Extended sloppy joes

Sloppy joes are an inexpensive family favourite, but meat prices keep climbing. This recipe uses mushrooms to mimic the taste and texture of ground beef, stretching a little meat a long way!

For the meat sauce:

• 3/4 pound (340 grams) lean ground beef
  
  
• 1 tablespoon oil
  
  
• 1 medium onion, diced
  
  
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
  
  
• 1/2 pound (226 grams) mushrooms, or 1 284 mL can
  
  
• 1 398 mL can tomato sauce
  
  
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
  
  
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  
  
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  
  
• Pinch salt and pepper

For serving:

• 4 hamburger buns, or other bread, and butter

1. Chop mushrooms into smal pieces, similar to the texture of ground beef
   
   
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and add the ground beef. Cook, breaking up the big chunks, until fully browned. Transfer beef to a plate.
   
   
3. Add oil to the same skillet, along with diced onion. Cook until the onion is soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, and cook for another minute. Add mushrooms, and cook until they're soft and starting to brown, around 5 minutes more.
   
   
4. Add beef back to the skillet, along with the remaining spices, tomato sauce, and vinegar. Stir until combined, and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the sauce has thickened. Remove from heat and let sit for about 15 minutes.
   
   
5. To serve, put a generous scoop of sloppy joe sauce onto half a buttered hamburger bun.

• If you'd like to hide the mushrooms, make sure that they're cut into very small pieces. Brown them for sufficient time with the onion and garlic, and simmer the sauce for a little longer. This will break them down a bit, and give them extra time to take on the other flavours in the dish.

• You can add jarred tomato sauce to the beef, instead of using canned sauce and seasoning. Just taste the sauce as it's cooking, and add brown sugar and apple cider vinegar if needed.
  
  
• You can pour sloppy joe sauce on pasta, or try it on baked potatoes or hot dogs! You can also try stirring in beans to make something closer to a chili.
  
  
• Diced bell peppers can boost the veggie content of this dish; just add them along with the onions to soften.

• Leftover sauce can be kept covered in the fridge for 3-4 days.
  
  
• To freeze, allow sauce to cool completely and then ladle it into freezer bags or airtight containers. Label and freeze for up to 3 months.

Recipe adapted from Project PA

Food is Too Expensive! was funded by the City of Saskatoon through our Healthy Yards partnership, the Cyril Capling Trust Fund of the College of Agriculture and Bioresources, and the Department of Plant Sciences. Focus group research to inform this work was collected by CHEP. Thank you all for helping us make healthy food more accessible!