Beef recipes for a low cost meal
Beef is an excellent low cost meal ingredient which can be purchased in bulk and stored in manageable quantities in the freezer until required. Try these beef recipes using various cuts of beef.
1. Crockpot Beef Roast
- 1 beef roast
- 1 envelope onion soup mix
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup (optional)
- 1 can of soda
Use Sprite, Coke or Ginger Ale for the soda.
Serve with plain white rice but it would also be good with egg noodles or mashed potatoes to soak up the "gravy" like juice.
2. Hamburger Stroganoff
- 1 pound ground beef or turkey
- 1 tbs. butter or oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 can cream soup (mushroom or chicken)
- 1/2 cup water
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup sour cream, optional
Heat the oil or butter and sauté the onion and garlic until soft. Add the meat and brown, then drain of any extra fat.
Add the soup, water, salt and pepper and heat through.
Remove from the heat and stir in the sour cream if you're using it.
Serve over rice or egg noodles.
3. Mom's Meat Loaf
This is my mother's tried and true recipe, even if she doesn't make it anymore! I've also listed a few variations. If you are concerned about the fat content, you have several choices. Find one of those loaf pans with vents for the fat to drip through or use lean ground turkey. And need I mention smaller portions...
- 1 lb. ground beef or turkey
- 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
- 1 diced onion
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup catsup
- 3 Tbs. mustard
- 1 Tbs. prepared horseradish
- salt and pepper to taste (about 1 tsp. and 1/4 tsp. respectively to start with)
Mix together. (I use my Kitchen Aid mixer here too but you can do it by hand or with a wooden spoon.) Put in a loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes.
4. Quick Beef and Rice
This is one of the easiest, quickest kid-friendly recipe around. If you use low-fat ground beef or turkey and have some vegetables on the side, liked cooked carrots, it's not too unhealthy.
- 1 pound ground beef or turkey
- 2 cups rice
- 1 package onion soup mix
- 4 cups water
- 1 15 oz. can cream of mushroom soup
Brown the ground meat and drain if necessary. Add soup mix, rice, soup, and water and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, till rice is done.
Options: You can leave out the cream of soup if you don't have it or just make a simple white sauce. If you don't have any onion soup mix, sauté an onion and add 2 tsp. beef bouillon instead.
5. Ground Beef Tacos
This is an old standby favorite for dinner around here. This easy recipe while have you forego buying the taco seasoning packages at the grocery store, which easily add to the cost of the meal for no great flavor improvement.
- 1 pound ground beef or turkey
- 1 (16 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 Tbs. minced dried onion or 1/2 an onion, minced
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 Tbs. chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- salt and pepper to taste
Brown the ground meat. If you're using a fresh onion, cook it with the ground meat. Add the seasonings and tomato sauce and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
You could also use boiled hamburger for this. Just defrost the cooked meat and add to the other ingredients or simmer.
Serve with soft tortillas or hard shells with chopped lettuce, salsa, sliced olives, and shredded cheese. Goes great with Spanish Rice and refried beans or dressed up black beans. Any leftovers make a great taco salad.
6. Shepherd's Pie
- 1 pound ground beef or chicken or turkey
- 1/2 cup ground beef mix or your favorite seasonings for ground meat
- 1 cup white wine or water
- mashed potatoes (from 3 large potatoes)
- canned or creamed corn or peas (optional)
- 1/2 cup Cheddar or Parmesan cheese, grated
Preheat the oven to 350.
Brown the ground meat and drain. (Rinse if you want to get more fat off.) Add the seasonings and wine or water and simmer for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile peel up the potatoes and cut into 1" chunks. Simmer until soft. Drain, mash, and add butter and milk.
Put the meat into a 9x9 baking dish. Pour the corn or peas on top if using. Cover with the mashed potatoes. Sprinkle the cheese on top. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.
7. Ground Beef Chili
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, diced
- Tbs chili powder
- 1 tsp oregano
- 3/4 tsp ground cumin
- 1 15 oz can pureed or diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 15 oz can kidney beans, drained
- salt and pepper to taste
- water if necessary
Condiments:
- sour cream
- grated cheddar cheese
- chopped green onions
- salsa
Brown the ground beef with the onion and garlic and then drain off any fat. Add the chili powder, oregano, and cumin. Stir and cook another minute, then add the tomatoes and their juice. Simmer on low uncovered for 10 minutes. Add the kidney beans and simmer another 15 minutes, uncovered, stirring periodically. If it gets to dry at any point, add some water. Season with salt, pepper, Tabasco if you'd like, etc.
Serve over rice, corn bread, or a baked potato.
8. Beef Hash
This is a great way to use up leftover roast beef, flank steak, whatever you have around. If you plan ahead, save some gravy for this. You could even throw some chopped meat and gravy in the freezer and make this much later. You can also mix up some of the "instant" gravy from a dry mix. This is fairly inexpensive at the "big box" stores. The little packets are horribly priced in my mind.
- 4 potatoes, peeled, and diced
- 1-2 cups leftover chopped beef
- 1 cup gravy
- 1 onion, diced
- salt and pepper to taste
If the potatoes are raw, start to brown them in some olive oil and butter. If you want details, see my post on sauteed potatoes. If you're using leftover potatoes, just dice them and then add the other ingredients.
Add the beef, gravy, and onion to the potatoes and cook until browned, stirring now and then. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.
9. Beef Stew With Red Wine
- 1-2 cups flour
- 2 pounds beef, cubed
- 1/2 cup butter or olive oil
- 2 cups red wine, (merlot is best)
- 5 cups prepared beef buillion or beef stock
- 5 carrots, thickly sliced, washed, pared
- 7 stalks celery, sliced
- 2 medium onions, diced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 5 medium potatoes, cubed
- 2 bay leaves
- a pinch of paprika
- 1 tablespoon parsley, minced
- pepper, to taste
In a large frying pan, heat 1/2 the butter or olive oil and sauté the carrots, celery, onion, potatoes, and garlic until slightly browned. Set aside.
Combine flour, paprika, parsley, and some pepper in a shallow bowl, and roll the beef in it until well coated on all sides. Melt remaining butter or pour oil into in a large stew pot, and then add meat.
Sauté the meat until well browned. Add the previously prepared vegetables and sauté for about two minutes with the beef in the stew pot.
Add the wine, and sauté another three or four minutes.
While the pot is hot, pour in the prepared bouillon and the bay Leaves and allow to simmer covered for about 2-5 hours. After such time the vegetables and beef should be very tender.
At this point remove the lid, sift in any additional flour required to thicken to desired consistency (use fresh flour - not from bowl), and allow the liquid to simmer 30 minutes or until ready.
One may add pepper and salt to taste, and if the carrots and wine were of a sweeter nature, then it is probably a good idea to add a splash or two of lemon juice for contrast.
