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A note of Frozen Vegetables! I realized as I was typing this post that I’ve been using a lot of frozen vegetables. Yes, they are not as good as the real deal. So, why use them? Well, cost really. Since we are in the DEAD of winter, fresh produce costs are at their HIGHEST. I do purchase what’s on sale each week, but it doesn’t seem like enough these days. So I’ve resorted to using frozen vegetables. I believe that frozen are better than canned. I also know that you must pay careful attention to the frozen veggies that you’re buying. Read the label. They might be loaded with butter sauce and preservatives. The BEST kind to buy are those with 1 ingredient. The vegetable itself!
So the vegetable heirarchy goes something like this…Fresh, Frozen with no preservatives/additives/sauces, and Canned with no sodium and preservatives! My goal: To stay as high up on the heirarchy as the budget will allow!
Also, there’s a NEW “E-coupon” Policy that you can read about here. We are no longer allowed to use a paper coupon with an “e-coupon”. I will stop this practice and stop promoting it here in my grocery store posts.
Ingredients
3/4 lb ground beef ($1.12)
3/4 lb ground beef ($1.12)
1 cup carrots, julienned ($.50)
1 15 oz can crushed or diced tomatoes, with juices ($.45)
1/2 cup water or beef broth
1 tsp paprika ($.10)
1/4 tsp ground cloves ($.05)
1 tsp brown sugar or honey ($.05)
2 Tbsp flour ($.05) I used rice flour to keep it GFCFSF.
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sour cream (Free!) On sale for $1 and used $1 coupon! I used rice milk to keep it GFCFSF.
1 lb. pasta or rice pasta ($.99-$1.50)
1 cup frozen organic corn ($.75)
Directions
1. In skillet, brown and drain ground beef.
1. In skillet, brown and drain ground beef.
2. In large saucepan, place beef, water or broth, carrots and canned tomatoes. Cover with paprika, cloves, salt/pepper and brown sugar/honey. Bring to a boil.
3. In small bowl, whisk flour and 1/4 cup water. It will form a thin paste. Add the paste into the beef mixture. Stir well. Reduce heat. Simmer until carrots are cooked through. Add sour cream or milk and heat through. Let simmer to allow excess water to boil off if necessary.
4. Cook pasta or rice pasta according to package instructions.
5. Cook frozen vegetables according to package instructions.
6. Serve goulash beef over or mixed in with pasta with side of favorite veggie!
Cost $4.06
Print this Recipe
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{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Yummy goulasch!!
I haven’t made my mom’s in a while. I will have to make some next week.
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I love goulash!
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We had goulash at my moms this weekend, haha!
BTW, we use a lot of frozen vegetables in the winter. Living in The Frozen North, it would only be fitting, haha!
Plus, the fresh veggies in our stores now, have been picked well before they were ripe and shipped 1/2 way across our country. It all depends on how you look at it.
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I just found you and I love your blog! I will be looking at more of your blog as soon as I leave this comment. We love goulash – thanks so much for sharing this
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I cheat when making goulash, LOL! I do hamburger, a jar of spaghetti sauce, a can of corn, and serve it over rice. Super quick, easy, and cheap!
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I had read Andrea’s post on the e-coupons and was bummed since I was really only starting to use both. Now that I know we’re not supposed to do it, I won’t. Thank you for sharing.
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Hi Erin,
I actually wanted to post a quick comment about frozen vegetables–did you know that actually they can be “fresher” than fresh vegetables? Usually they are picked right off the vine/stalk, cleaned, and quick-frozen in a matter of hours compared to the ones that are packaged for fresh delivery and may take days to get your location.
(Yes local growing is the exception but there isn’t too much of that going on in the winter!)
And frozen veggies still have plenty of nutrients in them as well!
Thanks!
Nicole @ http://friedelephant.blogspot.com/
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Looks excellent!!!
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My husband loves this, thanks for the recipe!
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Hi, thanks for posting these great recipes. We are new to GFCF and this helps! Can you tell me where you get the rice pasta so cheap, though? Thanks!
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I am so excited to have found your blog today! I have been praying that the Lord would lead me to some opportunity to earn some extra cash for our household! I think this may be my answer! I am excited to try this awesome plan out in our home!
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I think frozen veggies are the way to go–especially when they go on sale and you can stock up on things like chopped onions and bell peppers. What a time saver and the nutritional quality is the same or better than fresh produce in the winter….
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Looks yummy! Does the rice milk change the flavor a lot or is it not that noticeable? Thanks!
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When you say you use rice milk instead of sour cream, do you add lemon or vinegar to get the sour or acidic flavor and do you add any thickener to it or reduce the amount since rice milk is so thin?
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This was great! My family is on a strict dairy free Casein Free diet. A friend found your website and sent me to it. This recipe is the first I tried. Not quite enough for my family of five – next time I will double it and my oldest can take it to school.
Thanks for the recipe.
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Erin Reply:
May 14th, 2009 at 6:01 am
Yes, larger family or family with older kids certainly need to add to the recipes
Erin
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I posted my goulash recipe in my blog. It is cheap (can’t estimate it’s dollar value, but I didn’t use any costly ingredients). Check it here and leave your comments.
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You must be using the fattiest ground beef available, which is not healthy. I only use 93% lean ground beef, and it’s never that cheap. I’ve lived in several parts of the country so it’s not a regional thing.
Ground beef with a higher fat content is actually less economical than leaner beef because there is more waste.
It would be great if you could post nutritional information for your recipes. With the high rates of obesity in this country, this is very important. You can be frugal and healthy if you use the right ingredients.
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This must be a U.S. receipe. Haven’t seen beef at that price for many a long year here in Canada. Isn’t possible to make this meal for $5.00 where I live. I envy you.
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