7 Easy Crockpot Dinners Under 70$

I love my Crockpot! If you don't have one, I highly suggest you invest in one! I also love saving money on groceries. I looked online and through Pinterest, then decided on 7 recipes to try this past week! I was VERY frugal when I went to the grocery store, I stuck to a tight budget of 70$. Most of these recipes were big enough to save leftovers for Ben and I's lunch the next day.

Recipe #1: Sweet and Spicy Meatballs

Ingredients:

Large Bag of Italian Meatballs (Costco) 9.99$ 

**I bought the meatballs in bulk because I wanted to use them for several different recipes in the end I used the meatballs for 5 different meals which comes to about 3.80$ a meal**

16oz Grape Jelly (Kroger) 1.49$

Bottle of Chili Sauce (Walmart) 2.75$

Large 10lb bag of rice (Walmart) 3.89$

**This is enough for 2 batches of Sweet and Spicy Meatballs**

Instructions: 

Fill the bottom of the Crockpot with meatballs, still frozen.

Empty half of the grape jelly and chili sauce on top of the meatballs.

Cook on high for 2.5 to 3 hours (Stirring occasionally)

Serve on a bed of rice.

**Alternative I have used before is using lettuce to make wraps**

Recipe #2: Beer and Hot Sauce Crockpot wings

Ingredients:

Bottle of Hot Sauce (Walmart) 1.09$

**Only used half the bottle**

1/2 cup of butter (Had in fridge)

1 Beer (Had in fridge)

**Can substitute one can of chicken stock which in under 1$ at Walmart**

Chicken Wings 4.92$

**I originally planned to use drum sticks, but I went with what was on sale**

Instructions:

On stove top melt butter in with hot sauce.

Slowly stir in can of beer.

Add chicken wings to Crockpot and pour about 75% of sauce over the wings.

Cook on low for 5 to 6 hours.

Remove from Crockpot and place wings on a pan and turn on the broiler on the oven.

Pour remaining sauce on wings and broil for 3 to 4 minutes to crisp them up.

I served this with rice on game day, my husband and his friends loved it!

Recipe #3: Orange Chicken 

Ingredients:

One pack of Chicken (Costco) 24.93$

**Buy meat in BULK! It will save you so much money. I had a 6$ off coupon from the original total of 30.93$ The Costco chicken breast packs come in easy to separate packages, so I freeze what I don't need**

3/4 Cup BBQ Sauce (Costco)  2.50$

**Bought a 2 for 5$ deal at Costco, BBQ is an easy and cheap way to spice up chicken or pork**

3/4 Cup Orange Marmalade (Walmart) 1.99$

2 tbsp Soy Sauce (Had in pantry)

Instructions: 

Cook the chicken in the Crockpot for 2.5 hours on high.

Drain the juice from the Crockpot

Mix the marmalade, BBQ, and soy sauce together and pour over chicken.

Cook on high for an additional 30 minutes.

 Serve with rice and broccoli (bought a HUGE bag from Costco for 4.97$)

Recipe #4: Asian Meatballs 

Ingredients:

1 Cup BBQ Sauce (Previously used)

1/2 Cup Hoison Sauce (Kroger) 2.49$

Meatballs (Previously used)

**This is enough for 2 batches of Asian Meatballs**

Instructions:

Place frozen meatballs to cover bottom of Crockpot.

Pour BBQ and Hoison over meatballs.

Cook for 2.5 to 3 hours on High.

Serve over rice

**Could also serve with lettuce wraps**

Recipe #5: Beef and Broccoli 

**This was my "Splurge Meal"**

Ingredients: 

Beef Chuck Steak (Kroger) 4.92$

Half of a white onion (Kroger) 1.00$

1/3 Cup Brown Sugar (Had in Pantry)

1 tbsp Mirin (Had in Pantry)

3 tbsp of garlic (Had in Pantry)

2 tbsp of Cornstarch (Had in pantry)

1 cup beef broth (I already had chicken broth so I used that instead)

2 cups of broccoli (previously used)

Instructions:

Cup the beef chuck into thin strips and dice half of white onion.

Mix together everything, but the cornstarch in a bowl and pour over beef and onion.

Cook on low for 6 hours.

Laddle out 1 cup of broth from the Crockpot and mix in cornstarch.

Add the mixture and broccoli back to Crockpot and cook for an additional 30 minutes.

Serve over rice.

Recipe #6: Buffalo Ranch Meatballs 

Ingredients:

1/2 Bottle of Hot Sauce (Left over)

4 tbsp of dry Ranch (Walmart) 2.99$

**Ranch seasoning is a must have**

Meatballs (Previously used)

Instructions:

Cook meatballs in Crockpot for 1.5 hours.

Over the stove combine hot sauce and ranch, whisk together.

Pour hot sauce over meatballs and cook for another 1.5 hours.

Serve with broccoli. 

Recipe #7: Asian BBQ Chicken 

Ingredients:

Chicken Breast Pack (From Costco pack)

1 1/2 cup of BBQ (Leftover)

1/2 Jar of Hoison Sauce (Leftover)

Instructions:

Cook chicken in Crockpot for 2.5 hours on High.

Drain Juices and pour sauce over the chicken.

Cook for another hour on High.

Serve with rice and broccoli

Grocery FINAL total: 69.93$

A weeks worth of dinner with minimal effort and a great budget!