If you have a basic cookbook, try looking through that for ideas. I always get inspiration that way.

I do everything you are doing as well. My budget is lower because I purchase less meat and feel we are healthier for it.

Thanks for sharing your ideas.

I have learned to compromise on this. I never really felt like I had to have meat with every meal before I was married. My husband, on the other hand, grew up in a farmer’s family and he is a huge meat eater. He doesn’t feel like dinner is dinner without some meat at least. It’s probably psychological more than a need. He grew up that way. But I have learned how to please him and still stretch the meat out so that we aren’t getting too expensive or unhealthy. For example, I will make a 9×13 casserole of rice and broccoli, add one breast of chicken, and that meal will feed us and our toddler for two dinners and a lunch. Chicken can be put in lots of soups too. My husband likes meatballs, so I make them very small and ration them out in our spaghetti or whatever. Ground beef can be browned and mixed with just about any casserole or italian meal. If the recipe calls for a pound, I use half that and substitute veggies. I rarely buy a roast. If I see one for really cheap, I will buy it and we splurge on that meal. Leftovers from a roast make a great stew, and the stew can be stretched with more veggies than meat as well as noodles or rice. I buy a ham maybe three times a year. On top of that I get two or three hams for free with grocery store promos in our area. I watch deals and buy the biggest bone-in ham I can get. We have one big meal with it and I freeze the rest in small chunks for casseroles. One ham will usually give us five to eight meals. Pork chops are a rarety since I haven’t found a good way to make them stretch.
Also, I keep a price book on our meats. That way, I recognize a good meat deal when I see it. In general, ground beef is usually a good deal in our area if it is less than $2 per pound. Bone-in chicken is always cheaper than boneless, and I stock up when I see it cheaper than $.70 per pound. I actually saw it go as cheap as $.49 cents/# a while back. I grabbed up a bunch of it and we ate chicken for a good long time. I would love to do the 1/4 cow thing, but will need a bigger freezer for that. I’m not even sure where to go for them in our area since ranchers seem few and far between in my state.
So, it is possible to please your hubby with a meaty diet and still be conscious about the amount of meat you are eating or how much money you are spending on it.

also if my hubby wants wants a steask.. ummm. i dont trust my skills and we go to Longhorn

My husband and I eat a tomato based lentil casserole that is fantastic. We also eat spicy pinto bean burgers that are great (and we don’t even miss the meat!).

Vegetarians don’t eat meat, yet they’re not anemic. It’s a matter of paying attention to what you eat, and a good daily multivitamin can’t hurt, either!

Instead of rewtiting this tip I will give you the link to the way we saved money while eating out.
http://recritique.blogspot.com/2008/06/some-money-saving-tips-if-you-have-kids.html

Plus we do have tons of coupons.

We love your site and I hope this is of some help.

Robyn
Recritique.com

My main concern about meat is not the protein, but the iron. My husband is a runner. (He runs a LOT) When he doesn’t get enough iron, he can tell. But I haven’t been buying much meat lately because there haven’t any good deals. I usually spend about $4 for a pound of good, lean ground beef, then try to stretch it by adding TVP, beans, barley, etc.

So, he’s been feeling sluggish lately, and he thinks it’s because we haven’t been eating much meat. I am trying to sneak in spinach where I can, but that is actually expensive too, and even with beans you have to eat A LOT of them to make up for the iron you’d normally get from red meat.

So, my question is two-part. What price do you consider a “good deal” on something simple like ground beef? And, do you have any tips for finding good deals on beef?

Right now I am trying to purchase only what is needed. Thanks to your site I’ve been able to stock up a little bit on some pantry items, so I really only need to buy basics right now.

Considering the economy, I love it when I don’t even have to purchase much to get by, or when I can leave the store with free or almost free items. I’m especially grateful for some of the natural items you’ve posted about lately, thank you.

I would love to know how everyone organizes their coupons. I use a coupon binder and a coupon spread sheet. You can see how I create my coupon spread sheet and why I do it at my blog…

http://susangodfrey.blogspot.com/2008/06/making-coupon-spread-sheet-work-for-you.html

for me this works REALLY well, so I thought I’d share. Maybe it might help some of your readers

I’m really enjoying this blog of yours and I’m hoping it will help me save some money on groceries and sundries. I use to be a “coupon queen” back before we moved out here. But, I gave up doing it because there just weren’t any good stores here. Thankfully, I recently found a Kroger in another town about 30-45 minutes away. It also has a CVS, Walgreens and Wal-mart, so…I’m back to collecting coupons again!