Frugal recipe: Baked beans

On Sunday night, we had grilled hot dogs for dinner. We did this mainly because my in-laws sent us home with tofu dogs for me and all-beef hot dogs for my husband and daughter. Normally, I don’t buy hot dogs but since they were free, I sure wasn’t going to turn them down (especially with the SNAP Challenge going on). We had rolls at home as well as some carrots so we were looking at a very simple meal. But we all felt like something was missing.

Then we realized what it was. Beans! Hot dogs are not complete without baked beans on the side. The problem was we had just spent a great deal of time in traffic and neither myself nor my husband was willing to get back in the car to go to the supermarket to get some. So I improvised. I remembered that I had a recipe for homemade baked beans in one of my Weight Watchers cookbooks. I checked the recipe, checked my pantry/fridge and learned that we had all of the required ingredients. Since I had made this recipe before, I knew they were good and I was not worried about trying something new.

To make enough for my family, I doubled the original recipe. Here’s what I did:

Homemade Baked Beans (adapted from Weight Watchers 5 Ingredients, 15 Minutes cookbook)

Ingredients

• 1 29 oz can pinto beans or 2 15 oz cans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup barbecue sauce (I used honey flavored but any kind works)
• 6 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp onion powder

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in medium sized saucepan
2. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Makes approximately 4 1/2 cup servings.

This recipe hits the trifecta of meal planning: quick, simple and free.