Easy Frugal Sauces You Can Make Yourself
I’m sharing some of my easy frugal sauces you can make yourself today. For some reason, if a dish of food has a sweet spicy sauce, I’m all over it. If the dish has a sauce that is creamy or accents the food, it seems more satisfying for some reason to me. I like meat with gravy, potatoes with gravy, and stuffing with gravy. Gravy and sauces are similar to me, just different ingredients. What can I say, I love sauces and gravies. I love dips, but today it’s all about frugal sauces.
I hope you enjoy these different sauces as much as my family does. The thing about some of the recipes below, you can make a white sauce and add Parmesan cheese and you have a “light” Alfredo sauce instead of using cream. You add some sausage crumbles to the white sauce and you can make sausage and biscuits! I realize some of these have a lot of butter or sugar, that’s how my mom made them and I carry on the tradition. Now, you can cut down on the butter and sugar, depending on your taste buds.
Frugal Sauces
White Sauce:
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2- gallon milk more or less depending on the consistency you like
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Melt: 1 cup butter (I am cringing that I am really admitting I use 2 cubes of butter)
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Add: 1 cup flour, stirring constantly to make a roux (a mixture of fat and flour).
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Add: 1/2-gallon milk, stirring constantly, I really do mean constantly. LOL, or you will have lumps!
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You can make creamed chipped beef on toast or biscuits with this sauce by adding chopped beef. You can also make macaroni and cheese by adding cheese to this sauce and pouring over cooked macaroni. Creamed tuna on toast was a meal we had almost every week when I was growing up.
Egg Foo Young Gravy/Sauce:
- 2 cups water
- 2 bouillon cubes or 1 tablespoon Better Than Bouillon
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce or Bragg’s sauce
- 4 tablespoons cornstarch
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Place these ingredients in a medium saucepan and whisk until smooth. Bring to a boil while stirring constantly. Serve warm over egg foo young.
Jalapeno Pepper Jelly Sauce:
- 1 cup chopped red bell peppers
- 1 cup chopped green bell peppers
- 1/3 cup diced and seeded jalapenos use gloves to chop them
- 3 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 6 tablespoons liquid pectin
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Combine all of the ingredients in a large saucepan over medium heat and stir constantly until sugar dissolves. Let it cool before placing the ingredients into your blender and blend for 5-6 seconds. Now, return the mixture to the same pan and bring it to a boil. Skim the foam off the top of the mixture. Now turn the heat to simmer for 5 minutes. Add the pectin and bring the mixture back up to a boil again. Let it slightly cool before serving over your favorite Mexican dishes or meats.
Sweet Meat Glaze/Sauce:
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 cup cold water
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce or Bragg’s sauce
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Combine all of the ingredients in a pan, stir constantly like a white sauce until it thickens. This sauce is almost like a barbecue sauce that you pour over a pork roast, pork chops or a pork tenderloin that’s been cooked. Broil the meat with half of this sauce poured over it in a 9-inch by 13-inch pan. Please watch this constantly as it will burn very quickly. Remove from the oven when it starts to caramelize.
I don’t usually bother with a roux or use butter when making a sauce, just make a simple white sauce using water, sometimes add powdered milk, thicken with flour and water shaken together until the lumps are gone, then season. For gravy I use pan drippings or stock (I keep frozen cubes of soup stock on hand). If I make broccoli with cheese sauce I always make extra sauce to use for mac and cheese.
Sometimes I make the roux, sometimes not. But a good sauce can make a meal seem special.
HI Janet, I am going to try not making a roux. I love hearing this! Linda
Thanks for sharing. Sauces can help spice up any dish.
Hi Marie, I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one! Linda