Make it or buy it? Italian Beef edition
Did you guys see that ALDI is now carrying Buona Italian beef in their freezer section? My store had a little 24 oz tub on sale for $4.99 yesterday. (This is interesting in and of itself, because I know they were doing those trials of the big tubs at Costco but didn't realize that the smaller tubs had made it into grocery stores!)
Buuuuutttt wait. I haven't actually purchased frozen Italian beef in years, ever since realizing how much easier and tastier it is to make it in the Crock-Pot. Seriously. It's insanely good, and insanely easy. So instead of buying a 24 oz frozen tub of Italian beef for $4.99, I bought an $8 chuck roast, a $1.49 jar of peppers, and used broth and garlic I already had in the house. (A can of broth is $.49 at ALDI and if I'd bought the garlic there and used one head, it would have been another $.33 -- so a little under $10.50 for the batch.)
Was this more expensive than a $4.99 tub of Italian beef? Yes, but: Since the frozen tubs of Italian beef are largely juice, I would have have to buy at least two of them to feed my family of four -- I can't find specific info for the Buona, but the Papa Charlie's site shows a 24 oz tub as feeding 1-2 people. For about the same cost and fresh-made taste, I fed four with leftovers (even after meat-loving MashupDad and High School Guy went to town on it), plus I ended up with garlic and peppers to use to garnish the sandwiches.
Tonight I'm going to saute & spice up some mushrooms and onions I have in the fridge. With the rest of the Italian beef, a pack of tortillas, and some avcacados + cheese + sour cream, that's a recipe for some pretty good fajitas or quesadillas.
Although I haven't yet tried the Buona, the stuff in the tubs generally also tastes a little off to me, like, weirdly sweet? Maybe it's just me, but: If you want to try your hand at making your own, too, here's the easy Four Ingredient Slow Cooker Italian Beef recipe. Give it a try and let me know what you think!
Do you agree?
What do you guys think? Make Italian beef... or buy it?
I've tried a lot of recipes for Italian beef at home, and while they are okay, we've never thought they were anywhere near as good as the restaurant beef sandwiches. It's just different. While we are major Portillo's beef fans, in the store or the pkg's you make at home, the pkg's are a lot for us, so, we buy it at the store. We don't really care for the Buona beef at the restaurants, but, oddly the frozen pkg's they sell to take home we like a lot. Anyway, I'm thrilled to see the smaller size you found at the store and can't wait to try it and hopefully they taste as good and are a better size for us.
The texture of crockpot beef is quite different if you like Italian beef sandwiches. But I have made some darned tasty beef in the crockpot and LOVE it! My family prefers spicy things so I add extra pepper to the meat and I have enough for seconds for everyone when I buy a roast. And making the beef at home helps control all of the sodium that goes into Buona beef! The amount of sodium in those sandwiches and juice is nuts.
We tried the frozen Buono beef when it was on sale at Jewel back in November (I think). It was pretty good for frozen. I felt it was a little more peppery than the what you get in the restaurant. Nice to have on hand for fast meals.
The home beef recipe is one of my all time favorites as well as those i have turned on to the recipe. I cant describe how fantastic these sandwiches are. I had these sandwiches just yesterday and omg I want more already.... a must try and keep imho
If I find a pot roast on sale I throw it in the crockpot with Italian seasonings and shred it when its done. For sliced Italian beef I use a top round and roast it in the oven till med rare . I have been buying really small ones at target or jewel and after they cook I am able to use a mandolin to make the slices super thin. I add water and Italian spices to the drippings and make ajus with that. I actually roasted one this morning before work. The ones I make that way taste closer to the beef stand sandwiches I think. If we are having a family party with lots of people I order out. Ain't nobody got time for that!
I got my Italian beef recipe from a friend. I buy a big chuck roast and put it in the crock pot with beef broth and 1 envelope of Italian seasoning and one envelope of Zesty Italian seasoning (we skip the peppers but you can add peppers too). Cook in the crock pot until it practically falls apart. Super easy and super tasty.
I prefer my wife's home made Italian beef, but I did try the frozen Buona beef from Aldi. It's really good. Better than the takeout pack from Portillo's. One tub makes about three sandwiches. My Aldi also has Turano French roles. Pop those in the oven for three minutes, heat up the beef to 165 degrees, add some pepperoncinis, and you've got a really good sandwich.
agreed! you really need to have good French bread for any style Italian Beef. Turano is my favorite as well
Nice recipe! While most frozen Italian beefs don't do it for me, Buona is actually really good. The frozen quality is very similar to the store quality especially if you follow the instructions and cook it low & slow. I feel like if you let the gravy boil it will burn up all the spices and make the flavor more bland. Good recipe though. I would still take the frozen Buona tubs over this but I would choose this recipe over any other retail brand. Thankfully i'm in Chicago and I can just go to Buona!