Name: Poor Man's Stew
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 Lb or 500 g ground meat of your choice, or for vegetarians, ground soya meat; 1 large chopped onion; 1 Clove garlic crushed / chopped; 1/2 lb or 300 g mushrooms chopped; 2 large carrots, peeled & chopped in to bite size pieces; 1 1/3 cups or 200 g frozen peas or 2 Zucchini / Courgettes, cut in to bite sized pieces; 3 - 4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut in to bite size pieces; 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil; 3 heaped Tsp Cornstarch mixed with 1 cup cold water, mix well; 1 Tsp dried Thyme; 2 Bay Leaves; 1 Tsp Worcestershire Sauce or Balsamic Vinegar; 1 Pint Vegetable or Beef Broth; Salt and Pepper; Bread and Butter to serve

Poor Man's Stew, A quick and easy dinner recipe made from scratch and full of great flavor This is such a delicious recipe, and so full of great tasting goodness. The ingredients are very simple and most you will probably have in your store cupboard or freezer.

Poor Man's Stew. A really easy made from scratch recipe, budget friendly. Packed full of flavor and a great family dinner.

I've called this Poor Man's Stew because it is so budget friendly and inexpensive to make. Of course with a normal stew you would likely use a cut of beef or pork. However, that can be expensive, especially if you have lots of mouths to feed. So for this recipe, I've actually used half ground pork and half ground beef. You can use any ground meat you like, or ground soya / tofu if you wanted to make this a vegetarian dinner.

For the vegetables, use whatever your family likes the most, and whatever is in season. That way, the vegetables will be at their best and lowest price too. If you wanted to bulk this meal out to make it go further, add extra potatoes and carrots.

This is an easy meal to prepare and so tasty! I serve this for the family on a weeknight because it's quick to make. You can also freeze it, so if you wanted to make up a big pot, you could put it in several containers and simply defrost when you want one and heat through. It's that easy! Although I haven't made this recipe in a slow cooker, but only on a stove top (because it's so quick), you could use your slow cooker. I would suggest 6 hours on Low.

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Serve with some slices of buttered bread. Of course you must dip the bread in the gravy! Everybody loves to do that when I make this meal so make sure you have plenty of bread on hand too!

Poor Man's Stew is really a delicious recipe and great for those who don't have much time to spend in the kitchen, and also for those who are new to cooking, but want to make something straightforward and from scratch. It really is a simple recipe so please enjoy and I am sure it will quickly become a popular go to recipe in your home too!

If you enjoy cooking with ground meat, why not try our Beef and Spinach Pasta Bake (so delicious!) or Cottage Pie which has some lovely flavors, or our Million Dollar Spaghetti or our tasty Pasta Bake recipes.

So let's see how we make our Poor Man's Stew

Table of Contents 📋 hide

1) Ingredients you'll need

6) Delicious Recipes Using Ground Meat

Ingredients you'll need

Ground meat - of your choice such as beef, turkey, lamb, or for vegetarians, ground soya meat
Onion
Garlic - crushed / chopped
Mushrooms - chopped
Carrots - peeled & chopped in to bite-size pieces
Frozen peas or Zucchini / Courgettes - cut in to bite-sized pieces
Potatoes - peeled and cut in to bite-size pieces

The Gravy

Cornstarch
Thyme - fresh or dried
Bay Leaves
Worcestershire Sauce or Balsamic Vinegar
Vegetable or Beef Broth
Salt & Pepper

See the recipe card below for quantities.

Instructions

1. Prepare the vegetables, peel and slice the carrots, potatoes and any other vegetables you choose.

2. Chop the onion and add to a large pan with a tablespoon of olive oil. Under a medium heat, allow the onions to soften, then add the garlic and ground meat. Stir until evenly browned.
Add the remaining ingredients except for the liquid cornstarch and broth. Combine everything in a pan and allow to simmer with the lid on for 5 minutes.

3. Add the broth and Cornstarch. Stir well then return the lid and allow to simmer for 35 minutes.
*After this time, if you want more gravy in the pan, just add a little hot water until it's to your liking. Bring everything back to the boil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Serve with some slices of buttered bread and enjoy!

We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of our post. Did you make any changes or add some other goodies? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!

Recipe Card

Poor Man's Stew

Yield: 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Poor Man's Stew, A quick and easy dinner recipe made from scratch and full of great flavor

Ingredients

1 Lb or 500 g ground meat of your choice, or for vegetarians, ground soya meat
1 large chopped onion
1 Clove garlic crushed / chopped
½ lb or 300 g mushrooms chopped
2 large carrots, peeled & chopped in to bite size pieces
1 ⅓ cups or 200 g frozen peas or 2 Zucchini / Courgettes, cut in to bite sized pieces
3 - 4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut in to bite size pieces
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

The flavours

3 heaped Tsp Cornstarch mixed with 1 cup cold water, mix well
1 Tsp dried Thyme
2 Bay Leaves
1 Tsp Worcestershire Sauce or Balsamic Vinegar
1 Pint Vegetable or Beef Broth
Salt and Pepper
Bread and Butter to serve

Instructions

Prepare the vegetables, peel and slice the carrots, potatoes and any other vegetables you choose.
Chop the onion and add to a large pan with a tablespoon of olive oil. Under a medium heat, allow the onions to soften, then add the garlic and ground meat. Stir until evenly browned.
Add the remaining ingredients except for the liquid cornstarch and broth. Combine everything in a pan and allow to simmer with the lid on for 5 minutes.
Add the broth and Cornstarch. Stir well then return the lid and allow to simmer for 35 minutes.
*After this time, if you want more gravy in the pan, just add a little hot water until it's to your liking. Bring everything back to the boil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with some slices of buttered bread and enjoy!

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 523Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 97mgSodium: 398mgCarbohydrates: 46gFiber: 9gSugar: 9gProtein: 37g

Nutrition information isn’t always accurate