My Frugal Man and ME, 1 Pork Shank = 20 plus meals $4.74

I cannot believe how much I have learned from my online friends. My Jeff gets these amazing deals on meat, and I never realized how lucky I am until I learned to fully take advantage of the deals he gets. My goal this week, was to see how many meals I could get out of this almost 10 lb. pork shank that he paid $4.74 plus tax for.  Soooo, here we go. On Monday night I roasted (baked but in roasting pan, lol) this shank, I put pineapple slices all over it, poured the pineapple juice over it, then sprinkled brown sugar over that.

So, supper Monday night was thickly sliced pork, pineapple slices, macaroni and cheese and veggies. Then I sliced a few more thick pieces, used the leftover mac and cheese and veggies and put into containers for his lunch the next day (I really try to not send our supper leftovers the very next day for his lunch, but I hadnt prepared anything else), my lunch, and the 2 daycare kiddos lunch. The rest went into the fridge to be taken care of on Tuesday.

Okay, so I pull out the shank and slice off all the good meat ( I try to get as many big thick slices that I can then all chunks that arent full of fat). I take all the pineapple out and set aside, then cut off fat also. This picture shows the larger pieces on the upper left, the chunks lower left, the pineapple in the middle the bone upper right, the fat lower right. You will also see that all the grease and drippings are saved in small containers (these are the small plastic containers that baby pureed fruit comes in), because when I use it, I wont need large amounts at a time, so I needed to have them saved in small portions. Now I package everything for freezing.....

Everything is marked with what it is and the date I cooked it. Now, the breakdown of how this shank is 20 plus meals for $4.74.

Monday : 2 suppers

Tuesday : 4 lunches

son came over when I finished carving, grabbed a bunch in a bowl to "snack" on

packed some cut up ham with scrambled eggs and bread for Jeffs breakfast for Wednesday

The big slices in one plastic container will be supper for 2, and lunch for 4

the container of  smaller chunks will be used for at least 3 breakfasts

the bone and fat will be used to make pinto beans which because it makes so much will also make chili beans, etc. 

the grease and drippings will be used for tons of stuff....as I learn....

Note: the most awesome part about cooking and freezing, variety and making sure you dont get sick of something just because you have a ton of it.