05/27/2024
When I don't want to spend money on dinner, I play a game called "Pantry, Freezer, Fridge". I scope out the deep freeze, the cupboards, the depths of the back fridge, dig deep, and hope I come up with some sort of game plan. Sometimes it doesn't work, but MOST of the time, it does.
Tonight, I spent a grand total of $0 on a meal that could feed a family of 4 easily. I was really proud of myself!
👍
Here was what I came up with:
First of all, I was really sick of looking at this large jar of sauerkraut in my pantry. It's been mocking me. So I wanted to theme the meal around that.
In the freezer I found a package of frozen brats! Score. I see we're now headed in a German direction. I had some rices and pastas, but that didn't seem like a good choice. And then, buried in the depths of the deep freeze, I discovered a package of frozen pierogies! They were even the plain potato kind, which is basically a blank canvas. Perfect! A protein, a vegetable, a carb. I was moving in a good direction.
Immediately I thought to make a casserole or a bake of some sort. So I sprayed a 9x13 with Pam, and laid down the frozen pierogies in a single layer. I cracked the jar of sauerkraut open, drained it, and spread it out on top of the pierogies. But then...
I needed something to tie it all together. A...sauce of sorts, if you will. I always have canned soup on-hand, so I grabbed a can of cream of mushroom. I thinned it with a little milk, and added some garlic and onion powder. But I still needed something to "jazz" it up.
Back in the pantry, behind my rice and lentils, I spied an unopened bag of French-fried onions. 🤯
Amazing little flavor bombs. The quintessential Midwestern casserole topper. So, over the sauerkraut went my soup mixture (made even better with a random cup-ish of shredded mozzarella from the fridge), the bag of fried onions, and then I laid the frozen brats on top. I added a few butter dots on top of the brats for good measure.
With the oven pre-heated to 375, I said a quick prayer and shoved the monstrosity in. I thought 45 minutes seemed like an appropriate timing for many frozen elements. In total, it needed a bit more to get color, closer to 55. If your items were all thawed, I'd say 30-35 at most.
The result was really tasty! Everything browned up nicely, the flavors all melded together, it was a bit sour, a bit creamy, a bit salty. It hit all the notes of comforting casserole with a German twist!
And I didn't spend a dime! So before you order more takeout, play "pantry, freezer, fridge". You'll be surprised with what you can find when you're motivated to not spend your hard-earned cash 💵!
(Topped ours with diced onion, cus we German)
