Wok's For Dinner: Hamburger Steak (with meal price!)

You asked for it, and here I am providing it--a recipe plus the bargain meal price! Something I've been wanting to do for a very, very long time. I don't very often have a good memory of what I pay for my purchases, plus I forget to even price out the ones that I do remember when I post a recipe. But I've been meaning to do better. And in my recent Blogoversary Giveaway, one of the readers commented that she'd like to see the total cost of a meal to help her find new recipes that fit into her budget. I read her comment and thought, "Duh, DeAna, weren't you going to do that, like, forever ago??" Thank you for the reminder, Mari!

So my plan is to price out at least one meal a week, perhaps more if I can remember what I paid for something (again, can't always rely on my Mommy Brain, but I'm going to give it a try!). I've actually gone to such lengths as using a marker and writing what I've paid for my groceries right on the container. This might actually help me budget out my grocery spending, too--nice!

This particular recipe was referred to me several months ago by one of my readers (Hi Heather!). The last time I made it, I opted out of making any gravy. But this time, I decided to make the gravy after all and see how it tasted. Yummy, of course (seriously, who doesn't like gravy? ok, so my husband is not a big gravy fan, lol!). For the kids, I melted a little shredded cheese on top; hubs had just the onions and mushrooms. And I indulged in warm, melt-in-your-mouth brown gravy. :)

Hamburger Steak With Sweet Onion-Mushroom Gravy (serves 4)

Inredients:
2 slices stale bread ($0.10)
1 lb ground beef (on sale $1.38/lb)
1 large egg, lightly beaten ($0.09)
2 garlic cloves, minced ($0.20)
1/2 tsp salt (almost free) there are approximately 312 1/2 tsp in the 26-oz container of salt I got for $0.25...you do the math ;)
1/2 tsp ground pepper ($0.03)
1 medium onion, sliced ($.10)
1 4oz can sliced mushrooms ($0.29)
1 1.2oz envelope brown gravy mix (on sale $0.10)

1 15.5oz can navy beans ($0.50) I was going to make pinto beans but changed my mind)

1 16oz bag frozen Italian pole beans ($1.00)

Total Cost -- $3.79!!!

Directions:
Process bread into a food process until finely chopped. Place crumbs into a large mixing bowl and add ground beef, egg, garlic cloves, salt and pepper. Mix together using your hands until all ingredients are blended well together. Shape ground beef mixture into 4 or 5 patties. Cook in a nonstick skillet over medium heat for about 15 minutes, turning patties over occasionally to ensure even cooking. Remove patties when they are done. Add sliced onion and mushrooms to skillet and saute' several minutes until tender and carmelized. Meanwhile, prepare brown gravy mix according to package directions. Serve hamburger steaks with onions, mushrooms and gravy on top.

If freezing: After cooking the hamburger steaks, onion & mushrooms, I placed them all in a food saver bag, sealed it up and put it in the freezer, then thawed it 24 hours before cooking day. To heat it up, I put everything onto a plate and microwaved it for about 2 minutes, then prepared the gravy.