Venison Stew with Cheese and Buns, Pickles and Caramel Brownies for About .45 a Serving

Sometimes I feel kind of bad making blog posts about these extremely frugal meals because I know not everyone has the resources I have. I hope though, that it can inspire frugal meals that you can do within your own resources. 

Tonight I made Venison Stew with buns, pickles and caramel brownies for about .45 a serving! This is not unusual for me because of the way we choose to live and the resources around me. 

First of all, a couple of nights ago I made a 3 lb venison roast. We harvest and butcher our own venison, so the venison cost was negligible. With this roast, I made potatoes that we harvest from a field in this area after they get done harvesting. We get enough for all winter every year and so I have more potatoes than I can use! In addition, my Dad gave me some garden carrots that I also made in this roast. The only things I paid for were the minced garlic and the green onion. So, we ate that for two meals. There was plenty of roast left, so I decided to make a stew with it. 

With the roast, I served these marked down buns from Wal-Mart. I heated them up and slathered butter on them and heated them some more until the butter looked good and slightly bubbly. The buns were .09 a serving.

In this stew, besides the venison, potatoes and carrots, which I paid nothing for, I added some fiddleheads that I foraged last spring. I also added some garlic, barley, wild rice, dried mushrooms, celery flakes and a few other spices which I guess to have added up to make the stew about .06 a serving. There are about 10 servings so we ate well tonight and will also eat well tomorrow.

 I bought shredded cheese on ad match at Wal-mart for .99 for 8 oz. This made each serving of cheese .12.

 I served the stew and buns with garden pickles and the cost of those is negligible.

For dessert, I made caramel brownies. I paid .99 for the box of brownies on sale and when I added up the rest of the ingredients and added homemade caramel topping, the cost per serving for the brownies is about .17 a serving. 

I also have a bit of roast left which will be enough to make roast beef sandwiches for about two days of eating plus scraps for the cat, who loves venison scraps, especially in the winter!

Any situation we find ourselves in, we can be creative with our resources. It's fun and it saves $$$!

Happy Savings! 

A Crock-pot in the Summer?

Yesterday I made a roast in the crock-pot. It was pretty warm outside and I didn't want to heat up the house, so I put the crock-pot in the garage. I would have put it on the back porch but it was raining off and on and I didn't want to have to worry about it in the rain.

Crock-pots are great for saving time and an easy meal. They are great if you are working and want dinner ready when you walk in the door. But in the summer, it doesn't make much sense to heat up your house with a crock-pot and then run the air-conditioner to cool it down. Covered porches are nice for crock-pots too. All the heat from a crock-pot can be outside (or in the garage) in the summer, unlike cooking on the stove or in the oven.

This meal I made was practically free. It is a venison roast. My husband deer-hunts and then we butcher the meat ourselves and freeze it. Then, the red potatoes (you can't really see them in the picture as they are down in the bottom of the crock-pot) were fresh from the garden. The celery, carrots and mushrooms I bought at the store. I got the mushrooms for .99 and used about half of them in other things so .50 for the mushrooms and then maybe .25 for the carrots and celery. So this meal cost about .75 in materials and we will get two meals out of it for four people. I also served fresh garden cucumber with it.

Some men spend a boat-load of money on hunting gear. Fortunately, my husband is not one of them. "Free" venison can get very expensive if a person spends a ton of money on hunting gear. Then a person has to pay for the license, the freezer, the freezer wrapping etc., so it is a bit more than .75. However, if I were buying beef, I would also get that on sale in bulk and put that in the freezer wrapped as well. I wish I could find an old video I saw once. It is about a hunter saying "Only the best for my family!" and he is talking about venison. After his ATV and hunting gear, he was spending a huge sum per pound on venison so....only the best! It was pretty funny, but I was unable to find it.

So crock-pots can be great for summer cooking....in the garage or outside and save time and effort as well.