*** Hey everyone, I'm on a bloggy adventure and won't be home until tomorrow. If you want to know more check it out HERE. In the meantime have I got a treat for you! Erin, at $5 dinners has agreed to do a guest post for me today. If you haven't checked out her blog you're in for a treat. She makes all of her dinners for her family for under $5. That's NOT per person, that's for the whole entire meal. She's an amazing inspiration and you'll learn a ton by cruising through her posts and recipes. So sit back and enjoy and I'll see you tomorrow.
Gayle
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At $5 Dinners, I’m always trying to stretch my food to the max!
Here is an example of STRETCHING! I made a 3 lb roast in the crock pot. That is too much beef for one meal, so I turned it into 3 meals! Roast with potatoes, TX Cowboy’s Pie (recipe below!), and shredded beef for my kids’ lunch. Using a more expensive cut of protein more than once allows me to make meals for less than $5 for my family!
Gayle
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At $5 Dinners, I’m always trying to stretch my food to the max!
Here is an example of STRETCHING! I made a 3 lb roast in the crock pot. That is too much beef for one meal, so I turned it into 3 meals! Roast with potatoes, TX Cowboy’s Pie (recipe below!), and shredded beef for my kids’ lunch. Using a more expensive cut of protein more than once allows me to make meals for less than $5 for my family!
The BEST way to use up leftover beef roast!!!
Ingredients
Leftover Beef Roast ($1.75)
2-4 T Barbecue Sauce ($.05)
3 Large Potatoes ($.60)
Milk ($.10)
Butter ($.20)
Salt/Pepper
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese ($.83)
2-3 Broccoli Heads ($.44) Recently on sale and I blanched and froze them!
Directions
1. Boil potatoes, mash with milk and butter until desired creaminess. Add Salt and Pepper.
2. Shred leftover beef and mix with BBQ sauce.
3. Spread mashed potatoes in bottom of 8x8 baking dish. Top with saucy meat mixture. Sprinkle cheese over the top.
4. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, or until cheese begins to golden.
5. Steam broccoli and serve with TX Cowboy's Pie! Hubs will be thrilled to eat another "meat and potatoes" meal!
Cost $3.97
Other ideas for STRETCHING:
1. Add cooked lentils into meatloaf or meatballs.
2. Mix leftover butternut squash into homemade (or store bought) macaroni and cheese.
3. Add cauliflower into mashed potatoes.
4. Turn ½ cup leftover rice into rice pudding for breakfast for 2 hungry kids!
5. Leftover roasted potatoes could be mixed in with eggs and put into tacos.
6. Turn leftover pork roast into Pulled Pork Sandwiches.
7. Leftover crock pot chicken is perfect for chicken tacos, chicken succotash, chicken salad, chicken tortilla soup and much more.
Frugal cooking requires not only creativity, but the willingness to experiment with leftovers. I’d love to hear from you about your frugal adventures with leftovers!
What are some creative ways that you have used your leftovers? Can’t wait to read your ideas!
Erin, the $5 Dinner Mom
10 comments:
From Aliisa:
I like to turn left over beef stew into beef pot pie. And chili, wow there is so much I can do with left over chili. French fry casserole, put it over baked potatoes, use it on a salad instead of dressing...(delish!!), make it into frito pie or if its a small amount, add it to scrambled eggs for breakfast tacos!
Thanks for all your wonderful tips!
Great post, Erin!
We've turned leftover rice into fried rice; leftover mashed potatoes into potato pancakes; roast into au jus, stroganoff, orange beef; chicken into enchiladas, chicken alfredo, etc. The possibilities are endless!! :D
Two of my favorite food/budget blogs coming together in one place...brilliant :) A few things I do to stretch food and take care of leftovers are: 1. using leftover rice to make fried rice...all you need are a few frozen veggies. 2. Make Crispy Potato Pancakes out of leftover mashed, boiled or baked potatoes. 3. leftover chicken mixed with corn and black beans makes a mean quesadilla. 4. If there's a meal we've eaten all we could possibly eat and we are beginning to get sick of it, we put it in single-size freezer containers and put it in the freezer. I have a list on my fridge of "frozen meals", and whenever we are in a pinch for lunches and are tempted to go out to eat, we just grab one of our homemade frozen dinners. This little trick has saved us the cost of eating out many a time!
Ooooo, that recipe is right up my alley! Thanks for sharing. I recently did a post on "roastbeef redos" if you need some more ideas.
http://amysfinerthings.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/roast-beef-redos/
Rats....we already ate the leftover roast...lol :) Looks delicious though! Thanks for the extra helpful meal-stretching tips :)
We also make "Sticky Skins" with baked potatoes and leftover meat and BBQ sauce: bake potatoes; halve; scoop out part of the flesh; top with pulled meat, BBQ sauce, and shredded cheese; and run under the broiler. Mmmm... Serve with sour cream.
Thank you Erin. Perfect timing as I am making a 3 pound roast int he crockpot today and was wondering about other meals! :)
It sounds yummy!!!
Oh my goodness! That looks so yummy. Thanks for the recipe. I hardly ever buy roast due to the cost...but for three meals- I am sure thinking about it now--. Thanks!
I always do French Dip Sandwiches with my leftover pot roast and leftover drippings. It is yummy! I use a recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and substitute my drippings for the beef broth.
I love the sounds of this and will be trying it out! Love your blog! I'll have to get my dinners together and paticipate. :)
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