I could never be a vegetarian. When we were kids, waiting on the nurses to draw our blood, rolling our eyes, going, mmhmm, plenty of iron…one of them chuckled and said, you’re meat and potatoes kids, aren’t you? Yup. We never had to take supplements or be watched for a lack of nutrients, we always seemed to have plenty. That stays true today, I suppose. The last couple of weeks I’ve felt kind of…odd. Not much meat in the house. Even my husband had to agree that mincing by on leftovers was making us cranky. Friday, though, we went to the meat place. I sat down and meal planned through the end of March. Tallied up what we needed, and we set out. It was a long drive, with a gaggy baby in the back, and a 4 year old that could not quit making noise. We came home, about $100 lighter in the wallet, but definitely a lot heavier in the ‘food’ department.
We spent part of the girl’s late nap time packaging the meat into burger patties, individual plastic bags* by the pound, and soon we had a nicely stocked freezer again. Homemade pizza sauce bubbling away on the stove while we were doing it didn’t hurt our feelings, either. It’s so great having a plan, and being able to make decisions days in advance so we don’t end up taking shortcuts. If either of us doesn’t know what we can eat, we can simply look at the calendar (I scanned my planner and used it for- gasp! planning!) and get out the appropriate items. For instance we had peeled potatoes the other day, more than we needed to cook, so we put them under cold water in the fridge. Our plot is for meatloaf and mashed potatoes tonight, which will leave enough for sandwiches for the weekend. Bonus! What’s meaty with you today?
*Yes it does kind of irk me to use plastic bags to repackage the meat, but individually packing them from the market means styrofoam in the landfill, that can’t be re-used or recycled. I have re-used the bags (at least for the patties, for instance) a couple of times without them being hurt any.
My FIL took us out to dinner last night – and for the first time ever, I ordered a steak. I don’t eat steak. As a rule, the meat is just too dense for me and it always upsets my stomach. Last night, though, I ordered a small one, medium well and it was delicious. And didn’t bother me a bit. I’ve spent most of my life eating mostly poultry and my red meat came ground but this has opened my eyes to something new. Maybe I’ve reached an age when I NEED meat from time to time.
I want to learn how to plan meals ahead of time. Even doing it a week at a time would be so helpful! It’s just not something I’ve ever done.
We are definitely meat eaters here. I told the hubs we should institute Meatless Mondays into our meal plan and he asked if I’d hit my head.
I cannot imagine life without meat. Beef, in particular. I used to eat a lot of chicken, but Jacob ruined that for me. I prefer steak or a roast now. We do more pork than I used to, too. Mark’s favorite store is the butcher. I don’t care for it – I just know they are getting meat juice cooties everywhere. But it makes him happy.