What's for Dinner? Crockpot Pot Roast

When my husband proposed to me, I joined a gym to get myself ready for our wedding. A nutritionist met with me and we discussed different diet plans but the one that appealed to me the best at the time was a low-sodium diet. I am a major fan of salty snacks (mostly, popcorn)

Slow-Cooker Pot Roast

Here is all you need for an amazing and flavorful roast:

2 cans of beef broth

1 onion

1 packet of Italian dressing mix

1 pot roast (maybe 3lbs, but 2lb will do) 

 

 

Put everything in the crockpot. It doesn't matter how you arrange it, but I put a little broth in the bottom first. Leave it on low for 8-10 hours. For me, it's perfect at 8.5 hours, but if you're leaving it there during the work day or something, it's still amazing by 10 hours.

 

 

Serve it with whatever you want. These are my stand-by favorites: corn, mashed potatoes, garlic green beans. This is my favorite meal to make in my crockpot. 

 

 

Budget Breakdown:

A good sale on pot roast is normally no more than $2.99/lb. When it's anything less, I take advantage of those prices. Spending $9.00 on a meat item is normally not good for me, but I split this meat in half and use the rest to make beef rolled tacos or I have a full leftovers meal the next day for everyone.

 

Pot Roast: $9.00

Beef broth, 2: $1.38

Onion: $1.00 or less

Italian dressing: $1.00 or less

 

Total: $12.38 for 2+ meals = $6.19 or less per dish. 

Meal Planning to Minimize Your Grocery Bill

Making a meal plan is the best thing I have done for my budget. When I have a plan, I am less likely to make impulse purchases or return trips. I'm also less likely to give in and just order dinner instead. Basically, I divide it into a few steps:

1. Check the sales that will be good for grocery day. I always go grocery shopping on Fridays. Since the sales ads are published by Wednesday, I find the ones that seem like the best deals at each of my local stores and write them down to reference in the next step.

2. Choose recipes that include those on-sale items. You aren't necessarily going to make all of these recipes. If you Google "search by ingredient," you will find plenty of websites that will do this for you. I have a notebook of recipes I want to try that I put together a few months ago and continue to add recipes still. I write down the ingredients that aren't normally in my pantry and I'm able to easily find recipes I want to make.

3. Estimate costs of the recipes. My rule of thumb - if the meal will be over $5.00, I either want it to have leftovers or have ingredients I will use in another recipe. In the recipes I post, I'll make notes of the cost of the meal.

4. Make your meal plan. I use the same plan format every week and you are welcome to steal it.

Breakfasts: same every day

Lunches: same every day

Snacks: a few options but its the same every day

Dinners:
Friday -
Saturday -
Sunday -
Monday -
Tuesday -
Wednesday -
Thursday -

5. Make your grocery list. Write down every ingredient you need. Then, check your cupboards and freezer - you might be able to eliminate some items!

6. Go shopping!

One other thing I do is use digital coupons for Safeway and Fry's. If you have a smartphone, they each have an app. You just scan the barcode of your card in the app and it links so you can choose coupons. You can do this on their website on your computer as well.

Good luck! Tonight, I'm making my favorite fried chicken and I'm hoping to post my first blogged recipe with pictures. Stay tuned!