I love Taco Soup. I have been known to eat it for 4 days in a row – sometimes for lunch and dinner. Plus, my kids love it. You eat it with chips – what’s not to love? I’ll come back to Taco Soup in a minute.
So I’ve been challenging myself with our grocery budget, I’ve been evaluating and re-evaluating what we spend on groceries. I’ve been pondering what I can tweak with my recipes to make them less expensive while trying not to sacrifice nutrition (or taste). I have come to discover it’s a delicate balance. I have an outrageous goal of only spending $400/month on our groceries – food only. I’ve been able to keep it for two months now and love the challenge.
Before I go further, I don’t buy organic so that explains some of it. But I do try and buy as fresh as possible and non-processed foods. I do menu plan and that helps my budget and sanity a ton. I love it when John looks at his iPhone at work and is able know that we are having spaghetti tonight. I love it more when people think he’s nuts that his iPhone told him what’s for dinner. And I especially love it when they think I’m a super wife – if they only knew how easy it was to menu plan (that’s another post).
Back to Taco Soup. This is certainly not the best recipe to show off how I “always try to buy fresh”, I know, but I’m making it tomorrow night. Here’s the recipe, the cost, and, ideas of how I may improve the cost.
1 lb. ground beef $2.97 (diet lean 93/7)
3-16 oz. cans stewed tomatoes $1.80
1-16 oz. can pinto beans $.59
1-16 oz. can kidney beans $.59
1-12 oz. can Mexican corn $1.27
1-4 oz. can diced green chilies $1.20
1 pkg. dry ranch dressing $1.25
1 pkg. taco seasoning $1.00
1 can water
1 pkg. finely shredded Mexican cheese $2.00
————–
total: $12.67 or $1.58/serving—–BTW pretty cheap in my book
1. Brown ground beef,
2. Add all remaining ingredients into pot. Do NOT drain anything.
3. Heat to boil, then keep on low heat or transfer to crock-pot.
4. Sprinkle with cheese upon serving.
* Can also be made vegetarian or substitute with chicken.
So that doesn’t include chips b/c I didn’t buy any and have no idea how much they cost. And I know there are other ways to make Taco Soup – this is just the recipe I like.
Here are some ideas for cost savings for next time.
1) Find a less expensive recipe for Taco Soup.
2) Switch from canned kidney beans to dry kidney beans. I wouldn’t have to deal with any additives put in the canned variety. It does take more time/forethought though because I’d have to soak them the night before, And I would have to remember to add water to the recipe b/c it calls for all of the liquid in the can.
3) The Mexicorn is really just corn with green and red pepper, sugar and water. So I could buy a can of regular corn (.50) and cut up the peppers – there is such a small amount I don’t think it would add up to a quarter. So that would be a .52 cent savings. Worth it- I don’t know.
4) For the taco seasoning I always buy that in bulk because we use it all the time – so I’m already doing that.
5) Make it vegetarian.
Alright, I’m done and hungry. I’ll let you know if I end up trying it.
October 10th, 2008 at 6:45 am
Oooo, we always by the can of tomatoes with the chilis already in it. At our grocery store, that’s cheaper than buying them separate. And, making your own tortilla chips is more work, but cheaper, and I find that you eat less, which is good since they aren’t the highest source of nutrition. I bet your kids would have fun making their own chips, and you can sprinkle them with different spices if you want something different.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Annie – so smart b/c the chilis are actually kind of expensive, I’ll look for the combo the next time I’m at the store. I use chilis for so much too, I’d love to look into ways to grow/can my own..in all my free time right?
Do you just bake fresh tortillas I’m assuming? If so, that wouldn’t be too hard I think and you’re right the kids would love it. Great idea!
October 12th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
I usually use the slightly old tortillas. They keep forever, but if I opened the package a while ago, they aren’t the freshest… Anyway, you can bake them plain, but if you want them a litlte crisper or want to add seasoning, you just spray them lightly with cooking spray. Then you can cut them with a pizza cutter, if you’re just doing a few, or stack them up and cut through the whole stack with a knife. Then, just put them in the oven, on 350 I think, and back them until they are goldenish, and crisp.
The other thing that is really good is to put cinnamon and sugar on them, and serve with fruit salsa. It’s like a healthyish snack, and great to use up older fruit. Just chop it up small and mix it. If you want a little zing, orange marmalade is my fav addition.
October 21st, 2008 at 3:16 pm
So, if you make it vegetarian how would you make up for the lack of flavor from the missing meat? Would it make that much of a differnce. Sounds similar to our chili recipe to which we add squash (which you could pick from your organic garden for free!). We always make these sorts of things in bulk so we can freeze extra portions in our deep freezer which is quicker, easier and cheeper than making it every week!
October 24th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
I have never had it vegetarian. But the person who gave me the recipe originally is, and she would make it for everyone at the office and make hers vegetarian – so I’m assuming its good.
I love freezing things too. Over the last year or so, I’ve been trying to step up my freezing processes. It’s been fun.