Beginning my crock pot adventure

If you know me really well, then you probably know I hate to cook.  Actually, I suppose that's not entirely true.  I like to cook {especially baking}, but I usually don't have the energy or the time.  Or the energy.  Or the time.  Yay toddlers!

Anyway, this has led me to try and troubleshoot the problem.  I've mulled frequently about how I want to address this problem, stay on budget and save my sanity.  I think that answer may rest in my slow cooker.  I seen pins daily in my Pinterest feed about crock pot meals and I make them from time to time, but I think it's an underutilized kitchen appliance in my home {which by the way, I have decided against burning down}.  So after doing a good chunk of research, I've decided to give this a go.

The best part about this is going to be that I'm also making this a freezer meal project.  My goal is to go to the grocery store {hopefully cutting my bill down a little by doing this}, prep all the food on Sunday when I have parental back-up and can commit to being in the kitchen without a kid trying to climb me like a tree, then throw said meals into the freezer for use later in the week.  It's just crazy enough to work.  I'm sure the thought of having a guaranteed meal to come home to is pretty tantalizing to Chris.  

Another problem this will solve for our household is that of never having anything planned in terms of meals on the weekends.  When I was growing up, it was always my mom's policy to have what she affectionately termed "fend-for-yourself weekends".  She would cook dinners and make lunches all week, but on the weekend it came to us to figure out what we were eating {obviously this was when I was older}.  I had adopted this policy as well, because, heck, who wants to cook seven days straight, amiright?  This irked Chris to no end.  And as much as I want to take care of him as my spouse, blah, blah, blah, I am super excited that this will put an end to his weekend whine sessions of "whaaaaat can I eeeeeeat?????"

It's a win/win.

So, I am planning out now what recipes I'm going to make and what I'm going to need at the grocery store.  If this could cut down on some of the expenditure there I would do a happy, happy dance.  Here's what I'm planning:

Jambalaya 

BBQ pulled chicken

Cheesy Chili Chicken

Chicken Teriyaki

Pizza {my off night}

Hopefully this will all go according to plan.  I've found all kinds of recipes for the crock pot, so if this goes well, maybe I can serve a more regular meal plan.

Fingers crossed!