Sunday Church Meals

We tend to eat just one big meal on Sundays after church. Typically we try to make ourselves available to go out to eat with anyone from church that wants us to go as a way of spending time with friends. Recently, we've been making BIG changes to save on our budget and so our most recent attempt is to eat at home on Sundays as much as possible. The big problem though is that Sunday mornings are longggggg for our family in particular and so by the time church lets out in the early afternoon, I've got a very hungry family to feed that is famished! LOL

My new attempt at solving this problem is yet again, my crock-pot. I've come up with a list of crock-pot meals that work well to cook during church and are done by the time we arrive home. Now if someone asks us to go to lunch we can offer to have them over instead and the meal is at home waiting for us all. Not every crock-pot meal works well because it's only going to cook during the service. I also have to discipline myself to get up early enough to throw the crock-pot ingredients together and tidy up the house real quick. No one said that saving money would be easy...in fact, it's hard work, but it's worth it! Like Dave Ramsey says, "live like no one else so that later you can LIVE like no one else!"

So, here are my Sunday Crock-pot meals that I've tried or am going to try.....
Chicken Enchiladas (cook chicken over night in the crock on low and assemble the rest of the ingredients in the morning and cook on low while at church)

Green Chicken Chili served on warmed tortillas (cook frozen chicken breasts on high with ingredients while at church. Before serving, remove chicken, chop it and return it to the crock)

Shepherd's Pie (cook ground meat and mashed potatoes the day before. Assemble in crock in the morning and cook on low during church. Gravy optional)

Shredded BBQ Beef Sandwiches (cook roast on low all night. Add BBQ sauce in the morning and cook on low during church. Before serving, shred the meat and serve with sliced cheese and rolls)

Meatball Subs (in the morning fill crock with frozen meatballs and one jar of pasta sauce. cook on low while at church. Serve with sub rolls and provolone cheese.)

Taco Soup (brown meat ahead of time. in the morning put all ingredients into the crock and cook on low while at church. Serve with corn bread or pita chips that were made the day before.)

Baked Potato Bar (wrap potatoes in foil and cook on low over night. I haven't tried doing these for Sundays yet but I think I would turn off the crock in the early morning and remove the lid and then before leaving for church I'd put the lid back on and turn it back on low. The break in cooking would help prevent them from being over done while we were at church.)

Chicken Broccoli Stuffing Casserole (assemble ingredients in the morning and cook on high while at church)

Most soups will work as well cooked on low from the time you get up and while you're at church. If it's a soup with something like lentils that need to cook a long time, you could try cooking it on high while you are gone.

Most chicken roasted/baked recipes will work well cooked on high while you are gone.