A Meal for 3

I got a call from the compassionate service coordinator at church yesterday asking if I could help provide a meal to a family of 3. I had actually seen the sign-up sheet go around the room on Sunday and let it go by because I'm trying so hard to pinch every penny in our food budget, I just couldn't see it working out. Even our left overs are accounted for in my meal plans.

So when I was caught there on the phone between wanting to help (and the pride of not wanting to say, I'm sorry, we can't afford it right now) and the work I've been slaving over to stretch everything so thin...I stopped and thought for a minute. I knew we had two big bags of potatoes and onions that we'll struggle to finish before they go bad. And that I got a whole package of pork for free last week.

So I'm making a big pork roast with very little meat in it and that's what I'll take over tomorrow and what my husband and I will have for dinner tonight. It caused me to shift some things around on my meal plan - potatoes were originally for the steak dinner on Valentine's Day, so I moved something else in there-  but it worked out. And I suspect we'll even have left overs.

So not only is the Lord providing for our needs, but He's seen fit to allow for ways to help others, even when we may be barely scraping by ourselves.

Poor man's pork roast:

3 small cuts of pork

1 c water

1 (or what remains of) left over package of herbs de provence seasoning

5 red potatoes

4 carrots

1/2 medium onion

salt and pepper to taste

I put the water in first, followed by most of the seasonings, then layered the pork, followed by all of the chopped veggies dumped on top and finished it off with the last of the seasonings on top. 

Cook on low all day in slow cooker, stirring once or twice to even out veggies.

Since my cooker is tall and skinny, I opted to add a little more water to try to coat it evenly, but in most cases, pork creates a lot of juice. Since I'm not taking this over until tomorrow, I have time to adjust the drippings. I could even drain them into a frying pan and thicken to make a gravy if it ends up too watery. 

Now my only problem to solve is finding a disposable container to take it over in. I think I have one small gladware square container left, but it might not be big enough. We got rid of all of our plastic containers in the move and switched to glass. This is where it's kicking my bum a little. But I did save some cottage cheese containers so that will work as a back up. Problem solved!

Post edit: Here is a picture less than two hours later after a stir. See how much the liquid increased?