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Save Money, Make Biscuits and Gravy For Dinner.

Let’s face it, not all of the meals that you make have to be cross-checked with the Department of Agriculture’s nutritional guidelines or some TikTok influencer’s biased opinion.  Sometimes you just need to eat something that fills your stomach, or you need to use up the food in your fridge.  That’s okay, life isn’t about being perfect.

I’m close to my kids, and they are close to me.  All but one have launched into their own apartments, and it is clear that we miss each other.  We have had plenty of times to get together, but my one daughter wanted to formalize another activity where we all could participate.  She suggested that we have regularly scheduled rotating Sunday brunches. I was immediately on board.  Naturally, all were welcome, including their significant dates (I’m not sure what the proper term is for a boyfriend or girlfriend in 2025). 

The family brunch rotated to our house a week ago, and we made sure that there was plenty of food.  We had freshly baked cinnamon rolls made by my daughter, an egg dish casserole, fresh fruit, juice, and all sorts of other goodies. When I was at the store, I spotted some precooked turkey sausage patties on sale, and so I picked those up too.  However, I forgot about them in the fridge.  The other day, my wife asked me, “So, what are we going to do with those sausage patties?”  Hmm, sounds like an easy weekday dinner idea.

It was great to have the kids and their friends over for brunch, but I forgot to make the sausages!

I love having traditional breakfast meals for dinner.  Heck, sometimes I eat dinner leftovers for breakfast.  I have no shame.  My kids are used to this flexibility and are fine with it.  It was a Wednesday night, and it was my turn to make dinner. What to do? Hmm, I’ll make some biscuits and gravy for dinner! Being a weekday, I lazily used some tube biscuits, and I had to be somewhat creative with making the gravy, as precooked sausages don’t render a lot of fat.  However, all worked out. 

My son was afraid that he would still be hungry, so he took on the task of adding some scrambled eggs. Honestly, they were not needed, but it made him happy, and he even washed his pan, so I can’t complain.  

Biscuits and gravy are a soul-satisfying dish.  I probably had it for the first time at a Shoney’s on a trip down South. I instantly loved it as it was strangely familiar.  It dawned on me that it was very similar to a no-meat Friday dish my mom used to make, called creamed eggs on toast.  In that dish, the biscuit were replaced with toast, and the sausage was replaced with slices of hard-boiled eggs.  Don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it!

The recipe is super simple and very inexpensive.  It easily fed three of us, and both Will and I had the leftovers for lunch. The leftovers reheat in the microwave. 

I suppose this would be called a struggle meal, but it doesn’t feel like one when you eat it. Refer to the photos for my step-by-step recipe. 

Traditionally, fresh pork sausage is used. However, these were precooked, and when I browned them, they didn’t release much fat.
After I browned them, I chopped them up. If these were traditional sausages, I would have just broken them apart in the pan. Oh, take off the skin if you are using links.
Usually, there would be enough grease from the sausage, but these pre-cooked ones were pretty lean. I added a couple of tablespoons of butter to make up the difference.
I mixed everything up and sprinkled 1/4 cup of AP flour over the sausage.
I slowly poured in 2.5 cups of milk (whole milk is the best), constantly stirring, over medium heat. It will take a couple of minutes for the white sauce to thicken. Then I tested for salt, but it didn’t need any as the sausage was salty. The secret to good biscuits and gravy is having enough pepper. Start with around 1/2 of a teaspoon and add more until it tastes right. The white sauce should be peppery, but not excessively so.
This is what the gravy should look like when it is ready to serve.
Here it is served up on some tube refrigerated biscuits. Naturally, homemade biscuits would have elevated the dish even more. My son made the eggs, but they weren’t really needed. The overall results? Delicious! Yes, I’m expecting “heart attack on a plate” comments, but “ya gatta do what ya gatta do!”

Peace,

Mike