The biggest reason I had to go buy a meat grinder was to make sure we always had enough ground pork on hand for one of my favorite meals: Spicy Peanut Ground Pork Stir Fry. (Ours is not really that spicy because we use a very tame red curry paste!)
This is one of those recipes that can be really affordable if you make it in bulk. The two biggest expenses are the pork itself and the cabbage/carrots, and we managed the former by buying our pork in bulk this time (about $8.50 for three pounds) and the latter by buying four pounds of Tri-Color Coleslaw Mix from Sam’s for about $5. We’re fortunate enough to have soy sauce, olive oil, and peanut butter on hand, and a very robust stash of our favorite Thai Curry Paste. (From Thai Kitchen!) I’d say averaging it out this triple batch cost us around $20, and we got 16 servings out of it.
We put these in our two cup souper cubes again. That is really our most often used one for meals, because I find it works really well to save two servings of something. Since we always make rice or pasta the night we’re eating it, two cups of sauce/stir fry/whatever is plenty of food for both of us, especially if we add a salad or some bread!
And yes, I used my cheap but sturdy vacuum sealer to package them up, and my nimbot labeler to keep it organized.
After we ate two servings last night, I packed 7 cubes into our freezer, which should last us a few months of having my favorite pork stir fry a couple times a month!