Friday's Frugal Food

One thing I have slowly started to do is season my food with herbs and spices that I have on hand instead of using the pre-packaged mixes.  Take taco seasoning for example.  I used to buy those pre-packaged bags of taco seasoning all the time (my family loves taco night).  Out of curiosity, I read the list of ingredients and thought to myself,

"Wait a minute, I have most of this stuff in my spice cupboard already.  I bet I could make this myself."  

So I did.

And you know what?  We all liked it better than the store-bought mix.  And I knew exactly what I was putting in the meat.  Yay for no MSG's and no preservatives!

Here is what I do:

Brown a pound of ground meat.  Preferably with some chopped onions and garlic, but a few shakes of minced onion and garlic work great, too.  Add:
A few shakes of cumin.
A shake or two of oregano.
A shake of cayenne pepper.
A shake of black pepper.
A twist or two of sea salt.

That's how we like it.  If you are more of a measuring person, you could try this:

1 TBL minced onion (unless you chopped some fresh onion)
1 tsp minced garlic (unless you chopped some fresh garlic)
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sea salt

Chili powder, crushed red pepper flakes and paprika go great in this, too.  You could make a larger batch of this and keep it in an air-tight container, or you could add the ingredients one by one as you are cooking.  Whatever toots your horn.

Mmmm....I want some tacos now.....