Community service is the meat and potatoes of this program.
Origin
probably earlier than 1950-55
meat-and-potatoes
[meet-n-puh-tey-tohz, -tuh z] /ˈmit n pəˈteɪ toʊz, -təz/
adjective, Informal.
1.
fundamental; down-to-earth; basic:
What are the meat-and-potatoes issues of the election?
Also, meat-and-potato.
Origin
1945-50
Examples from the web for meat and potatoes
They found that pounded meat and potatoes caused more weight gain than raw food.
Representing that fatty midsection of the gift pyramid, this function is the meat and potatoes of development.
They will be light weight and equipped with pockets for food capsules, which she will eat instead of meat and potatoes.
But the real meat and potatoes lie in its sweet picture and true, natural blacks.
Find out if anyone is involved in some heavy-duty, serious meat and potatoes type of research into biological cognition.
The clever ones flock to business, the meat and potatoes of higher education.
If you are craving meat and potatoes, this is your place.
Source categories comprise emissions from cooking of meat and potatoes using a particular equipment type.
Someone who was raised on meat and potatoes and rarely ate vegetables but now loves them.
The rest of this chapter details closed-ended questions, because they are the meat and potatoes of our work.
Slang definitions & phrases for meat and potatoes
meat and potatoes
modifier
: It's the meat-andpotatoes appeal, the old pull at the heart-strings
noun phrase
The simple fundamentals; the NITTY-GRITTY (1940s+)
Idioms and Phrases with meat and potatoes
meat and potatoes
The fundamental part or parts of something, as in This paragraph is the meat and potatoes of the contract. This metaphoric term transfers what some regard as basic fare to the basics of an issue. [ Mid-1900s ]