Monday, April 2, 2012

Budget Lunches - Pint Jar Meals

So I've seen these meals going around called Pint Jar Meals on Pinterest, I'm intrigued because frankly when you wake up in the morning who wants to bag a lunch of the same peanut butter and jam sandwich, and Hot Pockets - while great - get old and still aren't the cheapest option.

So I decided to test some of the Pint Jar Meals on my hubby this weekend.  While I made dinner tonight I "beefed it up" and knocked out 5 jars (enough to get him through the rest of the week).  In truth it really wasn't much more strenuous then making a good meal, and took almost the same amount of time.  If my husband likes them and they heat well / are as convenient as I hope, I'll attempt to make them every Monday.

I made 3 classics: Shepherd's Pie, Spaghetti, and Enchiladas. Which made 5 jars because we ate the spaghetti for dinner tonight.

I started by browning up 2 pounds of meat (roughly 1 for our dinner and roughly 1 for his lunches).  I used Elk and Hamburger because we like the flavor of Elk but I want to stretch it out.  You can use any sort of ground meat you like (turkey, beef, pork, venison, etc.)


I added some "always" seasonings to my meat: salt, pepper, garlic powder and dried onion flakes or onion powder.  It is rare that I'll do a meal without at least a touch of each of these five, they're our Go-Tos, and add flavor without a lot of added bad stuff.  The salt is the only real one you want to watch out for.

I divvied it up into 3 pans - one for each recipe, my spaghetti pan got the majority because that was dinner tonight.

Then I added my sauce and basic seasonings to each pan.

To my spaghetti pan a 6 oz can of Tomato Paste and a jar of home-canned tomatoes. (Or diced tomatoes from a jar is good, too.)  About a tablespoon of brown sugar, a generous shake or two of Italian seasoning, (oregano, basil, rosemary and thyme) usually a bit more salt and a pepper go in my "basic spaghetti" seasonings.



To my shepherd's pie pan a can of cream of mushroom soup, about 2 T of sour cream (more or less to taste) and a blurp (a little less than 1/4 c.) of milk.  For a bit of added flavor add some Worcestershire and some liquid smoke.  Usually I'll add extra garlic powder and onion powder.  I have been known to throw a dusting of sage, thyme, oregano, rosemary, or cumin, but then I like to spice things up differently most of the time depending on my mood - experiment!  


To my enchilada pan a can of medium enchilada sauce, and about half a packet of taco seasoning.  If it isn't "enough" I'll add a few red pepper flakes (Sparingly its spicy!) and cumin.


Mix each of the pans and let the sauce come together a few minutes.  Taste it and see if it needs anything, tweak as needed.


Add your veggies.  Here is where you can get creative, add what you like.  All three can take mushrooms, diced tomatoes, and onions or green onions.  Shepherd's pie can have green beans, enchilada's can have corn, spaghetti I've heard is great with some diced zucchini.  The point is sneak in some veggies when your family or hubby isn't looking.  Since my whole family likes mushrooms, especially Scottie-who these are for, I did a large slice on them and tossed them in with the enchiladas and shepherd's pie (we ran out before I could put them in the spaghetti!)


Let the veggies break down and your sauces come together stirring often.

Do your starch (if it requires doing!) I boiled a thing of water and did my noodles, then while we were eating I boiled my potatoes.



Mash your potatoes (I did 3 small-medium russets and they topped 2 pint jars perfectly).  I like to add another blurp of milk (remember a little less than 1/4 c.) and dollop of sour cream.  Sometimes I'll go the whole nine yards and dice and saute up a few cloves of garlic to go in it.



Do your finishing work then put your jars together.  Remember the sturdier stuff goes on the bottom, stuff that will get soggy or crushed goes on the top.


Enchilada meat sauce with diced cheese on top and 3 folded tortillas in a ziplock bag.
Spaghetti meat sauce on the bottom noodles on the top.  (I would have preferred to have more meat sauce on the bottom but we ate more than I'd thought during dinner! hehe.)  If I had bread or rolls I would have made garlic bread and stuck it on top in a ziplock.  

Shepherd's Pie - I put a slice of cheese on the top to melt when he heats it. 

So like I said, these are an experiment for us, and I have no way of knowing yet if they worked or not - but I will be sure to give everyone my husband's review of them at the end of the day.  (Including whether or not it warmed quickly or if he spent half his lunch stirring and dumping out on plates.)

Have you ever done Pint Jar Meals?  These seem like a great idea for the working adult, or for a single adult.  I've heard they freeze well too, we have a pint jar in the freezer now with Scott's "famous" chili.  If it works then I'll let you know!  Feel free to let me know what works for you in the comments below!

5 comments:

  1. How do you heat them since the lid isn't microwaveable? Just take it off and cover it with a paper towel or something? Neat idea. I love Pinterest!

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  2. Honestly, that's one of the things my hubby will be experimenting with this week hehe. The one I saw was a shepherd's pie, that is why I included it. She said to remove the lid and "nuke" it - so I assumed, but potatoes are notorious for not microwaving without lots of stirring. Scott will be giving me his thoughts (and taking a plate should he need to dump it out and heat it that way.

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  3. Awesome idea, especially now that I will be going back to work. Thank you!

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  4. You're welcome! Let me know how they work for you!

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  5. I promised I'd post up when Scottie tried one - and he took the enchilada's to work with him yesterday. He said he poured them in his "always at work" mug which he uses for heating things and nuked it for a few minutes because he didn't want to pull the jar from the fridge and stick it right into the microwave for fear of shattering. He said he enjoyed them and got several comments on how good it smelled and people asking if he'd share. :)

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