Old Time Beef Stew

Ingredients

• 2 pounds stew beef
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 1 or 2 bay leaves
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• Dash ground allspice or ground cloves
• 3 large carrots, sliced
• 3 ribs celery, chopped
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions

Brown meat in hot oil. Add water, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, bay leaves, onion, salt, sugar, pepper, paprika, and allspice. Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours. Remove bay leaves and garlic clove. Add carrots and celery. Cover and cook 30 to 40 minutes longer. To thicken gravy, remove 2 cups hot liquid. Using a separate bowl, combine 1/4 cup water and cornstarch until smooth. Mix with a little hot liquid and return mixture to pot. Stir and cook until bubbly.

**Note** many people that reviewed this recipe recommended using 1 cup of beef broth in place of 1 of the cups of water. Others recommended adding potatoes. You might want to consider these changes when you make this dish

I've not made this recipe myself, but with the cost being so low I think I'm going to add it to my menu for next week.

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Bi Lo has boneless chuck roast on sale for $1.99 per lb. I like to buy these and cut them into stew beef pieces. It's much cheaper than buying the stew beef already cut up (Bi Lo's sale price this week for boneless stew meat is $3.49 per lb; it's usually $4.49 per lb!! By buying a boneless chuck roast on sale for $1.99 and cutting it yourself you are saving $2.50 per lb)

Bi Lo also has 1lb bags of carrots for $0.79 each. I usually find I get 5-6 carrots in a 1 lb bag so we'll price these at $0.15 each.

3lb bags of yellow onions are on sale BOGO making 3 lbs $1.35. There are about 10 - 12 onions in the bags making them about $0.14 each.

For this recipe you will need:

2 lbs of meat = $3.98

3 carrots = $0.45

1 medium onion= $0.14

3 ribs of celery= $.40 (estimate)

Total Cost: $4.97