Slow Cooker Poor Man’s Stew is made from scratch with ground beef to save money.
Looking for a budget meal this week? I made this Poor Man’s Stew for $6.24 and it feeds 5 people! I put ground beef, russet potatoes, carrots, onions, a garlic clove (not pictured, I had this on hand), tomato paste, water and seasoning in my slow cooker simmered it all day to make this Hearty Poor Man’s Stew.
The inspiration for this meal came from my favorite old movie The Princess Bride. I made a stew similar to the one seen in the movie where Fezzic (Andre the Giant)
If you haven’t seen The Princess Bride, you will still love this budget Poor Man’s Stew. Not only is it cheap, it is very easy to make and really hits the spot. I recommend serving this stew with regular loaf sandwich bread slathered with butter. Enjoy!
How to make Poor Man’s Stew:
You will need these ingredients:
Below is the YouTube video about how to make this Slow Cooker Poor Man’s Stew. You Can follow me on YouTube, here.
Equipment
- Slow Cooker – 5 quart or larger
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground beef browned and drained
- 1.5 lbs potatoes diced large
- 3 carrots sliced
- 1 onion diced
- 1 garlic clove minced (I had this on hand already)
- 6 oz. can tomato paste
- 2 cups water
- 1 tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. pepper
- 1 tsp. onion powder
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
Instructions
- Add the cooked ground beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, and garlic to a 5-quart or larger slow cooker.
- In a small bowl whisk together the tomato paste, water, salt, pepper, onion powder and oregano. Pour this mixture over everything in the slow cooker. Stir.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 7 hours, without opening the lid during the cooking time.
- Serve with buttered sandwich bread. Enjoy!
This is the best post I’ve ever stumbled upon! I love everything about it. The Princess Bride reference especially! One of the (many) reasons I knew my husband was the one was his ability to quote the movie to me at random moments. I’ve always wanted wanted to eat that stew from that moment! Your post just made my day!
Thanks so much. I made this tonight and really enjoyed it. I couldn’t get my act together to do this in my slow cooker, so I did it in my pressure cooker. I just didn’t stir after adding the tomato mix (tomatos scorch under pressure). 13 minutes at high and fast release may have been too much, next time will try 10 minutes. Thanks again – so easy I will teach my 12 year old to prepare this.
Thank you for this easy budget friendly recipe!!! I had everything on hand already and I used ground venison instead of beef (so that was free!!) I cooked my onion with the meat and I seasoned that with seasoned salt and pepper. I added celery in with the carrots and potatoes because I had it. I used ketchup instead of tomato paste and added onion soup mix with that the water and the other seasonings. It’s in the crockpot right now. I am cooking it on high with the hopes that it doesn’t take as long, as I didn’t get it going til later than I wanted to.
I’m very excited to try this!
This looks like an awesome dinner idea–I’m looking to cook it for tonights dinner but do not have 6-7 hours; would you recommend putting the crock pot on high for 4 hours or is there a reason it needs to be on low?
I think it will be fine on high.
I have this in my slow cooker right now and it smells delicious! And as an added bonus, I spent less on mine than you did yours. I buy my ground beef in bulk and it ends up costing a little less than $2 a pound. I buy 10 pound bags of potatoes for $2.50, so the 1.5 pounds of potatoes were about $0.40. $0.88 for a pound of carrots and I used about $0.30 worth. The tomato paste was only $0.60. I had all the seasonings on hand (I just used onion powder instead of an actual onion because my husband hates the texture of onions) so I spent about $3.30! Can’t wait until this is ready.
This is just Scottish “mince” as they call it. Toss the tomato paste and use Bisto instead. Slow cooker is a new twist though. We make it on the stovetop in a pot, and have for decades. Lovely!
Interesting! I’ve never heard of Bisto!
can the leftovers be put into the freezer? if so how long.
thanks
I have not tried, has anyone else?
I’m sure they can. We have frozen soups and stews often and I bring them to work for lunch months later. This type of dish is a staple in our house and we are making this one tonight 🙂
Sandy
This is very similar to a dish that my mother-in-law taught me many years ago that we call hamburger soup. The only difference is we use a jar of spaghetti sauce, and a little bit of water, (in place of the tomato paste), along with a can of corn. I’ve never tried it in the crockpot, though. What a great idea, Sarah! Thanks for making something we love to eat even more simple. Love this!
That all sounds great, I will have to try it that way.
That’s what I call goulash in our house. Really quick, easy & cheap.
cost me $17. I had none of the items.
needs more salt when done. 1 tbl spoon was not enough.
I’m making this right now. Seems like a good basic recipe. I did add a few extra/different things. I used 1 cup beef broth 1 cup water. I added a can of stewed tomatoes and some celery to it. I used Italian seasoning in it too. Can’t wait, it smells good already.
Sweetie you may have inspired by some old movie to make this, but it has been around longer than you have been alive.
Sweetie, you are incredibly rude!
I’m much older than this movie, but thanks for the compliment!
Definitely going to make this. Your recipe is very much like what we made “back in the olden days” at Girl Scout camp. Just think, I now use a slow cooker instead of a coffee can!! Thanks for the recipe and bringing back a memory.
That’s a great memory Cheryl!
I made this but substituted beef for venison and added 2 tsp garlic powder, 2 tsp old bay seasoning and 6 stalks celery. Turned out great!
Hi Sarah,
Made the Poor Man’s Stew. It had a good flavor and I enjoyed it. I delivered some to my mom and she liked it , too. I would suggest checking it after about 5 hours. I left mine go for 7 hours without peeking and it burnt a bit and stuck to the sides of the pot. But, it’s a good recipe and I’ll make it again. Thanks
I make this a lot and it’s very popular in my house!! However 7 hours is WAY too long unless you want this to turn into absolute MUSH. I usually cook it for 4 hours and it’s great.
This is one of those rare recipes I’ve found that frequently stays in our dinner circulation. I’ve been making it for years. Everyone thinks it’s impossible to eat healthy on a budget and this recipe begs to differ. Thank you!
Thank you for letting me know. So great to hear!
We love this recipe. The only difference is we add a few good glugs of Worcester Sauce once all the other ingredients are in (We are British and UK based and love the flavours Worcester Sauce adds to stews and casseroles). Thank you for this recipe!!
I love to cook with Worcestershire as well I put it o. Just about every meat I cook. Would you suggest maybe a beef bullion cube for flavor as well, haven’t made it yet but I am planning on it an just curious!!!
So, I stumbled onto this recipe, and I wrote it all down trying to follow it but my personality has issues with following rules! I ended up using what ever i had similar in my house because Im dead poor. I used can marinara sauce and 2 extra tomatoes, cut up, instead of paste, i added chicken broth from a previous meal, and a whole onion because other than salt and pepper and chili flakes, i don’t have spices very much. I did end up using the chili haha! and I added cut up mushrooms because its my husbands favorite. I didn’t have potatoes so I added about 4 ounces of bean/barley mix to soak up the water. Its thick but really great! I also used raw meat, because I had it cooking around 10 hours while I was at work, and I was afraid it’ll get destroyed. It was like a carrot stew/chili It came out great though! Thank you
I love what you did with the recipe!
Is it possible to do this with frozen ground meat instead of cooking it beforehand? Cook it for longer maybe?
I’ve seen recipes where this is done. It would probably be fine.
Is there a faster way to do it? In the oven?
I just made this. I added 2 chicken broth cubes and Korean five spice. It gave it a kick
Very hearty n good ! I made it in my instant pot! I browned the meat and then I cooked on high pressure for 12 minutes with a quick release! Also added one cup of boxed chicken broth to replace one cup of water for added flavor!
It says it serves 5. How much is a serving?
I don’t measure out the recipes, it’s 1/5 of the recipe.
The top says prep 15 min, cook time 6 hours, total time 6 hours 15 min, but then the directions in step 3 say to cook for 7 hours. Can you clarify 6 or 7 hours of cook time? Thank you! Excited to try this with my kids!
It’s for 7 hours. Thank you, I will fix it.