Week #1 Challenge Check in

Well it has officially begun, The Home Independence Challenge.

The first topic we are going to cover is meal planning. I know you have probably heard it a million times. Plan your meals, you can save money.  But you are probably thinking I really don't have time to think about creating a menu. I know that I was thinking it many times. But I have learned how to cut corners so to speak and actually make it work.

I am still in the planning stages for the most part when it comes to meal planning. But it is getting better, I really promise you.

For perfect example: Tonight I made a roasted chicken for dinner. I will now throw that chicken in the crock pot tomorrow and cook on low all day (after adding the appropriate amount of water). So now while I am working the crock pot will be cooking. When I get home I will find two things, a wonderful chicken broth and the leftover meat from the chicken will be falling right off the bone.  So I can take only a couple of minutes to pull off whatever meat didn't actually just fall off and add it to the broth. Throw all of that broth and meat into a container and freeze. There we go, I have just started another nights meal. During the winter we love stews and soups, plus anything I can do in the crock pot just makes my life so much easier. 

So there is the crucial step one of menu planning. Actually thinking ahead and putting together a portion of a future meal.  So now I know that I have broth with chicken already in it, safely tucked into the freezer. Now to use it in the future, I just pop it into the crock pot with some veggies and most likely rice, as the rice works so much better in the crock pot than noodles.  When I get home the house smells so good and there is a hot meal just waiting for us.

I try and do this every time we have chicken. Whether it is legs or a roaster it all can make some wonderful broth.  I have several ways that I save the broth.  You can do it like I have stated above and have it pre-made into another meal or just freeze it in ice cube trays....Yes I said Ice Cube Trays. I also do this because each cube is the equivalent of 1 oz.  So if I want to substitute chicken broth in something instead of water I can. Simply by remembering for every cup of water it has 8 oz of liquid. So 1 cup water would be 8 ice cubes.

So as you are cooking think about how tonight's left overs can make another meal without a lot of work.