This 4 ingredient slow cooker beef stew recipe has no prep time and is no effort at all!
I was in a local supermarket and happened to spot one of the pre-prepared vegetable casserole packs knocked down to half price as it was best before today and, as it was first thing in the morning, I thought I’d use that to rid the freezer of some frozen beef cubes that needed to be eaten and cook them together immediately! Win!
I wouldn’t normally buy a pack of prepared vegetables as you’re paying through the teeth for somebody to chop them for you, which can be done easily enough…. but, as this pack was marked down to half price, I felt I could live with that 🙂 I didn’t feel so “ripped off” cost wise and it did give me a range of vegetables I’d struggle to buy individually and be able to use up before they went off.
With the steak at 30% off and the casserole vegetables at half price, this slow cooker beef stew worked out even cheaper than would normally be the case! I do tend to “plan” my meals around the occasional reduced price pack if I’m lucky enough to find one.
Ingredients:
- 400-500 grams of diced beef/steak, fresh or defrosted*
- 600 grams of prepared, chopped vegetables*
- 2 Oxo cubes
- ½ mug of water
- 1 large splash of Worcestershire sauce (1-2 tablespoons)
* The beef used in this beef stew was from Lidl, I’d picked it up when it had a 30% off sticker on it and I’d frozen the pack. It was a 400g pack of Birchwood Farm British Lean Diced Steak, 5% fat.
*The vegetable pack I used today was the 600 gram Aldi Casserole Vegetables, containing whole mini potatoes, sliced carrots, sliced leek and red onion.
Easy Lazy Beef Stew Method:
- Empty the prepared vegetables into the slow cooker. Cut up any large pieces that you want to, I cut the potatoes into smaller pieces
- Tip the diced beef, or steak, into the slow cooker
- Crumble up the two Oxo cubes into the slow cooker
- Give it a good splash of Worcestershire sauce and add the water to the pot. Water is needed as all the vegetables are raw, so they need something to cook in and that liquid then joins with the meat juices to make the gravy
- Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for 1 hour, then turn it down to cook for 4-5 hours.
Once cooked, I immediately served myself a portion of beef stew and boxed the remainder up in takeaway boxes in the fridge.
Kept in the fridge, with a lid on, these individual portions of beef stew can be microwaved on high for 3-5 minutes and will stay fresh for ~3 days. As they’re in takeaway boxes already, it also makes it easy for me to simply decide I don’t fancy them now – and open the freezer and just toss them in!
To eat the first portion of beef stew, I decided it was a great opportunity to finally rid the freezer of a few items and the beef stew was served with:
- The final Yorkshire pudding from the freezer
- A portion of my 10 minute http://www.foodcheats.com/10-minute-easy-sliced-swede microwave sliced swede I’d frozen
- A portion of my slow cooker mashed potatoes, also from the freezer – so it was a great day for freezer de-cluttering!
