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Delicious Pot Roast:
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Truck stop restaurants cater to truckers' desires for hearty meats, like pot roast. But you don't have to plunk down money at a restaurant to enjoy a meal with this kind of entree. You can prepare and cook it right in your truck! You'll see on this page exactly how we prepared a meal from roast beef, potatoes and broccoli right in the commercial motor vehicle that Mike drives for his company. |
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In this photo, Vicki prepares the pot roast by poking it with a large fork, so that the bouillon mixture can work into the interior of the meat. |
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The prepared meat is placed in a slow cooker or crock pot with water and beef bouillon. Normally when someone prepares stock from bouillon, the mix is one cup of water for each bouillon cube. In this case, to give the roast a delicious flavor, Vicki used three beef bouillon cubes to 1½ cups of water (or a 2:1 mix). |
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Vicki diced an onion, placed it on top of the meat in the crock pot and turned the appliance on low. |
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When the meat was very close to being done, Vicki cooked diced potatoes in the bottom of the hot pot and steamed broccoli in the basket just above them. |
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Here is the finished result: a delicious pot roast, cooked to perfection! From this almost-2 pound piece of meat, we made three meals for two people.
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The complete cooked meal consisted of steamed broccoli (left), boiled potatoes (center), pot roast (right) and au jus with onion (top, in the crock pot). |
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Equipment we used:
- Crock pot;
- Hot pot with steam basket;
- Inverter;
- Cutting board (which we use as a cooking surface);
- Cooking fork;
- Slotted spoon; and
- Bowls, plates and utensils.
The Cost of the Meat
1.97 pounds rump roast x $1.40/pound = $2.76
$2.76 / 3 meals (for 2 people each) = $0.92
$0.92 per meal / 2 people at meal = $0.46 per serving
| The cost of this meal: | |
| Roast beef | $0.92 (one-third of total cost of meat) |
| Potatoes | $0.50 (estimated) |
| Broccoli | $0.75 (estimated) |
| Onion | $0.25 (estimated) |
| Bouillon | $0.05 (estimated) |
| Butter | $0.05 (estimated) |
| Salt | $0.01 (estimated) |
| Total cost of meal | $2.53 |
| Total cost per serving | $1.265 |
You may be interested to know that we prepared this meal from start to finish while the truck was sitting in a dock waiting to be loaded. (We actually ate two meals while sitting there.) We want to encourage you to do just a little advanced planning for times like this. Unlike some other appliances, a slow cooker or crock pot can be used while you're rolling down the road, just as long as you have it braced properly.
Our rule of thumb is to use time to our advantage for preparing and cooking food. When you're stuck in a dock, you may not know how long you'll be there or how long it will take to get to the next truck stop (or even if there will be parking available). You, too, can make your truck your restaurant.
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Money saving tip: Compare the per-serving cost of this entire meal with the cost of a similar meal at any restaurant and you will see that it is a bargain. Be aware of the various cuts and grades of meat, the differences in their degrees of tenderness, and the differences in per-pound costs. While you can save money on a lower grade or different cut of meat, you may be trading off other qualities. You may also be able to save money by buying a larger piece of meat, but you'll have to determine how you will cook and store it. Is your crock pot large enough to cook a larger roast all at one time? Do you have a compact refrigerator or ice chest large enough (or enough space in it) to store the pre-cooked or cooked pieces? An alternative to cooking pot roast in your truck is having your home support team cook it at home and divide it into individual portions for you to reheat in your truck. Of course, to get the most nutritional value from the vegetables, you will want to cook them fresh. |
For more money saving tips besides preparing and cooking pot roast, return to our food and recipes page or our home page.
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