Let’s face it, in this slow economic atmosphere, we are all going to have to conserve and preserve the little bit of money we do have. One of the easiest ways to save money is to make our family’s food cost less and feed more. After all, if we have a large family, they all have to eat and if the family is small, then leftovers are just like cash in the bank.

So, let’s take a look back at some of those old family recipes that carried our grandmothers through the Great Depression and through the shortages of the Second World War.

I’ve heard my grandmother talk about how her widowed mother fed six children on a small income from a boarding house in the nineteen-teens. It was a matter of making a small amount of meat and fresh vegetables stretch and stretch again to feed a hungry crowd.

The key was healthy carbohydrates and fiber, although I doubt that Great Grandma Gertie called them carbs and fiber. She probably called them starch and roughage!

Here’s a main dish idea straight from the family recipe book.

Ingredients:

• Gertie’s Beef Stew
• Serves 8 or more.
• 2 lbs of any inexpensive cut of beef (Cut into cubes or buy stew meat. Some fat makes a better dish)
• Flour
• 2 lbs of potatoes Peeled and quartered. (Red, white, anything on sale or in the pantry, combining them is OK.) Great-grandma Gertie’s Starch!
• ½ lb carrots Great-grandma Gertie’s Roughage!
• ¾ lb onion, peeled and quartered
• Two cans of tomatoes. Stewed tomatoes, diced, whole, again whatever is on sale or in your pantry. Not tomato paste.
• Mushrooms can be added as well.
• Seasonings of your choice, but salt and pepper would be enough.

Method:

Place ½ to 1 cup flour in plastic bag, adding your favorite dry seasonings. Shake to mix and then add the meat and 1 lb of the sliced onions to the flour and coat. Brown the floured meat and onions in a heavy pot, with ½ stick of butter, margarine or ¼ cup vegetable oil or olive oil if your meat is very lean. When meat is browned and the onions translucent, add enough water to cover and simmer, covered for 45 minutes. Add canned tomatoes, carrots and rest of the onions and bring the liquid in the pot to a boil. Add potatoes and enough water to cover and allow to simmer until potatoes are fork tender, add canned mushrooms for the last five minutes.

The vegetables in the stew should still be whole, yet tender and the meat should be falling apart.

Serving suggestion: Can be served in bowls with a salad on the side. Another way to stretch this dish….place a slice or two of your favorite sandwich bread in the bottom of each serving bowl. Serve it, Sloppy Joe style, over sliced rolls or with hot biscuits. Other delectable sides include sliced cucumbers and dressing, hot breads, seasoned rice, and vegetables including corn on the cob or lima beans.

This stew refrigerates well and will keep 5 days, covered.

This recipe is the first in a series of food articles designed to help stretch a food budget. Look for other ideas and menus that won’t strain your checkbook.