Budget Friendly Eye Of Round

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How to make a budget-friendly eye of round…

It is super easy to make a tender, juicy, eye of round roast.  Just the thing if you want to have the basis for a lot of different meals.  Serve it hot out of the oven from a sizzling cast iron skillet with mashed potatoes and steamed asparagus, slice it thin and serve it cold with home made sprouts and mayo on a sourdough bread/roast beef sandwich,  or use it to top any kind of savory salad.

We find these hunks of solid meat routinely at COSTCO for just under $5 a pound, and the quality and taste is excellent. If you shop the sales at your local grocery stores, they can be as cheap as $3 a pound.  What makes this cut of meat even more budget-friendly is that there is so little waste.

Oh, the difference the method makes with eye of round!

Until very recently, I have avoided this cut because I hadn’t learned this method of cooking it. I didn’t marinate it, I cooked it too long  (tough!) or I sliced it too thick (tough again!).  Ugh.

My husband Jack kept noticing how reasonably it was priced compared to other cuts of beef, but I kept resisting.  Then this genius husband of mine came upon this method, described below.  We decided to use a marinade we had developed for flank steak. Still, I was skeptical.  But after he pulled it out of the oven I was totally sold. It looks and smells and tastes fantastic!

Because beef round is low fat, it is perfect either hot or cold. It’s actually even more versatile than rib roast that way.  It tastes like deli meat, only way better.  The sweetness of the coconut aminos and the salty soy sauce really kick the flavor up.  The lime juice is optional, but definitely adds to the flavor and the acidity probably helps tenderize it too.

Because this roast is round, slicing it thin produces beautiful medallions with crusty outsides and pretty pink centers.  This also makes them tender, and this result can only be achieved with a super sharp knife.

If you have such a knife, you already know this is a game changer!  (Hey, you might even be a boss and have your own meat slicer:)   Because of the importance of such an implement, let me take a little side trail and tell you about Mac the knife!

Mac the Mighty

Last Christmas our son visited us and discovered (because he is so helpful and was using them) that his parents had a drawer full of mostly inexpensive, dull Santoku knives.  We can sharpen them to a point (bad joke) but still they just aren’t capable of cutting meat like butter.  Our dear son, instead of mocking our dull knives to our face, graciously sent us an amazing one.  It is the Mac Mighty from Amazon.

This is in a whole other realm of knifedom.  Not cheap, but it has been so worth it to us. We keep this knife sheathed in our drawer now and only use it for food that really needs to be sliced thin.

Food like this budget-friendly eye of round roast!

Proverbs 31 ministry uses

This is a great way to bless your husband and children and grandchildren, save you time in the kitchen and money to as well! At roughly $15 for 3 pounds of meat and about 8 servings, it’s somewhere between $2 and $3 a serving.  In estimating the number of servings, I’m figuring some meat will be stretched out in sandwiches or salads.

It’s also a quick company meal. I slice the whole roast once it’s cooled so it’s ready to go. Having this cooked roast in the frig is like hospitality money in the bank! It’s something you could pull out after church and throw on a box of pre-washed greens with some chopped veggies and homemade bleu cheese dressing. Maybe apples, as fall approaches! Slice up a fresh loaf of sourdough and you’ve got a stellar meal.

Using the same sides (above), the roast is also great for a meal component for Meals to Take.  For this application also, I’d pre slice the roast.

What would you add to the marinade?

The marinade is pretty basic, but what spices and herbs or other ingredients would you add?  Let me know in the comments!

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