We have two slow cookers. We've been using them both every day. We found that when we both got off work and home from the gym and had to cook we would skip it a few times a week and get tacos or a frozen pizza or truly painfully, delivery pizza. With slow cookers, the food is ready when we get home so we can eat right then. Then, we do the prep for the next day's slow cookers (if there isn't enough leftovers) put that in the fridge and I start it the next day at the slotted time. (We both work from home here and there).
We have meat probably 70% of the time but we will make most these recipes last ~3 days between ~3 people so we go light on the meat. We always have potatoes, rice or homemade baked bread on the side. We bought a rice cooker at a thrift store and while my SO was resistant he now admits he eats more rice and veg (and less expensive meat) because the rice is "perfect every time."
Our "recipes" are usually more rough ideas but hopefully they'll be helpful to someone. All are 6-8 hr on low unless otherwise stated:
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Thai Curry. 2 tbsp green or red curry paste + 1/2 can coconut milk + 2 lbs pork or chicken + some alliums + ginger (if we have it)
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Chili. 1 lb ground meat + 2 tbsp chili powder + alliums + frozen or canned corn + 2 cans beans (kidney or black) + 2 cans diced tomatoes + tbsp cumin
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4 lbs Pork Shoulder + 1 jar Teriyaki & Pineapple Juice or 1 jar BBQ sauce + Alliums (this one lasts ages and becomes lots of lunches) with homemade bread & coleslaw
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Chipotle-ish Chicken. Chicken Thighs + 2 cans chipotle peppers in adobo sauce + alliums
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French Onion soup. Its not quite as good as a Cooking Illustrated recipe we've used involving a dutch oven but 10% of the work so close enough. http://ift.tt/1Du0Mau
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Lamb Tagine. (This one is for special occasions or when we get a deal on lamb). 1 lbs lamb + can of chickpeas + 2 tbsp Ras Al Hanout + 2 ginger cubes + can diced tomatoes + 1/2 cup dried apricots/dates/candied ginger/etc from the bulk bins + cinammon stick
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Bulgogi Beef is also a special occasion-only. Its my bf's fav though so I thought I'd share: http://ift.tt/1C8UXTK
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Chicken Caeser. We don't do the wrap bit. We just put it on romaine for lunches. A fav of my SO: http://ift.tt/2gWxU9d
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Sloppy Joes. We frequently do ground chicken or turkey or pork instead of beef. either manwich sauce or this recipe http://ift.tt/1XpjDRm
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Cashew Chicken. Only if we get cashews cheap at Grocery Outlet. http://ift.tt/1te2ryO
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Also, if we can coupon-stack our way to cheapness (my boyfriend's frugal hobby) we stock up on slow cooker sauces. We stock up if we can get them down to $1 or less and still always add a big onion and some cubed ginger or garlic. Usually toss in some frozen veg too.
Alliums means onions & garlic. We buy bulk sweet onions. We like them best. We discovered pop n cook garlic and it does make life easier plus its cost comparable. You may have to really dig around to find it but its in the frozen veggie section. http://ift.tt/2lv7JWB They have some other stuff. We skip the onions because they're overpriced but the garlic & ginger have been worth it.
For all of these recipes, we typically do a side salad or steam some frozen veggies for the nutrition.
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We also do overnight oats. This is our base recipe: http://ift.tt/2kzhvuj We get steel cut oats for $1.50/lb in the bulk section at Safeway and that is good for three meals of overnight oats for the three of us. We just go with the cheapest dried fruit or frozen fruit by the ounce. If you use frozen fruit, subtract one cup water for every one cup frozen fruit. Substituting milk for half & half is okay. Barely noticeable though it is noticeable. We use Chia seed if we find it cheap at Grocery Outlet. It substitutes equally for oats. We usually cut the oats down by a 1/4 cup and add a 1/4 cup Chia. We've begin experimenting with amaranth, teff and other "ancient oats" as we find them cheap at Grocery Outlet. Mainly, its equal replacement with oats.
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We also have people over A LOT for board games and watching films and silent reading club and murder mystery nights (we feed people more on these occasions) and other fun frugal activities. I always put out our homemade hummus & carrots. I love it because it gets me to eat my veggies. We also do air-popped popcorn. We got the popper & food processor (for hummus) at the thrift store.
If you don't have a slow cooker yet and are thinking about getting one and work outside the home. Get one with a delay start timer!
Be nice. If you have nothing nice or helpful or adding-something to say, don't say anything. If you find yourself scanning through this post just to find something to attack me over, do us all a favor and go somewhere else. I like sharing helpful content with other frugal-ers. A difference of opinion doesn't mean I deserve to be insulted.
February 28, 2017 at 12:06PM
