With the prices of groceries rising it’s been harder for me to keep the freezer stocked which I like to do. Then the other day David and I stopped at Kroger’s to see if they had any meat on sale.

On my home the best dinners start with a bargain. Yesterday’s dinner started with a pork roast I found at Kroger. It was normally $12. But Kroger had marked it down to $4. So I picked up a couple of the Roast.

I knew Gerald wasn’t to fond of Roast and David either. But when your living on a budget because there is only one person bringing in income you buy what you can afford. Buttercup.

And here’s what made me smile: it wasn’t even sitting in the clearance bin. It was simply one of those roasts they were marking down because they had too many of them. Well, Kroger, I’ll take one of those!

And that $4 roast turned into quite a dinner. It fed David, Charlie, Gerald, and me last night/ The nice part of this was we had plenty left over for lunch today. And I’m planning to have it for dinner tonight, too—but I’m changing things up a little.

Tonight I’m going to turn that leftover pork into hot roast pork sandwiches with gravy. And from what I could see last night, there may even be enough left for another couple of lunches. That’s what I call getting your money’s worth out of a roast.

We served it with homemade mashed potatoes and brown gravy, and it was absolutely delicious. Now, let me tell you how I cooked it. Iif you’re looking for an exact recipe with exact measurements, you’re going to have to wait until the bottom of this article.

Because in my house? We don’t measure. We cook with love. A little pinch of this. A smidgen of that. Throw in some of this. Pour in a little water. Add some Milk and hope for the best!

This time I had picked up two packages of Aldi’s store-brand brown gravy mix. On one of mine and Charlie’s adventures.

I opened the Roast and put it into the Crock Pot no, Air Fryer for me. Then Charlie opened the Gravy packets up and dumped them into the pan. Charlie says next time we need to rub the Gravu into the Roast. Okay, Buttercup if your cooking you can do that.

Charlie helped me with the cooking and he added water. Before you ask how much water? I have absolutely no idea. Remember… We don’t measure. Then we poured in some Milk. Again don’t ask me how much because I don’t know.

Charlie and I started cooking the roast at about 10 o’clock in the morning and left it on high until around 4 o’clock. Then we turned it down to low around 5 o’clock and took it off around 6 o’clock.

And when it was time to eat? It was fall-apart good. I’m talking about slap-your-mama good. That pork was tender, flavorful, and surrounded by that wonderful brown gravy That even David and Gerald had no, problem chewing the Roast.

And because the water was turned off at our place yesterday while they were working on the pipes, we kept things simple. Homemade mashed potatoes. Pork roast. Natural brown gravy.

That’s dinner. And it was good. Really good. But there’s something else I love about this meal. It’s not just that we found a $4 roast. It’s what that $4 roast did. Four people ate dinner.

We have lunch today. I’m getting another meal tonight. And we may still have enough for more lunches. That’s the kind of cooking I love. Stretch the food. Stretch the budget. Don’t waste what you have.

And when you can turn one meal into several, everybody wins. Tonight’s dinner will look a little different. I’m going to make the gravy thicker and turn that leftover pork into hot roast pork sandwiches.

Because leftovers don’t have to feel like leftovers. Sometimes you just need to give them a new name! And if you’ve ever wondered what you can do with a pork roast in your crockpot, I’m including an actual recipe below.

Now, this isn’t the recipe I used yesterday. This is a recipe you can actually follow if you’re the kind of cook who needs measurements. Yesterday, I cooked my way. Today, I’m giving you a way to cook yours.

Crockpot Pork Roast Recipe

Ingredients

• 3–4 pound pork roast
• 1 packet onion soup mix
• 1 packet brown gravy mix
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

1. Pat the pork roast dry with paper towels.
2. Rub the roast with olive oil and season with garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper.
3. Place the pork roast into the slow cooker.
4. Mix the onion soup mix and brown gravy mix with the water.
5. Pour the gravy mixture over the pork roast.
6. Cover and cook on LOW for approximately 8 hours, or until the pork is tender and easily pulls apart with a fork.
7. Allow the roast to rest for several minutes before slicing or shredding.
8. Serve with mashed potatoes and gravy, or use the leftover pork for sandwiches, tacos, or another meal.

A Note From My Kitchen

If you’re cooking like I do, you don’t have to be afraid of making a recipe your own. Add vegetables. Change the seasonings. Make more gravy. Use what you have. That’s how family recipes happen.

And sometimes the best recipes aren’t the ones with the most precise measurements. Sometimes they’re the ones that begin with a $4 bargain at Kroger, a crockpot, a few pantry ingredients, and a family sitting around the table.

Yesterday’s pork roast reminded me once again that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to put a good meal on the table. You just have to know a good bargain when you see one. And when that bargain feeds your family for days? That’s a really good bargain.

How do you like your Roast: Plain with Mashed Potato’s or do you make a Pot Roast with Potato’s and Carrots? Or is there another way you prepare your Roast? Come share your recipe with us.

Grateful, Thankful, and Blessed.

Thank you,

Glenda, Charlie and David Cates