How I make a Roast stretch!!

So, I am what you call
the "Meanest mom on the block" because unless someone has requested a birthday dinner of roast beef and potatoes and gravy, this meal rarely gets fixed at my house. I know, my kids and hubby are deprived, however, they never seem to mind. That is what makes going to my parents house so fun is my mom usually fixes this kind of meal and so it is a real TREAT for us!
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My frugal mindset can't handle cooking up a roast and having us gorge ourselves full of "Meat and potatoes" and so I am going to share
"How I make a roast stretch"!!

First,
I take a roast and put in my crock pot
before I go to bed and then it cooks all night and day
and by the time it's dinnertime it is just falling off the bones.

The first meal we have with our roast is FAJITAS!!

I saute up 2 onions and 2 bell peppers until they are tender
and also chop up tomatoes.
We then put a small helping of roast on a tortilla,
with a little bit of cheese
and put it in our toaster oven until the cheese is melted.
We then top this with a big pile of sauteed onions/bell peppers
and tomatoes and a little dollop of sour cream.

This is SO yummy!

(I KNOW this isn't the best photo, but it's the best of the photos I took of this!)
The next day
we get leftover roast beef sandwiches for lunch
and if we have left over onions/bell peppers
these go on the sandwiches as well.

I drain off the juice from the roast
and let it sit in the fridge over night
and then the next day I pull off all of the fat on the top of the drippings
and then put the drippings in a snack size bag
in the freezer with bags of the rest of the roast.

This is then ready to FREEZE and pull out for future soups!!
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Here are 2 yummy recipes
to use leftover roast/gravy!

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Vegetable Beef Soup
(great way to use your leftover roast)
In a large pot add a little bit of olive oil
1 chopped onion
1 chopped bell pepper
(any left over roast that you have…I usually add in 1/3 cup of chopped roast)
Cook until onion and pepper are soft

Then add in:
1 large potato diced
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped cabbage
2 cans diced tomatoes (OR 3 or 4 cups diced tomatoes)
6 cups water
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp Basil
¼ tsp Thyme
½ cup barley

Bring to a boil and cook for 1 hour.

Enjoy!

Wonderful served with homemade bread and this tastes better the next day.

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How Frugal is this meal?

roast---.50
onion/bell pepper---.75
potato---.10
celery/carrots---.40
cabbage---.25
2 cans tomatoes---1.58
barley---.26
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Total---$3.84

We fed 4 people 1 dinner
and 4 people 1 lunch

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Minestrone
(pretty much a "vegetarian meal")
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large diced onion
1-2 cloves minced garlic
1 cup sliced carrots
1 tsp basil
1 can Italian tomatoes (undrained)
3 beef bouillon cubes with 6 cups water (OR, pull a bag of leftover "roast drippings" from the freezer and add in enough water to make 6 cups)
2 cups finely chopped cabbage
1 can Great Northern Beans (undrained)
1 cup Spinach (OR, 1 cup chopped zucchini)

Cook onions, carrots, garlic and basil in olive oil for 5 minutes.
Add tomatoes, beef bouillon and cabbage.
Bring soup to boil and cook for 1 hour.
Add beans with liquid and spinach and cook another 20 minutes.

Garnish bowls with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
This tastes even better the 2nd day.
This is my kids favorite and it’s SO easy and healthy!!
Great served with homemade bread!

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How Frugal is this meal?
Onion---.24
garlic---.10
carrots---.25
tomatoes---.79
Beef bouillion---.30
cabbage---.40
canned beans---.59
spinach/zucchini FREE (from our garden)
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Total--$2.67

This meal fed 4 people 1 dinner
and 3 people 1 lunch

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