You can go all out and spend as much money making chili as you want but I’m here to tell you that is not necessary. You can make a great big pot of the stuff that will last for days for just a few dollars. The basic ingredients; beans and hamburger are generally not going to break the bank. Plus, if you use my easy to follow award winning (that’s right, first prize at our church’s annual cook off of 2001) recipe you too can save even more money and maybe even wow your friends.

The secret to saving money making chili is spending as little as possible for the most expensive ingredient.

Nice ground beef can set you back some. You have several choices. You can purchase hamburger already to go, paying top dollar, or wait for a boneless chuck roast sale and ask the butcher to grind a roast or two for you. Chuck roasts make outstanding hamburger and this will cut your costs-maybe in half.

Another money-saving alternative is ground turkey. The frozen rolls in the meat section of the freezer are the way to go. The frozen rolls are of good quality minus the frilly and fancy packaging and the big name of the fresh stuff. I have actually made chili from time to time with ground turkey with pretty good results.

My favorite money-saving alternative for making my award winning chili is ground pork butts. Pork butts can be found on sale all the time dirt cheap. They make great tasting "hamburger". They have just the right fat content, perfect for this application. Next time you see pork butts on sale at that rock bottom down and dirty price, scarf up a bunch of them and ask the butcher to grind them for you and fill up the freezer. Ground pork butts make great hamburger and can be used in just about any application that ground beef is used in. Experiment and save some money.