Fall is a great time of year to enjoy hearty meals that warm your belly and your home but not by breaking the food budget. I recently read in a book that the number of servings that a hotel restaurant plans for from an average size turkey is 15. Now, the book was written in the 50’s and it didn’t say what average is but you get the picture. In fact, only ever having cooked 1 turkey in my life, it crystallized my experience. The roasting went well, really well and we shared the meal with friends but after the 3rd serving of Turkey Enchiladas (what we used the leftovers to make), I was a little tired of it. The point is though, that the 30 pound turkey which we got ‘for free’ by spending $250 at a grocery store went a very long way.

My list of favourite fall meals that are relatively easy to prepare and go a long way:

• Roast Turkey with 2nd run as Turkey Enchiladas, sandwiches and soup (or at least stock which can be frozen and used later)
• Soups such as Butternut Squash Soup or Red Pepper Yam Soup are less than $5 to make a pot large enough for 8+ servings
• Crock Pot casseroles such as Chicken Hunter, Shredded Roast (you can use a more reasonably priced cut of meat but it tastes just as good with long cooking) or Chili (add some Tea Biscuits or Cornbread and dinner is substantial)
• Meat sauce for Spaghetti or as the base for Lasagna
• All the meat from roast chicken can be combined with black beans, vegetables, lime and cilantro to make the base for Chicken Taco Salad (just add rice, iceberg lettuce, taco chips, salsa, cheese and sour cream) and the bones can be used for soup or stock

A few ideas that can go a long way in terms of several servings and nutrition without putting you over budget.

Enjoy!