Many people turn to ordering expensive takeout or going out to pricey restaurants because the prospect of cooking a meal at home in the evening seems like a tiring proposition.
Preparing the meal, then cleaning up all of those dishes sounds like a lot of work.
And, if you go to a restaurant, all of that is taken care of for you. If you grab takeout, you just toss everything in the trash.
The easy solution to this problem is a one-pot meal.
This dish is just what it sounds like — everything you need for a meal is prepared and served in one pot, meaning that you only have one item to put in the dishwasher (along with plates and silverware). One-pot meals are usually quick and rely on a handful of ingredients, so they’re quite easy to pull off.
There are many collections of one-pot meals available. Search online for the phrase “one-pot meals,” and you’ll find tons of great recipe lists. What really matters in terms of your wallet is keeping the cost low and keeping the effort low, so you’re less likely to order takeout or dine out.
Here are four great strategies for keeping one-pot meals inexpensive and easy.
Keep the key ingredients for a few favorites at home at all times. For example, let’s say that your family loves one-pot spaghetti, which is easy to make as a one-pot meal since you boil the pasta right in the sauce with a bit of additional water. Simply keep the ingredients — a box of pasta sauce, a jar of spaghetti, one pound of optional ground beef (frozen) and some diced onions and green peppers (frozen) — in stock at all times. And you can assemble the meal at any time you wish.
Even better, organize your pantry or cupboards, so you can quickly find the ingredients for your favorite one-pot meals. Keep boxes of pasta next to your jars of pasta sauce so you can open the door, grab the items you need and get right down to business.
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(Daniel J. van Ackere/America’s Test Kitchen via AP)
Daniel J. van Ackere/America’s Test Kitchen via AP
Seek out cheap bulk buys on those key ingredients. If you’re regularly making one-pot spaghetti, you’re probably going through pasta and sauce on a rapid basis, making those ingredients great targets for a bulk buy at your local warehouse club. Seek out an affordable price on several jars of pasta sauce and several boxes of pasta at once, which will save you a lot of money over the long haul.
Items that you can buy in bulk and freeze are also good choices if the price-per-serving is lower with the bulk buy or there’s a sale. For example, you might want to buy several bags of diced onions and green peppers if they’re on sale, bulking up your freezer with a key ingredient for one-pot spaghetti.
[See: 12 Habits of Phenomenally Frugal Families.]
(Photo by Lisa Lake/Getty Images for Audi)
Photo by Lisa Lake/Getty Images for Audi
Organize the ingredients, so you can grab them quickly. When you’re busy in the evenings, little time savers that can shave 30 seconds here or a minute there from your preparation time can make a big difference. You can make that a reality with one-pot meals by getting the ingredients as ready as you can in advance.
For example, if you want to make one-pot spaghetti as easy as possible, make portions of the spaghetti in advance, already broken up to your desired size, and store them in individual bags or other containers in the pantry. When you come home with a box of pasta and only intend to use half of it, take half out of the box, break it up, and store it in a bag, then take the other half, break that up, and put it back in the box, sealing it with a bit of tape. Then, when you’re prepping that one-pot spaghetti meal, you can just grab a bag or a box from the pantry and it’s already measured and broken up for you — just dump it straight in the pan.
[See: 20 Tips for Saving Money at the Grocery Store.]
(IKEA via AP)
IKEA via AP
Make enough for at least one complete leftover meal. When you’re making a one-pot meal, don’t hesitate to make more than you’ll need for dinner that night. Not only is adjusting a recipe upward usually easier than cutting it, you’ll also have leftovers, and that’s a good thing.
One-pot meals almost always work wonderfully for leftovers because you can easily pack up a meal-sized portion of a one-pot dinner in a single reusable container for consumption the next day. Just pop the container in the microwave, and you’re ready to eat. Because one-pot meals lend themselves so naturally to leftovers, making extra servings is a great regular practice. It saves time and money on future lunches.
One-pot meals are a great solution for busy families who want to keep dinner costs low while also enjoying an evening meal together. Try out a one-pot meal or two today, and if you find they work well for you and your family, use some of the above strategies to keep the cost and time requirement low.
(AP Photo/Matthew Mead)
