I also don't usually make meat lasagna because I don't care for meat sauces in general, and my lasagna uses 3 cheeses so I couldn't compare to the 5 cheese lasagna so I went ahead and figured costs for a home made meat lasagna against Stouffer's Lasagna with Meat Sauce. It should be noted that Stouffer's Meat Lasagna only uses 2 cheeses compared to my 3 cheeses and weighs in at nearly 2 pounds less food. I suspect that they don't use a whole pound of beef in their lasagna, so it's more "meat flavored" than actually meat lasagna.
If you're vegetarian, you can make this same recipe just omitting the meat and/or using textured vegetable protein. You can also add vegetables to make a vegetable lasagna – popular vegetables for lasagna are spinach, zucchini, squash, carrots and peas. For a different taste you can use romano cheese and/or asiago cheese, instead of/or in addition to the parmesan. I'd also recommend trying a whole grain lasagna noodle, it's healthier (more fiber and less refined flour) and you'll never notice the difference.
Home made lasagna
1 pound uncooked lasagna noodles
2 qts tomato sauce (recipe in Sept 4th post, you should have it if you stored the extra in your freezer)
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ricotta cheese
2/3 c real grated parmesan cheese
¾ pound grated mozzarella cheese, reserve about ½ c for topping
1 egg
1 Tbl parsley
1 Tbl garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
Preheat oven to 350. Brown ground beef, and drain. In a separate bowl mix all the cheeses, the egg and the spices. Spoon a thin layer of sauce into an ungreased 13x9x2 baking pan and arrange a single layer of uncooked lasagna noodles, slightly overlapping. Add another thin layer of sauce, top with 1/3 of the meat and a 1/3 of the cheese mixture. Continue building up layers until all of the ingredients are in the pan, ending with sauce and then sprinkle the reserved ½ c of mozzarella on top.* Bake uncovered for 35-45 minutes until lightly browned and bubbling. Cut into squares and serve.
* Recipe can be prepared to this point, covered and frozen or kept in the refrigerator for a few days until you are ready to cook it. Bring to room temperature before cooking.
According to Stouffer's their 57 oz package makes 7 servings. So this recipe would make about 11 servings.
Compare:
Price of home made lasagna: $16.79 – 88 oz, 19 cents an ounce
Price of Stouffer's Lasagna with Meat and Sauce: $13.19 – 57 oz, 23 cents an ounce or $20.24 for the same size as home made.
Ingredients for home made lasagna: Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, ground beef, lasagna noodles, parsley, garlic powder, egg, salt and pepper.
Ingredients for Stouffer's Lasagna with Meat and Sauce: Tomato puree, blanched macaroni product, part skim mozzarella cheese, modified cornstarch, nonfat milk, flavors, beef, water, dry curd cottage cheese, salt, wheat flour, dehydrated onions, sugar, spices, seasonings (soy sauce, autolyzed yeast extract, dextrose, soybean oil), dehydrated garlic, yeast extract, carrageenan.
Time to prepare home made: Approx. 10-15 minutes to brown meat and mix cheeses, 5 minutes to put together and 35-45 minutes to bake. Total 60 minutes
Time to prepare Stouffer's Lasagna with Meat and Sauce: 80 minutes
Alright! Here's a great example, we've created a meal 20 minutes faster than using a frozen lasagna, saved $3.45 and your not eating modified cornstarch, nonfat dry milk, flavors (what does that really mean?), wheat flour, yeast extract or carrageenan.
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