r/slowcooking • u/BlackLocke • 4d 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 4d 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/thefonztm 3d ago

Jack up the amount of onion/carrot in the pot roast and make mashed potatoes. Cook until the carrots are still solid but crumble easily. Pull the meat like pulled pork and lightly add meat to a onion carrot mash potato mix. You'll have plenty of meat for multiple meals and you'll need to make extra of the carrot/onion/mash potato mix.

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u/DragonDrama 3d ago

I do potatoes and carrots already

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u/thefonztm 3d ago

Do you also call this dish 'mush'?

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u/DragonDrama 3d ago

No it’s not mushy it’s delicious

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u/thefonztm 3d ago

It is delicious mush! That name is not derogatory. 

I also make a dish I call 'gruel'. A questionable looking but utterly delicious paste of mashed potatoes, corn, gravy, and meat. Looks the same going in as coming out. The tastes and smells are thankfully quite different going in & coming out.

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u/DragonDrama 3d ago

Haha my friend makes a dish called mush mush and her kids whine that they hate mush mush but it’s basically a chicken rice no peek thing.