This is the recipe for those times you want to grill hot dogs or cheeseburgers at home, want the good baked beans, but without all the fuss of making them from scratch.
Ingredients:
1 can Pork and Beans (we use the slightly larger can you can get at Dollar Tree by Campbells)
Brown Sugar
Powdered Mustard
Ketchup
Dehydrated onions/ Dried minced onions
In a small pot empty the can of beans. Now, the rest is by taste. Our family likes it a bit sweeter, so I use a 1/4 cup of brown sugar, maybe 1/8 tsp, a pinch of the dehydrated onions, and a heavy squirt of ketchup. You then mix it all up and simmer until it thickens back up. If I have it on hand, sometimes I will add flax seed to sneak extra fiber into the diet.
I fully admit: this is not the baked beans your aunt takes to the cookout. Not even close. This is just a step up from a plain can of baked beans you can get at the store. Mom's been doing this for as long as I can remember, and she says she learned it from Grandma.
When grocery shopping, we'll often buy ground beef in bulk, and not just when we hit Sam's Club or Costco. The larger packs at the average grocery store will work for us.
Most of it I will cook up, crumble, and drain, just like you would have to for many casserole recipes or simple meals, like tacos. **hums the "White people Taco night" song by Lewburger** I then take out the small kitchen scale and divide it into zip lock bags to freeze.
These bags cut evening dinner prep sometimes by half. Instead of having to cook the raw meat, then assemble the dish and cook, we empty a bag of precooked hamburger, assemble and cook. You don't necessarily need to thaw it, if you crumble it fine enough and drain the fat off very well.
In addition to the time saved, there is a significant amount of food waste avoidance. We have all had a time where we bought a pack of hamburger and it got shoved back behind something in the fridge and didn't get found until it has already turned. With this method, I typically cook up the hamburger either the day I buy it or the next day, so still very fresh, and then freeze it. Any I want left uncooked (like for meatloaf, cheeseburgers, etc.), I will divide up into bags and also freeze if I am not going to use it right away. With the cost of meat always on the rise, we can keep an eye out for good sales, buy a large quantity, and not waste money or food.
An Eldest Daughter Post
Since I have basically taken over the cooking process in our home, I will be adding some more posts of new to us recipes that we have tried and were hits in our home. There will be a lot more seasonings compared to some of the older recipes Mom shared, since many of those were modified to fit certain dietary restrictions that are no longer a factor in our home. Some will be basic blog entries in the tip formula, like this one, and others will be recipes that we have worked out with trial and error. I hope that you will enjoy this!
One thing that we like is something akin to fast food for significantly cheaper: Chili Dogs with fries. The price breakdown can be as cheap as about $1.75 per person, or just under $7 for a family of 4.
What I like to do is buy one of the large 24 count packages of hot dogs and divide it up, putting one meal's worth into a freezer bags to freeze. As our current household size is 3 adults and no children, I can get 4 meals worth out of the package with no excess, but for a family of 4,you can get 3 meals, at 2 hotdogs per person.
While I bake our bread, I don't make good buns for burgers and hot dogs yet, so I buy the store brand when needed, and at the time of this post, that would run about $1.99 for 8 buns. The two extra won't go to waste, but be used to make mini sub sandwiches in the following days. The chili sauce is also store bought. We have tried quite a few different brands and styles. We have found a favorite, which is a good dupe for the kind used at Sonic and A and W drive in restaurants: Castleberry's Hot Dog Chili Sauce, at 89¢ per can. We only need the one for the three of us, and that's with Mom and I smothering our hot dogs in it, so I believe it can be split 4 ways easily.
We pop the fries in the oven (about 2/3rds of the bag is more than enough for the 3 of us), plop the dogs in a grilling skillet to mimic putting them on the grill outside for that added bit of flavor, and heating the chili sauce in a tiny pot with a pouring lip to make getting every bit of the tasty chili onto the dog's that much easier.
No real recipe with this post. The youngest will go fancy sometimes and sprinkle a little bit of cheddar cheese on top of his, I might add fresh chopped onion to mine, but Mom likes hers unadulterated, just chili. Just do whatever tastes best for you!
Leftover creamed peas, chili, or broccoli and cheese can make a great topping for a baked, or boiled, potato. I used to make a small pan of creamed peas just for lunch. While the peas were cooking I put some potatoes, with their peels still on, in water to boil in another pan. When the potatoes were done, I would cut them open lengthwise, spread about 1/2 teaspoon butter on the now open sides, then top with a few tablespoons of the creamed peas. Nice and filling while a great break from soups or sandwiches for that particular time of day.
If you have a cup to 1/2 a cup of leftover cooked rice - mix it in with your favorite meat loaf or meat balls recipe. Yummy and one less leftover in the fridge!
When adding canned diced tomatoes to a recipe using Taco Seasoning Mix, bear in mind that diced tomatoes generally have around 1/4 cup of tomato juice packed with them. Adjust water amounts added to a recipe accordingly to not have the final result a little soupier than anticipated.
In fact, as a sidenote, if you have some tomato juice in the refridgerator - use that in the Taco Seasoning Mix versus water, as called for in the instructions, for a little more flavor.
When cooking ground beef or other meats that you will need to drain. I scoot the meats, when done, to one side of the skillet then angle the skillet half on and half off the burner to allow the grease and drippings to pool on the other side while I do other things. I either scoop out the meats with a spatula or, if needing to add other ingredients into the skillet with the meats, use a turkey baster to draw out the unwanted grease.
I take the label from the meat package, that shares the 'sell by' date. When I freeze the meat, I slip this label into the plastic bag as well. I do this even with the meats I cook and then measure out into packets for later use. Not only to help identify what meats are in what bag but also to know what meats to use first in the freezer.
When I freeze hot dogs, I wrap two hot dogs together in saran wrap then freeze them. I can count on family members wanting at least two hot dogs apiece at meal times, this way I can set out 5 sets to thaw for dinner or, if someone wants some for a lunch, they can take out a set already 'portioned' out for them.
Stretching out the grocery budget can help one discover little tricks. For example, I love coffee but cheap brands doesn't satisfy my tastes so this means I pay more. One tight budget months, I can stretch out the coffee supply by making a regular pot. I leave the grounds in the holder instead of throwing them away. Next time I make a pot, I add only half the amount of fresh grounds to the holder.
The second pot, to my tastebuds, tastes just as good as the first pot did. However, let's do the math: If you make one pot of a coffee every day, and use the above method, then you would be able to make 6 12-cup pots of coffee using the same amount of grounds that would typically make 4-1/2 pots.
Leftover taco meat and diced tomatoes equals a lunchtime sandwich? Add a little ketchup, ground mustard, and leftover diced tomatoes to the meat mixture, microwave for a minute or two, and put some on a bun for an quick sloppy joe style sandwich. Yummy!
At my local supermarket, and some national chain stores, rain checks are good for anywhere from 3 months to 1 year from the date issued. Whenever I see a good sale, and was too late to participate in the savings that day, I always make sure to get a rain check and for the maximum limit allowed (for example: limit 6 per customer). I am not rushed to turn it in, as it is good for several weeks - or even a year, but still can benefit from the original sale's prices even if I don't go for the maximum amount allowed.
At the local supermarket they markdown packaged meats starting a day before the listed "sell by" date. It averages anywhere from 1 to 3 dollars off the price. With certain cuts of meat, this can be a nice savings for the pocketbook - especially if the item was already on sale that week!
The trick is to immediately prepare or freeze the meat. If the latter, when you thaw it do so with the expectation of cooking it that same day.
When making pancakes, from a baking mix (i.e. Bisquick), change the flavor from time to time to give your taste buds a pleasant change of pace from the traditional pancake. If you don't have fruit, like blueberries, on hand then consider using one of the two "melt-in-your-mouth" variations shared on the back of a Bisquick box:
Classic: Stir in 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 2 tablespoons lemon juice.
Supreme: Stir in 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1 teaspoon vanilla.
In our family, on the first day of a snowfall, we always seem to find ourselves whipping a batch of pancakes. Must stem from our brief period of residency in the northeast when, on a large snowfall day, the news reporters often shared segments where they talked to some local residents - and those folks always seemed to be eating pancakes.
Take advantage of sales on items like drink mixes (i.e. Kool-Aid) and gelatin. In my area these periodically go on sale for 20 for $2.00, with the drink mixes, or 20 for $10.00, with the gelatin. These are handy "sweet tooth" satisfying items to have on hand that are a breeze to make, and often for next to nothing, in between paydays. Plus these items usually have healthy shelf life.
With the drink mixes these can be turned into a summer time treat by pouring into ice cube trays, using coffee stirrers for the sticks, or Popsicle forms and then put into the freezer for an hour or so but more cheaply than if you went to the grocery store to buy a package of Popsicles.
And ladies, remember the Old Wives' Tale about how gelatin is supposedly good for fingernails (rumored to help strengthen them)!
Left-over heels from loaves of bread are, in my opinion, a great substitute for bread crumbs in certain recipes, such as meat loaf. I toss these into a plastic bag and freeze until I need them, then cut these into 1/2 to 1/4-inch cubes for use.
We also do this with dried out bread or accidentally burnt slices of toast - which we then crumble up and let our children use to feed the ducks, or geese, while visiting a local park during the spring and summer months.
I buy chicken breasts in bulk packaging; generally I go ahead and bake the whole package, let cool, then cube. I tend to bag the chicken cubes into 1 cup packages since most casserole recipes lean to calling for 1 cup or 2 cups portions. This is really handy for the summer months as our home isn't air conditioned but it also lends convenience to busy nights.
When I buy ground beef it is packaged in 5 pound packages. I crumble it up and cook it in a large deep-sided skillet then carefully drain off the grease.
After letting it cool, I weigh it out into 1 pound portions wrapped in plastic wrap put into the freezer. After the packets of meat are frozen, I slip them into a large resealable plastic bag with a label, sharing the packing date, for future use.
On the last package of ground beef, as I usually buy 3 to 4, I measure out into 1/2 pound portions. These come in handy for recipes that we feel a full pound is too much or we have company and I want to increase a recipe just a little versus doubling the amount.
Having the hamgburger already cooked does save on some of the prep time. For example, when cooking a pot of chili you don't have to wait for the precooked hamburger to fully thaw before adding it into the pot with all the other ingredients.
Many recipes typically list 1/4 or 1/2 cup of chopped onions among the ingredients needed. Go ahead and chop up the onions you purchased and measure out 1/4 cup portions.
Wrap each portion in saran or plastic wrap then freeze. Once frozen solid, I generally store the little packets of onions in a plastic container in the freezer.
Many recipes, casseroles in particular, typically list 1/4 or 1/2 cup of chopped green peppers among the ingredients needed. Go ahead and chop up the green peppers you purchased and measure out 1/4 cup portions.
Wrap each portion in saran or plastic wrap then freeze. Once frozen solid, I store the little packets of green peppers in a plastic container in the freezer. When I need a quarter of a cup, I take out one packet. If needing a half cup, then I grab two.
Not the most original tip to share, I agree, but still a handy one to pass along ...