Here is something very versatile: Seasoned shredded chicken for use in chicken tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas and casseroles. Make enough to use over 3 or 4 days and the rest freezes well in smaller containers to defrost one at a time.
Take chicken thighs. Remove the skin to reduce the fat or just dump them in the crockpot. Add 1/2 cup water and 1/2 small 6 ounce can tomato paste (put the rest of the tomato paste in a baggie in the freezer and you can use it next time.) Add Mexican seasoning.* Cook on high 4 to 6 hours until it shreds when you stick a fork in it. Cool a bit. Discard skin and bone if it has the bone there will just be one big one. If you use breasts, use boneless or you will be fishing tiny bones out. Put a couple pieces at a time in a bowl and shred with 2 forks, this should be easy. Add some liquid from the pot and toss to moisten. Lime juice squeezed on makes it even better but not necessary. Leftover liquid can be used in place of water in packaged enchilada sauce mix (the envelope kind.)
Taco - fry corn tortillas and stuff with warm chicken, cheese, lettuce, salsa.
Quesadilla - fry flour tortilla top with cheese, a bit of chicken and salsa. Top with another tortilla, flip when lightly browned and crisp the other side. Sour cream and guac are good.
Enchilada - Use canned or prepare sauce from envelope ( if you ever want to make it, it is easy, but a few steps and a little messy.) Warm a few corn tortillas in the microwave for 20 seconds so they are pliable. Place about 1 Tbsp chicken and 1 Tbsp shredded cheese across the middle and rollup. Place in a pan, I do about 6 or 8 at a time. Cover with enchilada sauce and top with a little more cheese. Heat for 30 minutes at 350F. If you don't want to roll up, you can layer it in a casserole. Layer sauce, tortillas, chicken, corn or beans if you like, cheese, repeat.
* You can also use a cup or more of prepared Salsa in place of water/tomato paste/seasoning. Or a can of tomatoes instead of water+tomato sauce. I use Penzey's Chicken taco seasoning (www.Penzeys.com) which has salt, garlic powder, pure chile powder, cumin, black pepper etc. You can buy these separate spicer cheaper at a Mexican grocer or use a packet of chicken taco seasoning from the store to test if you like this dish.
Now you can do the same thing with Asian seasoning. Use chicken broth or bullion, couple spoons of soy sauce, fresh ginger and couple scallions. Or even a bit of powdered ginger. A couple dashes of rice wine vinegar. Cook this and use for chow mein noodles with vegetables or stuffing for egg rolls (very easy, buy the wrapper, roll and fry.) For egg rolls I use thinly sliced napa cabbage, shredded carrot and bean sprouts and sliced green onion fried up and mixed with the chicken. You can do same for chow mein, add pea pods or broccoli and cooked chinese style thin chow mein noodles or even thin spaghetti noodles.
Virtually any stew or soup can become a slowcooker meal, so you're not limited to ones that just say, "slow cooker!" I am a busy, working student, and what I like to do is keep some basic veggies on hand: carrots, onion, celery, and then I'll see what is cheapest in the meat aisle. Often times, that involves tougher pieces of meat, but guess what? Those are ideal for slow cookers. So yeah, stews and braises are perf for a slow cooker. I also do chicken and noodles which, is chicken in a gravy that is stretched with vegetables, and then stretched even further when it's served on pasta. All of these sort of saucy/gravy-ey dishes freeze very well too. And chili, chili is always good, and the leftovers make awesome nachos.
Speaking from similar experience, for cheap meals using crock pot:
- whole chicken is very cheap. If you don't have enough time to separating the meat and the bones, just use chicken thighs and reduce the cooking time
http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/02/25/recipe-the-best-whole-chicken-in-a-crock-pot/
- http://www.getcrocked.com/2011/11/23/crock-pot-smoked-sausage-green-beans-and-potatoes/
- for breakfast, steel cut oats is the cheapest (than bread/cerea/old fashioned oatmeal) and most filling. You can cook for 4 days in 1 go. 1 cup steel cut oats, 4.5 cup water/milk (though the oatmeal using water last longer in fridge), 1/2 tsp salt, cook overnight on low. Add whatever topping you want in your bowl of oatmeal, and save the rest in the fridge. I even have hot oatmeal as a dinner sometimes, with soysauce, sesame oil, and raw egg (the heat from the oat cook the egg, making it silky and has more protein).
- cabbage is cheap too, filling, and healthy http://www.successful-diet-cabbage-soup.com/crockpot-soup-recipes.html
Don't do crock pot. They're usually really not good for you.
Get a cheap rice cooker/steamer. I say cheap..because the expensive ones don't allow the addition of steamer basket.
These are 20 buck things...Rival is best price function. You want one button--do NOT get fancy ones. One button and cheap.
With those you can cook rice and in the steamer basket you can add veggies like squash, a handfull of fresh green beans, and even talipa, shrimp, salmon. seasoned and steamed. A great meal for cheap in a little steamer cooker thingy. Here's a great model with all you need. for 22 bucks.
http://www.target.com/p/rival-6-cup-rice-cooker-red-rc61/-/A-10266987?ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001&AFID=google_pla_df&LNM=10266987&CPNG=Appliances&kpid=10266987&LID=3pgs&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=10266987&kpid=10266987&gclid=CNWC17en58ACFeRj7AodD1oA1Q
Vitamins break down with heat...when you cook things for hours and hours you break down vitamins. Yeah..rice cookers and crock pots are different beasts.
I wish I could find the citation..but one person in the 1800's tried to replicate scurvy...by only eating food 'slow cooked' for hours and hours. Just to see if some 'vital' thing in the food was missing and destroyed.
I am going to have to respectfully disagree. More nutrients are lost by high heat cooking and slow cookers recapture nutrients because of keeping the food fully enclosed. I actually put more stock in not eating processed foods (yay for a college student cooking for themselves), eating produce that is locally grown and proteins from animals raised in a kind and respectful way whenever possible than I do the method of cooking.
If your going to scare people who use crock pots or slow cookers, be responsible and prepared enough to cite where you're getting the facts. The 1800's? scurvy? You have to do better than that.
@Haphazard - Good for you for cooking on a budget with your crockpot. There are so many online resources and cookbooks in the library to satisfy your every craving. If there's something specific you have in mind I can help you convert a recipe for the slow cooker. Just reply back. I love making beef stew in the slow cooker.
You could use the search function on this site. Type in slow cooker and choose recipes. I just went to google and did a search for cheap slow cooker recipes and many sites popped up. I clicked on the first one and saw 3 recipes that I want to try. A slow cooker is such a great gadget for a college student. I've had mine for years and use it all the time.
10 Comments
Lot's of stuff.
Take chicken thighs. Remove the skin to reduce the fat or just dump them in the crockpot. Add 1/2 cup water and 1/2 small 6 ounce can tomato paste (put the rest of the tomato paste in a baggie in the freezer and you can use it next time.) Add Mexican seasoning.* Cook on high 4 to 6 hours until it shreds when you stick a fork in it. Cool a bit. Discard skin and bone if it has the bone there will just be one big one. If you use breasts, use boneless or you will be fishing tiny bones out. Put a couple pieces at a time in a bowl and shred with 2 forks, this should be easy. Add some liquid from the pot and toss to moisten. Lime juice squeezed on makes it even better but not necessary. Leftover liquid can be used in place of water in packaged enchilada sauce mix (the envelope kind.)
Taco - fry corn tortillas and stuff with warm chicken, cheese, lettuce, salsa.
Quesadilla - fry flour tortilla top with cheese, a bit of chicken and salsa. Top with another tortilla, flip when lightly browned and crisp the other side. Sour cream and guac are good.
Enchilada - Use canned or prepare sauce from envelope ( if you ever want to make it, it is easy, but a few steps and a little messy.) Warm a few corn tortillas in the microwave for 20 seconds so they are pliable. Place about 1 Tbsp chicken and 1 Tbsp shredded cheese across the middle and rollup. Place in a pan, I do about 6 or 8 at a time. Cover with enchilada sauce and top with a little more cheese. Heat for 30 minutes at 350F. If you don't want to roll up, you can layer it in a casserole. Layer sauce, tortillas, chicken, corn or beans if you like, cheese, repeat.
* You can also use a cup or more of prepared Salsa in place of water/tomato paste/seasoning. Or a can of tomatoes instead of water+tomato sauce. I use Penzey's Chicken taco seasoning (www.Penzeys.com) which has salt, garlic powder, pure chile powder, cumin, black pepper etc. You can buy these separate spicer cheaper at a Mexican grocer or use a packet of chicken taco seasoning from the store to test if you like this dish.
Now you can do the same thing with Asian seasoning. Use chicken broth or bullion, couple spoons of soy sauce, fresh ginger and couple scallions. Or even a bit of powdered ginger. A couple dashes of rice wine vinegar. Cook this and use for chow mein noodles with vegetables or stuffing for egg rolls (very easy, buy the wrapper, roll and fry.) For egg rolls I use thinly sliced napa cabbage, shredded carrot and bean sprouts and sliced green onion fried up and mixed with the chicken. You can do same for chow mein, add pea pods or broccoli and cooked chinese style thin chow mein noodles or even thin spaghetti noodles.
- whole chicken is very cheap. If you don't have enough time to separating the meat and the bones, just use chicken thighs and reduce the cooking time
http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/02/25/recipe-the-best-whole-chicken-in-a-crock-pot/
- http://www.getcrocked.com/2011/11/23/crock-pot-smoked-sausage-green-beans-and-potatoes/
- for breakfast, steel cut oats is the cheapest (than bread/cerea/old fashioned oatmeal) and most filling. You can cook for 4 days in 1 go. 1 cup steel cut oats, 4.5 cup water/milk (though the oatmeal using water last longer in fridge), 1/2 tsp salt, cook overnight on low. Add whatever topping you want in your bowl of oatmeal, and save the rest in the fridge. I even have hot oatmeal as a dinner sometimes, with soysauce, sesame oil, and raw egg (the heat from the oat cook the egg, making it silky and has more protein).
- cabbage is cheap too, filling, and healthy http://www.successful-diet-cabbage-soup.com/crockpot-soup-recipes.html
Good luck! Let me know if you need anything more.
Get a cheap rice cooker/steamer. I say cheap..because the expensive ones don't allow the addition of steamer basket.
These are 20 buck things...Rival is best price function. You want one button--do NOT get fancy ones. One button and cheap.
With those you can cook rice and in the steamer basket you can add veggies like squash, a handfull of fresh green beans, and even talipa, shrimp, salmon. seasoned and steamed. A great meal for cheap in a little steamer cooker thingy. Here's a great model with all you need. for 22 bucks.
http://www.target.com/p/rival-6-cup-rice-cooker-red-rc61/-/A-10266987?ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001&AFID=google_pla_df&LNM=10266987&CPNG=Appliances&kpid=10266987&LID=3pgs&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=10266987&kpid=10266987&gclid=CNWC17en58ACFeRj7AodD1oA1Q
Rice cookers and slow cookers are apples and oranges. One is not better than the other...just different.
I wish I could find the citation..but one person in the 1800's tried to replicate scurvy...by only eating food 'slow cooked' for hours and hours. Just to see if some 'vital' thing in the food was missing and destroyed.
Voted the Best Reply!
@Haphazard - Good for you for cooking on a budget with your crockpot. There are so many online resources and cookbooks in the library to satisfy your every craving. If there's something specific you have in mind I can help you convert a recipe for the slow cooker. Just reply back. I love making beef stew in the slow cooker.