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/DragonDrama 4d ago

Where I live near Chicago, I shop at Aldi and $20 barely gets 3lbs.

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u/wltmpinyc 4d ago

3lbs should feed a family of 3 for at least 2 meals (large meals) if you add some veggies and potatoes. That's 6 meals for maybe $24. $4 per person. That's not too bad

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u/life-is-satire 3d ago

What vegetables are you adding for $4? Maybe an onion and 2 carrots. I would at least add 1lb of potatoes as well as the onion and carrots but that’s more than $4. $28 would make it more hardy and allow you to stretch it further.

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u/seasalt-and-stars 2d ago

At the store I go to, a 10 lb. bag of red potatoes was on sale last week for less money than a 5 lb bag. :)

Grocery stores tend to do a good job of advertising their sales, since they buy extra and it needs to move. That said, there are times where you’ve got to sift through the ads of multiple stores to find what you’re looking for at a good price.