Zero-effort french dip:

1. Buy an arm roast at the grocery store the night before, sleep.
2. Wake up, dump in arm roast, a can of french onion soup, top off with water or beef stock
3. Cover and set to Low, then go to work for the day
4. Return home in the evening, shred meat with some forks, serve on buns with cheese of your choice

It’s not glamorous, and you could do a lot better with more intelligent ingredient choice and more prep (searing the roast first, adding veg, doing the broth from scratch, etc). But the result-to-effort ratio of the bare minimum is unmatched if you’re ever in a “fuck it, guyslop night” kinda mood.

For slightly more effort, I sometimes make a very simple hot apple cider recipe. That’s non-alcoholic for all the non-Americans, though you can always spike it with your spirit of choice:

For every 8 cups (~1.8L, 2L is probably fine) of apple juice from concentrate, add:

• 1 tsp whole cloves
• 1 tsp whole allspice
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1/3 cup packed (~70g) light brown sugar
• 1 large orange, sliced

Cook on low for 2 hours, fish out solids, serve hot.

If you can specifically find “honeycrisp” apple cider at the grocery store to use as your base, it’s even better. I can sometimes find it seasonally at Walmart.

I quite enjoy mozzarella stuffed meatballs although it’s not very healthy. Also the tortellini chicken soup thing that was popular elsewhere is nice although I modify mine quite a bit.

Also just “meat and potatoes and whatever else” is a nice soup but sadly when it’s good I’ve forgotten what what the everything else was.

Simple and tasty: 3-4 chicken breasts. Pour a jar of your favorite salsa over it. Cook.

When ready to eat, shred the chicken, put it back in pot and stir it up with the salsa. Awesome tacos, burritos, nachos, chicken sandwiches, etc.

I call it sausage breakfast dip, but I’ve seen it called Crack Dip cuz it’s sooo tasty. Only 3 ingredients: sausage ( browned), cream cheese, RO-tell chilies. I make it on a big batch for pot lucks, but you can definitely make a small batch in a single serving slow cooker.

Here is a similar recipe Sausage breakfast dip

Single serving crock pot is (to me) otherwise known as the queso pot!

Get a bag of tortilla chips

Throw a block of velveeta in the pot and cover it with Ro-Tel

Turn it on and get all melty

Stir until combined

Open your bag of chips and put yourself into a cheese-coma.

I make this at least once a month for meal prep: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/73634/colleens-slow-cooker-jambalaya/

Really tasty all veg soup. Crockpot lentil soup

Chuck. Chop it finely with a knife. Don’t use ground meat. Add salt and pepper, sear it from all sides inside the crock pot.

When it forms a fond add some random wine that you’ve been chugging. No sweetened wine, please. But red, rosé, white, it’s all fine. Use it to deglaze the bottom.

Then add onions, garlic, red peppers, all of them peeled and minced. And broth. If you don’t have broth you do freeze chicken bones, right? …wait, I should stop filling my freezer with chicken bones.

As the beef gets soft add whatever veggies you have. Take into account cooking times. Potato, button mushrooms (you’re now a veggie, get into the pot Nebby), carrot, cabbage. And tomato paste, I buy it by kilogram and then freeze it into ice cubes, I put “enough” of them there. Adjust seasoning as necessary.

Near the end use your judgment. You can reduce it further, or add some thickener (I like to add brown roux), or leave it as is. Then eat it over polenta or cooked taters.

Definitely not a single-serving recipe, but my favorite is chili.

This was originally a recipe I found on chowhound, then modified it. I make this recipe in a 6qt slow cooker:

• 2lb ground beef (I use 80/20)
• 1lb chorizo (can be replaced with any type of spicy sausage or omitted)
• 2 yellow onions
• 6-8 chili peppers (I’ve used jalapenos, serranos, and habaneros before, or replace with 1 red/orange/yellow bell pepper)
• 2 15oz cans diced tomatoes
• 1 15oz can tomato sauce
• 1 15oz can black beans
• 1 7oz can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 4 tbsp chili powder
• 3 tbsp cumin
• 3 tbsp smoked paprika
• 2 tbsp cayenne pepper (for added heat, can be omitted)

Brown chorizo and add to slow cooker. Brown ground beef and add to slow cooker. Dice onions and peppers, add to pan and let soften using the beef/chorizo fat, then add to slow cooker once beginning to caramelize. Puree or finely chop chipotle peppers and add to slow cooker. Add all canned items to slow cooker. Add garlic and spices to slow cooker. Stir to mix ingredients. Cook on low for 8 hrs or high for 4; 8 hrs is preferred, as chili benefits from longer cooking times for flavors to develop and meld.

Chili is a great recipe, now that we in the northern hemisphere are headed into winter. It’s also a great meal prep recipe, as 2nd day chili is better than 1st day IMO, it reheats well, and also freezes well.

Weed butter.

Sometimes I just throw crap in that I think might go good together and let it rip for a couple hours, results are usually delicious

Black bean and sweet potato chili!

I don’t have exact measurements or anything but this is how I make pot roast stew:

Braise your pot roast to give it a crust and get some fond. Put it in the pot.

Deglaze the fond with about a cup of whatever liquid you want and pour it into the pot. I don’t go out to buy things other than the meat for this (I make it when it’s cold and I have vegetables that need to be used before they go bad), so if I have a red wine I’ll use that, if I just have stock I’ll use that, and if I don’t have either, just water is fine. The wine is best, though.

Toss in a couple potatoes, diced. Or use those little ones. I like those just because they can be tossed in whole.

1 medium onion, peeled. Doesn’t need to be chopped.

Bag of baby carrots.

Chopped celery.

Salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and MSG.

Turn that sucker on and wait 6-8 hours. Stir it all up into a paste before serving because it’ll be soft as hell and everything in there just melts.

I like stews like this in the winter: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/14685/slow-cooker-beef-stew-i/

We do pork roast with vegetables often.

Expect about half a pound before cooking per serving Add carrots, onions, seasonings, about 2-3 cups of water.

Serve with rolls or buttered bread.

Seasonings that work are salt, pepper, garlic. I have added apples or pineapples in the past. Feel free to experiment!