To all the meat eaters , how do you afford to eat it than a couple of times a week?

[Hekate]

162. Chicken. There's only two of us, so I buy the roast chicken at Costco usually. Then use the bones...

...to make soup after we finish the bird over a couple of days.

You can add chunks of tofu to soups and chowders to bump up the protein, too. I don't often use it alone, but as the chicken disappears from the soup I can add some tofu, and it soaks up the flavor of whatever it's cooking in.

Turkey season is here. Look for a store that offers you a discounted Thanksgiving turkey when you purchase $35 of groceries or whatever the current deal is. I used to do that even when I was having TG in someone else's home. Those birds go a long way when you debone them after dinner and stuff all the bones in a giant pot to simmer forever to make stock; freeze parts of the roasted bird for later; make turkey tetrazzini (my late Mom's favorite), turkey pot pie, and on and on. I always freeze the stock in manageable portions.

It's not that I don't like beef, but I got turned off of it quite a few years ago because of the sanitation scandals and Mad Cow Disease, so I eat it seldom. Last month though I splurged on some grass-fed beef chunks from Trader Joe's -- not a steak, but the kind you make into stew, which is what I was craving.

Really, I don't serve steaks to other people, never have. For a cook-out I'd do chicken, sausages, shish-kebabs, and grilled veggies. You were generous to your friends, and I'm sure they appreciated it.