Where’s the Beef?
Here we are, smack in the big middle of my 5-week casserole special.
Here are the casserole categories again.
- Framework
- Sauce
- Meat
- Add-Ons
- Toppings
The meat is where you can really blow your budget if you aren't careful. I use ground meats and poultry and sausage. I seldom even look at more expensive cuts of beef or pork, so I have no expertise and little experience with those.
Among the ground meats at my grocery, beef is the most expensive, so I try to use more of the other meats.
Farmland bulk pork sausage is a good savings over beef and also is one of the few bulk sausage available WITHOUT nitrites and nitrates. And Farmland sausage is tasty, too. So Farmland is a win, win, win in my book.
Ground turkey is an even bigger savings. Which would be a neat deal IF you enjoy turkey. I do not. 'Nuf said.
The big savings in the meat department is buying a whole bird, either chicken or turkey.
The smartest thing I ever did in my kitchen was to utilize some advice I read in one of those cookbooks that teach you how to prepare a whole month's meals at once. No, I don't cook for a whole month in one day, I would get tired. But I do cook all of the meat in one day, usually the day after we buy it.
The chicken goes in the oven or the crock pot, then gets cut up after it has cooled a bit. The beef and pork get cooked in the frying pan and drained. I set my large colander into a huge bowl and pour the cooked meat in and leave it there for a good 15 minutes to drain off the excess fat and allow it to cool a bit. It all gets packed in quart size, zipper-type, freezer bags; labeled and put away in the freezer. I try to pack 'em in approx. one pound packages.
What a luxury to walk into my kitchen at 5 o'clock, grab a pound of cooked meat out of my freezer and be able to have a casserole in the oven in a matter of 5 - 10 minutes.
It's a simple routine that doesn't create a big upheaval in our day.
Turn the oven on first thing, I'm not gonna be in the kitchen very long. I take the meat out of the freezer (leave the bag sealed), put it in a bowl and run hot water over it while I peel any veggies that need it, grate the cheese, chop the onions or mushrooms. Then I'm ready to assemble my casserole.
Here's a recipe that is usually not a frugal choice, and usually it's a real pain to make. This recipe over-comes both of those hang-ups.
Easy Lasagna
- 1 pound ground meat, cooked
- 32 oz jar of spaghetti sauce
- 1½ cups water
- 16 oz carton small curd cottage cheese
- 12 oz Mozzarella cheese, shredded
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup parsley, chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 8 oz lasagna noodles, not cooked (see? easy!)
Pre-heat the oven to 350°.
In a large sauce pan combine meat, sauce and water. Simmer for about 10 minutes. While that's goin' on get out your large bowl and combine the remaining ingredients except the lasagna, we'll call this the cheese filling.
Now get out your 9x13 and give it a spray of oil, particularly the sides. Pour 1 cup sauce in the 9x13. Layer 3 pieces of un-cooked lasagna over sauce, cover with about 1½ cups sauce. Spread ½ of the cheese filling over the sauce. Repeat layers of lasagna, sauce and cheese filling. Top with a layer of lasagna and the remaining sauce.
Cover with foil and bake at 350° for an hour. Take it out of the oven and remove the foil. Bake 10 minutes longer. Now let it set for a ½ hour before cutting.
You may add whatever you like to this or leave it like it is. I might add diced onions to the meat sauce and chopped, fresh mushrooms to the cheese filling. I might, but my hubby and children like it without them.
The expense of this meal is in the cheese, so this is one you will want to plan after you've gotten a good deal on cheese or if you buy your cheese at Costco where it's less expensive than anywhere else I've seen.
But even so, you save a bundle by making Lasagna at home rather than buying it already made. And that's the real key to frugality. Don't pay someone else to do work you can do.
Y'all come on over to my blog, Ship Full O' Pirates, where I talk about homeschooling, laundry, shopping at the thrift store, and whatever else is goin' on at our house.
related posts:
- Create-a-Casserole To create a casserole you need to think in terms...
- It’s in the Sauce Last week I started a five week Create -a-Casserole series...
- Low on the Hog Being a spendthrift and flinging your money around is called...
- Over-the-Top Delicious! Hi, I'm Mother Hen. I blog at Ship Full O'...
- A Little Here, and a Little There Hi, Mother Hen here, from Ship Full O' Pirates. Read...
12 Responses to “Where’s the Beef?”
October 15th, 2008 at 10:13 am
We’re with you on the meat. We love cheap sausage, and strangely enough I often find that it’s leaner than the cheap ground beef. It’s a lot more flavorful so you get more bang for your buck even if the price is the same.
We do use ground turkey now and then, but nobody’s crazy about it and it’s not as cheap as it used to be.
Have you ever compared the price and yield of a whole bird vs. bags of legs/thighs? I haven’t, but I have begun eying my ziplocs of chicken with suspicion. That 10# bag of legs/thighs really does not leave a lot of meat when it’s all said and done. I’m guessing that even at twice the price per pound, a whole bird might actually be a better buy.
October 15th, 2008 at 10:48 am
I have only one legitimate use for ground turkey: it goes into a meatloaf mix with equal parts of sausage and beef. And that’s reason enough to have a roll in the freezer from time to time.
I’ve tried to use ground turkey as replacement for ground beef in other recipes … well, yuk.
October 15th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Curious. I interchange ground turkey with ground beef very frequently. To such an extent that the two are almost synonymous with one another in my household. We have ground turkey chili, meatloaf, tacos, burgers, anything really.
While it tastes significantly different I still find it delicious, regardless of application. I don’t think there is one dish I eat frequently that it would be worse off with ground turkey instead of beef.
But of course it is a matter of personal taste and opinion.
October 15th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
KimC – Well, unless you actually weigh it out it’s kinda hard to know. I do like to buy some of the boneless skinless packs when they are half price or so. I think $1.50 – $2 per pound for actual meat (not the skin and bones) is quite reasonable.
October 15th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Ed & Monroe – I didn’t mean to imply that turkey isn’t a legitimate frugal choice. I just don’t care for the taste, just personal preference.
October 15th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
We switched to ground turkey about a year ago. Now I only buy ground beef if its marked down because its close to sale by date. My family doesnt know the difference and neither does anyone that eats at the house. Most people are shocked to find out its ground turkey instead of ground beef. And at $1.29 for a pound…its the best choice for us!!
October 15th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
I didn’t usually care for ground turkey, either, until I started buying the “fresh” version at Aldi instead of the frozen roll – much better taste. I usually can’t tell the difference from ground beef.
October 16th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Thanks Nancy! That’s good to know. I haven’t tried the fresh ground turkey. I’ll check the price at my store while I’m there today.
October 29th, 2008 at 6:01 am
[...] Meat [...]
January 31st, 2009 at 10:31 am
My husband hates ground turkey, but when I combine it in equal parts with beef, he hasn’t noticed yet! This reduces the price of the total dish quite a bit.
October 13th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
My freezer is full of ground turkey, I haven’t bought ground beef in ages.
October 16th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
I agree that the key is the fresh ground turkey. It is 93% lean and 1.29 per pound at my local grocery. Nobody ever notices the difference when I cook it in a dish either.. grating onion on a micro grater into the meat and mixing it with a little ice water before cooking seems to do loads to keep it moist.
Leave a Comment