We made this with with boneless arm roast because it was on sale for 1.79 a pound, and we made it as a freezer meal, meaning five bags for the freezer, each one serving our family of then 9 healthy eaters at home.
This week, pork sirloin chops are on sale for .99 a pound.
I am going to reduce the proportions and fiddle it a bit for a family of five here. You can stretch it easily for unexpected guests by adding more beans or vegetables. YOu could also add more liquid and some potatoes and call it stew.
Arm Roast Paisano
Cut up 1 pound of beef arm roast, or any inexpensive cut of meat (.99 pork chops), into small cubes (I got a great pair of kitchen shears for Mother's Day, but I have been known to just use a decent pair of scissors, well washed before and after use). 1.00
If you want to brown the meat in a skillet first I think it will have a richer flavor, but we didn't take the time to do that.
Add about 14 ounces of canned tomatoes- this can be stewed, whole, diced, crushed, or even just plain tomato sauce. Plain tomato sauce is .39 for an 8 ounce can at my local grocery store this week. Don't be finicky about the amounts, so 16 ounces is okay: .78
Add: 1 teaspoon beef broth powder
1/4 cup of liquid (some combination of red cooking wine and water would make the flavor richer),
1 teaspoons of italian herbs (basil, oregano, thyme, parsley, garlic, marjoram),
1/2 teaspoon of salt,
1/4 teaspoon of pepper,
1 bay leaf OR- add 1/4 cup of prepared Italian salad dressing in lieu of all these ingredients- one bottle of Wishbone salad dressing is 1.99 on sale at my grocer's this week, so a quarter cup would be... .25 worth of dressing. Use what you have on hand- I buy my herbs and spices in bulk- one pound bags from the co-op so these are a frugal option for me. We're at 2.03 right now.
Add to each bag:
2 diced carrots- I bought a bag of carrots for 1.19 last week, and assuming 2 carrots are 1/4 of the bag (which I think is over-estimating), that's about .30 in carrots.
2 stalks diced celery- that's about one cup, or just over four ounces. That's around .35 in celery
1/2 diced onion- shall we say... .25
1 tablespoon of pickle relish (more is okay). This really adds something piquant to the flavor and I think it might help tenderize the beef. Pickle relish is possibly the single most expensive ingredient here, but since we're only using a Tablespoon- .25
2 cups cooked white beans - I buy my organic legumes in 25 pounds from my co-op. The white beans currently run about .64 a pound, but a pound of uncooked beans is about five or six cups of cooked beans, so... hang on while I do the math... about .22 worth of white beans.
That total is only 3.30. You can add a couple diced potatoes for a more stew like dish. Red potatoes are currently on sale for 1.41 for a five pound bag, so two or three potatoes would be about .30, bringing the cost up to 3.60
Put in crockpot. Cook on low for 5 to 6 hours or on high for about 3 hours. Remove bay leaf. Serve over rice or with bread.
A 25 pound bag of organic, long grain brown rice costs me 30.00. There are about two and a half cups of dry rice in a pound, and a pound of organic brown rice costs me around 1.20 (unless I wait and buy it on sale, which I usually do). One cup of dry rice makes about 4 servings of 1/2 cup each. So if you buy the expensive organic brown stuff like we do, that's about .75 worth of rice, and you'll probably have leftovers. If you buy plain white rice, that would be less.
Total is now 4.35 (or less, if you use cheaper rice).
Side dish: One pound of apples sliced into wedges. Right now I can buy a 3 pound bag of apples for 1.99, making that .66 for a pound.
This post listed at Five Dollar Dinners
Be sure to be here this Thursday, when Kim, Connie, Kimberly and I (we each have seven or more children apiece) blog about what it was like going shopping and on other outings when we had only Littles.
This recipe reposted at the Common Kitchen
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sounds great this would change my meals up a bit thanks
ReplyDeleteI would be really interested to see what this dinner costs now (1-1/2 years later than your original post).
ReplyDeleteI could figure it out for my local area, but that would be comparing apples to oranges.
Thanks for the recipe, it sounds frugally delicious
Teresa, that's an interesting question, and I will look into it. I'm sure it's gone up, although when I check it out it will still be a bit of apples and oranges, since I would always adjust it to reflect what's on sale (i.e. if tomato paste isn't on sale, but tomatoes were, or if I still had tomatoes in the garden, that's what I'd use).
ReplyDeleteTeresa, I realized I can check the price of rice and beans from my computer, since I order through a co-op. The beans are now a minimum of 1.50 a pound. I can't find any beans in the catalog under about 1.23, and those are split pea or soy.
ReplyDeleteI can get organic brown rice for about 32 dollars for a 25 pound bag, but only if I get long grain rather than the short grain I prefer (it makes better sushi). The short grain has gone up about ten dollars a bag.