I tried the top swiss steak recipe and loved it. My guys loved it too! Thanks for another great recipe! I don’t know what I would do without your site, recipes and advice. :)
I also would like to share my easy and frugal beef recipe:
1 pound beef stew meat
1 18 oz jar of Heinz beef gravy
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 or 2 Tbsp dried, minced onions (use your judgement based on your taste)
salt and pepper to taste
Brown beef in oil. Place in crockpot. Sprinkle with garlic powder and dried, minced onions. Sprinkle with salt and pepper if desired. Pour in jar of gravy. Run a little water in jar (maybe 1/4 cup) and place lid back on. Shake and add that liquid to crockpot also. Stir to coat beef with gravy and seasonings. Cook on low all day (8 – 10 hours). Serve with egg noodles and mashed potatoes.
I came up with this idea a couple of days ago. I wanted some type of beef/noodle dish but didn’t want to make stroganoff. I really wanted something simple and also frugal.
At Walmart, in the meat markdown area, I found 2 pounds of really nice looking Angus beef stew meat for $5.00. It was one day away from the ‘use by’ date and looked really good. This was an excellent find as the 1 pound packages for beef stew meat were $5.00. Can anyone else believe $5.00/pound for stew meat? Yikes!!! Everything else I needed for this meal, I had in my kitchen at home.
I used one pound of the beef for that meal and vacuum packed and froze the other pound for another meal. I used 1/2 bag of egg noodles. I cooked and mashed 6 medium to large size potatoes. I warmed up a can of French Style green beans. We had bread and butter with the meal. This fed my family of 4 with one portion left over for my lunch today…and my guys are big eaters. Very frugal meal. :)
My guys (hubby, 14 year old son and 8 year old son) love to layer meals like this: noodles on plate, then mashed potatoes, then beef/gravy. They LOVED this meal and raved about it! My hubby and oldest son commented several times that it was their favorite beef/noodle type recipe that I have ever made. (So much for the meals I work really hard on…LOL!) They even liked it better than stroganoff. I guess that goes to show, sometimes it is the simplest of things that make the biggest impressions. I think Jill says this frequently. :)
It was rather tasty. A great cool weather meal. And it smelled wonderful cooking all day. My husband works nights and sleeps during the day. He said he kept waking up and smelling the beef cooking and getting hungry. Lol!
Anyway, just wanted to share a successful meal with everyone. I agree with Jill/Tawra’s philosophies that they share with us on this website: How can people say they don’t have time to cook? :) It took me MAYBE 10 minutes that morning to brown the beef and throw everything in the crockpot. Then when I got home from work, it took me MAYBE 10 minutes to start water boiling for the noodles, wash, peel and cut 6 potatoes, throw in a pan with water and start cooking, open a can of green beans and put in a pan to cook on the stove, and add the noodles to the boing water. While everything was cooking, I set the table and buttered bread. Then it took a couple of minutes to mash the potatoes and dinner was served. Move over Rachel Ray! Lol!
I have read Tawra/Jill’s hints to saving money on groceries and wanted to echo one of their tips. The meat markdowns at stores are fabulous ways to find meat at frugal prices. I always check Walmart and Kroger for the meat markdowns before I buy meat in the normal areas of the stores. I’ve found wonderful deals this way. One time, I got 20 thin, skillet pork chops for $5.00 that was two days away from the ‘use by’ date. They looked great! I took those home and vacuum packed 4 packages of 5 chops and had 4 meals for my family. Every now and then, I do see things in the meat markdown area that I don’t buy. I just have to look and be careful…if anything looks too brown or just ‘not right’, I don’t buy it.
Another tip is stocking up when meat prices hit rock bottom. In my area, Kroger is best for meat sales. I have noticed they have a repeating pattern of meat sales and I shop accordingly. We have an upright deep freezer and I take advantage of that space. When Kroger has the pork chops and pork roasts buy 1 get one free, I take advantage and usually buy 4 packs of pork chops and 4 small pork roasts. This usually is $2.00 – $2.50 per package of chops and $3.00 per small roast. Next week, it may be boneless, skinless chicken breasts $1.99/lb. I buy about 4 packages of the chicken breasts. Next week, it may be Angus ground chuck $1.99/pound and beef roasts buy one get one free. I buy about 4 pounds of the beef and 4 small roasts. I watch for the rock-bottom prices on steaks (usually $3.99/lb) and only then and stock up a little. This way, my freezer is always stocked with meat…enough of each kind to last me until the next sale.
I use my Kroger for specials. I start shopping for the week with my Kroger ad and stock up on their sale items. Then I head for Walmart for the staple items I may need that would have cost me more at Walmart. I guess another point I want to echo is that you don’t even need a discount grocery store to save on food costs. Once you have Kroger’s sale cycle down and stock up when the item is on sale, you can get everything you need there. I always hear people scoffing at Kroger’s high prices and saying how they can’t afford to shop there. Yes, their normal prices are high but their specials and sales…usually lower than Walmart. I also use coupons…only on things I would buy anyway. Kroger doubles coupons and I get a lot of neat stuff for free…toiletries and snack items for the kids. But I’d be okay without coupons. Just like I’d be okay without a Walmart in my area. Where there is a will to save…there is a way!!! :)
Boy, I’m usually not this long winded. Just wanted to share a recipe and some tips. Happy home making everyone!!
