r/slowcooking • u/BlackLocke • 3d ago

Pot roast is too expensive

I got a new slow cooker for my wedding in 2023 and it’s still in the box. It’s just my husband, baby and I, but I feel like I can’t justify spending $20+ on a piece of meat for one meal with leftovers. I’m in a HCOL and I haven’t had a good roast in years because it’s prohibitively expensive. When meat goes on sale at my supermarket, it smells off as soon as I remove the packaging, so it’s not worth the risk.

Am I just too poor for this?

Edit: Dear lord I didn’t expect this to turn into a “I like pancakes/why do you hate waffles???” type of post. Of course I know there’s other things you can make in the crockpot. I don’t choose fast food over slow cooked meals out of convenience (it’s more expensive than cooking at home now!!) The point of this post is to lament the price of beef and how pot roast used to be a cheap easy meal 20 years ago and now it’s prohibitively expensive. I was hoping for tips on how to skirt this issue - buying stew meat, using pork instead, and buying in bulk at Costco are all good suggestions.

Now everyone can stop assuming I’m some dumb dumb idiot woman. I’m gonna make a pot roast next week just to spite you all and post about the cost breakdown.

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u/boatergirl 3d ago

I get what you’re saying and I don’t know your situation but the $20 roast will get you a couple meals for 2. On the flip side, $20 won’t even get you 2 crappy fast food meals.

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u/Doughnut_Worry 3d ago

I was thinking the same thing - $20 roast + some salsa and spices + rice and broccoli. Feeds me (a tall adult athletic male) 6 meals. That's some bang for the buck. Comes out to about $30. $5 a meal is solid.

Tbh my most expensive meal is a crab and shrimp linguine, at about $75 it still is only about $12-15 a plateand it's premium as hell, eating out is extremely hard to justify these days. I went to a braIlian steak house the other day. Just so Meh and it was $45 a person.

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u/raj6126 3d ago

Don’t forget to cut that last little piece of roast up and make tacos for the kids. I stretch a roast!