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I love eating good, cheap food.
I have fun creating dirt cheap recipes that aren’t bad for me. So if that sounds cool to you, then keep reading.
This is the cheapest meal I’ve ever made that is still packed with calories, nutrition, etc.
These slow cooker carnitas are good, dirt-cheap, and incredibly easy to make.
Let me be real for a quick second.
I’m not really a food blogger. I don’t take pretty pictures. I don’t own a nice camera. And I definitely don’t have fancy staging props for my food.
I’m the least food bloggery food blogger that exists, but I can promise you something that they can’t…
I promise I won’t bore you with a research paper length intro about my personal life and why this recipe was a warm blanket for my soul on a hard day.
The recipe I’m about to give you is solid, but nothing out of this world. It’s a solid A-.
If you’re trying to impress a date, don’t make this. Unless your date will be impressed at your ability to make cheap food that tastes good.
But if you want to make 20+ servings of food for $20 that are easy to make, easy to reheat, and good for freezing, then this is the recipe for you.
If you ever need to feed a small African village or a group of teenage kids–this recipe will let you do it for cheap.
Want to pick up our favorite meal prep containers to store these carnitas?
This is the Utopia kitchen glass container set. These are microwave safe, oven safe, freezer safe, and dishwasher safe. Whip up your favorite meal prep and store them in these long-lasting containers!
Let’s talk about how to make these super cheap slow cooker carnitas.
Slow Cooker Carnitas
Step one: Make your base
The first thing you’ve got to do is mix up your spices and liquid for cooking. Drop each of these into your slow cooker or crock pot and mix them up.
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp salt, pepper,
- 2 tsp paprika, cumin, oregano, cayenne, garlic salt or powder
- 3-4 bay leaves
- Quarter cup of lime juice
- Squeeze two oranges in (or 1.5 cups OJ)
- 2 onion (cut into big hunks)
- 2-3 cups water
Cost: $2
Tip: if you like it spicy, add in a can of chipotle adobo peppers.
Step two: Let’s talk meat.
We’re making slow cooker carnitas.
So you need to buy yourself a hunk of pork. Get yourself a pork shoulder or pork butt. Don’t worry though, a pork butt isn’t actually from the pig’s rear end. The boston butt is just the top part of the shoulder.
Get a big one. At least 4 pounds. If you’re feeding a family and want leftovers for yourself, buy a 6 pounder.
Take it out of the package, give it a rinse and pat it dry. Cut it into 2-3 inch cubes. Drop them in your crock pot and mix it in with your base. Make sure it’s all good and coated.
Cost: $12 (pork shoulder runs about $2 a lb where I live)
Step three: Set it and forget it
Turn the crock pot on medium and set it to run for 8 hours. Don’t open it up. Just let it cook and enjoy the good smells.
Check out some other Meal Prep Resources I’ve Written:
- How to Meal Prep: The EPIC, Step-By-Step Meal Prep for Beginners Guide
- 40 Easy One Pot Meals to Rock your Sunday Meal Prep
- 54 Easy Healthy Meal Prep Ideas for Weight Loss
- 40 Lunch Meal Prep Ideas to Save you Time and Money
Loaded Mexican Rice
We’re going to make some loaded up Mexican rice to go with your slow cooker carnitas.
When the meat has about an hour left, go back to the kitchen.
Step one: Get out the following ingredients:
- 3 cups uncooked rice
- 1-2 cans of diced tomatoes (14.5oz can)
- 2 cans black beans
- 4 tbsp Olive oil
- A LOT of Minced garlic (I’m talking like 3-4 tbsp)
- 2 Jalapenos (seeded & diced)
- 1 tbsp salt, cumin
- 2 tsp chili powder
Cost: $4-5
Step two: Cook your rice
Follow the instructions on your package. I usually rinse the rice really well and then add 2 cups of water per cup of rice to a pan. Get it boiling and then lower the heat and cook for 30 minutes or so depending on how much you’re making. If you something lower carb, you can use one of these healthy rice alternatives. Here’s a guide on how to make brown rice!
Step three: Everything else
- Heat up the olive oil in a big pan. The biggest you have.
- Add in the garlic & jalapenos until it’s fragrant.
- Add the black beans and spices.
- Pour in all the juice from the cans of tomatoes and then a few tbsp of water.
Get it boiling and let it boil slowly until most of the liquid is soaked up by the beans. Dump in the diced tomatoes and rice. Get it all good and mixed up.
Combine it all and eat!
Now you’ve got a whole pot of loaded rice and 6lbs of slow cooker carnitas.
You can stir it all up together if you want. Or you can just portion them out into meal prep containers.
You’ve got yourself a whole week’s worth of food for less than $20.
Total cost:
- Meat + seasonings: $14
- Loaded Mexican rice: $5
Servings: About 20 depending on how much you eat.
Here’s a full grocery list
Loaded Rice: $5
- 3 cups uncooked rice
- 1-2 cans of diced tomatoes (14.5oz can)
- 2 cans black beans
- 4 tbsp Olive oil
- A LOT of Minced garlic (I’m talking like 3-4 tbsp)
- 2 Jalapenos (seeded & diced)
- 1 tbsp salt, cumin
- 2 tsp chili powder
Slow Cooker Carnitas $14
- 6lb pork shoulder/butt
- 1 tbsp salt, pepper,
- 2 tsp paprika, cumin, oregano, cayenne, garlic salt or powder
- 3-4 bay leaves
- Quarter cup of lime juice
- Squeeze two oranges in (or 1.5 cups OJ)
- 2 onion (cut into big hunks)
- 2-3 cups water
