It’s been such a fun week, sharing the journey of the $50 Grocery Challenge with you! I laid the foundation of the challenge here How Many Meals Can You Get from $50? Then, I shared my specific purchases in The $50 Grocery Challenge: What I bought. Finally, I brought you the official meal plan with The $50 Challenge Meal Plan.
Now, I’m sharing my favorite ways to cook up a versatile side dish for literally pennies. It pairs well with any meat. In my meal plan, I paired it with pulled pork in the crockpot. If you’ve never tried it before, fixing rice in your crockpot is easy, takes seconds, and results in a light and fluffy side without having to watch a pot like a hawk. Here’s how you make it:
Ingredients:
2 T of butter
2 cup of rice
4 cups of water
Salt to taste
Coat the inside of your crockpot with the butter. Leave any that is remaining inside of the pot. Pour in 2 cups of rice and then add 4 cups of water. If so desired, add salt. Cook 4-6 hours on low or 2-4 hours on high heat. When rice can be fluffed with a fork, it’s finished.
How simple is that? In The $50 Grocery Challenge: What I bought I shared that purchased a large pork loin and then chopped it into meat to be used for three meals. In case you were wondering exactly how that works, I’m so glad you asked.
First, I bought this:
There are a half a dozen ways (or more) to prepare a cut of meat like this. It was only in the past couple of years, that I began chopping the meat up myself. Note: you could have your butcher (or whoever is working at the meat counter) chop your meat for you. Since I purchased mine at ALDI, it was up to me to portion things off. Here’s how it went down:
I apologize to those of you who have raw meat sensitivities. Look away! Look away! It is much more economical to purchase a cut of meat priced lower per pound and do a little of the dirty work yourself. You can see that I sliced this ~ 3 lb. piece of meat into 4 thick chops, thinly sliced bit sized pieces (for Pork Pad Thai), and a hunk to cook all day in the crockpot, shred, and use paired with the rice recipe above. Topped with cheese, salsa, some black beans, and spinach and you’ve got our favorite recipe for a naked burrito. YUM.
I’d love for you to play along with me! How many meals can you get from $50? I bet a few of you could beat me. Hashtag your posts or pictures with #50dollarchallenge or contact me with what you came up with! Maybe I can share a few of your ideas or plans on here, too.
This post was sponsored by the Indiana’s Family of Farmers. You get to learn about affordable ways to prepare food. I get a few extra bucks in the Royal coffers. The post and opinions are 100% mine. No editing was done by anyone. I’m sure you could find some grammatical errors if you read it again. Read more on my disclosure policy.
Gain inspiration to pay off debt! Check out Inspiration to Pay Off Debt: 30 Days of Encouragement from the Queen of Free
This post contains an affiliate link. That means when you get a great deal or maybe even something for free, you also help our family pay off our mortgage early. And for that, we royally thank you!
[…] Did you know you can use your crockpot to prepare fluffy, warm rice? The recipe is very simple (we will demo) and requires only three ingredients. Use 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water and a tablespoon of either coconut oil or butter. Coat the entire inside of your crock with the butter or oil before adding the additional ingredients. Cook on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours on high, occasionally stirring or fluffing the rice with a fork. It reheats wonderfully or makes amazing fried rice on the second day. For more ideas, read Fixing Rice in Your Crockpot. […]