Concept:: 15 minutes at a time

The main reason for not scratch  cooking is that it takes a big block of time and people are busy or don’t like to cook.   Learning ways to get a home cooked meal on the table by carving out snippets of time can be the solution.  Having a few appliances that make sense helps in the concept of efficient cooking.

The thought of cooking pasta and boiling water, storing, watching the pot, draining the pot while making sauce can be daunting if you  have worked all day on your feet.    But, layering already cooked hamburger, spaghetti noodles, sauce in a pot, pouring water or stock around the edge and closing the lid and setting it to cook is far easier.  You can make a quick salad while the insta pot is coming up to temperature and still have time to sit down with your feet up and watch the news.   I have a timer that I take with me. Spaghetti  needs to be a quick release when done so the pasta doesn’t overcook.

Making the components of meals in bits of time is a good way to make a short meal prep dinner.

• Chicken stock takes about ten minutes split into two sessions.  Saves a lot of money on the scheme of things, 
• Bread crumbs are easy, another five minute trick and saves another bundle of money .  Anything that takes almost no time and cuts your cost by 90-100 percent is a good way to stretch your budget. 
• Artisan bread is another 10 minute trick that makes a loaf of bread a bit more than a quarter instead of anywhere between 2.50 to 3.99 .
• Cooking a bulk batch of ground meat and de fatting it saves up to 17 percent of the fat and a lot of time. Buying your meat when it is at a RBP and buying bulk saves a lot of money.  
• Making a four pizza crust batch of pizza dough cost about 1.25. It costs 1.50-2.00 a dough ball at the store.   A pizza can be anywhere from 5.00 for a good frozen pizza to 20.00 for a delivery one.  A cheese pizza costs a buck.  The cost of a cup of flour has risen 7;10 of a cent, so add a couple of cents to that.  My granddaughter has been putting pizza together from the dough ball to oven ready since she was four years old.   It’s not hard and saves a lot of money.   It’s fun family time and children get experience and self confidence.   

Think of a recipe on hands on cooking time.   That’s not the time when the pot cooks, but, rather the time it takes you to fill that pot.   Slow cooker meals have long been a mainstay in the busy cook’s  bag of tricks.  Now, add the insta pot, food processor, and hot air fryer. 

Tacos can be made in 15 minutes flat when your meat is already cooked and you just add taco seasoning and a little water.   While the meat warms , you can chop lettuce, cut a tomato and gather the cheese and sauce.  Taco kits sometimes  be found at grocery outlet for a dollar.   

The insta pot makes quick work of Spanish rice, or regular rice for that matter when you put rice in the pot. Add an equal amount of water or stock and pit the lid on, set to seal and push the rice button. The cost is .03 a serving and redi rice is about .50 a serving if you get the package on sale. Pitting it on the microwave takes about the same time as setting up the insta pot.   

Canned beans, besides having sodium in them and being in a BPA can, cost anywhere between  .50 and 1.50.   Beans cost .0125 a serving or about .05 for the equivalent of a can.  Again, it is wash beans and pick out any rocks or bad beans. Pit on pot, add water to cover the beans about 1.5-2 inches above the beans, close he pot, set to seal and push the bean button.  Winco foods cans have no BPA. When the BPA was tested in a can of tomato sauce, the BPA was 6 parts per like 2 or 3 billion.  

Put  stew meat in the pot.  Sear  it of you want, or you can put it on frozen right out of the freezer.  
Add potatoes and carrots and stock, put the lid on, set to seal and program.  Use a recipe, but my recipe takes 35 minutes.   

Soups are just about as easy.   Cutting the vegetables are the most tome consuming, using the food processor helps with that.  

The only thing I wouldn’t try again is chili from raw beans.  Cook the beans first or use canned.  

Buying diced tomatoes with seasonings is a good trick.  Saves money and time.   

Anytime I can throw things on a pot and walk away to finish dinner or sit down with a glass of beverage (sparkling water) and put my feet up is a good thing.  Saving money is an added blessing.