Okay everyone, I have to admit, I kind of hate cooking. I hate the preparation – cleaning, cutting, chopping, searing, stirring, watching, waiting….oh, the waiting. I just don’t have the patience for it when there’s a million other things I’d rather be doing. So up until about 3 years ago, I never cooked. Seriously!
And now, here I am, posting recipes on a blog. But don’t be fooled. I have not been converted! I still really dislike spending time on cooking, and yet I love home cooked meals. But pinterest changed my life, as it may have for you as well. It opened my eyes to a world of zero prep, don’t-watch-as-it-cooks meals. I never knew it could be this easy.
Even now, with a plethora of easy to cook recipes at my fingertips, I still don’t want to be cooking every evening. (I told you I’m not converted!) I’ve learned from moms who blog about meal planning that you can double and triple a recipe, freeze the extra, and you’ll have 4 nights worth of meals from one cooking session – one zero prep cooking session. And if you don’t have that much freezer space, you could learn to can it.
So here is one of my all-time favorite zero prep recipes. The very first one I discovered and have since altered over the years to better fit my family’s tastes. If you are also very budget conscious like I am, there are ways to stretch the recipe. I’ll detail those tips after the recipe.
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 4 people | 0 minutes |
| Cook Time |
| 4-6 hours |
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Tasty and cheap southwestern chicken and shrimp meal. I love this zero prep meal because you simply dump it in your crock pot and wait for the magic to happen. Serve over rice or in tortillas! Virtually impossible to mess up this recipe. Use varying amounts of ingredients to stretch it or amp up the flavor.
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- 3-4 breasts chicken frozen or fresh-doesn't matter
- 1 lb. frozen salad shrimp. Bag says "cooked, peeled, tail-off." I get a 32oz bag and use half of it.
- 1 10.5 oz can black beans drained
- 1 10.5 oz can corn drained
- 1 24 oz jar salsa a smaller jar is fine, too.
- 1 10 oz can rotel tomatoes & chilies choose according to your preference for spicyness
- 1 small tub cream cheese low fat or regular
- 1 pinch salt to taste
- Turn your slow cooker on, set to high.
- Pour can of salsa into slow cooker and place chicken breasts on top of salsa.
- Add rotel tomatoes & chilies, corn, and black beans. Stir together. Make sure chicken is covered completely by mix.
- If chicken is frozen, cook 4 hours then check to see if it's cooked thoroughly. If chicken is thawed, cook 3 hours then check if it's done.
- When chicken is thoroughly cooked, stir in frozen shrimp and cream cheese. Let it cook all together another 20-30 minutes.
- Serve chicken breasts and mixture over rice. Add salt to taste.
- Or: Shred the chicken and use as a burrito mix in tortillas. Enjoy!
The recipe above is the base recipe for about 4 people. However, every time I make this, I add as many cans of vegetables I can to fill the crock pot to about an inch below the brim, leaving room for the cream cheese and shrimp at the end. So I keep it at about 4 chicken breasts and 1 lb shrimp, but I actually use 3 cans of beans, and 3 cans of corn (instead of the 1 can) to stretch it. I still use just the one can of rotel and 1 can of salsa, because it seems to get too watery when I add more tomatoes. I shred the chicken, stir it all up, and freeze about 4 to 6 individual portions. Depending on how many people you cook for, this can save you tons of time for future meals!
Ideas for cutting costs and stretching the recipe:
- Skip the shrimp! This immediately cuts about $10 off your total cost.
- Use rice instead of tortillas. Pour the crock pot mix over rice, using more rice than mix. Rice is cheaper than tortillas, plus it’s easier to keep on hand than tortillas which need to be bought fresh or thawed from the freezer.
- Use more veggies in proportion to the meat. Double all the ingredients, except the chicken and shrimp. You’ll never know the difference! This is the method I use most often because on really awesome sales I can get the canned corn, beans, and rotel for 50 cents per can or less. So it doesn’t cost much to stretch the recipe this way.
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