(This is kind of a long post so I cut it in half – you can see the rest just by clicking the link at the bottom….)

So, I am sure some of you are much more domestically talented than I am.  Some of you may have been doing this for years, but I seriously just started using my crock pot about a year ago, before then I maybe pulled it out once a year and made something so boring I vowed to never use it again.

Well last year I started cooking with it more regularly and in the last 6 months or so we have really taken our relationship to another level.  And by ‘we’ I mean my crock pot and me………….. we love each other.

Pinterest has really helped our love grow, there is just all kinds of slow cooker inspiration there! – and my latest success was a Whole Slow Cooker Chicken – WHAT?! yep – and it is crazy easy!  Again, I didn’t invent this idea and won’t claim it as my own – there are tons of recipes out there doing the same thing – I was just so excited I had to share mine………

You all know I enjoy buying ‘quick sale’ meat and either cook that day or save for later.  Well – I must have hit Sprouts at just the right time the other day – because there was a TON of quick sale items – including a free range organic whole chicken – $1.49/lb! So the whole giant chicken was $7.63!

So here is how it went down……………..

Step 1) Ask someone else to take the bag of guts out of the bird for you (seriously – WHY do they include those?! NOBODY wants them!) – or be brave and take it out yourself – Mr. Deals & Steals was kind enough to do that for me.

Step 2) Cut a lemon in half and put both pieces inside – this may not be necessary – but I HIGHLY suggest it – my chicken was all kinds of awesome and I am sure the lemon had something to do with that.

Step 3) Sprinkle the spices of your choice on your birdie.  Keep in mind it will make yummy broth too so spices are great in that also.  I sprinkled paprika, pepper, granulated garlic, dehydrated onion, and parsley. Next time I will probably dice up a fresh onion and put in fresh garlic – but this worked just fine!

Step 4) Put the lid on it – that’s right – that is it!!! No water or anything else – just the chicken and a few spices.

Step 5) Set it to low and walk away from it for 7 ish hours (I am guessing this is different based on size of birdie – my chicken was about 5 lbs)

And about 7 hours later I was able to pull this deliciousness right off the bone – it just fell off and is super moist and delicious!  I froze about half of it right away, I used some in a recipe and left some to make sandwiches in the fridge.  I got several meals out of less than $8 – and it was organic and free range (we don’t always buy organic or free range – but I do as often as budget allows – my point is – you could even do this cheaper!!).  Meat is usually the most expensive part of a meal – I added just a few cups of this shredded chicken to veggies and brown rice in a mild curry sauce – the kids and hubby LOVED it and it worked out to just a couple dollars for ALL of us – not each – all!!!

(This is the the pan of veggies and curry I made, I guess it doesn’t really look that appetizing – but it totally was.  I wanted to show how we really used the chicken more as a garnish – there was probably 5X the veggies compared to chicken – I used carrots, cauliflower, onion, and a can of diced tomatoes along with a little curry paste – super easy and really good! We topped it off with a little Greek yogurt to make it creamy – delicious!!)

Also  – if you normally buy chicken stock for cooking you can save a few dollars here too! The chicken will make a couple cups of chicken stock!  I pulled the meat off the bone as you can see and then I put the bones back in the broth and covered it up again.  I put the slow cooker on low for 10 hours and let it just continue to pull out more flavor.  I simply drained it into a bowl and when room temp I put it in the fridge.  It was SUPER fatty so I scrapped the fat off the top and tossed it.  I put the broth into an air tight container and froze for later use.  I think I will use it in the next batch of baby food I make, but you could use it in anything!

I will absolutely be doing this again – I might start making one or two a month – it made dinner insanely easy and I think it might just cut our already fairly low grocery budget even more.  So life is gonna get easier AND we are gonna save money – how great is that?!

So this recipe might not be San Diego related – but I just had to share!

Enjoy ~ Kate

 

 

Tags: crock pot recipes, crock pot. slow cooker, easy recipes, saving money