Budget Cooking: How To Stretch A 6 Pounds Pork Shoulder Into 5 Dishes For Family of 4, Part 1

This is the first installment of my Budget Cooking: How To Stretch A 6 Pounds Pork Shoulder Into 5 Dishes For Family of 4 series. The $7.67 pork shoulder is technically 5.99 pounds but I’m just going to round it up to an even 6 pounds. This size of pork shoulder itself is good for either huge family dinners, formal or holiday dinners cooked as: Baked Pork Roast With Dry Rub, Crockpot Cooking: Southern Pork Barbeque, or give a couple more pounds to make a Lechon Kawali aka Deep Fried Pork Roast. But today, I’m going to show you how you can divide a pork shoulder to stretch into 5 different dishes to serve on different nights, for a family of 4.

FYI, the pictures are not glamorous because this is a real kitchen not some fancy decorated kitchen from a Food Network show. If you’re a vegetarian, well, don’t click “read more”…

There’s the evidence of $7.67 price. I forgot to take a picture of the pork shoulder…

But here’s an old picture from the Baked Pork Roast With Dry Rub recipe. Refer to that before going to the grocery store or your local butcher.

Here are the divided portions. TOP CUTS: medallions/cutlets, and kebabs. BOTTOM CUTS: chops, and stir-fry. The bone is not part of the 5 dishes I’m making but I’m keeping it for a soup stock. I cut up a portion for an adobo dish before I remembered to take pictures for this series. That’s the 1st dish which I’ll show at the end of this post.

Store the cut up pork in ziploc bags then label each bag so you won’t be in front of your open freezer digging through frozen meat wondering which bag is for the particular dish you’re cooking for that night. Guilty as charged!

Here’s what I’ve planned for the different cuts.

MEDALLIONS/CUTLETS: Lemon Pork Cutlets (chicken version). Other ideas: Pork Cutlets In Cream Of Mushroom & White Wine Sauce, Homemade Tocino, Homemade Tocinokatsu

KEBABS: Teriyaki Pork Green Pepper, Mushrooms, & Onions for the 4th of July. Other ideas: Broiled Pork Skewers, Grilled Pork & Veggie Kebabs.

VARIOUS IDEAS FOR CHOPS: HOISIN MARINATED GRILLED PORK, or BREADED SPICY MUSTARD PORK CHOPS, or Grilled Curry Pork Chops, or Breaded Fried Pork Chops W/ Caramelized Onions.

VARIOUS IDEAS FOR STIR-FRY: Pork Lo Mein, Pork Broccoli & Green Pepper W/ Peanut Butter Sauce Stir-Fry, Curry Pork & Potatoes W/ Saffron, Pork & Broccoli Teriyaki, Sotanghon Noodles With Pork and Napa Cabbage.

Pork Adobo was the first dish I cooked for the 1st portion of the pork cuts. This one is good for 3 servings which is good for 3 people = 1 serving/1 person, or for 2 people depending how much each person eats. I actually made this for my dinner last night. It was one of those nights when I have no idea what to make for the family after filling up the fridge with food. You know, that moment. I said I wanted pork, and my husband said make anything just nothing Asian. But I wanted an Asian dish so I made him steak, my son said he’ll eat the half of his pizza sub from lunch, then I made the little girl grilled ham and cheese sandwich. I gave the kids sour cream & onion potato chips on the side too. I made my pork adobo. I have leftover pork adobo for my lunch today so I’m even happier. When Mommy is happy, everyone is happy, right?

Part 2 of this series would be the teriyaki pork & veggies kebabs that I’m making as part of our 4th of July grubs. I hope you’ll get some ideas from this budget cooking for 4.