5/21/23
For three weeks now I’ve eaten primarily out of the crockpot.
The ease of preparing food is what has been winning me over, as well as the fact the most affordable way to eat is stews and pot roasts.
Homemade. Nutritious. Affordable.
Whatever size crockpot I have, it will comfortably make a stew with 3lbs of meat, with plenty of carrots, onions, celery, and potatoes cut into the pot and cooked beneath the meat.
Whereas without the root vegetables it comfortably fits 5lbs of meat, me putting in 3lbs of whatever is the lowest cost, and not too fatty looking steaks or roast, as well as 2lbs of chicken breast, again selecting a pretty looking lean package – this mix of beef and chicken breast what I consider ideal.
Near the end, or at the end of cooking time I remove the beef from the liquid, and cube it for eating and storage.
I’ve realized that due to the chicken coming apart more easily it can stay in with the liquid, being shredded rather easily, and then to have the bastard spawn of mashed potatoes and gravy – I pour in lots of instant mashed potatoes, of which the idahoan brand was surprisingly more affordable than generic, and some flour – therefore having all the good fatty juices sopped up, and eventually eaten.
I eat the meat first, the potato mix secondly.
The whole thing last me three or four days usually, with the last meal’s worth of potato mix being eaten with some other form of protein (often tuna – yes) as the meat separate the mix has already been finished.
Nothing cooks out. Nothing goes to waste.
However, on that note ; stew with all the root vegetables fills me rather fast, and a week and a half ago I did something that bothers me considerably and is something I’ve likely done naught but a couple of times in my adult life…
I ended up tossing out a goodly portion of that stew.
Then the next two batches have been the meat centric with instant mashed potatoes variant – these filling me less per capita, and therefore fulfilling my desire of waste not want not.
Notable was how affordable this most recent batch was, london broil at $3.99/lb, and chicken breast on sale at $2.49/lb – me able to purchase roughly three days of food for about $30.
And remember stew is nutrition for being jacked.
-J