Time to eat chili!

Inviting people over for dinner can be a daunting task. I’ve never been much of a chef, but wanted to impress some of my close friends with something good and fresh. Luckily, while doing my usual stumbles, I came across the award winning stock chili recipe to feed a crowd under $25 on Gen X Finances blog.  Perfect!

Jeremy’s recipe was exactly what the doctor ordered. First, it’s a recipe that has steak in it, so I knew I couldn’t go wrong. Secondly, he had step by step instructions, and in case that wasn’t enough, he had pictorial instructions to boot. The recipe was idiot proof -so that means I had a fighting chance. The first thing I wanted to see if it was really under $25. In the article, Jeremy listed the price of each ingredient and cost. Here’s what my cost came to be.  (My cost is in parentheses)

Cost of Steak Chili Recipe Ingredients

All the chili ingredients

• 2 x 28 oz. Cans of Crushed Tomatoes – 2 x $1.59 = $3.18   (2 x $1.50)
• 28 oz. Can of Brooks Chili Beans – $1.89                            (2 15 oz can @ 1.09)
• Green Bell Pepper – $0.69                                                                 ($0.66)
• Poblano Pepper – 0.26 lb @ $2.49/lb = $0.65          (.19lb @ 3.49 = 0.66)
• Garlic – 0.10 lb @ $2.99/lb = $0.30                                    (.15 @ 2.69 = .40)
• Sweet Onion – 1.21 lb @ $0.88/lb = $1.06                 (1.39 lb @ 1.99 = 2.77)
• 1 lb Roll of Bob Evans Zesty Hot Sausage = $2.50                   ($3.19)
• Round Steak – 2.96 lb @ $3.48/lb = $10.30                             ($10.52)
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Tabasco Sauce
• Liquid Smoke                                                                                              ($1.49)
• Chili Powder
• Ground Cayenne Pepper
• Ground Coriander
• Salt and Pepper
• Cumin

Like Jeremy, I already had all the spices so that was not part of the cost.  If you don’t, that will add on a bit to the total.  Also, I didn’t have the Liquid Smoke, so that added a bit.  Overall, my cost was $25.24; just a hair over the $25 bench mark.  Still not a bad sum to feed a small crowd.  I was attempting to feed 7 people.  Even after a round of seconds, we had plenty of leftovers for the days to come. Trust me, that is a good thing!

Preparation

Cooking the Chili

All in all, the recipe was easy to follow, and it came out great. As stated earlier, I’m not much of a chef, but this was relatively easy for me.  Look above: I’m cooking while I’m on my Blackberry.  Now that takes skill.

One piece of advice: When your mixing the ingredients the night before, consider wearing gloves.  The Liquid Smoke leaves a lasting impression on your hands.  After countless washes with my wife’s fruitful hand soap, the smell still lingered.  Just a little FYI.

For more step by step directions, be sure to visit Gen X Finance’s site.  In addition to great steak chili recipe’s, he has tons of good personal finance and investing information.

Update

I enjoyed the chili so much that I made it again for Christmas Eve dinner so that the in-laws could give it a try.  I tweaked the ingredients a bit and only used 1lb of round steak and 3lbs of hamburger.   I also added a small can of tomato sauce to make it a bit more soupy.  Outcome:  Fabulous! Even better than my first attempt.  The beauty of the recipe is that you can tweak it to your standards.  Go out and by the ingredients today!  The cold weather is coming. Doesn’t chili sound good?

Want some more frugal cooking ideas?  Check out:

• Bible Money Matters: Frugal Cooking
• Million Dollar Journey: Frugal Protein Packed Chili Recipe

Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC