Inexpensive slow cooker recipes?

Buy a whole chicken, add your onions/peppers/seasonings/clean your chicken off put it in the crockpot for over night (to have to work that next day ) or before work to have in the evening...that boy will be falling off the bone good and it last a couple of days for lunch and dinners....and don't put water in it b/c it makes it own juices and it will over flow if you do (trust I had enough broth for days)

Check out beef cheeks and pork cheeks. They're UBER cheap (really good quality beef cheeks from Waitrose or a butcher will be about £6-7kg and pigs cheeks even cheaper) and come out really tender.

You can also chop them up a bit to make a really wonderful ragu (bolognese).

Another easy slow cooker dish is pulled pork. Pop a fat-trimmed loin (or shoulder, but that's fattier) of pork in the slow cooker with some vinegar and seasoning of your choice; leave for 8 hours; shred the pork and mix with the juices and then add barbecue sauce or Sriracha. NOM!

Anything that utilizes dried beans.... black beans, black bean soup, split pea soup (using a ham bone from holiday cooking), pinto beans, baked beans, etc.

Also, many crock pot recipes use frozen veggies which can be less expensive than fresh veggies at times. I also use tougher cuts of meat which tend to be less expensive than others.

40-clove garlic chicken (slow cooker)

3-4 pounds chicken
1 large onion sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon pepper
20-40 garlic cloves, peeled, but intact

The Directions.
6 quart slow cooker

Place onion slices on the bottom of the stoneware insert. In a large mixing bowl, toss chicken parts with olive oil, salt, paprika, pepper, and all of the garlic cloves. Pour into slow cooker, on top of the onion.

Do not add water.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-6. The longer you cook chicken-on-the-bone, the more tender it will be. If you use drumsticks, the ones on the side will brown and may stick to the sides of the crock, burning a bit. If this bothers you, you can rearrange them with tongs an hour before serving.


I made this with chicken leg quarters. They were on sale for $0.49/lbs. My husband was worried about it being too garlicky and whined about my dinner choice the whole day. Cooking the cloves whole like this gives them kind of a nutty flavor, not garlicky at all. When we were done eating, he said, "A+, definitely will eat again."

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Bump need ideas

Along the lines of recipe websites, one of my favorites is paleopot.com. This one is especially great if you're trying to eat low-carb!

My favourite at the moment is:
> Pack of chicken breasts
> Tin of kidney beans
> Tin of black or cannellini beans
> Tin of tomatoes
> Tin of corn
> Cumin, Chilli, Paprika (or whatever spices you like).
It makes work lunch a breeze and it's especially cheap when beans on are a multibuy special.

Just doing some chicken mixed pieces in my slow cooker now, buy enough to fill your crock pot up and cook either on low all day or on high for 4-6 hours. My favourite flavouring is to slice up a couple of lemons, n sprinkle the chicken with dried chives, paprika salt n pepper and then throw in a whole head of garlic. The chicken meat can be used for heaps of different things, wraps/salads/soups and if you do a big batch with some simple flavours you can use it in heaps of ways. You can chop up a heap of veggies and after you take your chicken and any chunky bits of lemon/garlic add some stock and veg and cook on low overnight to make a yummy soup.

8 can taco soup - found on pinterest - I would change out the canned beans for dried and make your own taco seasoning otherwise the sodium is too high.