Tired of cooking

[heartofmine]

I love one pot cooking in the crockpot. On Sunday's especially I'm really busy with church. I'll toss something in the crockpot before I leave for church and its done by the time I get home. Same through the week. If I know I'm going to have a busy day I'll toss something in the crockpot in the morning and its ready for supper. I can fix a quick side or 2 and have a good meal.

Ideas...
Toss in soup fixings.
Roast (beef or pork) with potatoes/onions or fav veges.
Barbecue pork.
Chicken (toss in what you like with it...barbecue or, broth, spices...sometimes I'll wait until an hour before its done and put stove top stuffing in with it.
Turkey breast.
Ham.

[JeremyAHG31]

This past Christmas my folks gave my partner and I a slow cooker as a gift. It has turned into one of the best gifts ever. We regularly make soups and stews for the week and it has saved us a lot of time during the week. We always know what’s for supper. One of my favorite recipes is called a cooked dinner - peel and cut up carrots, parsnips turnips and potatoes) Put them in the slow cooker for a few hours and volia your veggies are done!

[pinecone]

Welcome to FV, Jeremy. It sounds like you enjoy discovering new ways to cook and save both time and money.

piney

[WV_mom_of2]

I LOVE to cook and most days I cook three meals here. Even with loving to cook there are times when I don't feel well, am busy running around to pick up kids, or just don't want to cook. I keep quick, easy things here for those nights. Hamburger Helpers or Tuna Helper, frozen pizzas, hot dogs. I buy on sale and use coupons so that it keeps the cost down. One of my favorite easy meals is breakfast for supper. Scrambled eggs, toast and bacon or sausage (I can get the boxes of sausage links that you heat in the microwave for .68 on sale at Kroger). We also love fried potatoes, hamburger or sausage gravy and biscuits. Throw some apple slices or bananas or grapes with it and it's a fast meal.

I also LOVE my crockpot. You can even throw everything together for a meal in a ziploc bag or large bowl the night before and put it in the fridge. When you get up in the morning, dump it into the crockpot and turn it on and there you have dinner! One of our favorite crockpot items is Old Settler Baked Beans. It has different kinds of beans, bacon, hamburger,etc in it so it can be used as a meal or a great side dish. I have two crockpots and some days use them both!

I am blessed with a 19 year old dd that never minds to throw together something for dinner and a dh who likes to grill. If your dh can grill turn him loose to make burgers or hot dogs, etc on it. Any step he takes towards making dinner is a help and will make you feel less stressed about cooking.

One thing I did when my kids were small and I do again now that I do in home daycare and have a 2 year old here Mon-Thurs is to work on dinner throughout the day. I decide the night before or first thing that morning what I want to have. If I need to thaw a meat I put it into the fridge. I will gather other ingredients and set them on the counter so it's all there and ready when I need it. If I want to make potatoes I will peel them and let them sit covered in water while the little one is napping. Then all I have to do is turn them on when I am ready! Any little step throughout the day makes the actual cooking process easier!

Here is a quick and easy chili recipe, especially if you cook and freeze your hamburger in batches like other people have mentioned.

Brown hamburger with some chopped onion. When done, drain off any fat. Combine with 3 cans kidney beans, 3 cans of tomato soup (don't add any water!). Season with chili powder and garlic powder! At times I also use 2 cans of soup and one can of diced tomatoes pureed in my food processor. Play around with the spices, etc until it suits you!

Other ideas would be to make things that you can use with different meals for several days. We love macaroni or potato salad and it can be used with sandwiches or with a big meal over two or three days.