Feeding the Whole Family with Scalable Macros

What are Scalable Macros

For many of us, meal planning cannot happen in a vacuum. I have a wife and children, and they do not always want to eat exactly like me. So the options are to prepare a special dinner for myself or have some ideas in the bag that are easy to adapt for everybody. Meals with scalable macros are ones where the protein is cooked separately from the carb. This allows me to measure and track the macros for my plate without having to enforce that balance on the rest of my family. For the most part, fewer ingredients makes for tighter control. So any meal with a protein, a carb, and a sauce is generally a good candidate. The most basic example is probably spaghetti and meat balls. But I’m going to give you a few more recipes that you can add to your repertoire and a valuable cooking technique for making cheap beef cuts nice and tender.

Velveting Beef

Both recipes will rely on velveted beef. While it is not a requirement, it will make the recipes much tastier and budget friendly. Why? Because you can buy the absolute cheapest cut of beef and make it tender and juicy! Velveting beef involves dry rubbing baking soda onto the meat and letting it set for 30 minutes. Usually when we think of tenderizing meats, we think of using an acid or a method like a meat hammer. These techniques break down the proteins and loosen the bonds holding the fibers of the meat tight.

Acids have Ph levels less than 7. Bases have Ph levels greater than 7. Baking soda is a moderately powerful base (with a Ph level of 9). Bases, like acids, can also loosen the bonds holding those muscle fibers together. Simply take your meat and cut it into cubes, add 1 tbsp of baking soda per pound of meat. Toss it together in a bowl until all of the meat is evenly coated and let it set for about 30 minutes. Rinse the meat thoroughly, baking soda and bases have a very particular taste (think of the taste of soap), that you don’t want ruining your dish. Pat the meat dry with a paper towel and cook as usual. Bases also break down some of the fats in the meat, which means you’ll lose some flavor. So velveting beef works best on recipes that call for a sauce to enhance the flavor. However, you will end up with soft, tender beef that is perfect for stew, stir fry, or beef tips.

Beef Tips and Noodles

Bring water to a boil in a small sauce pan. Add noodles and cook for 8 minutes. Cook beef in a non-stick skillet, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. When beef is medium rare to medium well add sour cream and gravy master to create a creamy brown sauce. Combine noodles and beef.

Cost: 2.55 Per Serving

Macros: 510 Calories (37P/28C/27F)

Sweet and Sour Beef

Prepare Instant Rice According to Directions. I use a rice cooker, but you can use a microwave or stovetop. Whichever way suits you. In a small sauce pan mix ketchup, pineapple juice, and coconut aminos. You can also add powdered garlic and ginger for some extra flavor. Bring to a simmer and set aside. Slice pepper and onion into thin strips. Cook in a skillet or non stick pan over medium heat until they are just beginning to get tender. Increase heat to medium high and add beef. Cook to medium or medium well. Add pineapple at the end and just get everything to an even temperature. Serve over rice, garnished with sauce. The sauce probably makes enough for 2 or 3 servings. But the meat, vegetables, and rice can easily be scaled up for more people.

Cost: 2.95 Per Serving

Macros: 570 Calories (32P/45C/29F)

Summary

Both of these meals allow you to scale up or down the carb and protein to fit your individual macros, but are also easy for somebody who isn’t watching their nutrition as closely to enjoy the meal with you. Adjusting the servings will affect the price, and macros of course, but this should give you a pretty good idea of a starting point. All the ingredients were priced at my local Aldi Market. So there could be some variation. For the meat, I priced a 4 lb sirloin tip. It runs about 1.71 per serving, which is definitely on the high end for me. But the 4 lb roast makes 12 servings, which is hard to pass up for steak. You can substitute chicken or pork into either recipe.