Tuesday Tip: Pork Loin — One $19 Costco Loin, Four Dinners for My Family of Seven

This Tuesday tip: pork loin is the one that stretches my grocery money further than just about anything else I do. I picked up a boneless pork loin at Costco — 9.79 pounds at $1.99 a pound, $19.48 for the whole thing — and I cut it down at my own kitchen counter into four completely separate dinners for my family of seven. That works out to $4.87 of meat per meal, right around 70 cents a plate, and every bit of it went straight into the freezer.

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Watch the full video above — or keep reading below.

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I want to be honest with you right up front. I am not a professional at this. You will watch me struggle with my cutting in that video and I am not going to pretend otherwise. But you do not have to be good at it. You just have to be willing to stand at the counter for about fifteen minutes with a sharp knife and a box of freezer bags, and the savings show up whether your slices are pretty or not.

The reason this works is simple. The store charges you for the cutting. A whole boneless loin is one of the cheapest per-pound proteins in the entire meat case, and every single step somebody else does to it — slicing it, trimming it, laying it out on a little foam tray — gets added onto the price before it ever reaches you. When I do that part myself, I keep the difference. That is the whole tip.

Tuesday tip: pork loin — How One Loin Turns Into Four Dinners

First, sixteen thin-sliced pork chops. A little under six pounds of that loin gets sliced thin and bagged eight chops to a bag, two bags total. Thin is the whole point here — thin-sliced chops cook fast, they feed more people out of less meat, and they are what makes two of my four dinners possible.

Dinner one — crock pot pork chops and gravy. Eight of those thin chops go into my big seven-quart crock pot  with a couple of cans of cream soup and some seasonings, and they cook down into the most delicious pork chop gravy you have ever had. I serve the whole thing over mashed potatoes. It is one of my family’s absolute favorite meals and it is an easy mom win — you put it together in the morning and you are done thinking about dinner. Here is my full crock pot pork chops recipe if you want it.

Dinner two — Iowa pork tenderloin sandwiches. The second bag of eight gets pounded out thin and breaded for my husband’s hometown Iowa pork tenderloin sandwich. If you have never had one, it is a piece of pork pounded until it hangs about four inches off every side of the bun, fried golden, and served with pickles and mustard. It is a whole thing in Iowa and my family loves it.

Then, two 2-pound bags of bite-size pieces. The last four pounds of the loin I cut into bite-size chunks and split into two 2-pound bags. This is the part I like best, because bite-size pork is the most flexible thing you can have sitting in a freezer.

Dinner three — pork stir fry. One 2-pound bag goes into a hot wok with whatever vegetables I have, the same way I make my chicken and shrimp stir fry. Serve it over rice, or over homemade fried rice if I am feeling ambitious, and the whole table is fed.

Dinner four — pork fusion wraps. The last 2-pound bag becomes pork fusion wraps, which are my sneaky way of getting everybody to eat a pile of vegetables without a single complaint. Warm tortillas, that bite-size pork cooked with a little sauce, and whatever crunchy thing is in the drawer.

Four dinners. One $19.48 package. And nothing left over in the fridge going bad on me, because it all went in the freezer the same afternoon.

Pork Loin or Pork Tenderloin? Here Is What I Actually Bought

I call this thing a tenderloin. I have called it a tenderloin my whole married life, and I said it about nine times in that video. But the Costco label says PORK LOIN BONELESS, and the label is right, so let me straighten it out for anybody who is standing in the meat case trying to figure out which one to grab.

A pork loin is the big one. Mine was nearly ten pounds, long and thick, and it is what you want for this. A pork tenderloin is a small, narrow muscle that usually runs a pound to a pound and a half, and it costs quite a bit more per pound. The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service lists the loin as one of the four primal cuts of a hog, with the tenderloin, the loin roast, the sirloin roast and the chops all coming out of it — so the tenderloin actually lives inside the loin. Which is probably why the two names have been getting mixed up in kitchens like mine for about a hundred years.

And the funny part is that the sandwich really is called an Iowa pork tenderloin, and it is traditionally made from loin pounded thin. So both names are living in my kitchen at the same time and both of them are correct in their own way. Just know that when you are shopping, the big cheap one that gives you four dinners is the loin.

And if the loin-versus-tenderloin thing has your head spinning, wait until you find out that pork butt is not the butt. I went down that whole rabbit hole in my hill about pork being a wonderful, magical animal — where every one of these cuts actually comes from, and why ham, bacon, chops and ribs are all the same creature.

Getting It Into the Freezer — and Back Out Safely

Everything gets bagged flat, pressed to get the air out, labeled with what it is and the date, and stacked in the deep freeze. Fresh pork chops and roasts hold their quality in the freezer for about four to six months at zero degrees, which is far longer than any of mine ever last around here.

One thing worth knowing, and I did not know it for years: do not put frozen pork straight into a slow cooker. The USDA says so plainly, and the reason is that a crock pot warms up too slowly to bring frozen meat through the danger zone fast enough. It is fine to cook pork from frozen in the oven or on the stove, just not in the crock pot. So for my pork chops and gravy, that bag comes out of the freezer and thaws in the refrigerator the day before. That is the only planning this whole system asks of you.

I do this same thing with chicken breasts and with ground beef every time I make a big Costco run. Buy the family pack, spend fifteen minutes breaking it down, and you have handed yourself a month of dinners at a price you could not touch any other way. If that is the part you want help with, I am teaching a whole session on it at a free online conference in September — how to plan the week so the freezer actually gets used instead of forgotten.

Tuesday tip: pork loin FAQ — The Questions I Get Every Time

How many meals can you get out of one pork loin?

I got four separate dinners for seven people out of a 9.79-pound loin, and that is not stretching it thin either. Sixteen thin chops covered two of those meals and four pounds of bite-size pieces covered the other two. If your family is smaller, you will get more meals out of the same package.

Is a pork loin the same thing as a pork tenderloin?

No, though I call mine a tenderloin out of pure habit. A loin is the big cut, often eight to ten pounds, and it is the inexpensive one. A tenderloin is a small muscle that comes out of the loin, usually about a pound, and it costs more per pound. For this tip you want the big boneless loin.

How long does this Tuesday tip: pork loin keep in the freezer?

The USDA gives fresh pork chops and roasts about four to six months in a zero-degree freezer for best quality. Press the air out of your bags before you seal them and write the date on the front — that is what actually protects the meat from freezer burn.

Can I put the frozen chops straight into the crock pot?

Please do not. The USDA specifically says not to cook frozen pork in a slow cooker, because a crock pot heats too gradually to move frozen meat safely out of the danger zone. Move the bag to the refrigerator the night before and you are all set.

What if I am not good at cutting meat?

Then you and I are in exactly the same boat, and you should watch that video for proof. Uneven chops cook up perfectly fine, especially in a crock pot with gravy over them. A sharp knife and a big bamboo cutting board will do more for you than any amount of skill will. If a cleaver feels like more knife than you want, the smaller Topfeel chef set  handles this job just fine too. Nobody at my table has ever once said a word about my cutting.

More Tuesday Tips You’ll Love

• Tuesday tip: cooking meat — 3 Tips to Make It Turn Out Amazing Every Time — once you have all that pork portioned out, here is how to make sure it cooks up right.
• Tuesday Tip: Portion Sizes — How Much Food to Buy for a Crowd — how much meat you actually need per person, so you stop guessing at the meat case.
• Tuesday Tip: Budget Pasta — Cajun Chicken Pasta for $2.14 a Plate — another full dinner priced out line by line, right down to the seasoning.

Tuesday tip: pork loin — About Stephanie’s Tips

Stephanie Longstreth is the home cook, mom, and storyteller behind StephanieCooksForACrowd.com. She cooks for a family of seven in Florida — five kids, two cats, and one husband who appreciates a good meal. Four of her children came home through adoption, and family stories are woven into everything she makes and shares. Find her crowd-friendly recipes, weekly meal plans, and real family life on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest @stephaniecooksforacrowd.