Frugal Alternative to Take Out

I am known to be a junk food junkie. Don't get me wrong, I like to prepare and eat healthy foods too. I just really enjoy fast food, take-out and pizza delivery.

I mentioned before that when we lived in our apartment in the city and we both worked, we spent a lot of money on food not cooked in our home. We were paying for the convenience of not only not having to cook, but also the fact that there was very little clean up involved.

Now that we have our own home and only one paycheck, going out to eat or ordering in doesn't occur that often. Occasionally, I've made my own pizza or resorted to frozen pizza. But being a Philly girl, I was really missing cheese steaks.

About a year ago, my friend Lisa (she is also a former Philly girl) told me about a minute steak product that she found at Costco that is an excellent alternative to expensive take out. The first time we tried it, we loved it! And it's one of those must have items that we pick up each trip to Costco (about once a month).

Steak-eze is frozen, chopped minute steak. When you first take it out of the package, it looks like a frozen burger. But as it cooks, it starts to break apart and looks like authentic cheese steak meat.

Each frozen patty serves one person. Although, we like our steak sandwiches really packed with meat, so I usually cook 4 patties for the 2 of us. This makes 3 hearty sandwiches for dinner plus one smaller lunch serving.

I either serve this on a long (hoagie, sub-sandwich) roll or on a tortilla with lettuce and pickle. Hubby uses mayo for his sandwich or wrap and I use ketchup.

I like to serve oven fries on the side too. Since, in my opinion, no cheese steak is complete without a side of fries!

I don't remember the actual cost per package of Steak-Eze, but I can tell you this...we get several meals from one box of Steak-Eze for less than it costs for take out for one night!

This post is linked to Works For Me Wednesday. Since finding frugal alternatives for everything works for me! Be sure to check out WFMW hosted by We Are That Family for more great tips!