Holiday Budgeting with Beef

As we head into the big spend-a-thon (holiday) season, we’re here to help you get the most from your meat! Here are some ‘tips and talk’ on what works best with the budget when you’re cooking with Canadian beef:

• Trim is in. Look to buy beef that’s fully trimmed and boneless so what you’re paying for is what you eat.
• Think cost per serving instead of total cost. A boneless trimmed roast beef has little to no waste compared to what you toss out with a turkey. You get 4 to 5 servings per lb with trimmed boneless beef roast vs 2 servings of meat per lb with a whole roast chicken or turkey.
• Cut your losses. Always roast low and slow (lower oven/slow-cooker temperatures + longer cooking time) to significantly reduce cooking losses – higher temperature cooking means juices are literally cooked out of the meat!  BONUS: with ‘low and slow’ roasting, your roast will be more juicy and tender and evenly cooked throughout.
• Buy the right cut and cook it right. Pot Roasts need to be slowly simmered (pot-roasted) and Oven Roasts need to be oven-roasted – Simmering Steaks need to be simmered and Grilling Steaks need to be Grilled! Be sure check the label on pack for these key names so you know what to buy and how to cook it. See all you need to know at Beef 101.
• Serve beef as ‘bits & bites’in appetizers that can stretch your meat investment. BONUS: beefy appetizers are a healthy approach for holiday eating compared to bowls of salty snacks and platters of fatty pastry wrapped bites.  Check out how kabob cubes, stir-fry strips, ground beef and even sliced steak can do the trick.
• And there is BIG BONUS with beef on your appetizer menu:
  • Beef’s lean protein satisfies appetites better than (often empty) calorie-laden carb options
  • Beef’s got more for the bite, with 14 essential nutrients, including iron to guard against anemia and zinc to boost immunity*
• Share the table, share the cooking, share the love! Cooking at the table is back in vogue – it’s such an easy way to socialize at a fraction of the cost of eating out! We’re talking raclette and hot pot (alias fondue) – making the big come back this year.

• Three of our best beef budget options:
  • Ground beef goes gracious – try Beef Pot Stickers for appetizers
  • Fireside dining – Beef Bourguignon makes beef stew go gourmet – endorsed by Julia Child herself!
  • Pot roast for potluck – Slow-cooker Mushroom Pot Roast can be cooked while you’re at work. Carve the roast before leaving home and put it back in the slow cooker with the gravy to take-out.

  
  Hoping that these tips add some ‘ho, ho, ho’ back into your holidays!

Joyce

For more posts on beef budgeting see Tops Five Tips to Help Save Money & Time, Balancing My Nutrition Budget, and The Extreme Dinner Prep Event.

* Per 100 grams raw lean beef, trimmed of external fat (composite of 26 cuts):  162 Calories, 21 g protein, 7.8 g fat, 0 g carbohydrate % Daily Value: potassium 9% DV, iron 15% DV, vitamin D 10% DV, thiamine 10% DV, riboflavin 15% DV, niacin 45% DV, vitamin B₆ 15% DV, vitamin B₁₂ 110% DV, pantothenate 10% DV, phosphorus 15% DV, magnesium 10% DV, zinc 60% DV, selenium 40% DV

About the Author:

Joyce Parslow (Canada Beef’s Consumer Culinary Manager for over 10 years) has what she thinks is the best career in the world, combining her love for food and agriculture.  As a busy working mom, with 2 kids under-roof, and a nomadic spouse, Joyce is often wrestling with that age-old problem of how to get a wholesome affordable meal on the table (or at least in the bellies) and get out the door in time to make 2 soccer games in 2 different cities.  It is this and other mom-type cooking conundrums that fuels Joyce with new ideas for Canadian beef.  Her approach: “problems are really just solutions in disguise”.