Taco Bell Style Taco Sauce

Now that you have made your All-American Tacos (see link below), you need some of that fast food taco sauce to go with them. You know the kind, the sauce that comes in the small foil packets that are littering the floor board of your car, the ones served at Taco Bell, Taco Bueno, and Taco John's just to name a few.

Now, I have been making this taco sauce for a long time and use it not only on tacos but it is pretty good on enchiladas and burritos. The base recipe for this taco sauce actually came from Todd Wilbur who does a series on 'clone' type recipes on his website 'Top Secret Recipes' (see link below). I happen to have added a few additional spices that I think rounds out the recipe quite nicely, but I cannot take the initial credit for this sauce. The great thing about this taco sauce recipe is that it is quick, easy, cheap to make, and tastes just like the Taco Bell sauce..

Cost Analysis

I do not want you to get the wrong idea here, I am not beating up on Taco Bell, they just happen to be the most common and or popular Mexican fast food restaurant here in the United States. To be honest, I like their crispy tacos and their mild taco sauce, so I am only going to compare prices on my homemade taco sauce versus that of the Taco Bell brand sold at my local Walmart. The price for the Taco Bell brand of 'Mild' taco sauce is $1.28 for a 7.5oz bottle (17.4 cents per ounce). Total cost of my homemade taco sauce is 68.7 cents for 30 ounces (2.29 cents per ounce). That means ounce for ounce, it is 87% cheaper to make your own Taco Bell style sauce at home than it is to buy it at your local grocery store. That is pretty amazing!

The Ingredients

No surprises here as you can imagine, making your own taco sauce gives you creative license on the ingredients that you use. Not a lot of difference in the main ingredients, but as always, the commercial preparation contains the necessary preservatives to keep it shelf stable. Looking at the ingredient list below, I know which one I would rather feed my family.

Taco Bell Sauce – Water, Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Vinegar, Contains Less Than 2% of Salt, Chili Pepper, Spices, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Benzoate As A Preservative, Potassium Chloride Maltodextrin, Yeast Extract, Datem, Natural Flavor.

Homemade Taco Bell Sauce – Water, Tomato Paste, Vinegar, Cornstarch, Chili Pepper, Salt, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, and red (cayenne) pepper.

Homemade Taco Sauce

3 cups water

2 teaspoons cornstarch (0.2oz = 1.8 cents)

1 6oz can tomato paste (6oz = 46 cents)

3 tablespoons white vinegar (1.5oz = 3 cents)

4 teaspoons chili powder (0.4oz = 9.2 cents)

2 teaspoons salt (0.2oz = ½ penny)

½ teaspoon onion powder (0.05oz = 1.2 cents)

½ teaspoon garlic powder (0.05oz = 1.4 cents)

½ teaspoon red pepper (mild) (0.05oz = 5.6 cents)

In a small saucepan, dissolve the cornstarch in water. Add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Store in the refrigerator for up to 6 weeks or place in small jelly jars and process in a water bath canner for 20 minutes.

NoteL If you like your taco sauce hot, then use 1 teaspoon red pepper (cayenne), for fiery hot sauce use 1 ½ to 2 teaspoons. As always, adjust the ingredients to suit your taste, what is hot for me may be mild for you and your family.

Conclusion

Making you own taco sauce to go with your All-American Tacos (see link below) is simple and easy and it is 87% cheaper than buying it at your local Walmart. Can I say that again 87% cheaper, heck I do not think we have made any recipe on this blog that saves you as much over the commercial brand as this one does. After looking at the price breakdown and tasting the sauce, I cannot imagine anyone wanting to buy the pre-made Taco Bell sauce ever again. As always, if you have enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends and don't forget to send us on friend request on Facebook and Google+ so that you will not miss out on any of our new articles.

References:

Tacos: The All-American Mexican Food http://culinaryyou.blogspot.com/search/label/Tacos

Todd Wilbur's Top Secret Recipes http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/Taco-Bell-Mild-Border-Sauce-Copycat-Recipe.html

Cheap Ground Beef Can be Just as Healthy as Extra Lean!

Each week before we do our weekly shopping we gather our locals ads and check out the sales at the various supermarkets in the DFW area as our local Walmart will price match ads from their competitors. Price matching is one of the many strategies that my family uses to get the best deal we can thereby lowering our food budget without compromising on quality. One of the items we try and keep an amble supply of is ground beef. While we have cut down our eating of red meat, I use regular ground beef (you know the cheap stuff) in many of my casseroles, tacos, spaghetti, soups, breakfast burritos, homemade Rice-A-Roni and Hamburger helper mixes and other recipes. I know, I know, the cheap stuff is full of fat and unhealthy right..... Well maybe not. What if I told you the cheap old regular ground beef could be as low fat as the more expensive lean ground beef. You'd think I was crazy right? Well read on my friends and prepare to be amazed!

When checking out the meat department of your local supermarket, the most common types of ground beef you will find are: Extra Lean (93/7), Lean (90/10), Ground Chuck (80/20), Regular Ground (73/27). All ground beef is labeled according to it's fat to meat ratio. The number on the left side of the hash mark is the percentage of meat in the product and the number of the left is the percentage of fat content. So extra lean is 93% beef and 7% fat, whereas on the other end of the spectrum regular ground is 73% meat and 27% fat. Depending on the supermarket, the actual description or labels on the ground beef package may be different, but no matter the descriptor, the important part to remember is the fat to meat ratio of the product.

Obviously ground beef with a lower fat content is higher priced. In our local Walmart extra lean (93/7) is actually more than $1.10 per pound higher than ground chuck (80/20), and $1.50 per pound higher than regular ground (73/27). Many homemakers feel that they have to sacrifice their families health by purchasing ground beef with a higher fat content simply because of the price. In addition, ground beef of higher fat contents can be purchased in bulk (3 to 5lb chubs) for substantial price savings, while the more lean ground beef is generally sold in only 1 to 2.25lb packages.

As you can see, purchasing regular ground beef (73/27) in a 5lb chub (tube) is actually 46% cheaper than purchasing lean (93/27) ground beef. These of course are regular store prices, if you comparison shop you may actually find regular ground beef even cheaper. I know, I know, what about the unhealthy fat content of cheap ground beef? Well, the good news is that regular ground beef (73/27) when cooked and prepared properly can be as almost as healthy as the higher priced extra lean (93/7) or lean (90/10) ground beef. I realize this almost seems impossible, but you do not have to take my word for it. There is plenty of documented proof that validates this outlandish statement.

Iowa State University Study (1992)

According to a study conducted at Iowa State University in 1992, ground beef of three different fat levels (90/10, 80/20, 73/27) were prepared by browning the ground beef in a pan (pan frying). In the first test, three 100 gram (3.5 ounce) samples of the ground beef were placed on paper towels after cooking and blotted for 30 seconds. In the second test, three 100 gram (3.5 ounce) samples of the ground beef were placed on paper towels and then placed in a strainer, and rinsed with hot water (150°F), and allowed to drain for five minutes. The results of their findings are listed in the following table.

 

Iowa State University (1992)	Grams of Fat
Product	90/10	80/20	73/27
Ground Beef, uncooked	10g	20g	27g
Ground Beef, pan fried	8g	11g	11g
Ground Beef, pan fried and rinsed	3g	4g	4g

The results of this particular study are quite eye opening. According to Iowa State University's research, the cheaper regular ground beef (73/27) when cooked and rinsed had almost the same identical fat content as the more expensive lean ground beef (90/10). While simply blotting the ground beef with paper towels did reduce the overall fat content, rinsing the cooked beef further reduced the difference in fat content between the lean (90/10) and regular ground (73/25) beef from 3 grams to only 1 gram.

The one major thing missing form the Iowa State University research is that they did not include a weight/yield ratio. A weight/yield ratio is simply a pre and post cook weight of each ground beef sample. While we know the precooked weight of the ground beef (100g) we do not know the cooked weight. A weight/yield ratio is simply the precooked weight minus the post cooked weight. For example if the precooked weight of the ground beef is 100g, and the cooked weight is 73g then the yield of the cooked beef is 73% (73 divided by 100 = 0.73 or 73%). Fortunately for us the next study does include a weight/yield ratio.

Canadian Beef Information Centre (BIC) Study (1997)

In 1997, the Canadian government released similar research which is available from the 'Beef Information Centre (BIC)' at www.beefinfo.org. While they classify their ground beef similarly to U.S. standards, there are some minor differences. According to the BIC, lean ground beef is classified as any ground beef with a fat content of less than 17%, medium ground beef is classified as any ground beef with a fat content of less than 23%, and regular ground beef is any ground beef with a fat content of less than 30%.

As with the research performed at Iowa State University, the Canadian researchers browned (pan fried) three 100 gram samples (3.5 ounces) of lean, medium and regular ground beef. However, in the Canadian research, only the regular ground beef was rinsed with hot water after being cooked, as the focus of their research was to show that regular ground beef when cooked and rinsed with hot water was actually leaner than lean beef that was not rinsed after cooking.

BIC Study (1997)	Grams of Fat
Product	Lean	Medium	Regular
Ground Beef, uncooked	13.1g	16.1g	24.1g
Ground Beef, pan fried	9.5g	11.4g	15.1g
Ground Beef, pan fried and rinsed	n/a	n/a	9.4g
Lean (maximum fat content 17%)
Medium (maximum fat content 23%)
Regular (maximum fat content 30%)

Looking at the chart we see the ground beef the BIC used in their research was comprised of lean (87/13), medium (84/16), and regular (76/24). The results of Canadian research validate the findings of the Iowa State University research conducted in 1992. As expected, the BIC concluded that the cheaper regular ground beef when browned and rinsed with hot water had an overall fat content less than that of lean ground beef that was not rinsed with hot water after cooking. Now, I am sure, that rinsing both the lean and medium grade of ground beef after cooking would reduce the overall fat content of both as well, however as I mentioned earlier this was not the focus of the BIC study.

So rinsing away the fat is great, but what about the overall yield of regular ground beef compared with that of the more expensive lean ground beef. After all, if you only have half the amount of beef remaining after cooking and rinsing then when you started compared to the lean or extra lean, your not really saving any money. Well I think you will be surprised and pleased with the yield of ground beef compared to that of lean.

BIC Study (1997)	Weight/Yield ratio
Product	Lean	Medium	Regular
Ground Beef, uncooked wt	100g	100g	100g
Ground Beef, pan fried	66.5g	65.1g	58.7g
Ground Beef, pan fried and rinsed	n/a	n/a	62.3g
Lean (maximum fat content 17%)
Medium (maximum fat content 23%)
Regular (maximum fat content 30%)

As you can see, the yield of the less expensive regular ground beef after cooking and being rinsed (62.3g) is only slightly less than that of the lean ground beef after cooking (66.5g). That is to say the lean ground beef after cooking lost 33.5% of it's precooked weight, whereas the regular ground lost 37.7% of it's precooked weight. The difference in loss between the two is only 4.2%. Yes, the lean ground beef had a higher yield by 4.2%, however it costs 30 to 47% more than the regular ground beef depending on where your purchased your ground beef and whether or not you purchased it in bulk.

Low Carbohydrate High Fat (LCHF)

Obviously if you are following a LCHF eating program, you are not worried about your fat intake. In fact, the higher fat ground beef is actually a better choice for making hamburger patties or Salisbury Steak

Conclusion

So what does all this mean for us? Well we can draw several conclusions from this research. First, purchasing cheaper ground beef to use in your recipes can lead to significant cost savings. Second, by following a few simple steps, you can reduce the fact content of cheaper ground beef to approximately that of significantly more expensive lean ground beef. The bottom line is that if you are on a budget like many of us are, you can save significant money on your food bill by purchasing regular ground beef on sale and or in bulk without sacrificing the health of your family.

Ground Beef Articles On Our Blog:

Tacos, The All-American Mexican Food

Salisbury Steak, A Great LCHF Entree

References:

Ingham, B. Reducing fat Levels in Ground Beef, accessed 09/25/12

The Canadian Beef Centre, accessed 10/10/12

Reducing Fat In Cooked Beef, Journal of The American Dietetic Association,accessed 10/10/12

Buege, D. 1993. Reducing fat in ground beef. Wisconsin Meat Facts and Analysis. ME 93-1.

Love, J.A. and K.J. Prusa. 1992. Nutrient composition and sensory attributes of cooked ground beef: Effect of fat content, cooking method, and water rinsing. J Am Diet Assoc 92:1367-1371.

USDA National Nutrient Database: Tips for Reducing Fat in Cooked Ground Beef Crumbles by Rinsing

Slow Cooker Series: Chili, A Cheap and Healthy Alternative

As I have mentioned in several of my posts, it is winter once again and the cool weather is a perfect time to dust off those soup, stews and chili recipes. While I love my 'Texas Style' chili recipe (see December 2011 post). Sometimes there just never seems to be enough time in the day to get everything done that you need to do. That is where slow cookers or 'crock pots' come to the rescue.

These simple devices make it easy for you to gather all your ingredients and throw them in to pot, turn it on and walk away returning after several hours to a hot cooked meal. Well...not exactly, but they do make your life easier when it comes to cooking certain types of dishes. Obviously some of main advantages of fresh home cooked meals is that 1) they help rescue the food budget because it is way cheaper to eat at home than eating out, 2) you have complete control of what goes into the pot, and 3) you can load up the cooker overnight or during the day before you go to work and have a fresh hot meal waiting for you when you get home. The following recipe makes about 10 to 12 eight ounce servings.

2lbs hamburger (weight before cooking)
3 1/2 cups water
1 8 ounce can of tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups pinto beans, dried
1/2 cup chili powder (4 tablespoons)
1 large onion, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes or one jalapeno, minced, seeds removed

Sort though and remove any small rocks you may find. Yes, I said small rocks, as I generally find at least one in every bag of pinto beans I buy and you really do not want to break a tooth. Add the pinto beans to the crock and cover with 2 inches of water, then soak the dried beans overnight.

In the morning drain the water (pour it in your houseplants or garden, why waste it) and add the 3 1/2 cups of fresh water to the slow cooker. Add the remaining ingredients (except the raw hamburger)  and set your slow cooker on high.

While the slow cooker is heating up, brown your hamburger meat. Now I take my browned (cooked) hamburger meat and place it in a metal strainer and rinse it in hot water to remove any unwanted fat. If you are using a lean hamburger meat you may not need to do this, but typically for spaghetti, soups and chili I buy the cheaper 73/27 hamburger meat (more on that later). Once you have rinsed the hamburger meat add it to your slow cooker and leave it on high for one hour.

The only decision left to make is to determine when you want your chili to be ready. If you want to be able to eat the chili within the next 4 to 5 hours then continue to cook it on high for another 3 or 4 hours. If however you are wanting to cook the chili over night, or you want it took cook while you are at the office or running errands, then reduce the heat to low and cook for 8 to 10 hours. If cooking overnight, you may also want to increase the amount of water from 3 1/2 to 4 cups as you will not be around to monitor the moisture content

Cost Benefit Ratio:

So lets look at the actual cost of our homemade chili versus that of three of the most popular commercially prepared chili's available on supermarket shelves here in Texas. I realize that in other parts of the country there may be different brands and prices may very, but the following prices are pertinent as of 11/2014 here in East Texas.

Hormel Chili Cook-off Series Texas Style $1.98 for 15oz can (0.13 cents per ounce)
Wolf Brand Chili, Texas Recipe No Beans $1.83 for 15oz can (0.12 cents per ounce)
Stag Chili with Beans $1.86 for 15oz can (0.12 cents per ounce)
Slow Cooker Chili $5.39 for 96 ounces (0.5 cents per ounce) A 50% Savings over store bought!


Breakdown of Slow Cooker Chili Cost:

Now the cost of your chili may vary, we typically buy hamburger in bulk or when it goes on sale at one of the Mexcian markets in Dallas/Ft. Worth Area (DFW) or Tyler as our local Walmart will price match. Looking at the sale ads and buying items when they are available at the best price like this can really cut your grocery bill signifigantly.

Hamburger $3.98 ($1.99 per pound), pinto beans 0.91 cents (0.7 cents per ounce), onion 0.20 cents (5lbs for $1.00), garlic 0.10 cents (approx), seasoning and spices 0.10 cents. Total price of about 5 cents per ounce (actually 5.6 cents per ounce) or 44 cents per serving. The reality of it is that this recipe probably has a higher meat to bean ratio than I would normally put in my chili. I usually use a ratio of 1lb or hamburger to 1 1/2  to 2 cups of beans which lowers the cost down to about 4 cents per ounce or 34 cents per serving.

Any way you look at it, making your own chili at home saves you 50% over commercially store bought chili's and the flavor as well as the nutritional value is greatly enhanced when you make your own chili. To validate the nutritional claim, let's look at the following ingredients list.

The Ingredients List:

So is making your own chili more healthy? In my opinion that is a definite yes! Just to emphasize my point, let's take a look at the ingredient list of the 'Hormel Chili Cook-off Series Texas Style' ingredients versus our homemade chili.

Hormel Texas Style: Water, Beef, Textured Vegetable Protein (Soy Flour, Caramel Color), Chili Powder (Chili Peppers, Flavoring), Corn Flour, Oatmeal, Concentrated Crushed Tomatoes, Contains 2% Or Less of Jalapeno Peppers (Contains Vinegar, Salt), Sugar, Flavoring, Hydrolyzed Soy, Corn, And Wheat Protein, Salt, Yeast Extract, Modified Cornstarch, Spices, Oleoresin of Paprika.

Slow Cooker Homemade: Beef, pinto beans, tomato sauce, onions, garlic, paprika, salt, chili powder, cumin, red pepper flakes and water.

Now I do not know about you, but if you are concerned about what you and your family eat, I definetely know whicih chili I would rather serve my loved ones. I am not saying that commercial chiili's are bad or that you should avoid them, I am simply stating that if you want non GMO ingredients, and wish to limit the extra stuff in pre-processsed foods that your family consumes, then making your own chili is far cheaper as well as being healthier for you and your loved ones.

I hope that you and your family will enjoy this recipe as much as mine does and you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you are not only saving money, but serving your family a far healthy meal that one out of the can.