Tips like these helped us pay off $127K in debt. You can read our story in Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After.
The cooler temps have officially arrived. For us that means one thing every single Sunday before the Colts’ game (plus 2-3 other times during the week) – it’s time to turn up the crockpot. Most of us know that using a slow cooker can save us plenty ‘o money. But there can be an intimidation for what to fix (soup again?!) or even the temptation to just get stuck in a rut. Here are some of my favorite ways to think outside the crock and make the most of this handy little appliance that sits on my kitchen counter.
Rice Cooker
It’s easy overcomplicate your life and fill your kitchen from floor to ceiling with utensils and countertop devices that actually serve the same function. Believe it or not, your crockpot can easily double as a rice cooker. Simply coat the inside of your crockpot with a tablespoon of butter or coconut oil, leaving any remaining portion in the crock. Then, add 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water. Cook on low for 4 hours or on high for 2 and in no time flat, you’ll have fluffy, warm rice. For more specific instructions, check out Fixing Rice in Your Crockpot.
The Simplest of Soups
The two best recipes I fix in my slow cooker are indeed soup recipes. But the best part about them is that they require so little prep work and so few ingredients, it feels like a cakewalk to put them together in the morning. One is my Simple Turkey Black Bean Chili. The other I lovingly refer to as a “Can Of” soup. You simply add a jar of salsa, a can of rinsed black beans, a can of chicken breast drained, a cup of frozen corn, and water. If you feel like getting fancy then break out the cumin and the onion. However, in my book, the easier, the better. You can find three of my favorite soup recipes on the $50 Crockpot ALDI Meal Plan I created. Believe it or not, the meal plan will provide six hearty dinners for less than $50.
The Best Slow Cooked Meats
I think I’ve always been intimated by cooking meat in my crockpot – I’ve been fearful of undercooking or overcooking. However, the more I use my slow cooker to cook large cuts of meat, the more I realize it really isn’t that difficult. Pay close attention to price per ounce when purchasing the meat you will cook. You’ll also want to consider whether or not the weight of the meat includes a significant amount of bone or not. If at all possible, cook the meat on the lowest temperature for the longest amount of time (think low and slow). You don’t have to get incredibly fancy with your seasonings. In fact, sometimes I find that not adding anything but a bit of water allows the meat’s flavor to truly come to life. You seriously can’t mess this up. No matter if you choose to turn a pork loin into shredded pork (it simply falls apart after cooking all day long) or tossing frozen boneless, skinless chicken into the crockpot or if you’re adventuresome like me and attempt to cook a whole chicken for the first time, cooking meat in the crockpot, you can save a bundle of time and money by slow cooking your meat.
Baby Food
We made almost all of the Princess Youngest’s baby food by using our $4 crock pot and a $4 food processor. There are a wide array of recipes on the internet; however, we primarily stuck to single fruits or veggies slow cooked all day long until they got mushy. Then, if necessary, we’d run them through the food processor to further puree. Believe it or not, this is how we discovered we LOVE a warm pear sauce. We made the original baby food recipe a little more grown up adding honey and cinnamon. Check out the Honey Cinnamon Pear Sauce Recipe!
Breakfast
Everybody loves a hot breakfast and having a warm, yummy dish already prepared before your feet hit the floor is a glorious way to save time and money. I’ve tried more than one of these breakfast slow cooker ideas from Recipes that Crock. From French toast to egg casseroles to oatmeal, you’d be surprised at what you can pull off while you sleep.
For more money saving crockpot goodness, check out:
- Crockpot Tips: When to Buy, What to Buy, How Much to Spend, & More!
- Creative Crockpot Recipes
- $50 Crockpot ALDI Meal Plan
My book is now available: Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After. You can also 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!
[…] affordable food is important to all of us and using a slow cooker is a great way to save on your grocery budget. Crock Pots are also a must for tailgating and here is a list of successful slow cooker […]