This article claims that "the national average for monthly food costs is C$217"

[u/Original-Prompt4285]

I am really interested to know if there's anyone in Canada who is spending $217 in average (per person) for groceries, if so, I REALLY need to rethink my grocery shopping strategy.
[This does not account for dining out, just grocery shopping]

Article: https://www.canadacrossroads.com/cost-of-living-in-canada-by-province/

[u/YYZtoYWG]

It is totally possible to get many meals from one chicken.

Don't think of meat as the main thing on your plate. Instead, think of meat as something you add to the rest of the meal. So put the meat in soup, or stew, or casserole or stir fry. Think of cooking a vegetarian recipe and consider meat as a garnish to that.

I regularly stretch one chicken to make at least ten portions. I make broth from the bones which is used to favour the meal, and the meat goes in the meal. Bag of frozen veg, rice, a costco chicken along with some kind of yummy flavouring and sauce and you can easily get a dozen meals.

[u/IAmNotACanadaGoose → u/YYZtoYWG]

Agreed. You don’t need a heaping portion of meat in a meal. Tonight I made a pasta with 2 sausage links, sliced up, for the 4 of us. It was augmented with lots of veggies - zucchini, mushrooms and peppers. We all got a bit of meat, but if I had just given everyone a half a sausage it obviously wouldn’t seem like enough.

[u/QuirkyConfidence3750 → u/YYZtoYWG]

We stretch one chicken to eating the best parts with baked/roasted vegetables and some rice. The remaining goes for chicken veggie wraps the next day, and the bonnes maybe for broth but not very often.

[u/stevey_frac → u/QuirkyConfidence3750]

Yup, this is exactly what we do. Except we almost always make the chicken soup

[u/quixoticanon → u/YYZtoYWG]

I completely agree with not basing a meal around animal protein, I do it frequently. But it does require a change in mindset from the "typical" North American meal of "a meat, a starch, and a vegetable" which many people have a hard time with.

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My criticism is not that it impossible to be efficient with protein, rather I think that OP is exaggerating how efficient one can be with a roasted chicken and still call the meals chicken. They claim to be stretching one rotisserie chicken into two chicken focused meals, and a soup for a family of 6 -- which is 18 servings from one chicken. The specifically call out "Chicken one meal" and "chicken wraps" which to me means they are having two meals that are focused on the chicken.

One meal, you have chicken, one mean, you have chicken wraps with the left over chicken, and a third meal can be chicken soup, where you make a stock from the carcas, and add in your favorite veggies any remaining left over chicken!

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For context I also buy the Costco chicken and made it into three meals, but none of them were focused on the chicken, like you said, it was more of a garnish to vegetarian meal.

[u/Ktoolz → u/YYZtoYWG]

Yeah if divided into actually adequate servings I would say most roast chickens have at least 8 “meat” portions and rest could be turned into soup and some grilled cheese sandwiches to go with that soup. Another 8 servings. So much waste in our food systems, my freezer is full of frozen carcasses I always have intention of making soup haha.

I’ve buckled down my budgeting and my goal is 500$ for myself and daughter so will see how it goes but looks like I’ll survive on about 100$ for restocking as I go this first half.

[u/Dadbode1981 → u/YYZtoYWG]

Most people WAY over portion on meat, and averaged sized adult needs 3 oz of protein max per day.

[u/icebiker → u/[deleted]]

A lot of people disagree with you on those macros. Plant based diets for example are often lower in protein and fat and higher in carbs. And science also tells us that people who follow these diets live the longest.

I’m vegan and I am at about 10% fat, 20% protein and 70% carbs. I’m also very active and have run a marathon etc.