Beef & Veggie Patties

Our family has a very planned out monthly budget. My husband and I have thought of all the expenses we could possibly have in a month, gave them a dollar value, and added them to our Mint.com account to keep us accountable and in check ;). It is good to budget. It saves you from going shopping crazy and keeps you from buying stuff you “may use someday” (but just end up stored in a closet) or things that may expire sooner that you think (and then you’re forced to throw food away… saddest thing ever!).

Our Mint account even gives us a little pie chart for us to know where our money is going! How nice is that?! It also pulls all of our banking information, so it lets us view and inspect every single transaction. Pretty sweet, if you ask me.Sometimes however, Mint.com gets me in a little bit of trouble with my husband. That dumb “shopping” budget line…ugh! It’s just that when Macy’s is having a sale, I can’t help but take my little bottom over there and do more than just window shop. Heehee. Oopsies.

Well, let me just tell you…it usually is the case that by the twenty-something of every month, our food budget is close to its limit, or should I say…over its limit. It kills me! Immediately I feel like I am losing at the budgeting game! I refuse to go over our food budget by a LOT though, I just refuse! Can’t have it happen. So it’s usually by the end of the month that I have to forego my fun trips to the Boise Co-Op.

Because of this I have to get a bit creative with the meals! This happened yesterday. I literally had a bunch of nuts, fruits, and veggies, but no protein. Well, except for a pound and a half of ground beef. We needed our daily protein, so I was forced to use this ground beef. For some reason ground beef did not sound too appealing at the moment. Enter bummed face here. I tend to like what I can’t have…so it just so happened that I was craving protein, and protein alone. I was very in touch with my primal self, thank you very much. A nice, moist chicken breast or a juicy steak could really hit the spot!

But, noooo. None of that would fit my end-of-the-month budget. Welp, I had ground beef on hand…but, what to do with it? Ok, and maybe I needed some veggies with my meal too….so…a beef and veggie pattie?? Yes! Genius! That was it! Let me just say that when I was done with those little suckers, I was thankful to have been forced to get creative in the kitchen to stay within budget! Eight Beef & Veggie Patties were DEVOURED in one night by two people! That’s sort of a record in my household.

Get the full recipe here!