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Wednesday, February 4, 2009

$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!

1 comment:

  1. Ok, ladies, I'm loving this blog. I'm on the verge of joining the grocery game, but I have some questions. I didn't see Target on the list...is that not an option? Also, after the trial, how many stores should I sign up for? I didn't realize I would get charged for each additional store...how many still makes it worth it for you? Have you signed up for CVS?
    Also, I'm still thinking through the diapers thing, but I'll use your code, Cherie, to get you those credits if I use diapers.com.
    Oh, and did you all order your formula from Enfamil? I'm supposed to use Enfacare 22 calorie when Ben comes home.
    Thanks for all your great advice!

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