So...

So we've been at the hospital. Emma had to go back in Sunday. We got back yesterday. My husband and I have been keeping a thread going on one of our forums we frequent with information and I will just link it here rather than re-hashing: here you go.

Because I missed a whole week (poor guys) I will just be using last week's menu this week. I'll post a new two-week menu when I get next week's planned.

Skipped a day, here's why...

Emma (our four year old) had a febrile seizure (apparently she had a UTI and her fever spiked suddenly from 99 to 104-ish) and we spent the night dealing with that, her in the ER and then the PICU.

So no meatball sandwiches. Sorry guys. We'll do it soon.

The Company Chicken Casserole was apparently well-liked by my husband. He didn't have time to get reactions before he was running out the door because I called saying Emma had a seizure. For what it's worth. ;) I am hopeful the others liked it as well. It certainly made me drool while I was making it. Jeff said the predominant flavor was "chicken." Which is good, I suppose, in a chicken casserole.

You may wonder how I do my shopping...

...since we have only one car and my husband takes it to work. (Well, if you knew we have only one car.)

The answer is grocery delivery.

While Jeff (or all of us if I need to get out) can pick things up at the 24 hour supermarket as needed, when I forget something or whatever, for most of our tax season grocery shopping, I order from Vons online and have the food delivered. It costs a little more (no coupons, which I usually can save a lot with, plus a $12 delivery fee unless I am doing a BIG shop-- $150+-- and happen to be buying things they have a free delivery promotion for) but it is SO worth it. The delivery guy and I got to be quite good friends last year. This year there's a new one, I look forward to getting to know him! :) They are friendly, they bring the grocery bags right to my door, and it's wonderful.

I do occasionally buy things like avocados that I want to check for ripeness myself at the little market down the street, and that's where we pick up bread when we run out or snacks, since we can walk there and back and they have excellent produce. But I couldn't bring myself to drag the kids back and forth enough times to pick up everything I needed-- not to mention they have a limited selection of American products which tend to be higher priced, as they are an Armenian market-- so they fill more of a need of supplying things we decide we want suddenly/run out of in between large deliveries.

I just had my first delivery of the year and it is so nice to have all of next week's groceries put away waiting for me. (Usually I'll do it biweekly but we bought the first week's in the store.) The process to order online makes thing simpler, too-- I don't have to write a paper list, I can just toggle windows between my menu, my recipes, and the shopping page.

So what crockpot are you going to use for this?

I've had some conversations with people about this so I thought I'd do this post in a question/answer format. So here you go!

So what kind of crockpot are you going to use for this?

I just bought a new one: the Hamilton Beach Set & Forget Stay or Go 6 Quart Slow Cooker. (That, by the way, is the store with the cheapest price for it that I could find. Their website also lets you check your local store for availability; if they have it in-store you can save yourself shipping, or if they don't they also have a ship-to-store option where you order online and pick it up in-store.)

Why did you choose that one?

I chose that one because I wanted a larger-capacity crockpot with a lid that sealed for easy transportation of a full crock and a programmable timer that would cook for a set time and then turn to "warm." Rival makes a 6.5 qt. model that claims to, but all the reviews I found of that one said, "Don't do it! Steer clear! It's poorly designed and falls apart after a few uses!" This model, on the other hand (Hamilton Beach model 33967) gets very highly favorable reviews everywhere I look (with the exception of a few people who said theirs had faulty wiring or something and wouldn't turn on, but they also said that customer service was quite helpful and they were able to get replacements without a problem.) One reviewer said their crock full of chili slid off the car seat driving somewhere and it didn't spill a drop, the gasket-seal lid kept it all in! It also can be used in probe thermometer mode to cook a roast or meatloaf or whatever to a desired temperature rather than time, which is rather awesome, and has a spoon that clips right into the top so you don't lose it, which is a nice bonus. I don't know that I'll ever use the probe but I like having that option. And it looks like an all-around good value.

But it's from Hamilton Beach, so it's not really a "Crock Pot" then, is it?

No. You're right. It's technically a slow cooker. Crock Pot is a registered trademark of Rival brand, and in the past I have really been very loyal to their brand, because most of their products seem to be the best intersection of consistent quality and low price. However some of their "fancier" models get reviews saying that they cook too hot, fall apart, etc. So if I'm going to spend that much money on a slow cooker, I'm looking for one with better reviews. As for why I call it a crockpot when it is actually a slow cooker, in my family and community the terms are interchangable. Like saying "Kleenex" when you mean "tissue," or "Scotch tape" when you mean "cellophane tape" (or "Sellotape" if you're British, apparently.) If you have a problem with it you have my permission to mentally replace "crockpot" with "slow cooker" each time you read it.

So are you going to send it back and forth every day?

We're going to try it that way, at least. Jeff will wash it every day, I will refill it, he will take it back the next morning. Only the crock part though, the hardware part will stay at his work.

If that gets to be too much work, we'll buy a second, identical one, so he can bring it home and I can wash and refill it the next day at my leisure, and I'll have a second one already filled by the time he gets home each night so I can just relax, and we'll trade off which crock is at his work and which one is at home being washed and refilled.

You mean you're going to buy two $50 crockpots?

Maybe. Probably. If you think about it, though, $100 is not that big of an investment in equipment when it's going to save us a lot on the cost of my husband eating take-out, etc. Also, I just spent more than $100 on disposable serveware for them to eat out of at Smart and Final. So, yeah, not that bad. Those costs will actually be mostly covered by what folks put in toward the costs, though, and at the end of it I'll have 2 new crockpots, which is great.

What will you use them for when you're done though? I mean, won't it be a waste of space to have 2 more crockpots in your kitchen?

In my opinion, more crockpots are never a waste of space! I've had parties where I cooked everything, or almost everything, in crockpots. I anticipate using them many times in the year to come, and of course if this goes well we'll do it again next year, so it will be a one-time investment for many years' savings during tax season.

Wait, you've had parties where you cooked everything in crockpots? How many do you have?

Well, not counting the new one I had 3. And I would borrow several more from my aunt, my dad, etc. I think with the new one (and possible second new one) I'd be able to not have to borrow and return any others, which would be nice.


So that's the scoop on my new crockpot. If you guys have any other questions post them in comments and I'd be happy to answer. :)

Watch This Space

My husband is a tax accountant. From mid-January until mid-April, he works insane hours-- 100+ hour weeks, Sundays his only day off. Many days he doesn't have time to do more than microwave an instant mac and cheese or Cup O' Noodles and eat it at his desk while he works. He can have food delivered, but that's expensive and not that healthy either. Wednesday nights dinner is provided for the employees, but that leaves 5 nights a week when he's not eating well or skipping dinner completely and just snacking at work. Considering he usually doesn't have time for lunch, either, that's not really a good thing. And by the time he gets home he's so tired that in the battle between food and sleep, sleep often wins out.

I decided that this year we needed to do something different. I toyed with the idea of a Mr. Bento, but that seemed like a lot of work for him (since I'm often not up when he leaves for work so he'd basically be packing a complicated lunch every day, time that could be spent sleeping instead. I know him; he'd choose to sleep. Because of the way the bento jar works, it couldn't be packed the night before, really, not without extra work in the morning and extra dishes to boot.)

Then I hit upon the idea of using a crockpot. I love my crockpots; I do lots of crockpot cooking and even taught an Enrichment activity class for my Relief Society. But if I was going to cook for one in a crockpot, that a) might not go over well and b) would be a lot of work for one person. So I came up with another idea: why not keep a crockpot at his work and offer anyone in his office a chance to sign up and chip in for dinner each night, and that way they could ALL eat a decent meal each day, save money, be healthier in their food choices, and we'd have more of a budget for nicer meal choices?

And so the Tax Season Crockpot Co-Op was born. For each 2-week period that a co-worker wants to participate, s/he will chip in $20. Five days a week (every day but Sunday and Wednesday) I will send my husband to work with a pre-filled crock of food and instructions on how to cook it (I'll be aiming for things that can go 8-12 hours in the crock on low most days.) That works out to $2/person/night for a complete meal-- can't get that price ordering in! That's less than you could spend on a frozen dinner, even! Weekly a 5-lb. box of spring mix salad, salad dressings, and salad "fixin's" will also be provided, and daily there will sometimes be a side dish (such as a bread or fruit) to complete the meal. We anticipate that each dish made will be made to serve 8-12 people, since participation may vary from fortnight to fortnight.

On this blog I'll chronicle our menus, recipes (with links to where I found them online and notes on modifications I made, or a post of my own on the recipe I'm using), notes on what went over well and what didn't, or anything else I come up with that seems relevant. :) I find it useful to have an online repository of this information, and friends on a forum have asked that I share it, hence the blog.

So watch this space! I'm sure I'll discover some really great recipes and you can benefit from the experiment, too!