Pure comfort food from ingredients in your pantry!
This isn’t a complicated recipe, this easy shepherds pie recipe with instant mashed potatoes, also known as cottage pie, can be made from ingredients in your pantry, freezer, and/or long-term food storage items. That means, if you keep these ingredients on hand you can make this dinner anytime. When I say anytime, I literally mean today or when the grocery store shelves are empty, or when there is a blizzard outside, or heck even during a zombie apocalypse.
If you are looking for a busy weeknight recipe you can make any time, then you’ve found it.
When I first started stocking up on food storage, I thought of recipes like pancakes, chili, and chicken noodle soup but why not think bigger and find some hearty or savory options? My mission is to find easy recipes your family loves, like this one, to simplify your daily life and also have peace of mind knowing you have some extra food for emergency situations.
If you would like a bunch of recipes to help rotate your food storage ingredients, make sure to check out this post of 27 freeze dried recipes.
How to Make This Recipe
1) Prep Meat Filling
In a cast iron skillet or another oven-safe large skillet, add ground beef, vegetables, and seasonings. Cook until well incorporated. You can use all fresh ingredients for this recipe, or all shelf-stable ingredients like canned, dehydrated, and freeze-dried, or a combination of both. When done with this step you want these ingredients to be fully cooked and hydrated. I love using freeze-dried ground beef for quick recipes. See my post about freeze-drying ground beef here. Shelf Stable Ingredients: Add ground beef, vegetables, seasonings, and hot water to the cast iron skillet. When adding the water, add enough to fully submerge the ingredients. Over medium-high heat bring to a boil, then reduce to medium heat and simmer for about 10-12 minutes or until most of the water has been absorbed and/or evaporated. Note: While this simmers, I prepare the instant potatoes. Fresh Ingredients: On medium-high heat, brown ground beef. Drain fat drippings. Add mixed vegetables and seasonings and continue cooking for 2 minutes.
2) Prepare Instant Mashed Potatoes While Meat Filling Simmers
Prepare the instant mashed potatoes according to the package. (Note: some instant mashed potatoes have butter and salt in them but some don’t. If your instant fluffy mashed potatoes don’t, follow the package directions by adding the butter and salt.)
3) Finish Meat Filling
- Add the flour to the ground beef mixture.
- Add the premixed brown gravy. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until thickened.
- Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Remove from heat.
5) Assemble
Set oven to High Broil (550 degrees).
Carefully spread warm mashed potatoes on top of the meat filling, in the oven-safe skillet.
Note: If your skillet isn’t oven-safe, transfer the meat filling to a 9 x 9 casserole dish.
6) Broil
Broil for about 5 minutes, on the bottom rack of the oven. Watch closely since the potatoes will go from perfectly browned to burned quickly.
More Great Pantry Meal (Shelf-Stable) Recipes
Recipe posts you may enjoy:
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Hawaiian Haystacks
- Beef Stroganoff Recipe with Mushroom Soup
- Canning peach sauce
- Chicken and Stuffing Bake without Soup
- Easy Pressure Cooker Pulled Pork Recipe: Large Batch
- Vegetable Beef Soup, Recipe + Canning
- Cherry Tomato Salsa, Recipe + Canning
- Cracker Barrel Chicken & Rice
- Chicken and Rice with Cream of Mushroom Soup
Other Freeze drying posts I've covered or will be covering soon:
Easy Shepherd's Pie Recipe with Instant Mashed Potatoes - Pantry Meal
This Easy Sheperd's Pie Recipe with Instant Mashed Potatoes can be made from fresh ingredients or it can be made entirely from shelf-stable ingredients that can be stored for at least 15 years. This site is focused on finding family favorite recipes, like this one, that make life easy for you today and also give you peace of mind for any emergency situation that may present in the future.
Ingredients
Prepare Meat Filling(Rehydrate Freeze-Dried and/or Dehydrated Ingredients - Fresh or shelf-stable ingredients can be used in this recipe)
- 1 lb ground beef. cooked (6 oz freeze-dried ground beef)
- 1 cup mixed vegetables (⅓ cup freeze-dried carrots, ⅓ cup freeze-dried peas, ⅓ cup freeze-dried corn)
- 2 tbsp dehydrated onion
- 2 cups water, or till ingredients are fully submerged (water is only needed if using freeze-dried/de-hydrated ingredients)
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp dried thyme
Finish Meat Filling
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1 cup brown gravy canned or brown gravy mix, premixed with water
Mashed Potatoes
- 3 cups mashed potatoes instant
Instructions
Prepare the Meat Filling
- In a cast iron skillet or another oven-safe skillet, add ground beef, mixed veggies, and seasonings. Cook until well incorporated. You can use all fresh ingredients for this easy recipe, or all shelf-stable ingredients like canned, dehydrated, and freeze-dried, or a combination of both. When done with this step you want these ingredients to be fully cooked and hydrated. Shelf Stable Ingredients: Add ground beef, vegetables, seasonings, and hot water to the cast iron skillet. When adding the water, add enough to fully submerge the ingredients. Over medium-high heat bring to a boil, then reduce to medium heat and simmer for about 10-12 minutes or until most of the water has been absorbed and/or evaporated. Note: While this simmers, I prepare the instant mashed potatoes. Fresh Ingredients: On medium-high heat, brown ground beef. Drain fat drippings. Add mixed vegetables and seasonings and continue cooking for 2 minutes.
- Add the flour to the meat mixture.
- Add the premixed brown gravy. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until thickened.
- Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Remove from heat.
Prepare the Instant Mashed Potatoes (while the meat sauce simmers)
- Prepare the instant mashed potatoes according to the package. (Note: some instant mashed potatoes, like creamy mashed potatoes, have butter and salt in them but some don't. If your instant mashed potatoes don't, follow the package directions by adding the butter and salt.)
Assemble
- Set oven to High Broil (550 degrees).
- Carefully spread warm mashed potatoes on top of the meat sauce, in the oven-save skillet.Note: If your skillet isn't oven-safe, transfer the meat sauce to a 9 x 9 casserole dish.
Broil
- Broil for about 5 minutes, on the bottom rack of the oven. Watch closely since the potatoes will go from perfectly browned to burned quickly.
Notes
Ingredient Substitutions: Ground Beef: Instead of ground beef try another ground meat like ground lamb, ground turkey, or lean ground beef. Mixed Veggies: Green beans or a combination of your favorite vegetables. Keep in mind you can use fresh, canned, freeze-dried, dehydrated, or frozen veggies. Dehydrated Onions: If you are using fresh ingredients, 3 tbsp dehydrated onion is equivalent to 1 cup of freshly chopped onions. Onion powder can also be used in place of minced onions. Instant Mashed Potatoes: If you have leftover mashed potatoes, that is a good time to make this recipe and use them up. Brown Gravy: If you are open to some variation, next time try cream of mushroom soup, which is another shelf-stable option. Cheddar Cheese: Another variation is to top the pie with cheddar cheese. Cheddar cheese can also be freeze-dried. See my post on freeze-dried cheddar cheese here.
Nutrition
Serving: 1.5cupsCalories: 303kcalCarbohydrates: 27.5gProtein: 26.4gFat: 8.8gSaturated Fat: 3.1gCholesterol: 68mgSodium: 1020mgPotassium: 470mgFiber: 3gSugar: 2.8gVitamin C: -1mgCalcium: 47mgIron: 4mg