Frugal Pork Stretching

A while back I wrote about how How To Stretch a Chicken .  If you aren't buying whole chickens when they are on sale from $.49-.79 a pound, then don't whine about the high cost of chicken and what you are paying for groceries!  Never buy boned skinless chicken at premium prices.  Learn to cut it up yourself.  That extra 10 minutes could be worth $3 or more!  Do you make $30 an hour?  If you had chicken twice a month you could save $72 a year on chicken alone.  That is a month's cable bill or two of my electric bills!

Now  I am addressing the use of inexpensive pork roasts.  Recently, pork roasts have been on sale for .99 a pound.  I bought two roasts in a package for $7.49 and let's say each roast was the same size.  The cost of each roast would be $3.75 and weigh around 3.5 pounds.

I froze one roast for later.   I then took the other roast and put it in the crock pot to slow cook all day.  I wanted to have pulled pork.  To the crock pot I added

1 can of tomato paste
1/2 cup catsup
1/2 cup brown sugar
big spoon of spicey mustard
3 tablespoons worshestire sauce
1 tablespoon of garlic salt
1/4 cup dried onions
a couple of shakes of habanaro hot sauce
1/3 cup cider vinegar
pork roast
The ingredients were mixed up and the roast was rolled around in the rich red BBQ like mixture.  Cook on low for 8 hours.  Baste once in a while or simply turn over the roast.  It is done when the pork pulls away easily from the bone and shreds with a fork.  Take the meat out of the crock pot and cook the sauce till thick.  If you are in a hurry pour it into a sauce pan and cook on the stove stirring frequently.

The first day I prepared pulled pork, steamed veggies and a baked potato for two and a half.  (Mister T had some pulled pork with his dinner) After dinner I pulled all the meat off and put it in the refrigerator.

Day two was pulled pork sandwiches on toasted english muffins, salad and home canned apple sauce.

Day three believe it or not there is still an ample amount of meat and sauce leftover.  It was warmed up and served over egg noodles for dinner.

Day four the remaining pork and sauce was mixed with a can of green chilies rolled into whole wheat tortias and the sauce was poured on top.  A bit of grated cheese was sprinkled over the top of the casserole and baked for about 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

I did skip a day in there so I was not too porked out. Also the casserole could have been frozen for another week.  I did make 4 rolls when I made the casserole which was 2 servings.

Altogether there were 8 hearty adult sized meals and Mister T had his fair share most every meal.  Even at 8 meals that comes to less than .50 a meal for meat which is darned frugal if I do say so myself.  One can live very frugally if one makes an effort.