edited to add Jenni’s link at the bottom

I mentioned beef stroganoff in my post about price comparisons and a friend asked for the recipe. Since it’s been a while since we posted a recipe I’ll share it here. I just created this recipe on the spur of the moment. This is an easy one that the kids love, and they can prepare it themselves.

Beef Stroganoff

• 2 lbs. ground beef or stew meat
• 1 diced onion
• 2 large cans cream of mushroom soup
• 1-2 cups sour cream

If using stew meat, heat a bit of oil in a 4 quart pan. Brown meat and saute onion together. Drain and add soup. Simmer and stir occasionally to blend flavors. If using stew meat simmer until tender, about 45 minutes. Just before serving stir in sour cream. Serve over rice, potatoes or noodles.

This would be far healthier if we took the time to make a simple white sauce with the meat drippings in the pan rather than using the cream soup. The white sauce would cost about $1.50 and then we could add a 69 cent can of mushrooms or saute a few fresh ones with the meat and onion rather than spending $2.20 on 2 large cans of WalMart’s cream of mushroom soup. We will probably make it this way from now on, but the recipe above is quick and easy and very inexpensive for our crowd.

BTW, Jenni is having a recipe contest.  She is open for entries until midnight tonight (how’s that for just getting in under the wire?).  Just hurry up, post a recipe and link to her contest.  You could win a $35 gift certificate to Crate and Barrel!

Yesterday, we took a day off of Saxon math to calculate the cost of a few of our favorite meals. Don’t be fooled by the fact that our household is mostly small and female. We are hearty eaters (a mother of 4 teenage boys told me so), and most of the main dish numbers are for recipes that make 12-16 servings. A vegetarian dinner is a foreign concept to us. Sorry y’all. More confessions: we used canned cream of mushroom/cream of chicken soups, and canned spaghetti sauce and canned beans. I used to cook my own beans when we were city folk and it worked just fine. When we moved out here I tried cooking beans and after 3 days they were still rock hard. Strangely enough, our water is also rock hard. I feel sure there is a connection. Yes, I tried baking soda and didn’t add any acid or salt. So we buy canned beans.  update: we now cook our own beans from scratch.

First, we wrote on the whiteboard a short list of some of our favorite and most frequent main dishes, lunches and breakfasts.

Then we worked together to figure the cost/unit for several common ingredients and pantry staples, and wrote those on the board as well:

• bread (whole wheat; we aspire to make our own but rarely do so) – $1.30
• eggs – $.16 each (just under $2/dozen)
• grated cheese (mozzarella or cheddar) – $.70/cup ($2.80/lb at Costco – savings on cheese alone more than pays for our annual membership!)
• ground beef – $1.60/lb (the cheap stuff at WalMart in the 5 or 10 lb. tube)
• sausage – $1.18/lb (we just switched from The Good Stuff to the cheap stuff. at twice the price, The Good Stuff simply wasn’t that good)
• milk – $.23/cup
• flour – $.09/cup
• sugar – $.20/cup
• butter – $.44/stick (this is from Costco too. I would hate to pay grocery store prices!)
• chicken (boneless skinless breasts on sale) – $2/lb

Next, the 4 oldest girls chose from the list of meals. They each picked 2 main dishes, a lunch, a breakfast and a dessert, and they got to work. Many of the main dishes require an added salad, veggie and/or bread.  Breakfasts and lunches are just for the children and me. Hubby eats a separate breakfast early and usually takes leftovers for lunch.

Here is what they came up with:

DINNERS

• Burritos (beef, bean, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, salsa) – $9.45 This one surprised me. I assumed burritos were cheap, but not when you make them meaty and cheesy and use fresh produce out of season. And canned beans.
• Lasagne (beef and 3 cheeses) – $8.89
• Quesadillas (bean & cheese, cooked with butter on the griddle. mmmm. even better w/leftover chili.) – $4.90
• Mexican casserole – $6.41
• Hamburger stroganoff (served over rice, though I’m sure potatoes or noodles would be comparable) – $7.81
• Pizza (5 large w/lots of leftover) – $16.35
• Spaghetti – $7.50  This surprised me too, since I thought spaghetti was a cheap meal, but we like to splurge on angel hair pasta and meat.  We often use sausage which does help cut down the cost.
• Chicken pot pie – $7.98

LUNCHES: these sound spectacularly unhealthy, but the girls chose by favorites, not frequency. Honestly. We don’t eat like this every day. Really. Trust me.

• Maccaroni & cheese (3 boxes) – $2.43
• Ramen noodles – $.96
• Grilled cheese sandwiches – $3.59
• Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches – $2.59

BREAKFASTS:

• Pancakes – $2.97
• Eggs & toast – $3.70
• Biscuits & sausage gravy – $2.23
• Breakfast in a bowl (grits, eggs, cheese, sausage) – $2.66

DESSERTS:

• Low carb cheesecake (a single small cheesecake for mom & dad) – $4.36 (ouch!)
• Hot cocoa from scratch – $2.48
• Wacky cake – $1.19
• Brownies – $1.65

I learned a lot from this little lesson yesterday, and was pleased at the discussion that was generated. There are some more recipes that I would like to see numbers on, so I think we might be doing this again today. I am also feeling motivated to start a price book. I shop mainly at WalMart and Costco and used to know all the prices but they are changing so quickly these days that when I searched my memory I often found myself floundering for the current numbers.