Whole Chicken in a Crock-pot

     I had mentioned in my previous post about money saving ideas and one of the ways I save money for my family is by cooking a whole chicken. This gives us one healthy meal for dinner and leftovers for more dinners or lunches. It is super easy to make and the prep time is short. If it's a busy day this is a great fix it and forget it kind of meal. Best of all, its cheap! I paid $1.09/lb not on sale. You can find these as low as $0.98/lb in my area (Southern California) -not bad at all! 

Whole Crock-pot Chicken 

Ingredients

1 small fryer chicken 5-6lbs depending on the size of your crock-pot
2 stalks celery, washed and chopped
4 carrots, washed, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic minced 
Garlic powder 
pepper 
Mrs dash original seasoning 
1 lemon inside chicken 


Directions 
First  chop your vegetables and garlic and throw them in your crock-pot.

 Next unwrap the chicken and remove the innards. Give the chicken a good rinse and pat dry with paper towels.

Now comes the easy part just place the chicken in the crock-pot and season to your liking. I did not do exact measurements I just seasoned both sides up really well with the pepper, Mrs. dash, and garlic powder.
Cut a lemon or two in half and stick them inside the chicken. This will help give it great flavor.

Place the lid on, set on low and walk away. Depending on the weight of your chicken it will take roughly 7 hours. This is what it will look like when it is finished. it is so tender.

 Happy cooking and saving everyone. Until next time, best wishes from my family to yours!  

Money Saving Tips!

Hello everyone!
     I am always getting asked by people how to save money. Truth be told I love to coupon but I understand that it isn't for everyone. Below I am going to list some ways that I save money for my family that don't include couponing. I will do a follow up post in the near future about couponing but these are some great tips if you don't want to coupon!

     1.Menu plan! This is probably my most important tip. You wouldn't want to by a watermelon in mid December, not only is it not going to taste as great but it is going to be double the cost. Plan your menu around what is currently on sale for the week (fruits, veggies, and meat).

     2. Use foods such as rice, pasta, and potatoes to bulk up your meal. They are inexpensive and they fill you up. A side salad is also a cheap healthy side option.

     3. Try to only drink soda on occasion. There are plenty of cheap drink options. I'm from NC so I personally love sweet tea, its cheap and super easy to make. Water with Mio, green tea, Kool-Aid, or water with lemon are also great low cost options.

     4. Do a whole chicken in the crock-pot once a week. You can have it for dinner that night with veggies and then take the rest off the bone and cut and shred it up for future meals. Some meals I love to use it in are bbq chicken sandwiches, chicken salad, chicken and rice and chicken crescents. After the chicken is off the bone put the remains back into the crock-pot and make homemade chicken stock (Freezes well).

     5.Freezer cooking. Make things like pancakes, muffins, breakfast sandwiches and even dinners ahead of time and freeze. This will save you from being in a rush or to tired to cook and just running through a fast food restaurant.

     6. This may be an obvious one but don't let your leftovers go to waste. Eat what you have left for lunch the next day or turn it in to another meal.

     7. If you can make it, do so. Pancakes, bread, muffins, cookies, brownies etc... It is cheaper then buying the boxed stuff most of the time and you can control the ingredients and preservatives that go in to your food.

     8. Buy seasonal. This sort of goes back to menu planing, but buying fruits and vegetables that are currently in season is going to save tons of money. Oh man what I wouldn't do for a delicious watermelon right now :/

     9. Stock up on things your family will use when they go on sale. You don't need to use coupons to stock up. If you are buying something on sale it is still better then having to pay full price for the same item you are going to buy a week from now anyways. So you might as well pick up a few extra.

     10. Make your own laundry soap and cleaning supplies. I have another post on here about how to make laundry soap. It is one of the things that saves me the most money.

     I hope you find these tips helpful to you and your family. Saving money can easily be done if you just plan ahead.  Now get out there and save!!

(not my pic)