Shrimp Corn Chowder recipe

One of the ways that we've worked to save money is by cutting back on our eating out. When we got married, we both saw eating out more as a "right" instead of a luxury. Homemade is way cheaper, but casseroles and pot pie can get very mundane. I've tried to get more creative with meal ideas, especially by borrowing from things that we would order when going out to eat. Even if the main ingredient is more expensive than chicken, you save a ton by making it at home!

This week I started with a recipe from Real Simple (I got a subscription for Christmas).

Shrimp is not usually the most frugal of ingredients, but I wait until frozen shrimp goes on sale for about $4.50 a pound, and then we get a 2 pound bag. This usually lasts us a few months, by using it more as a garnish or accent with different meals. And since we use it occasionally, there is room in the budget!

The Recipe:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 leeks (white and light green parts), chopped sub. onion juice
1 fennel bulb, chopped sub. celery
kosher salt and black pepper
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 8-ounce bottle clam juice sub. chicken stock
3 cups whole milk sub. 1% milk
1 pound potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3/4 pound cooked peeled and deveined medium shrimp
1 10-ounce package frozen corn sub. canned corn
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice omit


I melted the butter, added the celery for a few minutes, then stirred in the flour, salt, and pepper

Next, added the chicken stock, onion juice, milk, and potatoes. After potatoes were mostly tender I added the corn.

I chopped up the shrimp a little, then added it to the soup and heated everything through.

We garnished with a little crumbled bacon (suggested by Real Simple)

We really liked how this came out, though I think next time I might add a little spinach for some more color and texture. If we had ordered this out in a restaurant, we probably would have paid between $6-$8 a bowl for this dinner.