The older I get, the more I dread those infamous words, “What’s for dinner?” I bet you feel the same way. Everyone is busy with school and work schedules. There are sports and social events that keep us from sitting down to enjoy a home-cooked meal together many nights. Nobody seems to be home at the same time and if you are like me, I am always the last to know if and when they will be home for dinner.
Convenience food would make my life easier, but in these difficult times cooking from scratch makes more “dollar” sense. So, I put my Crock-Pot (slow cooker) to work for me. If you work outside the home, with a little preparation before you leave in the morning, you could have dinner waiting for you when you get home. For example, I will throw in a nice roast with veggies and potatoes. The Crock-Pot will do my cooking for me and keep that dinner warm until the last person has eaten. They now have the crockpot cooking bags that makes clean up a breeze.
Simple Tip: Use a timer on your Crock-Pot.
My goal is to cook something in the crockpot that I can reheat to look like something different the next day. For example, that roast I just cooked can be shredded on the second day. Add a little BBQ sauce and you have sloppy joes. Or add a little chili powder and you have tacos. Anytime I can get two or three meals out of one, I have succeeded in saving time AND money, not to mention my sanity.
If you don’t have a Crock Pot, invest in one (wait for a good sale); they are worth every penny. There are an abundance of Crock-Pot cookbooks out there, use your local library to borrow books, and copy your favorite recipes. You can cook just about anything in them, so don’t be afraid to use it every day. I highly recommend one that has a setting for “warming”.
