I know, I know, I've already made a chili post. But this one is different. You see, I recently lost my job and had to pull some things together to make a meal for my family. In my experience, when you're low on cash and need to feed people for a few days, you put lots of stuff in a pot and everyone gets a bowl or two every day until it's gone. So with all that said, behold: my poor man's chili.
First, we have almost a pound of ground beef. Brown it in a big pot. You want to make sure that it's completely cooked, especially if you get el cheapo meat like I did. This is the part of cooking that will actually cook the meat, and therefore will kill anything nasty that may be growing in it. We also bought a few onions that were on sale, so I chopped one up and threw it in once the meat had browned.
After the meat and bacteria are thoroughly killed and browned, and the onions have cooked clear, add canned tomatoes and canned chili beans. We had a few cans of beans left in the cabinet (because I love to throw together burritos when I need something fast), so I tossed in a big can and a small can.
Then stir and boil for about fifteen minutes.
We didn't have enough volume at this point, so I added an old can of Manwich stuff. This is like sweet tomato puree, so it changed the whole pot in one fell swoop.
I didn't like the smell. It took the onion punch and left it smelling like a cookie or something. So sweet. But it did make the volume and the consistency I was after.
So the only thing left to do was spice it up to try to mask the sugar in the Manwich additive. Chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, ground cayenne, whole red pepper flake, and cumin were tossed in. Salt and pepper also made things smell less like a bakery and more like a tex mex place.
After about an hour of simmering, I took a look at a sample spoonful of the chili. Notice that all the major groups are represented: meat, tomato, onion, and bean. We're set.
To make things go even further, I boiled up some medium grain white rice and splurged with some shredded colby cheese (happened to be on sale at the local grocer).
In the quick figuring of total cost, I think we spent around ten dollars for this meal, and if we happen to get twenty bowls out of it, well, that's a pretty good way of ensuring that everyone gets protein, fat, veg, and grain. Not too shabby if you're on a serious budget.
Oh, by the way, I didn't spice things up nearly enough for my tastes, so my bowl got some sriracha and frank's hot sauce treatment, but my daughter ate all hers without a complaint. Hot sauce is critical sometimes if you need to make something taste... well, not like itself. Go get a bottle of something and get used to it. It'll probably change everything to taste like the sauce, but sometimes that's better if you want to have the ability to eat everything in your cupboard.
