Shephard’s Pie

Are you looking for a delicious, home-cooked meal as a college student? Maybe you’re on a budget? Well, you’re not alone! It can be hard to find a meal that is delicious, satiating, and inexpensive, so we have the recipe for you! This easy shepherd pie recipe is sure to satisfy more than one of your wants and needs. Don’t stress either, this recipe is very easy – all you need is a dish, an oven, and most of the ingredients (some ingredients can be easily replaced or even omitted if you so choose). This meal is made from start to finish in just over an hour, with 30 of those minutes in the oven, which is great for those with a busy schedule. This Shepherd’s Pie recipe is wonderful for college students for a couple of reasons – it can be kept in the freezer to have on hand for up to 3 months, it’s quick to put together for busy days, it’s less than a $4 meal for one, and it’s a helpful way to get vital nutrients that are necessary for healthy, successful functioning. You can also make different variations of this recipe to your liking.

Many factors contribute to the lack of dietary needs being met in the college student population. These include; lack of resources (cooking utensils), time available to prepare healthier foods, increase in cost of higher quality foods (produce, fresh, etc), and the fear of wasting fresh products compared to shelf stable ones. To combat most of these concerns, this is a recipe that is easy to replace fresh produce with frozen vegetables -a cheaper and more shelf-stable alternative. It requires minimum
effort and time. As well, the recipe is easily able to be modified without causing stress to busy college students!

We recommend sprinkling cheese on top of the potatoes before baking to enhance the flavor and texture. You can also substitute ground beef with lentils and the butter with oil or plant butter to fulfill your diet needs.

To sum it up, We want to provide a fulfilling meal that provides all the macros we need and still makes it inexpensive and delicious. We hope you love this recipe just as much as we did. Enjoy!

Cost Breakdown

Ingredient	Amount Needed for Recipe	Unit Cost of Ingredients	Recipe Ingredient Cost
Salt	1 tsp + tt	$1.67	$0.12
Potatoes	3 large (1 1/2-2 lbs)	$1.98	$1.98
Butter	8 tbsp	$4.26	$0.98
Onion	1 medium	$0.62	$0.62
Mixed Vegetables	1-2 cups	$0.98	$0.98
Ground Beef	1 1/2 lbs	$11.86	$8.89
Beef Broth	1/2 cups	$2.57	$0.31
Worcestershire Sauce	1 tsp	$2.52	$0.23
Pepper	tt	$2.08	$0.13
Total Recipe Cost			$14.59
Cost Per Serving (4)			$3.65

Recipe Making Process

1. The first thing we did was get out all of our utensils and ingredients. This helped us stay organized and on track. This also helps the vegetables time to thaw.
2. Don’t forget to preheat the oven! If you don’t, that will add unnecessary time to the cooking process.

3. Next, you’ll want to wash, peel, and dice cut your potatoes. We used a large dice cut which is about a one-inch cube. This makes sure that the potatoes cook quickly and evenly. Add enough water to a pot to just cover the potatoes, and bring the water to a boil. This part also takes a lot longer than you might think! Check the doneness of the potatoes by poking them with a fork.

4. Then, add 1-3 Tbsp of butter to a tall, but not large, pot and melt. After just melting, add only the chopped onion and sauté for approximately 10 minutes. The first time we made this, we added 4 tbsp of butter which was way too much for sauteing onions. This also took butter that we should have put in the mashed potatoes. Sauteing onions only need a little fat on medium-high heat until they turn clear. This process will be faster if you do not overcrowd the pan or use a bigger pan than we did.

5. We then added the raw beef to the pan with the onions. When no more pink remains in the ground beef, add the remainder of your chopped vegetables as well as the Worcestershire sauce (or ketchup), salt & pepper, and broth, and bring to a simmer. Simmering is when you bring the temperature of the mixture to a low bubble without boiling it.

6. While the meat mixture simmered (we did add a little more broth to keep the meat from drying out), we drained the water out of the pot of potatoes. We added 4 Tbsp of butter to the potatoes and mashed them until a smooth consistency. It would have been more creamy if we added more butter. Using a potato masher or even a beater would have helped us get a better texture than the fork that we used.

7. We added the meat and vegetable mixture to the bottom of a casserole dish (such as 9×13). Make sure that you grease the pan! Next, we carefully placed and spread spoonfuls of mashed potatoes across the top. Consider adding shredded cheese on top of the potato mixture for variation.

8. After that, we placed the entire dish in the oven and baked it for approximately 30 minutes, or until the top was slightly browned. You may want to broil the last couple of minutes to brown the potatoes. If we had done this the top would have had a better color and crispness.

9. We then used a straight-edge spatula to create a nice square portion to serve. It will most likely be crumbly, but should taste amazing! We loved the final flavor, it was filling and enjoyable to eat. You could add things like ketchup on the side, butter top, or simply enjoy as is!