I grew up hating "shepherd's pie" (notwithstanding the shepherd's/ cottage debate). I now realize that canned corn, unseasoned ground beef, and instant mashed potatoes isn't shepherd's pie, it's shit. I will fight and die on this hill.

This will give you a great start. Adapt it to what you like. I add cubes of cheddar cheese. But no green peppers

About the same situation here in NH and the bill is comparable. Heat pump heat and hot water and electric range and dryer.

1800 sq ft house. Wood stove for heat. Propane stove with electric blower for backup. Maybe average 30 minutes of one electric baseboard on per day. One fridge-freezer combo, electric washer and dryer. Two adults. We go through about 500KW

Yeah that's not right. Agreed!

I live alone in a 900 Sq ft house. My electric bill is around $70 a month. In the summer it doubles because of two window AC units.

I don't have heat pumps, my hot water is natural gas.

I’ll thank you to not put tomatoes in the shepherds pie

That sounds good, but I can’t eat sausage. No Spivey things.

Oh so it's Gordon Ramsey that started the ridiculousness. That makes sense.

On a side note... I used to work at the navy base cafeteria in brunswick and all the navy folks would call it beef corn pie when we had it. Even though we called it shepherds pie in the kitchen. Good times.

I’m a born and bred mainah and it took Gordon Ramsay being bitchy on kitchen nightmares for me to realize the “shepherds pie” I grew up with was technically a cottage pie. Since then I’ve made the pie with both lamb and beef. It’s pretty much the same. I call it all shepherds pie. I am an idiot sandwich and proud.

My family doesn’t really have a recipe, but here’s our process: Brown some ground beef, stick in some onions, celery, carrots, garlic, and diced tomatoes. Then add some canned termaters, oil, and a fuckload of pepper. When these are soft, add in elbow macaroni and mix. Simmer until the flavor can soak into the pasta then serve.

It’s a classic and absolutely fuckin slaps on a cold day.

The serious eats version is great.

Reddit will be quick to point out that "shepherds pie" made with beef is in fact "cottage pie". And that Shepherds pie must be made with lamb.

Forget that fact that vast areas of the country make it with beef and call it shepherds pie. I decided to look through my collection of maine and new England cookbooks to confirm what I already new. That indeed, people call the same thing by different names sometimes depending on geographical location. Shocking I know.

I'm going to continue to call my shepherds pie made with beef by the name... shepherds pie. Because otherwise no one is going to know what the hell I am talking about.

I add mushrooms, peppers and don't use pepperoni. Never have. And I also use sauce.

My mom always made it with a pound of shell pasta, a pound of ground hamburger or ground Turkey, and a jar of prego. When I got married I learned that my husbands family makes it totally different - they also use the shells and the ground beef, but instead of prego, they use 2 cans of tomato soup, and a can of condensed cheddar cheese soup. I was very skeptical of this. It sounded gross. But he wanted me to make his family’s version for him. And to be honest - once you get over the weirdness of it - it’s pretty darn good!!!! I really don’t think you can go wrong making this. Even when it’s bad it’s still good.

I think my mom used sugar.

My mom made it pretty much the same as everybody else in this thread, but she added just a tiny pinch of baking soda to the tomatoes/sauce. It cuts the acid in the tomatoes a bit (and bubbles in a fun science fair way).

I make a cabbage and Italian sausage soup that is wicked good with carrots and celery and tomatoes plus chicken broth. Also a few spices like basil and oregano thyme. and red pepper flakes.

I have always wanted to try Newmans .

I’ve made it several different ways. I have used ground beef, ground lamb, ground Turkey. Canned stewed tomatoes. My sister in law just made some yesterday for a get together with carrots and cabbage. In it. Which I am going to try next time. When I was growing up here in Maine in the 60’s my grandmother called it goulash. But I think goulash has corn in it.

If you're using jarred tomato sauce, I recommend Newman's Own Sockarooni Sauce. It works well in this.

Gonna do it now

I just offered one reason why that might happen. Not accusing you in particular.

Who failed to recognize that this was a regiment from Maine? The film?

Tomato's and beef go well, I would imagine blueberries wouldn't be so bad.