Tuesday 17 March 2015

Hamburgers At Home

The cheapest takeaway meal I can make is homemade hamburgers and wedges. I make the hamburger patties in bulk and freeze them into lots of four for future quick meals. The rolls are made ahead of time using my wholemeal bread recipe and frozen as well. In Summer we grow our own lettuce and tomatoes so this reduces the cost as well. Here are the ingredients and costs for the most delicious hamburgers.

Patties - Start off with one kilo of regular beef mince ( $5 per kg )
seasonings of pepper, garlic, seasoned bread crumbs ( homemade ), tomato sauce, soy sauce , onion, parsley. I use dried onion and herbs.  The seasonings cost about 5 cents per patty  I use a good shake or squirt of everything and combine it well with my electric mixer.
Use your electric scales to weigh out 80 grams per patty.  The cost per patty with the seasonings is approx 45 cents.


Bread rolls cost 10 cents each to make .

Cheese, lettuce and tomato ( if you grow your own ) the cost is approx 10 cents for the cheese. If you need to buy all these allow about 30 cents.

Tomato sauce or mayo about 5 cents

Homemade wedges - potatoes cost about $2.99 for five kilos.  I use my Nicer Dicer to cut the potatoes into wedges.  I spray them lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with Season All.  Cook for about an hour at 200 degrees Celsius.  For a single serve of wedges with seasoning the cost would be 20 cents.

Total cost for a single hamburger and serve of wedges is $0.90.

If rolls and patties are made and frozen ahead of time, it takes about 15 minutes to make the hamburgers.  Occasionally Darren adds an egg to his hamburger. We have chickens to supply us with eggs so it doesn't cost us anything to add an egg. This meal is filling, , far more filling than what you can buy at the shops.

Next time you have a craving for takeaway, have a go at making your own. It's healthier, cheaper, tastier and far more satisfying to make it yourself.


Homemade hamburger and chips
Homemade wholemeal rolls.
Hamburger and wedges 

16 comments:

  1. Yummo Wendy! This is our favourite "fakeaway" meal at our house. My hubby is naughty though, when he makes our own chips after he has chopped up the potatoes he shallow fries them in oil...considering this is the only time we fry anything I don't feel too guilty. They are delicious. Cheers Donna Z :)

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  2. Oh wow wendy they are great! I have a 5kg bag of pots that will do a great job of making wedges :D I also have frozen patties made a month ago un fortunately no tomatoes or lettuce only cherry tomatoes. Although that long awaited bunnings trip happened today. I bought the snail bait that you mentioned on the cheapskates site I also bought some seedlings of kale lettuce Brussel sprouts peas snow peas and a strawberry plant (still managing to save enough money for next months meal planner shop) and through out the weeks I have been purchasing $1 seed packs of different types of vegetables herbs and plants off eBay and seed sites they work out cheaper then bunnings and also free postage :) can't wait for the end of the week! Many many frugal tasks happening my way Yay!!!

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  3. Hi wendy. Do u freeze the patties uncooked? N how long can u freeze them for? Thanks leah

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    Replies
    1. Yes I freeze them uncooked. Put a bit of cut up cereal packet in between each patty so they can be separated easily. I've had them frozen for up to 10 months.

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  4. Replies
    1. It's a seasoning sprinkle. That's the name on the Hoyts jar. You could use chicken salt too.

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  5. Dear Wendy
    Thank you for this post as I am trying to prepare more meals ahead of time here to make my life easier. Working full time makes the take away temptation is strong. Have you tried freezing the wedges par-cooked ahead of time? We are eating a lot of stir fried dinners as they are so quick and easy especially if I slice the veges in the morning before leaving for work. I have decided next time I do a bulk buy of chicken breast fillets and steak I am thinking of dicing them before freezing.
    Hope you have a great week
    Melissa

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    Replies
    1. I haven't frozen wedges as my freezers are choc a block.

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  6. I love to pre-make burgers but I also like to make a huge batch of sloppy joe's and divide into quart freezer bags for a quick, frugal and tasty meal!
    Thanks for all your great tips Wendy! Rose in Western North Carolina.

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    Replies
    1. Anything premade and frozen helps with meal prep doesn't it ? Great to hear from you Rose.

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  7. Wow, it's fascinating to read all the costings! And I will be pinning this recipe for future use as well. Our primary school canteen isn't currently operating, and I've been brainstorming lists of ideas for cheap meal ideas to possibly get it up and running, even just once a week, offering healthier alternatives to the milkbar food across the road from the school. I love the idea of 'takeaway' that is significantly healthier and would still appeal to kids

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  8. Wonderful post today, I love, love, love hamburgers with all the trimmings. I use to make my own patties and freeze them but somehow got away from that. The ones you buy in the stores are awful, I must start making my own again, thanks for the imspiration! Hugs, Nana

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  9. Hi Wendy, i made these for the family, big hit!!! Yum!! I use the blue wrappers between each patty so they separate easily (thses wrappers i keep from the frozen puff pastry sheets which are in between each pastry sheet). Blessings Maureen

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  10. Your hamburgers look delicious Wendy!

    We love our homemade hamburgers here too! I never knew they were so cheap to make. I like the idea of pre-making the burgers and rolls to freeze. I will try to remember to do that when I buy my next lot of mince.

    xTania

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