68. Implement "Slow Cooker Sundays"

This is the second month (2 for 2 so far!!) I've successfully created a monthly menu for my family and stuck to it. Now anyone who knows me knows that my taste in food is a little...um...limited. But I'm trying to break out of my comfort zone and vary our dinners a little so we're not eating baked chicken or pork every night.

The idea of the menu actually first came about because we never seemed to be able to stick to our monthly food budget. Even though we'd shop sales and try to be frugal it just wasn't working for us. We were still making many trips to the store, picking up items we didn't need or unnecessarily eating out. All of that kept throwing us way over budget. So I decided to create a menu then use that to make a grocery list of the month. We'd make one large trip to Sam's Club and one large trip to Kroger and then we would make another trip in the middle of the month to replace the perishable items. Jason was pretty skeptical in the beginning and didn't think it would make much of a difference. But last month we came the closest ever to sticking to our food budget and so far this month we're UNDER budget! We're so excited!

So...while making the menus I noticed that we cook a lot. And it gets old. And tiresome. And by the weekend...I just want a break. I wanted some family time. I didn't want to have to worry about coming home and cooking dinner. So I decided that I would just do a crock pot meal on Sundays so I didn't have to deal with cooking after a great day of playing! I'm happy to announce that the last eight Sundays we've had a slow cooker meal. I've already reused recipes because again...I'm not an adventurous one when it comes to food...but we're working on gathering new recipes. I have two new ones I'm ready to add to next month's menu. The ones I've tried so far are:

• Marie's Easy Pot Roast (tradition pot roast with onion soup mix)
• Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings
• Cream of Celery Pork Chops and Rice
• Paula Dean's Pot Roast (with creamy soup and bay leaves)
• Keia's Romantic Beef Stew

Yes. I know that's five recipes for eight Sundays. I said I had two new ones ready to add! If you have a great, simple recipe for the crock pot...please add it in the comments!

Now...I know it's only been two months...but I'm crossing another item off my bucket list...I have implemented "Slow Cooker Sundays".