Fifty-Dollar Trail Week Skillet
A budget grocery-list dinner rebuilt as one pot of beef, potato, and tomato that costs about a dollar a serving.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 131
- protein
- 34 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 20 min
- water
- 600 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Bikepacking
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Ground beef, cooked and dehydrated | 4 oz dry | from 1 lb raw 85/15, rinsed with hot water before drying |
|---|---|---|
| Instant mashed potato flakes | 1 cup | |
| Tomato powder | 3 tbsp | or 1/3 cup crushed tomatoes dried to leather and ground |
| Dried onion | 2 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Dried bell pepper and carrot | 1/3 cup | |
| Beef bouillon | 1 cube | |
| Shelf-stable cheddar | 2 oz | waxed or canned; powdered cheddar works in heat |
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | |
| Salt, pepper, dried oregano | to taste |
Method
- Pour 600 ml water into the pot with the beef, tomato powder, onion, peppers, carrot, garlic, and bouillon. Let it sit ten minutes off the stove.
- Bring it to a boil, then hold a low simmer for eight minutes. The beef needs the full time to come back.
- Pull it off the heat and rain in the potato flakes, stirring as you go. Stop when a spoon stands up in it.
- Stir in the oil and the cheese. Cover for two minutes, then season and eat.
The source was a week of cheap supermarket dinners for a family of four: ground beef, potatoes, tomatoes, cheese, buying one store’s loss leaders. Most of that list is water and refrigeration, which is the wrong shape for a pack. What survives the conversion is the cost logic and the flavor base, so this is one skillet dinner built from the cheapest shelf-stable versions of the same four things.
Dehydrating the beef at home is the only real work, and it is what keeps the protein honest at 34 grams. Rinse the cooked crumbles with hot water before drying or the fat goes rancid in a week. The potato flakes go in last and off the heat: they absorb whatever liquid is left and turn a thin tomato broth into something that stays on a spoon. Oil and cheese carry the calories, since lean dried beef brings almost none.
Packing
Everything dry except the cheese and oil goes in one bag, labeled with the water amount. Cheese in its own bag, oil in a leakproof bottle inside a second bag.
Variations
- Swap the beef for a foil packet of chicken or a half cup of TVP if you would rather not run a dehydrator.
- Skip the potato flakes and serve it over instant rice for a longer cook and a thinner sauce.
- Double the tomato powder and drop the potatoes to make it a soup for cold nights.
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/50-aldi-meal-plan