Get an Instant Pot.
Whole chicken with fixings in about 40m start to finish. Just put the chicken and fixings in the pot, add a little water, put the lid on and program it for 26m or so.
Eat leftovers for a couple days at least.
Chicken is good on sandwiches, on chips as chicken nachos, on a salad, etc.
Cook the one night and eat for several days including taking lunch if you wish.
Can do the same thing with a roast. Roast with potatoes and carrots, roast beef sandwiches, shredded roast beef on a salad, etc...
And you know nobody spit on your food while they were plating it. Unless you want that sort of thing.
There are (probably literally a billion) instant pot recipes out there.
Haven’t we had this ‘chicken conversation’ before? LOL! :)
I have both an instant pot and a cast iron skillet. I make extensive use of both. I have done pork roast in the instant pot, and I love it. Use the saute function to sear the pork roast on all sides, about 4 minutes a side. Add about a cup and a half of chicken bouillon to deglaze the pot. Put the seared pork roast back in, put on the lid, about 30 minutes or so and you have an excellent and tasty pork roast. And you can use the drippings to make a delicious pan gravy.
My biggest downfall is the fact that I cook for a living. Some days, after I come home from work, I don’t want to cook anymore. Thankfully, our economic situation does not allow me to go out or to buy stuff from a fast food place very often, so whether I’m tired or not, I have to cook.
I also have a little bit of a restriction in that two of my kids cannot process iron enriched food, like pasta. It kind of limits things sometimes, but we deal with it.
I’m with you. We bought half a hog this fall and the freezer is full. I’ve got a crock pot, pressure cooker and big ol’ Nasco roaster, and I know how to use them.
Point is, home cooking is SO much healthier and cheaper. If you raise your own livestock (probably if you hunt or fish, too) you know how it was fed and cared for. Bonus.
I like eating out, but it bothers me when we spend as much on one meal as we would have on half the grocery bill.