$10 Dinners

Another great and very cheap meal to share! This is one of my favorites that I've been making for a LONG time - even the kids love it.

Mini Meat Loaves

1 pound lean (90%) ground beef ($1.98 a pound)
1/2 cup quick or old-fashioned oats ($0.15)
3/4 cup chili sauce or ketchup, divided ($0.75)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion ($0.25)
1 egg ($0.10)
1 garlic clove, pressed ($0.50)
1 tsp oregano ($0.10)
1/2 tsp salt ($0.05)
1/8 tsp pepper ($0.05)

Total Cost: $3.93 - how's that for cheap??

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl combine ground beef, oats, 1/3 cup of the chili sauce (ketchup), onion, egg, pressed garlic, oregano, salt and black pepper; mix lightly but thoroughly. Using large scoop, divide mixture evenly into cups of muffin/cupcake pan. Bake 15 minutes.

2. Remove pan from oven. Spoon remaining chili sauce (ketchup) evenly over top of loaves (you can't have too much ketchup so usually I use more then stated). Return to oven; bake an additional 10-15 minutes or until meat is no longer pink in center and internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. Remove loaves from pan.

Here's what I add to make it great: mashed potatoes. I used real potatoes - bought 8 pounds for $3.47 - add butter and milk for about $4.15 total. Or you could buy potato flakes - they were on sale for $0.97.

I use a Pampered Chef Easy Accent Decorator (which is a fancy icing decorator) to pipe the potatoes onto the mini meat loaves. I also pipe fun faces on the kids plates and they love that! It is easier to pipe the "fake" potatoes because there aren't any lumps.

Add green beans (I got a bag free at Wegman's so no extra cost) and you have a well rounded meal on the cheap!