Filet Mignon

At a time where some states are shutting down, meal planning and prep is increasingly helpful to minimize stress and help stretch budgets. Restaurants are closed and going out to dinner is not an option. Take out even gets pretty old pretty fast. Having to cook ever day shouldn’t mean sacrificing taste or quality, nor should it mean existing on boxes of mac and cheese (even though I love mac and cheese. That was not a knock against it, just that its important we work in a little protein with those carbs.)

This is something I’ve done for a long time, mainly because all three of us LOVE filet mignon. We often order it out, but it sends a chill up my spine every time we get the bill. And even when I would go to purchase it at the butcher counter, three filets still put a nice dent in my wallet. So how do I get us filet at a better price? My solution was Costco. They sell whole beef tenderloins for a fraction of the cost. I don’t belong to BJ’s, but I imagine most wholesale club’s meat departments are similar. If you don’t belong to a wholesale club, the next best thing is buying it when your local grocery store has it on sale.

I started cutting up the tenderloin before I realized it was probably a good idea to post. I don’t have a picture of it, but it was a little over a five pound piece of prime USDA meat, and I paid $122 for it. That’s right, $122! That’s incredible when you compare it to what the three of us would pay if we ordered it out. We can top that number on one meal alone.

What to do with your tenderloin after you’ve purchased it: One cool thing is that you can cut your filets into any size you like. I usually cut Kurt an 8-9 ounce piece, while Drew and I stick to a 6-7 ounce piece. With five pounds of meat, we get four separate meals, all to pull out of the freezer when we want a quick, easy, and extra special treat.

With three simple ingredients, coat each filet in olive oil and a generous amount of McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning. I portion mine into food saver bags and vacuum seal it with my Food Saver. If you don’t have a Food Saver, Ziploc freezer bags work just as well. Just make sure you portion them into what you’d normally eat at one meal.

That’s it! We’re looking forward to having a nice dinner sometime the middle of this week. It’ll be a nice break from all the tension. We’ll either cook this up on the grill or bake it in the oven. Open a can of green beans, make a little rice, and you have yourself one nice little gourmet dinner. And guess what…you can do it again in a couple of weeks, without having to trek out to the food store, because you have more in your freezer!