. But bacon is delicious fatty goodness that should be monitored, and not over-indulged upon.

So instead of taking the easy route, open that package before you freeze it and instead, put 1 or 2 slices per person into a gallon baggy (or vacuum seal bag.)

I like to lay out a long piece of parchment paper add a few slices of bacon, fold the paper over and repeat until it looks like an accordion with bacon between the layers. Then it can all fit in one plastic baggie, saving me storage space and bags.

When the mood strikes and you want to cook it- it's already portioned and thereby stretched. –save the grease if you are a cast iron fan, it’s a great way to keep your pan seasoned.

#5 Work With Pork Sausage

Pork sausage (ground pork) is cheap. Like really cheap compared to ground turkey, ground beef, ground chicken, etc.

Finding it in the breakfast meats section near the bacon, and it can usually be priced under $2 for a 1lb tube.

Pork sausage makes a lot of dishes (especially Italian styled ones) much tastier. Why use flavorless beef in spaghetti when you can use a flavor-packed and meal enhancing pork for the cheaper price tag too- bonus point!

#6 How to Save Money on Chicken

Boneless skinless chicken breasts (fresh not frozen)

These will run you about $1-$1.99 a breast. If you can, try to make a meal around one breast. Meat shouldn’t be the centerpiece of a dish, but should instead be an ingredient. As nice as Stuffed Chicken Roll Ups are, they're pretty pricey when making them for multiple people.

By finding recipes asking for shredded or cubed chicken, you can use less meat and fill the plate with more vegetables.

Meat isn’t the only way to obtain a protein either, so you shouldn’t worry on the health front for this. You can even go so far as to cut the breast in half.

Save money on ground chicken by doing this:

If you enjoy using ground chicken, consider buying the breasts and your very own meat grinder so you can save. Yes, it means more work for you, but you can find some fairly inexpensive meat grinders and after a few uses it totally pays for itself right?!

Buy cheap cuts of chicken

Chicken thighs are a cheap cut of chicken and have more meat than chicken drumsticks. Drumsticks are often fairly inexpensive as well. You can make Baked BBQ Chicken Thighs, Stuffed Chicken Legs, or Crispy Baked Chicken Quarters.

Then there are chicken quarters- which are often cheaper than drumsticks because less prep work goes into them. A bag of them frozen contains 10-15 and ranges around $3-$6 a bag if your store sells them this way. I like to buy them fresh when priced $0.99lb or less.

When you want your dinner plate to have meat be the star, these are perfect and budget-friendly ways to do so.

Avoid the expensive cuts of chicken

Chicken wings are almost never worth it unless you find a great sale. There is so little meat on those bones, that you’re mainly paying for packaging and bones.

These cuts have been popularized with football games, sauces, and wing delivery places bringing them hot and ready to your door. When comparing the price of raw chicken wings in store and the ready-to-eat wings at your local delivery places, it actually makes more sense to order the fast food.

That said, I do understand the allure of chicken wings and have several recipes like Honey Gold Wings, Air Fryer Garlic Parmesan Wings, and Beer Brine Chicken Wings.

#7 Stretching a Whole Chicken into Several Meals

Whole chicken- When figuring out how to stretch meat in meals, this is the way to go. You can get a whole chicken for about $5-$7 and stretch it into 7 meals.

Night #1

Cook whole chicken, some roasted potato, steamed veggies or squash (if the price is right.) An example of this is my Roasted Chicken with Potatoes and Carrots.

Make the plates colorful, ⅔rds veggies, plus the potatoes and then only carve one chicken breast off that bird. The plates are full and so is everyone's tummy. I usually like to add a green salad as well.

Alternatively- for larger families, you can carve off the breast, a wing, and leg. Put on a platter and slice the breast, so it's shared amongst everyone and prevents the meat eater from grabbing the whole thing to themselves.

The work after dinner- carve that roast beast to remove the other half of the bird and then dig in with your fingers to remove as much meat as possible. Using your fingers is the best way to attack this situation.

Place shredded meats into a bowl and dish out in 1 cup measures for future meals. Reserve the bone carcass for homemade chicken stock and shred off the meat from the breast, wing, and leg as well. All that meat- goes into that bowl for dividing.

Make your own homemade chicken stock

Now take your largest crockpot, and put the chicken carcass in it. (Lovely imagery, right?) Anyways, add some celery, carrots, onion, a splash of apple cider vinegar, and fill to the brim with water.

Let simmer on low overnight. In the morning, turn it off. Remove all chunks. Strain it and wait for it to cool- remove the fat layer at the top and you officially have your very own, homemade chicken stock.

I separate my stock into 2 cup measures, in a sandwich bag and lay flat in the freezer. 2 of the 2 cup bags =32oz carton while 1 bag is about the equivalent to a cans worth. A carton of chicken stock is close to $2 and has added who knows what in it. This is homemade and savings in your pocket.

Boom, double win.

Night #2-#7

Use the saved cooked meat for whatever you wish to make. Soups, casseroles, enchiladas, fried rice, homemade pizza, etc. Once again- the only limit here is your own creativity.

My Favorite Tip For Saving on Meat at Dinner

I like to reduce the amount of meat served at dinner to be about the size of a deck of cards per person. For my kids that looks like one or two chicken drumsticks each while I get a thigh and my husband gets half of a large chicken breast.

I then add 2 veggies and a starch to the plate. This is often steamed or roasted veggies and a green salad. Our starches range from yellow rice to potatoes, pasta or beans.

By making it a rule that the plates have to be eaten clean before asking for seconds, theres less chance for food waste. (Because no one is grabbing extra food only to find that they're too full to eat it).

I have found that over the years it helps when I'm the one portioning the food out onto the plates because it allows for better portion control.

If after dinner the kids or adults are still hungry, we have baskets of fresh produce like apples, bananas, pears, and oranges and then there are drawers full of carrots and celery in the fridge too. While we have rules about asking for (and limiting) junk foods, the kids have full access to fresh and healthy snacks, no asking required.

I hope you found some useful information and tips on how to stretch meat in meals article. Please remember that no one knows your family as much as you do, so make sure to customize and adapt based on your own family's situation.