So, we decided to knock out big spend items first to see what you we were dealing with cost wise. Cliff is a veteran professional chef, so he knows most of this off the top of his head: what ingredients work well together and what we should be paying for it. We spent two or three hours working and reworking the list and menu, triangulating what we wanted to accomplish and how we could make substitutions and better buys.
Also, we avoided the Wisconsin freezer staple: the casserole. I know that some will think us insane for overlooking this family feeding dish, but please hear me out. For one thing, casseroles are not my personal favorite. If I wanted every ingredient in every bite I would buy bigger forks!
Casseroles are typically infill items: you throw them together at the beginning of the day and then bake later. Same deal with soups and crock pot meals. They are better as needed and made with what's hanging out in the fridge. The exception was our chili base. Maybe we will change this up next time, we'll see.
So, back to the shopping list.
MEAT
First off, plenty of proteins: 42# of whole chickens and 40# of boneless thighs. This would be made into several dishes. 20# of pork picnic cut (similar to shoulder) for slow cooking in (gulp) rendered fat. This would yield yummy, crispy carnitas and chicarones for mexican deliciousness. Also some pork roasts that would be vac sealed for our boil in bag meals.
We also threw in some ground beef for chili base and burger patties and a 20# tri-tip cut for little roasts and beef tips. That and a 20# corned beef brisket for slow cooking and slicing.
Lesson learned: the pork picnic cut is cheaper than shoulder/butt and yield perfectly acceptable roasts and carnitas. The tri-tip is a decent substitute for the more expensive hanger steak that we were considering. Avoid really great cuts like steaks or tenderloins since we were freezing them anyway. We bought all of these at Restaurant Depot.
VEGGIES
On the veg side we gathered 30# of potatoes, 15# parsnips, 20# white onions, 10# zucchini, 10# summer squash, 15# butternut squash, 10# turnips, 20# carrots, 15# beets. It's a lot (trust us we know) but we put veg into each meal bag and had plenty of veg only bags as well, for when we are not feeling as carnivorous. We bought all of these goods in 10# portions or better at Woodman's, Sam's Club and Restaurant Depot.
We were planning on grilling some veg, roasting some veg and leaving some in the cellar for immediate use. Except for the on hand items this was a lot of peeling and dicing. We saved some time by purchasing lovely italian tomatoes cooked and peeled in the can. Same deal for roasted peppers, tomatillos and pineapple. The canned stuff is really good and saves a ton of time.
Despite the canned items this still meant a lot of prep for one day, but we rose early and got to it.
The Kitchen
Our kitchen is small and has a standard amount of counter space. One oven and range top with four burners. Right off, it was apparent we would need more room so we set up the outdoor kitchen. Ours consists of a collapsible rain cover, a picnic table for prep and a section of counter top on sawhorses.
Keep in mind we live in the city so its a sight to see when everything is set up, but there you have it. Luckily, we used the rain fly: we could not have had a more November day in terms of overcast and light on and off drizzle.
The counter top was set up on sawhorses and laden with a large cutting board and two Nesco electric roasters. We also set up a pair of charcoal grills. A large cooler of meat and three or four plastic tubs of veg and other ingredients were set within easy reach and we were done with outside setup.
Let's get cookin' in the next post
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