Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Is it Worth the Money to Buy an Instant Pot?

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What do you think? Is it worth the money to buy an Instant Pot? Here’s what I think…

Is it worth the money to buy an Instant Pot?

I stubbornly refused to get an Instant Pot for several years after they became popular (silly me), and now I am one of the biggest advocates for them! This gem saves so much time and keeps us eating healthy too!

I love that it makes wholesome, rich beef or chicken broth with so little effort on my part. I LOVE that I can cook 7 pounds of frozen hamburger meat in it in just 30 minutes!! And I love the many meals and side dishes I can make in it within just a few minutes.

So in my opinion, yes, it is worth the money to buy an Instant Pot. Not only has mine saved me time, it truly saves me money! So your investment in this appliance can be paid back and earning money for you in no time!

How? Well, think of all the convenience foods or fast food options one might fall back on when time is limited at mealtime! This money-saving perk alone makes the Instant Pot worth it.

In addition, the Instant Pot allows you to make wonderful, rich broth for soups that offer super nourishment and costs very, very little!

If you can swing it, get yourself an Instant Pot. I have the 8-quart variety for my large family. Here’s the 6-quart Instant Pot if that fits your needs more!

Recipes you’ll need for your Instant Pot:

Here are our favorites so far!

Psst: I highly recommend that you bookmark our Instant Pot Recipes page for easy access as we continue to update it!

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Simple Cheeseburger Mac in the Instant Pot

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Once upon a time, I had a genius idea to add seasoned hamburger meat to our Simple 10-Minute Instant Pot Mac and Cheese. This magically and beautifully turned into Simple Cheeseburger Mac in the Instant Pot. And once again, dinner is saved!

Mind you, this recipe is made even easier if I have “worked” ahead and have hamburger meat already pre-cooked and in the fridge ready to pull out as needed. And by “worked” I mean that I open several packs of hamburger meat (usually frozen) and plop it into my Instant Pot where it cooks all by itself for a few minutes, providing our family with several meals worth of pre-cooked meat to use easily in recipes as needed.

If you get an Instant Pot for no other reason, get it so that it will cook your hamburger meat for you. I usually cook 7-pounds at once, and it is such a time and energy saver!

Simple Cheeseburger Mac in the Instant PotYum

5.0 from 1 reviews
Simple Cheeseburger Mac in the Instant Pot
 
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Author:
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 1 pound cooked hamburger meat
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon chili powder
  • 16-ounces whole grain pasta (any shape)
  • 4 cups water
  • 4 Tablespoons butter
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 3 cups shredded cheese (we love Colby jack)
Instructions
  1. Cook hamburger meat and season with garlic powder and chili powder.
  2. Stir meat, uncooked pasta, water, butter, and salt in your instant pot.
  3. Seal and cook on manual, high pressure for 4 minutes.
  4. Quick release the pressure.
  5. Open the pot and stir in the cream and cheese until melted and creamy.

This recipe is incredibly easy to make, and it is a huge hit with the family! Any time I can make pasta without actually boiling pasta is a win in my book. Fewer dirty dishes, less time in the kitchen, and a delicious meal too!

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One Simple Trick That Helps Get Dinner on the Table FAST

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This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I’ve shared it before (more than a few times), but I find that I must share it again. Everyone should know about this one simple trick that helps get dinner on the table fast!

My Simple Trick that Helps Get Dinner on the Table Fast!

It’s simply this:

Brown several pounds of hamburger meat ahead of time. Store it in your fridge or freezer in meal-sized packages. This is a beautiful thing!

It doesn’t take very long to cook hamburger meat when prepping a meal, but still, if it’s already cooked and ready to use, then all we have to do at mealtime is add it to the dish we’re making. Somehow, having pre-cooked meat in my fridge takes away a lot of meal-making stress. How?

Well, I often have very little time for cooking. Mealtime comes up quickly (and many times each day, for our entire lives, oy!). But if I am able to pull out meat that’s already browned, that means I don’t have to worry about thawing meat or cooking meat. I simply add it to pasta or potatoes, or we make Tacos or Nachos, or…

33 Meals to make with Cooked Hamburger Meat

Here are a few more ideas. :)

My current favorite is this Simple Creamy Pasta in the Instant Pot. Not only is it incredibly delicious and a huge hit with everyone I’ve fed it to, with pre-cooked meat, I can have dinner on the table in only 10 minutes!! That is 10 minutes from start to finish, truly. It is amazing! (While it’s cooking in my Instant Pot, we get out salad fixins, and our meal is complete!)

My Favorite Instant Pot Hamburger Tip

Speaking of the wonders of an Instant Pot, you should definitely click over to read this:

How to Cook 5 lbs of Frozen Hamburger Meat in 30 minutes

Amazingly, I cook 5-7 pounds of frozen hamburger meat in my Instant Pot, and it is browned and ready to use for meals for the next two weeks for my family – just like that! (And yes, we eat a lot of meat. We are a family of many, many athletic men and a beef-lovin’ mama.)

Don’t have an Instant Pot?

I have this one and I absolutely love how much time it saves in the kitchen. So do consider investing! This 10-Minute Mac and Cheese is another good reason to buy an Instant Pot!

But, if you don’t have one and don’t want to invest, you can still easily cook several pounds of hamburger meat in a large pot on the stove. You’ll just need to thaw it first. :)

How to Store Pre-Cooked Hamburger Meat

Once you’ve got several pounds of hamburger meat cooked and cooled, what should you do?

I usually separate mine into meal-sized portions (1-3 pounds) and put it into these bowls with lids. Or if needed, I’ll put portions into ziplock bags.

I store these containers of cooked meat in my fridge for up to two weeks, and then pull them out as needed to prep meals. You can also store it in the freezer, of course. Just remember to thaw ahead of time!

Do you cook meat ahead of time? What are your favorite kitchen time-savers?

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My Top 3 Small Kitchen Appliances That Save Hours of Time and Energy

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If my house started on fire, I would grab my family and my Blendtec and get out as fast as I could. Just kidding. I’m not that tied to material possessions. But I felt it was worth a post to share my top 3 small kitchen appliances I feel I can hardly live without.

I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that these gadgets save me hours of time and energy every week. As I’ve worked to simplify my real food kitchen, I have been amazed at how I’ve come to rely on 3 very important appliances.

Could I do without them? Well yes. Grandma survived all her many years of cooking for a large family without any one of the items I’m sharing with you today. But Grandma also didn’t have indoor plumbing for a good many years, and then welcomed it gladly when it became available. I’m pretty sure if she was raising her family now, she would very much enjoy the appliances I love having access to!

My Top 3 Small Kitchen Appliances

If you’ve been reading here long, you can probably guess my top three small kitchen appliances. Just for fun, I added two runners up in my “if I had to choose to keep only 3 small appliances, which ones would I keep?” contest. :)

1. Blendtec

Indeed. If I could only keep one appliance in my kitchen, it would be the Blendtec. I use this multiple times each week, and sometimes multiple times each day.

I mix batter in it, whip cream in it, make smoothies in it, whip mini cheesecake filling in it, the list goes on and on. From cakes to muffins to pancakes – the Blendtec takes away my need to stir and mix. Cream goes from liquid to perfectly whipped in less than 30 seconds. Recently I dumped in all the ingredients for these Mini Crustless Cheesecakes and had them in the oven within a grand total 5 minutes. Beautiful!

In so many ways, my Blendtec makes my cooking and baking effortless. It is extremely high powered, which is reflected in the price. A $25 blender gives only $25 of effort (and in my experience, lasts less than one year in my kitchen). The Blendtec, though much higher in price, comes with a warranty and is so high powered it turns frozen fruit into liquid in just seconds. Unbelievable!

I highly recommend saving up and investing in a Blendtec. Oh the time and energy you’ll save!

Recipes you’ll need for your Blendtec:

2. Instant Pot

I stubbornly refused to get an Instant Pot for several years after they became popular (silly me), and now I am one of the biggest advocates for them! This gem saves so much time and keeps us eating healthy too!

I love that it makes wholesome, rich beef or chicken broth with so little effort on my part. I LOVE that I can cook 7 pounds of frozen hamburger meat in it in just 30 minutes!! And I love the many meals and side dishes I can make in it within just a few minutes.

If you can swing it, get yourself an Instant Pot. I have the 8-quart variety for my large family. Here’s the 6-quart Instant Pot if that fits your needs more!

Recipes you’ll need for your Instant Pot:

Psst: I highly recommend that you bookmark our Instant Pot Recipes page for easy access as we continue to update it!

3. Crock Pot(s)

Yes indeed. I have two large crock pots and I often use them both at the same time. My favorite is this 8-Quart Programmable Crock Pot, but I also have this Basic 6-Quart Crock Pot, which works great too!

I’ve learned many tricks through the years that help me throw VERY quick meals into the crock pot so that later in the day, our meal has cooked itself. (See recipe links below.) What a great way to continue putting real, delicious food on the table on busy days!

Recipes you’ll need for your Crock Pot:

Top Small Kitchen Appliances, My 2 Runners Up

Just for fun, I thought it would be fun to add a couple others to my list of appliances I love and use often!

4. Nutrimill

Could I live without my Nutrimill? I guess. Does it save me time in the kitchen? Not really. But do I love having such a great appliance to help me grind fresh grain for our baked goods? Oh my goodness, YES!

I frequently grind hard and soft white wheat in my Nutrimill, which turns out the most delicious flour, which then turns out the most delicious breads, muffins, cakes, cookies, pancakes, and waffles. Now that I’m so used to baking with freshly ground flour, I’d have a hard time turning back. We’re pretty spoiled! ;)

Details about using flour ground in a Nutrimill:

5. Coffee Pot

Every morning I drink a cup of Javita Coffee. I LOVE its taste and qualities and find it to be well worth the daily investment for my health! But I also love a cup of brewed coffee in the afternoon. There’s just something about the smell of coffee brewing!

So I keep my basic coffee pot handy, which my big boys often enjoy along with me. :)

Recipes to go with your coffee:

I’d love to hear what your favorite small kitchen appliances are. Which ones do you feel you can’t live without?

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My Favorite Real Food Cheat Trick to Save Time Chopping Onions

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This Real Food Cheat Trick is going to sound fairly lame. I admit it. But this tip saves me oodles of time without costing much, if any, extra money! This is how I save time chopping onions!

minced onion trick

How’s this for a tip? Want to save time chopping onions? Don’t chop them. Hold your applause. Please stay tuned for more brilliant tips like this one.

Now that I’ve fully prepared you to be unimpressed, I will admit that it’s likely that many of you will thoroughly dislike my trick. Why? Because most certainly the smell of freshly chopped onions and minced garlic sauteing in a pan with olive oil or butter is incredible!

You are right and I agree. But I still like my trick and I love the time this saves.

My Favorite Real Food Cheat Trick to Save TimeHow I Save Time Chopping Onions

I always keep a huge supply of Dried Minced Onion on hand. I almost never go to the trouble of chopping an onion. I simply grab my jar of dried minced onion, dump in the desired amount, and stir it into the meat I’m cooking. It still smells amazing. It flavors the food marvelously. And I save myself the trouble of chopping an onion, crying a river, and cleaning up the mess afterward.

I suppose it goes without saying that this method also keeps me from having to work at getting the onion smell off my fingers. (Yes, I know. Rub your fingers on stainless steel. I do. It works. But still.)

Also, for people who don’t love chunks of onion in their food, but do love the flavor onions give, using Dried Minced Onion is a great solution!

Save Time Chopping Onions

I might as well make a garlic confession while I’m here.

I frequently cheat with that too. True story: I almost never buy fresh garlic, a fact of which has many of you throwing tomatoes.

Fresh garlic is tough to beat, no doubt. But time saved in the kitchen trumps all, in my book. So I either keep a jar of minced garlic in the fridge or I grab my jar of dried garlic powder from my spice cabinet. My food still tastes delicious, but I’ve saved myself some work by using these convenience items.

So there you have it. Now you know. I often cheat and use already-prepared onions and garlic. You can’t talk me out of it. (Though I suppose you can try.)

But doesn’t this cost more?

Minced Onion appears to be more expensive per pound compared to cost per pound of fresh onions. However, Dried Minced Onions have been dehydrated, shrinking them down and changing their weight. You’ll get a lot of dried minced onion per pound compared to fresh onions. One small fresh onion equals 1 Tablespoon Dried Minced Onion.

onion3

Where to purchase Dried Minced Onion

Most grocery stores carry these. They can be found in the aisle with the spices. However, I typically purchase it in bulk either from Azure Standard or Amazon.

Huge Bulk Amount of Dried Minced Onion

Dried Minced Onion options at Azure Standard

Now it’s your turn to tell me if you feel it is worth taking the extra time to chop onions and garlic. If you’re often feeling tight on time in the kitchen, I recommend giving this a try, especially on busy days!

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The Truth About How Cooking Healthier Foods Has Saved Me Time (and dirty dishes)

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Raise your hands, wives, if you can recall a day you spent extra time on your hair, makeup, and outfit so you could impress your husband – only to have him not even notice. Now leave your hands raised if you can recall another day you pulled your hair into a 5-second messy bun, never changed out of your mis-matched sweats from yesterday, and forgot makeup existed – only to have your husband give you a second appreciative glance, grin, and say, “Well hey there, Cutie.”

Rest assured, he appreciated the nice hair, great outfit, and perfect makeup day too. Perhaps he was just too distracted or busy at the time to say so. Let us all be thankful he loves us on our “prettiest” days and even (especially) on the days we’re singing “oh where is my hairbrush?”

What does all this have to do with saving time while cooking healthy food? Everything. It very much relates in every way.

The Surprising Truth About How Cooking Healthier Foods Has Saved Me Time (and dirty dishes)

See, one day recently, I was having an “I can’t keep up, what even is a kitchen, I don’t feel very well, we have got to get this assignment done” kind of a day. I don’t even have to tell you what my hair looked like (and I recommend you save yourself the embarrassment of trying to conjure up an image). More importantly, dinner prep kept getting pushed farther down the to-do list.

I finally found two minutes (and a bit of energy) at lunchtime to put some frozen chicken into the crockpot, dump on some bbq sauce, and crank it to the “hi” setting. At least we’d have some meat ready before the boys left for drum lessons and basketball practice, thought I.

The chicken cooked itself all afternoon. Just before dinnertime later that night, I stir-fried some carrots and broccoli with a bit of olive oil, garlic, and salt. I grabbed a jar of applesauce from the pantry and declared it a meal, such as it was. My hair though. There was nothing that could be done.

Would you believe? My husband walked into the kitchen after putting in a 10-hour work day, saw the food I had “prepared” and not having any idea of the ridiculously short amount of time I’d spent cooking said, “Wow! This looks fantastic! What a great meal! Thank you!!”

saucy chicken3

Not that he isn’t equally appreciative when I have taken the time to roll out homemade noodles or have produced a fresh loaf of bread. But his gratitude reminded me of this:

  • A meal doesn’t have to be complicated to be delicious.
  • Sometimes the healthiest meals are the very simplest.

The busier I have become through the years, the simpler our meals have needed to be. I’ve noticed that the simpler our meals have become, the healthier they are.

Isn’t that unexpected?

And here people still think cooking healthy food takes all kinds of extra time.

Take it from the girl who took five minutes to cram frozen chicken into a crock pot, and then threw out a few veggies just before meal time. Learn from the mom who has learned to make a complete meal of Parmesan Broiled Fish with veggies in record time (10 minutes, start to finish, thanks for asking).

I believe the simpler we keep our meals, the healthier they can be. Stop making healthy food complicated. Focus on the basics (meat, veggies, fruit). Save the special, longer-to-make meals, for special occasions.

Just think. We might even find more time in our day to change into a cute sweater before dinner.

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Psst! If you join Simple Meals, you’ll have more time to change out of your mis-matched sweats. We promise.

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Freezer Cooking I’ve Been Doing to Prepare for Back-to-School

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With a houseful of teenage boys, it’s difficult to get ahead.

I’m talking about food in this case, although I guess the same statement is true in every area of life in a household full of kids. (I’m looking at you, Laundry Pile. Dirty Dishes. Mail. Shoe Closet.) Bah.

This is why I did some freezer cooking a few weeks ago when three outa four of our boys were still at church camp. With hardly anyone here to eat, I actually had leftovers to put in the freezer. Yay me!

I took a few pictures along the way to share with you. Take note that not all freezer cooking involves making casseroles. There are many other ways to get ahead. For instance…

I had a cheese shredding marathon:

school food1

It only takes a few minutes and NO EFFORT to shred 8 packages of cheese when I use my food processor. I ran it through the shred piece, so now I have two big bowls of shredded cheese ready to add to everything we need for the next couple of weeks! (Yes, this will be gone by the time we start school. Whatever.)

Almost as important as shredded cheese is the double batch of frozen cookie balls I made. These won’t last long once the boys discover them, but I love that they can take out a few and bake them for an afternoon snack. I used this Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.

school food2

If you don’t have any of these Silicone Baking Mats,
I encourage you to read more about why I love them here!

I made two bags of our favorite Apricot Chicken. I’ll dump this into the crock pot on a busy school day. (This is a recipe from our Eat Right Away Collection. These are a must have because they save so much time!)

school food3

You know I didn’t do all of this, all on the same day, right? No way. But, there was a day I made not one but SIX batches of homemade whole wheat tortillas. That was a tortilla making record for me!

Malachi helped me use the tortillas to make 24 Lazy Dogs and 24 Meat and Cheese Burritos. We still had leftover tortillas for a few quesadillas, so I felt very accomplished that day.

school food4

Another time, I cut and cooked 5 pounds of bacon to have on hand for salads and scrambled eggs. More on that later. :)

school food6

I mixed up a double batch of Blueberry Muffins and froze the batter so we can bake the muffins fresh on a school morning. I love this time saving technique!

frozen muffins

Last, I made a double batch of Giant Breakfast Cookies. Instead of baking them, I froze them into unbaked cookie balls. This means we can take out a few and bake them fresh any morning we want/need them. I’ll share specifics on how to do this another day soon!

breakfast cookies1

I’m hoping to make a triple or quadruple batch of this Real Food “Velveeta” and Rotel Dip for the freezer during the next few days. That will be great to have on hand for Nachos, Spicy Mac and Cheese, or Simple Taco Soup.

Now your turn! Have you done any freezer cooking lately? What have you been making in an effort to get ahead before school starts?

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Eat Right Away ~ Slow Cooker Chicken and Slow Cooker Beef Editions are Here!

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Eat Right Away Collection2

You asked. I hurried. :) Just in time to beat the summer heat, Eat Right Away: Slow Cooker Chicken Edition and Eat Right Away: Slow Cooker Beef Edition are here!

Eat Right Away Slow Cooker Chicken Edition 2sm

Actually, I wanted the Eat Right Away Slow Cooker Editions as much as you did – so I worked double time. Now that they are finished, I’m gonna tell you this: As much as I love the other editions, I love these slow cooker editions even more. These meals take even less time to prepare than the others (I didn’t know it was possible). And then to just place all prepared ingredients into a crock pot and walk away until meal time? It does not get any easier! Love, love, love!

Eat Right Away Slow Cooker Beef Edition 2sm

Beyond saving time and serving your family real food meals, these packets will help you save money. These meals are very low in cost!

Each of these downloadable Eat Right Away packets  include:

  • 5 brand new recipes
  • 5 individual meal grocery lists, plus 1 big grocery list to aid you in making all five meals in one sitting (though you’ll actually be standing, not sitting, my apologies).
  • 5 individual recipe instructions, plus 1 “Be Efficient” set of instructions to guide you through making all five meals in about a 1-hour time frame
  • Freezer safe instructions for each recipe, plus guidance on thawing, putting the food into a slow cooker, then serving each meal with little effort
  • Serving suggestions so you don’t have to think about the side dishes
  • Bonus tips

Each packet is only $2.00. Yep! That’s it. We want to get them into all of your hands to help you save time and money in your real food kitchen. Just like the other packets, the ten recipes in these two packets are either naturally gluten free or can be easily adapted to be gluten free. Bonus!

Check it out. I borrowed another family to be my taste-testers for some of these recipes. I wanted to be sure these really were as easy as I thought they were (and as yummy). I received some great feedback and food pictures, but of course, the picture with the three year-old taste-tester is my very fav.

taste tester

Here’s a closer look at each new packet:

Eat Right Away: Slow Cooker Chicken Edition ~ Recipes Included Are:

  • Cheesy Chicken Potatoes and Broccoli
  • Italian Chicken and Veggies
  • Black Bean and Corn Salsa Chicken
  • Barbecue Cranberry Chicken
  • Ranch Chicken Tacos

Eat Right Away Slow Cooker Chicken Edition Banner

Make all five recipes in about one hour. Put them in the freezer or fridge. Pull them out and throw them into the crock pot. Easy, real food goodness!

Eat Right Away: Slow Cooker Beef Edition ~ Recipes Included Are:

  • Roast Beef and Melted Cheese Sandwiches
  • Mongolian Beef
  • Balsamic Beef Roast
  • Sweet Pepper Beef Stew
  • Hawaiian Beef and Rice

Eat Right Away Slow Cooker Beef Edition Banner

Just like the chicken recipes, you can make all five beef recipes in about one hour. Put them in the freezer or fridge. Pull them out and throw them into the crock pot.

Get all four of our Eat Right Away Packets here!

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I hope you’re enjoying these packets as much as I am. Three cheers for easy make-ahead meals and even easier dinner times with our families!

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Eat Healthy and Save Time Too

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As I was working on a new Eat Healthy, Save Time post for next week, it occurred to me that I haven’t shared on that subject much lately.

Today, I’m here to remind you that eating healthy does not take a lot of time. It may look different for each of us depending on our circumstances. Some days may be harder than others. But no more excuses. We do have time to eat healthy.  We can do this!

Just for fun, I thought I’d share the link to all of my Eat Healthy, Save Time posts. Read through them to get some great ideas for ways you can save time on this healthy eating journey!!

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