Monday, February 15, 2010

Dinner Tonight: Taco Salad

Tonight was one of the busiest nights I've had in a really long time.  First, I worked a little bit late trying to make up some time after missing the morning taking my mom to the doctor.  Then, I had to go grocery shopping as I put it off yesterday during a freak snowburst (I didn't want to drive in the white-out conditions and I'm glad, because things like this were happening all around the area). 
After I got home I had to make dinner for tonight and also for tomorrow night's Mardi Gras party.  It was hectic to say the least!  I decided to swap out tonight's scheduled meal for one we were going to have later in the week because I thought that taco salad would take a lot less time to make.  Thankfully, it did!
I browned hamburger and seasoned it with a taco seasoning packet.  The directions on this particular packet (La Tiara I think - it was on sale) were really vague and said to add onion, but I ignored them and just added a little water instead.  Then I just let it hang out (Rachael Ray speak) for about 10 minutes while I gathered the rest of the ingredients.
Hubby just had his with lettuce, cheese and a lot of chips.  I had mine with all of that plus some leftover spicy pinto beans, sour cream and salsa.  It was really tasty and quick and just what I needed since I had so much work to do for my Mardi Gras dinner.


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Estimated cost of meal

Beef: $1.50
Seasoning: $.50
Beans: $.50
Lettuce: $.10 (I got a crazy good deal on a package of Dole lettuce at Hy-Vee - on sale for $.99 less $.75 coupon=$.24 for the whole bag, only used about 1/3 for this recipe)
Chips: $.25 (I bought some Hy-Vee generic chips a few weeks ago for $.99 and we still had some leftover - actually one generic that I think I can live with, especially considering the savings vs. Tostitos)
Cheese: $.15
Sour cream: $.05
Salsa: Free (from winning game here)

Total: $3.05

Former life total:  Dinner @ Taco Bell (I actually love their taco salads): $12

Leaner Life Savings: $8.95 or 75%!!!

1 comment:

Rachel said...

That's a cheap dinner!! I love it when dinners can be made for such a low cost!

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