“You can feed 25 people with just one pork shoulder. It’s incredibly cost effective!” In this post I want to share with you how you can make 5 freezer friendly meals for 4 people in 1 hour for just $50. All the meals are made using just one batch of Pork Carnitas (Mexican Pulled Pork). Pork Carnitas  are incredibly cost effective because a little bit goes a long way. A 2.5kg/5lb bone in pork shoulder (2kg/4lb without bone) will make about 10 cups of shredded pork which is plenty to make 5 to 6 meals for 4 people. To put that into perspective, you can feed about 25 people with one pork shoulder. On average, each serving is about 80 – 100g (3oz) of pork which might not seem like much, but because the meat is shredded it seems like more. My Pork Carnitas recipe is made using a slow cooker which uses a lot less energy than cooking slowly in the oven for 3+ hours, and it keeps the pork incredibly moist. Plus there’s also the added benefit that you can just “set and forget” it. It only takes 5 minutes to prepare so it’s a really easy recipe – no fail! “Making these 5 meals together is time and cost efficient because there are so many common ingredients.” I calculated the cost in Australian dollars based on current prices at my local supermarket. If you are in the US, it will probably be even better value as even taking into account foreign exchange, groceries in the US are noticeably better value than in Australia. If you love Mexican food as much as I do, you’ll happily dine on these for 5 consecutive nights. Otherwise, each of these will keep in the freezer for 2 to 3 months so there is certainly no rush.

What We’re Making

To Use in the Recipes

  1. Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas – this will take you 5 minutes to prepare to put in the slow cooker, then set and forget.
  2. Homemade Enchilada Sauce – this recipe is a classic, simple recipe that takes 10 minutes to make. It makes around 3 1/2 cups which will be used for Mexican Pizza, Pulled Pork Sliders as well as the Mexican Enchilada Stack. You can buy Enchilada sauce if you prefer. It will cost more but will save you a bit of time.

The Meals

  1. Mexican Pizza – topped with Pork Carnitas, corn, capsicum (bell peppers) and made using Lebanese flatbreads as the base which are cheaper, healthier and bake crispier than pizza bases.
  2. Mexican Sliders – soft white rolls piled high with Pork Carnitas, Enchilada Sauce and caramelized onion. These are simply divine.
  3. Taco Soup – all the flavours of a taco, in a bowl!
  4. Quesadillas – crispy on the outside, and filled with Pork Carnitas, corn, capsicum and caramelised onions. And cheese of course!
  5. Enchilada Stack – tastes just like an enchilada, but in lasagna form with tortillas used in place of the lasagna sheets.

What You Need

  1. A copy of the recipes we are making (click on the links above). If you have RecipeTin app, you can just pop them in with just a tap – you can even create a Pork Carnitas collection if you want! Just open each recipe using the built in browser, put it in Print view then tap Save Recipe.
  2. Ingredients for each recipe. I’ve put together a shopping list with each recipe listed PLUS a combined shopping list.  Click here for a PDF Printable version or click here for an Excel version. 3. Print out the Labels. They include instructions for cooking so you don’t have to pull out the recipe again.
  3. Follow the instructions below to prepare the meals. You can pop those into your RecipeTin app too! Hope you find this useful! Just leave a comment if you have any questions and I’ll respond!

If you want more ideas for recipes you can make using Pork Carnitas, have a look at my Pork Carnitas Collection!

 

Freezer Friendly Mexican Meals - 75Freezer Friendly Mexican Meals - 56Freezer Friendly Mexican Meals - 49Freezer Friendly Mexican Meals - 40