Sustainability: Making your meat go further

I’m sure you’ve also noticed the price of meat has gone up quite substantially in the last year or so.

There’s a few reasons for that, mainly a lot of meat processing plants are getting hit with COVID-19 and a lot of the workforce is of course getting sick.

A little while ago, in an effort to make the household more sustainable along with the plastic elimination, moved to purchasing meat from local sources only- this has also proven to be expensive but ironically not nearly as bad with the rise of grocery store prices. That’s made me feel a lot better financially about my choices- if I’m going to spend $10/ LB on ground beef I’d rather give that $10 to the farm down the road.

Nonetheless it’s still a lot to dish out for one meal when you have a family - I’ve started experimenting with different ways to make the meat we do purchase go a little further.

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For Taco’s, it’s been the easiest, along with a pound of beef I’ll fry up a few cups of black beans. You can also put them through a meat grinder to match the consistency- but my partner isn’t a fan of the texture so I keep them whole.

Another great filler is zucchini chopped up- this fries up beautifully and will add diversity to the flavor of your tacos.

Together we have a full pan that’s ready to feed the family! I finished off my taco with a double shell (soft and hard) sour cream, cheese, cut up kale and tomatoes from the garden and Homemade salsa.

This may be an unpopular opinion but I actually enjoyed this taco more than others because there was more flavor along with the meat! Even of we get to a point where affordability isn’t an issue anymore I still want to cut my beef with vegetables.

Let me know in the comments what you do to make your meat go a little further! Not exclusive to taco fillings! I want to hear them all.

Recipe: Mayonnaise

Making mayonnaise has become a weekly tradition in my home, it’s such a versatile sauce to have in the kitchen.

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Obvious use is for sandwiches and burgers first and foremost but it’s also a base for a lot of salad dressings and dips which makes this recipe a staple for your zero waste kitchen as it’ll eliminate so many containers from your home.

The recipe is really easy:

2 egg yolks

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp mustard powder

1/2 tsp sugar

2 tsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp white vinegar

1 cup of vegetable oil.

  1. Mix the yolks, salt, mustard, sugar and lemon juice together in a food processor.

  2. Slowly add the oil, pulsing and making sure it’s being absorbed before adding more in.

  3. Scoop into a jar, I like to use repurposed glass jars as I have a tendency to save any glass jars that come into the house.

That’s it! You’re done! It’s good for 1-2 weeks in the fridge and is ready for all your cooking needs.