Homemade Chili

Over the past few weeks, I've developed a system for making food that has been working really well. I pick a food that stays well, and I cook a large amount of it every week or so. I keep it in my fridge, and eat it when I'm hungry and Brittain isn't open, or if I want some food while I'm studying and don't want to walk downstairs to Brittain.

I cooked pasta and meat sauce last week, which turned out great. This week I decided to make chili. I have some pretty extensive experience with making chili (I even competed in a chili cook-off in the spring back home in connecticut), so I thought it would be easy. But this time, I was trying to cook on a very limited budget. I was able to pick up the basic components of chili, the meat, onions, tomatoes, and beans, for less than ten dollars, but when I went to buy spices, I was surprised to see how expensive they were. I found out that the mix of chili powder, cumin, and chipotle that I usually use would cost 10 dollars to get. So I grudgingly chose to use pre-mixed chili packets (I used three of them and it only cost $1.50), hoping that they wouldn't lead to a terrible final result.

After getting back from target everything went very smoothly. I got everything together in under an hour, and let it simmer for four and a half hours while I hung out with some friends. The final chili was a little thin even after I let it boil uncovered for half an hour at a full boil, and I didn't have any corn starch, so I thickened it up with a few tablespoons of flour. After taking it off of the heat and letting it cool for a bit, I tried a bowl with some cheese I bought at publix. Surprisingly, the generic spice packets didn't ruin the flavor of the chili. I could tell that the chili powder flavor was a little less complex and there was a little less cumin in the chili than I would usually put, but overall, I thought it was a very good batch of chili. My friends on my floor strongly agreed.

Here's the recipe I used this time:

2 pounds ground beef
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic
3 Packets chili seasoning mix
1 large can red kidney beans
2- 26 oz. cans diced tomatoes
1- 26 oz. can crushed tomatoes
3 cups water
Salt
Crushed red pepper
Vegetable oil
Flour

Brown the beef in the bottom of a large pot with vegetable oil. Drain and set aside. Chop and cook onions in pot with vegetable oil until onions are translucent. Add chopped garlic and cook for 3-4 more minutes. Add seasoning packets and mix with garlic and onions for one minute. Add water, all 3 cans of tomatoes, beans, and meat. Mix well. Add salt if necessary (the seasoning packets might have enough salt already), and add crushed red pepper to taste (I found the seasoning packets I used to be very mild, so I used about half a bottle). Bring the chili to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer covered for at least 3 hours, stirring every 30 minutes to prevent burning. If the chili isn't thick enough after 3 hours, boil the chili uncovered for 30 minutes or until thickened. If it still isn't thick enough, pour out about a cup of chili into an empty tomato can, allow it to cool, then mix three or four tablespoons of flour into the can, then add the chili-flour mix back into the rest of the chili, mixing well. Repeat until chili is at desired thickness.