Meal planning for the holidays might look different this year with smaller gatherings, but ham will still likely be a staple of those gatherings.
“Of course, at the holidays, the ham is what shines,” says Angie Krieger, Vice President of Domestic Marketing with the National Pork Board. “We’ve got a lot of great ideas for consumers with hams and how if you’re cooking a ham for a smaller group, which is likely to be the case- holidays are going to be a lot different for folks this year when they’re not gathering in large family gatherings, ideas for how you can use the ‘planned overs’, not leftovers, but ‘planned overs’ with your ham in the days to come.”
You can find recipes for what to do with those “planned overs” by clicking the link.
Krieger says another popular pork favorite has become ground pork. Since March 1, ground pork sales have surged 24%, with more consumers trying it for the first time. With more consumers cooking from home due to COVID, the National Pork Board did research on ground pork sales.
“The consumers were planning to use ground pork in specific recipes. So, it was something they were seeking out and they were using it within a couple days; it wasn’t a stock up item. So, it’s incredibly optimistic for the future of ground pork sales. Pork producers for a long time have said, ‘Why can’t we get a pork burger on a menu somewhere?’ Pork burgers are delicious, but consumers are consuming that pork as an ingredient in recipes, not necessarily as pork burgers. We can lean into that now that we know what they’re looking for.”
You can find ground pork recipes here and at pork.org.