Delicious $50 Meal Prep — Step-by-Step Guide & Transcript

[00:01] the $50 meal prep challenge, but I have a brand new set of all very standard ingredients that I'll be transforming into a week's worth of food. And honestly, the meals created this week have absolutely no business being

[00:16] [music] this good on a $50 budget. Things got a little bit ridiculous. And I have the entire meal plan and all the recipes below in a free [music] Google Doc. All right, so a lot of you enjoyed the first $50 meal prep video, but there

[00:30] to me. The first was from Walker the Wild asking if I could pull this off using more bare-bone kitchen equipment. So for every single meal in this video, outside of basic stuff everyone already has like bowls, knives, cutting boards,

[00:43] and utensils, I'm only using a couple pots and pans, a blender, and a hand second comment from Shub wanted to see different cuisine themes, specifically recommending a Mexican-inspired meal plan. And honestly, once I started

[00:56] thinking about the possibilities of Mexican food on this tighter budget, I got very excited because it's a cuisine built around turning humble ingredients into incredible meals. So just like last time, I used my local grocery store as a

[01:09] baseline for this $50 budget. If you're using organic ingredients, the prices what we're working with for the week. We've got a nice mix of veggies, we've got our dairy and eggs, a few canned staples, a bag of dried black beans, and

[01:23] one of the best budget proteins you can buy. Around a 5 to 6-lb bone-in pork I'll be using it for a little flavor hack later on. And if pork isn't your easily swap it out for another affordable cut like a beef chuck. And

[01:37] then we have our final ingredient, a big bag of masa harina, which is a nixtamalized corn flour. And while the first meal prep video really revolved around a whole chicken, at the core of Mexican food is corn and so many iconic

[01:50] meals evolve from it. But one very super important time-saving note, I am going to be making homemade corn tortillas, which is a little bit of a labor of love. So, if you want to save yourself some time and you don't have a tortilla

[02:02] press, you can absolutely just buy a couple bags of corn tortillas from the store, which are usually pretty cheap. All right. So, day one is all about prep for some incredible meals throughout the week. And the very first thing I'm going

[02:15] to be doing is soaking this entire bag of dried black beans overnight so they to speed things up, you can absolutely just use your pressure cooker like I've today we're keeping things old school and sticking to the bare bones equipment

[02:29] cilantro a really good wash and spin cycle because cilantro from the market usually has a surprising amount of sand and grit in it. And also pick out any wilted pieces, wrap it up in a dish towel, toss it in a ziplock bag, and

[02:43] And now it's time to prep this pork butt, which is actually not the butt of the pork. It comes from the shoulder of the pig. It's well marbled. It's nice and fatty, which you can see here. And since there is a bit of excess fat, I'm

[02:56] going to save that. And I'll show you what we're going to do with that in just a second because we certainly do not waste any animal fat around here. Then into smaller chunks for braising. And honestly, I was hoping this bone-in pork

[03:10] butt would come with a much bigger bone than this tiny little thing. But hey, flavor we can get out of it. And that just means we have a little bit more meat to work with. And I'm aiming here for roughly 2-in cubes. Nothing too

[03:23] precise, just relatively even pieces so they cook at the same rate. And once chunks plus all of those extra fat scraps and this little bone, which I'm just cover that with water, and I'll bring it up to a medium-low heat. And as

[03:38] going to release a bunch of scum to the surface, which I'll start to skim off until the liquid eventually turns more clear like this. And then for the next few hours, I just want this sitting at a very gentle simmer to slowly render the

[03:52] definitely don't want this boiling emulsify. All right, now back to the pork itself. We're making a pork tinga today, which is basically a smoky braised pork cooked down in a spicy

[04:05] tomato sauce, which works so wonderfully with the ingredients we have on this season these little pork chunks generously with salt and pepper. Then going to add in some oil and start searing off the pork in two batches.

[04:19] that's happening, I can prep my veggies. We've got some onion, some jalapeno, don't if you're into that, and a few cloves of garlic. And once that first I'll put it on repeat with the second

[04:32] aromatics right into the pot and salt them up a bit. And after a few minutes, when those aromatics are softened and nicely caramelized, I'll add in a half can of the fire roasted tomatoes that I have. And this right here, chipotle

[04:44] peppers in adobo sauce, this is our secret weapon. You get a super smoky, spicy, acidic flavor for very little money. So, I'm going to toss in a few of the actual chipotles, those smoked jalapenos, along with some of that adobo

[04:57] and I'm going to return the pork to the pot. And finally, I chopped up some cilantro stems, which I'm going to throw in, which actually hold up great in a flavor. And I'll just let that braise for the next few hours, which gives me a

[05:09] ton of time to work on other dishes. So, the first little side condiment we're going to make is a super simple blender salsa. I'm using the rest of the can of the fire roasted tomatoes. Then into the blender goes half an onion, a few cloves

[05:21] of garlic, the rest of that jalapeno that I had sliced up already from the the juice of one whole lime. And I'll season that up with salt and pepper and blend everything together just enough to break down those veggies into a smooth

[05:34] salsa. We're not making a salsa smoothie here. You still want a little texture. I remember my brother first made salsa with canned tomatoes in a blender. I couldn't believe it. I'm like, I didn't know you could do that. And

[05:47] then I realized that's how like every Mexican place makes their, you know, "Oh." All right, so moving on to the next condiment, and we need to get the absolute most out of this one single

[06:00] avocado. So sadly, guac is definitely off the table. Maybe if I lived in Mexico and avocados cost 25 cents, but not here, baby. This $50 budget could stretching this thing out to the absolute limit by making an avocado

[06:14] crema. Into the blender goes the avocado, some cilantro, a few scoops of sour cream, and the juice of half of a lime. I'll season that up with salt. And vinegar to bump up those acidity levels since the limes are so precious on this

[06:28] together while slowly emulsifying in some avocado oil. And that avocado's really fast. So what I do is I just add enough water until it gets that smooth squeeze bottle consistency that I'm looking for.

[06:42] looking for. >> [music] to check in on that pork fat. And most of the fat has melted down into a everything off into a container, and I'm just going to pop that right in the

[06:57] fridge overnight. That way, the fat will actually solidify on the top and separate from the stock underneath. And the final thing we need to do for day one prep is just check back in on that beautiful slow-cooked pork.

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[08:28] All right, it's day two and the first thing I'm going to do is get that pork fat out of the fridge. And you can see that top layer has solidified into some nice super pure pork lard. And I'll remove that top layer of fat, which

[08:40] tortillas. And I'll be keeping this little pork liquid in the fridge to use later on for some tamales. And now we're moving on to some homemade tortillas for some tacos and a few other fun dishes. And like I mentioned earlier, buying a

[08:54] couple bags of corn tortillas is absolutely the faster move. you want to get as much as you can out of this budget and you just want a much better product, you got to make the tortillas from scratch. So, into a large mixing

[09:06] bowl, I'm going to add in my masa. And proper corn tortillas need a little bit rendered up pork fat. And finally, some salt. And I'm just going to work the fat a pie dough. After that, I'm going to slowly mix in some warm water. At first,

[09:21] crumbly. So, you just want to keep working that water and eventually you'll get a super soft pliable [music] dough. It should feel just like a fresh batch of Play-Doh. And I'm talking a fresh batch, like right when you pop the top.

[09:34] sitting in my house after my kids leave the lid off for the 900th [music] time. Now, I'm going to let the dough rest for about 15 minutes before we start iron skillet here because tortillas cook best on a nice high consistent heat. And

[09:48] tortilla press, I'm using a cut open plastic bag. And honestly, tortilla making is all about rhythm. You roll, you press, you peel. About 45 to a minute on the first side, 30 seconds on the second side, then back to the first

[10:02] side one more time to finish them off. And when everything goes just right, you get these insanely tender, [music] steamy, puffed up corn tortillas.

[10:27] demolishing these tacos, I'm going to make one of my favorite budget-friendly sides of all time, which is a nice fresh slaw. And half of this cabbage is more half for other recipes. First, I'll remove the core and I'll slice

[10:41] everything up nice and thin. I'll add my cabbage to a nice big mixing bowl. I'll grating in one garlic clove. I'll add some finely chopped cilantro, a few season it up with salt and pepper. Then I'll give everything a really good mix.

[10:55] And I like to massage and almost break down that cabbage a bit so it softens up that flavor. And finally, now that I have this slaw, it is taco time.

[11:14] sample. Oh, [laughter] yeah. >> Oh, yeah. So good. I love it. >> All right. So it's day three and the first thing I'm going to do is work on those black beans, which are now fully

[11:29] add them to a large pot with a few pieces of onion, a few cloves of garlic, water, and I'll throw them on a medium-low heat to cook for around 2 to

[11:41] 3 hours. The goal is for those beans to really hold their shape so they're not falling apart, but also be nice and tender. So, if you pick one up and you should smoosh pretty easily. And now that I have this big batch of perfectly

[11:55] executed cooked black beans, I'll be taking advantage of these in a few different dishes. So, next I'm going to be tapping into this can of corn right here with some masa jalapeño cheddar cornbread biscuits. To a mixing bowl,

[12:08] I'm going to add some sour cream, a few eggs, a little bit of sugar, and some I'm going to add in about half of the corn plus a little bit of the liquid from the can as well, because at this point we are extracting flavor from

[12:21] everything. I'll give that a mix, then I'll add in some masa, a little baking powder and baking soda, and finally some salt, and I'll mix that together to into some of that Monterey Jack cheese I have, but honestly any good melting

[12:34] cheese will work here. And finally, I'll chop up some jalapeño nice and fine and add that to the mix. Now, the key I found here is letting that batter rest for about 15 minutes before cooking. That gives the baking soda time to

[12:47] activate a bit, which I find helps create a softer, fluffier texture. And of course, we're making this thing right in the cast iron. So, I'll melt down ice cream scoop that batter right into the pan, and I'll let it cook for just a

[13:00] crust. [music] Then the entire pan goes straight into the oven to finish baking.

[13:16] seams. Become moist and fluffy. That is. And then you get this kind of cheesy, And then you get this kind of cheesy, crispy crust on the bottom. the oven these are an absolute delight. They're sort of cornbread meets biscuit

[13:32] type of vibe. They just have so much flavor packed in that you don't need to serve them with anything. Although, these suckers with the pulled pork is such a beautiful combination. All right. So, we're moving right into

[13:45] some flautas. Now, technically I could use the rest of the pork for these, but I'm saving that for something very special later on. So, instead we're switching things up and making a vegetarian filling. I'll dice up 2/3 of

[13:57] zucchini that I'm going to chop into small pieces. I'll get my pan on a high heat. I'll add in some oil and I'll start cooking down that cabbage first zucchini to cook. Once that cabbage starts getting nice and soft and

[14:11] caramelized, in goes that zucchini along with some cumin seeds, some paprika, a the key here is to really cook this mixture down. You want that deep caramelized flavor, but you also want these vegetables to be soft enough to

[14:24] make a really nice cohesive filling. And I've got to say for a really inexpensive vegetarian filling, this is absolutely delicious. Now, to bring these flautas tortillas we made earlier, but after sitting in the fridge overnight, they've

[14:37] to wrap them in a damp towel and I'll microwave them for about a minute to them up with the veggie mixture, roll them up tightly, and place them seam them up tightly, and place them seam side down [music] on a baking sheet.

[15:01] making a refried black bean sauce. I'm simply going to cook down some onions, and salt until it's nice and caramelized. Then I'm going to add in one chipotle pepper. I'll dump in some of those cooked black beans and I'll

[15:14] smooth and creamy. I'll season this up with some lime and a little bit more salt. And I do like to slowly cook this down for about 30 minutes to an hour to down for about 30 minutes to an hour to really [music] deepen those flavors.

[15:45] making something I've been thinking about since the theme of this video was official, some pork tamales. So I am cheating a little bit here and I'm dipping into another batch of pork fat that I already had on hand because

[15:57] tamales need a good bit of fat. That's what gives them that soft rich texture fat for those tortillas. And the first thing I'm going to do is just whip up that fat using a hand mixer, but this could easily be done with a whisk as

[16:10] in some baking powder and some salt. And remember that pork stock that we this up in the microwave and I'm going to slowly whisk this in until you get a thick cake batter-like consistency. Now traditional tamales of course are

[16:25] steamed in the corn [music] husks, but those weren't exactly in the budget today. So parchment paper is going to step in and do the job just fine. So I'll cut a few sheets about 6-8 inches

[16:37] tamale dough, I'll pile on that leftover pork filling, then I use the parchment paper to help roll everything together tightly. Then I just keep on rolling, gently compressing everything together and I'll tuck in the sides. And these

[16:50] steaming rack right inside my Dutch oven [music] with just a shallow layer of [music] with just a shallow layer of water on the bottom.

[17:23] ingredients I have left over to use this week. It's already been a absolutely delicious week of meals. Kind of exceeded my expectations. And I think I have the perfect two meals to use up everything. Got some black beans, corn

[17:37] tortillas, a few little scraps of veggies, a little scrap of cheese, salsa. And I barely used any eggs. That's kind of surprising. So, I don't you know, it's never a big deal to have a few extra eggs lying around. All

[17:49] right, we're turning the very last of these tortillas into just an absolutely leftover tortillas. I'll throw them in the air fryer. I'll spray them with some nice crispy tortilla chips. And for the sauce, I'm pouring in the last of my

[18:04] salsa that I had left over. Then I'm adding a little water to the container to rinse out every last bit of flavor before dumping that in two. Then I'll with some of that adobo sauce. And even a splash of that canned corn liquid is

[18:17] going in since I'm scrapping for flavor out of absolutely every ingredient everything together until nice and smooth.

[18:44] >> I'm so excited. >> I've never had this dish in my life. >> favorite. I feel like it's such an underrated Mexican dish. it's kind of like fried rice meets nachos. Like

[18:57] >> every culture, you need a way to use up like the carb and the egg, you know? And this is such a good way. I already know it's going to be freaking out of it's going to be freaking out of control.

[19:09] like a little crunchy with the chips. >> but then they are a little soft, too. Oh, yeah. That is so good. I'm dreaming about this. In Mexican cuisine, there's so many dishes that sort of soak the

[19:23] tortilla in a sauce that I feel like aren't super popular in like Tex-Mex or >> we're very used to our crunchy >> crunchy >> Yes, the soft texture is so nice. >> made for soaking up sauce.

[19:37] thing that that could benefit from, can you read my mind? Mhm, pickled onions? >> [laughter and clears throat] >> ALL RIGHT, SO TO WRAP UP THIS ENTIRE

[19:49] meal plan, I'm using all my final ingredients in a black bean dumpling added in my oil, and then I chopped up the rest of my onion, garlic, cabbage, caramelizing for a few minutes. Then I added in my black beans, the rest of my

[20:03] popped the lid on that and cooked it for about 15 minutes. Then I seasoned everything with salt and pepper, added the last of my cilantro, gave it a little blendy with my immersion blender, then I grated in the last little nub of

[20:15] leftover tamale dough, which I didn't use. So, I thought it'd be fun trying to I spooned in a bunch of those and let them cook with the lid on for about 20 minutes until they were cooked through, and my dumpling soup was ready to go.

[20:30] did a better job than last challenge. All I have left is this tamale dough, little bit of extra masa, which I'll use, and let's give this a try. Mhm, mhm, mhm. Confirm that tamale dough works nice as a soup dumpling. Look at

[20:45] Challenge complete. If you want all the recipes and the ingredients, just click and check out this video if you want and check out this video if you want more from the series.