Frugal Money: Three meals in one, Beef Roast

Being on a tight budget, for whatever reason, means you need to make the most of your food usage, limiting waste and cutting down on portions of the more expensive parts of the meal.

On Sundays, we generally have what I call "Big Hunks of Meat Night". That means instead of our usual casserole or some dish that uses less meat, we have what most of America considers a regular dinner. Roast, chicken, meatloaf, etc. I use more meat on those nights, but then try to use less throughout the week, supplementing protein with beans, cheeses and eggs. However, even on those nights when we have a lot of meat, I try to make the most of what I'm preparing. Those two extra pieces of chicken will get frozen with some side dish for Larry's lunches. If we're doing hamburgers on the grill, I will make some extra for lunches.

Roast presents many unique opportunities (by the way, I often use brisket as a substitute for roast-it's usually half the price of what I can get roast for even on sale, and while it's a small bit dryer, it's just as tasty-just cut a large brisket {not corned beef brisket} into thirds for roast sized portions). When I cook a roast, I do it in the crock pot with enough water to cover. I add salt, pepper, garlic and onion, and let it do it's thing all day. When it's done cooking, I take two cups of the very flavorful broth to make gravy with cornstarch. I take about half the meat out for serving that night. I remove the rest immediately-if it's still in the crock pot, someone will try to take it! If I have time, I process a bit that night, if not, I put it in a large bowl and put it in the fridge to do the next morning.

When I process it, I take half the remaining meat, and one cup of broth, and set aside for stroganoff. I will add the meat and broth to a mushroom broth, thicken with cornstarch, add sour cream and a bit of worcestershire sauce, and then serve over noodles.

The remainder is set aside for soup or stew. When I"ve let it sit in the fridge overnight, I'm able to skim the fat off, making it a much healthier meal.

Those additional meal portions are either frozen or served later in the week. This time of year I definitely freeze the soup portion, as it's generally too warm here for soup...but it sure is nice to have after that first cold snap in the fall!

I hope this helps you make better use of your food budget!