Dollar Store Recipes: Bacon and Broccoli Mac and Cheese

Hello all, and welcome back to Dollar Store Decadence Recipes!  Whew!  I love cooking good food on a budget.  As usual, this time I am posting a recipe made with ingredients that are ALL found at the 99!  Whoohoo!  This recipe is for Bacon and Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese and it is quite tasty, so without further ado, here we go! I adapted this one from Diethood. One more quick thing: I would leave out the mustard next time, it was a little strong but don’t get me wrong; we still ate ALL of this mac and cheese!

 

What you need:

12 oz Macaroni Elbows

4 cups Broccoli, chopped

6 slices Bacon, diced

1 Onion, diced

1 Tsp Minced Garlic

2 TBsp Flour

1 TBsp Dijon Mustard

1 Cup Pasta Water

1 Cup Milk

1 Cup Shredded Cheddar

1 Cup Shredded Mozzarella

1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan

1 Tsp chili powder

Salt and Pepper, to taste

 

Instructions:

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1. As usual, just go ahead and cook the pasta and get that out of the way.  For the last few minutes that the pasta is boiling, go ahead and throw the broccoli in there (such a great idea from Diethood by the way) and let it cook too.  Make sure you save one cup of the pasta water!
2. Next, add the bacon to your skillet and cook until it’s really crispy!  Remove it from the pan and set it aside.
3. Add the diced onions to the pan with the bacon grease, cooking until they’re soft.  Then add the garlic and cook for about another minute.
4. Whisk in the flour and mustard, stirring continuously for one minute.
5. Pour pasta water and milk into the pan and continue to stir until it is smooth.
6. Add the cheeses and continue to cook and stir the mixture until the cheeses are nice and melty and incorporated.
7. Stir in the pasta and broccoli.
8. Eat!

 

Let’s talk about the Benjamins:

Macaroni from a 24 oz bag from the 99 – 50¢

Broccoli also from the 99 – 99¢

Onion from a bag of about 6 onions- 16¢

Minced Garlic from the 99 – 4¢

Dijon Mustard from the 99 – 2¢

Milk – 31¢

Cheddar (shredded cheeses are $1.99) – 99¢

Mozzarella – 99¢

Grated Parm – 50¢

Chili Powder – 16¢

Okay so the total cost of this recipe is…drumroll please…$4.66!  Whew!  This recipe makes six servings at 77¢ each.  I like those numbers!

Try this one and let me know!  Did you like the mustard?  Would you keep it in or take it out?