2 Simple Poor Man's Dinner Ideas You Can Make With Ground Beef
I’m going to be making two dinner recipes that I call “Poor Man’s Meals.” These poor man’s dinner ideas are really good. I’m going to use half a pound of hamburger (ground beef) for each meal. It will stretch and feed my family of five and even have leftovers.
Poorman’s beef stroganoff
I priced out the ingredients at my local Aldi and Walmart, as of October 2022 in Tennessee.
- 4 ounces cream cheese .80c
- 8 ounces sour cream .85c
- ½ pound of hamburger $1.92
- Can of mushrooms $1.16
- Garlic and onion powder
- Salt and pepper
- 16 ounces of egg noodles .72c
I’ll use half the ground beef, half the cream cheese, half of the sour cream, and half the package of egg noodles. I’ll use the whole 4-ounce can of mushrooms for the homemade cream of mushroom. You’ll need spices.
Homemade cream of mushroom
Ingredients
- 2 TBSP butter
- 2 heaping TBSP flour
- ⅓ of the can of mushrooms and a TBS juice
- 1 cup of milk
1. Cook the mushrooms
The first thing we need is 2 tablespoons of butter to melt in a saucepan. As it melts, open the can of mushrooms. Put a couple of dollops of mushrooms and juice into the pan while the butter is melting. When the butter is melted, let the mushrooms cook in the butter for about 30 seconds to a minute.
2. Add flour
Put 2 heaping tablespoons of flour into the pot with the melted butter and mushrooms. It will look like thick playdough, which is the consistency I want. Stir and cook constantly for a minute.
3. Add milk
Add in 1 cup milk–I eyeballed it so I can’t give you an exact measurement but you’ll know how much to add. Whisk it in the pot to thicken it.
4. Let it thicken
That’s how you make homemade cream of mushroom soup. It’ll thicken up as you let the pot sit for a few minutes. Set the pot aside.
5. Brown the beef
Put half a pound of ground hamburger meat into a skillet to brown it.
6. Season the beef
Add seasoning to your taste, such as onion powder, salt, and pepper.
7. Cook the egg noodles
While the beef is cooking, begin cooking the noodles. Put a half package in a pot of hot water to boil.
8. Drain beef
Drain the fat from the cooked beef. Once it’s drained, add it back to the pan and add the cream of mushroom soup.
9. Add sour cream
Add 8 ounces of sour cream to the pan.
10. Add cream cheese
Add 4 ounces of cream cheese to the pan.
11. Add garlic powder
Put a big teaspoon of garlic powder into the mixture.
12. Add mushrooms
Add the remaining mushrooms from the can and mix it all up.
13. Mix the sauce
As you mix the sauce the cream cheese will melt. Here’s the result.
14. Mix noodles and sauce
Mix the cooked noodles and sauce together to make the final result.
Poorman’s beef stew
- Carrots
- Potatoes
- ½ pound of hamburger meat
- Can of tomato paste
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Salt and pepper
- 2 cups of water
This recipe goes in the crockpot in the morning. It cooks on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.
1. Brown the beef
First, you’ll brown the half pound of ground hamburger beef you have left.
2. Fill the crockpot
As the beef browns, add items to the crockpot, including carrots, potatoes (I cut them in half), 2 cups of water and a whole can of tomato paste.
3. Add spices
I added spices like 2 to 5 pinches of garlic powder and onion powder, and 2 pinches of oregano.
4. Add beef
Dump in the beef and add a few pinches of salt and pepper on top.
5. Stir
Stir the mixture in the crockpot, cover, and cook.
Here’s the stew once it’s done. There’s something about the warmth of beef stew in the winter and in the cold. I love it, it’s so cozy.
Poor man's dinner ideas
Those were two of our favorite poor man’s meals. They are so delicious, cheap, and easy to make. Let me know if you have any great poor man's dinner ideas with ground beef or other meal ideas you’d like to share.
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I use your basic "stew" recipe in 2 ways!! 1. I serve it as stew (though I usually add more veggies - celery, onion, garlic, maybe a sweet potato...). 2. I add water and appropriate beef bouillon powder to the leftover stew, bulk it out with a few more vegetables (whatever's starting to wilt in the fridge: a handful of spinach, a tomato, etc. Or 1/4 c. of barley? You get the idea!) and, quick as a wink, I've got an entire 3rd meal out of it, ALSO including leftovers! And in our Wisconsin winters, both stew and soup are always welcome on the table!!! Great post!! Aldi is a Godsend, isn't it??? ~Chrissie
As a child we had a dish also call "Poor Man Dinner" we used Macaroni mix with crush tomatoes (you can buy)
cook macaroni-
cook 3 strips of bacon, in the fat, soften chopped onions, then put in canned crush tomatoes and 1Tsp sugar ( cut acid) mix macaroni tomato mixture together in a dish, the cook bacon put over the top of macaroni mixture and put into oven at 350 covered with foil for 30 min. Discard the bacon after cooking. Serve with cornbread or biscuits. Note: This do not have to be cooked in oven, just keep in a pot. Don't over cook pasta.