Beef, It's What's for Dinner

I have been busy busy busy the last couple of weeks. My boss was away and I was dealing with a lot at work. But now I'm back and ready to start blogging again. I know, it's been a while.

But I realized something the other day. I was posting recipe after recipe during the holidays but I haven't really posted any budget friendly meals lately. So here is one I pulled off of one of my favorite blogs, A Year of Crockpotting.

I wanted to try her Cowboy Stew recipe. It intrigued me. Jeff and I were just talking about his love of those canned Ranch Beans. Apparently he likes those. He told me that he didn't like beans but he will eat those. And now that he's on a diet, beans are a great thing because they provide a lot of fiber and protein. Things that he needs to help him lose weight.

This stew also has canned potatoes in it. Now canned potatoes scare me. I don't know why. There is just something so wrong about potatoes out of a can. But I bought them. They were weird. They look like tiny pock marked chicken eggs. But the recipe says that if you use regular potatoes, you know the type you actually have to peal, then they will disintegrate into the soup. So I'll try 'um. We'll see how they turn out. I made a few adjustments to the recipe she used so here is my version, you can click the link above to see the actual recipe.

Cowboy Stew

1 cup browned hamburger/$0.79(I bought hamburger on sale a while back, browned it up and put it in storage bags and popped it into the freezer, great for quick dinners)
2 cloves chopped garlic/negligible
1/4 onion diced/negligible (I bought a 3 lb bag of onions for $1.00 I think there were 8 onions in there, so the calculation would hurt my head. :) )
1 15 oz can tomato sauce/ $0.50
1 can corn, drained/ $0.33 (purchased on sale during the holidays. I loaded up on corn then and this was my last can)
2 cans whole baby potatoes, drained/ $0.64 a piece
1 can tomatoes with green chilies/ $0.78
1 can Ranch Style beans/ $0.74
1 cup water/negligible
1 tsp garlic pepper/negligible
sliced jalapenos (optional)

The Directions.

This makes a lot. Make sure that your crockpot is at least 5qts.

Add your browned ground beef, onions and garlic to the crock pot.

Open all of you cans, and dump them into the crockpot. Drain the corn and the potatoes (I cut the potatoes in half because I don't like big chunks of things), but add the rest of the can liquid to the crockpot.

Add the cup of water and garlic pepper. Stir to combine all the ingredients

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or on high for 4-5. Soup and stew tastes better the longer you cook it, so opt for the longer cooking time if you can.

Garnish with sliced jalapeno peppers, if desired.

Total cost of the cowboy stew to feed a family of four with leftovers? $4.42, lets round it to $5.00 for the other "negligible" ingredients. If you want to save a little more money, cut out the ground beef. The beans provide enough protein that you really don't need the beef. But be warned, Ranch Style Beans are not vegetarian. The can says that they do contain animal fat.

You know figuring out how much a meal costs is a new hobby of mine. The other day I made breakfast and figured out the entire breakfast cost me about a dollar (for me and the girls). We had eggs ($0.33 for 4 eggs), those biscuits from the can ($0.25) and some sliced apple ($0.25). Yes I was bored. There is only so much that you really think about when you are scrambling eggs. :)

It doesn't cost a whole lot to eat well and provide for a family of 4. I tell people my budget per week on groceries and people faint. They don't understand how we can survive on $60.00 a week. But I know people who do it for less. The writer of the Frugal Living section on About.com budgets $40.00 a week for her family of four and they eat mostly organic. To me that's crazy! I could not stock up on sales if I only had $40.00 a week to go on. But then again she could live in a warmer climate and is able to grow veggies year round. That would definitely cut back on my food budget if I was able to grow my own veggies year round.


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Update:

I have to say that I was really impressed with how this turned out. The potatoes stayed nice and firm and weren't as scary as I thought. If I had used regular potatoes they would have turned to mush, I'm sure of that. I wonder if I took potatoes and soaked them in water overnight, if I could use that in this and it would give the same effect? Hmmm...need to experiment.

Anyways it was really good. This is a must try. I'm actually really glad that I didn't use the additional can of tomatoes as suggested in the original recipe. I think it would have been too saucy for me. Stews and chili's to me need to be thick and hearty and not soupy.

The jalapenos added at the end were a must and took the dish to a whole new level. It was honestly a little blah for me without the jalapenos. Kylie and Kaitlynn both ate 95% of their dinner so that tells you how well it was received at our house. I did end up serving this with some brown rice. Jeff ate two servings even with the brown rice so again, a testament to how well it did in our house. He did have to add a little salt to his dish though. But that's my husband. He likes his food a bit saltier than the rest of us.