Stocking the Pantry for Crockpot Cooking

The basics to stocking the pantry -- you will be surprised at how easy it is to Crockpot cook. It takes me about 15 minutes in the morning to prepare and put everything in the Crockpot and cleanup. I set the Crockpot to cook on low all day. By the time we get home late afternoon, we then turn it down to warm and leave it set at that until time to eat. How easy is that. The only cleanup will be your dinner dishes and one pot (your Crockpot), unless you decided to add a side dish. By cleaning up my preparation in the morning, it only took a couple of minutes then, I have little to clean up in the evening. Remember to read and apply the safety suggestions from your Crockpot maker (especially when leaving it on at home alone all day).

After a few recipes you'll see that you can just about throw anything in the Crockpot from your pantry and have a wonderful dinner. There are many books and websites out there with Crockpot recipes. Remember regardless where you get your recipes, you can modify the ingredients in any recipe to what you like.

The leftovers make a great lunch for the next day, not only a healthier lunch than fast food but your saving what you would have spent to eat out.

There are certain items that I will use on a regular basis in my Crockpot recipes. I am all about saving time and making cooking easy. So when I see something on sale that I know I use on a regular basis, I stock up on it (and don't forget to check your coupons). I use a lot of prepared canned goods, we want quick and easy. You can make your own spices and sauces from scratch and sometimes I do too if I'm feeling ambitious. In fact I have a favorite spice I mix up and keep on hand. I use it in most everything. It is nothing more than a mixture of course ground pepper, salt and garlic powder.

The following is just a basic list of what I keep in my pantry, this way I can create and or modify any Crockpot recipe. You can modify this list to fit your family needs.

Stocking the Pantry

Chicken and Beef Broth (mainly chicken broth)

Spicy tomato sauce (in the ethnic aisle in your grocery store) we use the El Pato brand

My favorite pasta sauces, garden variety, mushroom or just plain spaghetti sauce

Pre-made mixes and sauces like stew mix, pot roast mix, onion soup mix, or make your own homemade mixes

Enchilada sauces (I always keep a can of green sauce on hand)

Canned vegetables (or fresh)

Canned cream soups, cream of chicken or cream of mushroom

Flavored Stew or diced tomatoes canned

Worcestershire Sauce

Soy Sauce

Flour

Baking Soda

Dried Beans (pinto, white, lima whatever your favorites are)

Olive Oil

Potatoes

Onions

Carrots (I like to use the baby carrots)

Whatever spices you like to cook with

Another great idea is either once a month or every two weeks make ahead and freeze all your dinners. You could have a Saturday afternoon girls freezer dinner party. You and some friends could get together split the cost and work and make your freezer meals for the week, month or whatever time period you want. Once you have your freezer meals put together all you have to do is pull a dinner package out the evening before or morning of to let it thaw out. Then throw it with a few spices into your Crockpot the next morning, or put in the oven when you get home the next evening. Interested in more recipes to keep organized Click Here!

A food vacuum saver of some sort is great kitchen essential. Ours has more than paid for itself, we not only use it for pre-making dinners, but we like to buy larger packages of meat (these packages run about $1 or more a pound cheaper than the smaller packages), we then and then cut them down into whatever Crockpot meals we will be making.

Another kitchen essential is a dehydrator, especially if you grow your own vegetables or herbs. We grow our own peppers and dry them in the dehydrator (outside of course, depending on the peppers) to use for fresh spices and in the gift jars. Note: Don't let the size of your Crockpot dictate how much to cook. This was my problem, I felt like I had to fill the Crockpot, but in reality I was wasting food. Yes we did take leftovers for lunch, but there was still leftovers that went to waste.

Also the nice thing about Crockpot cooking, cleanup was so much easier. I now clean my preparation dishes as I cook so that clean up is minimal after dinner. Keeping the pantry stocked ensures you'll always be able to throw a quick, easy and healthy meal together.

Here are a few of my favorite recipes:

Crockpot Recipes -- Beans

Crockpot Recipes -- Soups and Stews

Crockpot Recipes -- Other

Homemade Mixes


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