Bacon Cheeseburger Macaroni & Cheese - a budget friendly meal!
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This easy meal combines the flavors of a bacon cheeseburger with delicious macaroni & cheese - oven to table in less than 30 minutes! One of my favorite budget friendly meals! #RollIntoSavings #CollectiveBias
These past two weeks I've been trying some ideas for quick, easy, and affordable meals to share with you when things get BUSY next month. School is starting, sports and activities are starting, and before you know it you're tempted to just get the kids to a drive through because everyone's cranky and hungry - including you!
I can't tell you how many times I have been in that frame of mind! Some of the meals I've attempted still need some tweaking, but this one - this was amazing right off the bat and I couldn't wait to share it with you!
Now about ground beef... if you've been to the supermarket lately, you don't need me to tell you how crazy ridiculous the price is right now! I'm not even kidding you, I remember a few years ago stocking up when it was $0.99/lb! I don't think we'll be finding that price again anytime soon, unfortunately...
I know for many families, money gets tight around the 1st to the 15th of the month, so I really wanted to limit the meal to under $20. To keep this dinner as affordable as possible, I used some ground beef I already had in the freezer. I find a good sale, when it's $2.50/lb or less, and I stock up the freezer with one-pound packs. You can certainly substitute ground turkey if it's cheaper for you.
The great thing is, all of these Kraft items are currently on Rollback at Walmart! I'm especially loving the price of the BBQ sauce right now, we go through a lot of it around here!
So the moral of the story is, when you are running yourself ragged driving the kids here and there and trying not to pull your hair out, and a double bacon cheeseburger sound SO good to you right now, have these ingredients ready to go at home! My kids seriously went nuts for this dinner - I served it with some fresh watermelon and blueberries for them, and a side salad for me and Paul. No more bad-mood mommy! ;)
Bacon Cheeseburger Macaroni & Cheese makes 5 one-cup servings
1 lb ground beef Velveeta Cheesy Skillet Dinner, Ultimate Cheeseburger Mac 2 cups water (as called for on skillet dinner box) 8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled 1/4 cup Kraft BBQ sauce 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon dried, minced onion 1 cup Velveeta shredded cheese
Brown and drain ground beef. Prepare Velveeta skillet dinner according to directions, adding the 2 cups of water and simmering 10 minutes. Stir in the cheese sauce, bacon (reserve a small amount for topping), BBQ sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and minced onion. Pour into a baking dish and sprinkle with shredded cheese and reserved bacon. Bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Allow casserole to sit for 5 minutes before serving (sauce will thicken more as it stands).
This dinner was met with a chorus of, "Thank you SO much mommy, this tastes SO good!" Love it.
Here are some more of my favorite easy dinner ideas:
BBQ Pepper Steak
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