how to cut-short cooking time

So I've been preparing salads for Wewo to have for lunch at work.

From bottom to top: Wafu dressing, slice carrot, boiled pasta, tuna, tomato, avocado, pistachio and romaine lettuce

four salads for four days 

I don't really know what the salad tastes like, but it's been getting great reviews thus far. That's Wewo and I for you, we love salads, high tea and soup. He gets indigestion from eating steak and I wouldn't even touch red meat because it's chewy and tastes weird for my palete. I know. We're old, baby.

We've both gotten pretty bored of eating outside too, as the last thing we want is to rush around looking for car park space after a long day at work. Hence, I've also begun pre-packing our dinner for the entire week:

that's Korean rice cake in the right packet, which I thought would be a good hearty addition to soups 

one day, one packet

toss the entire contents of one packet into the crockpot along with a packet of seasoning and you're good to go 

Each packet is frozen to preserve its quality. We then defrost the meal either the night or the day before (depending on whether there is any fresh meat involved) and Wewo starts up the crock pot before leaving for work. It's pretty nice to come home to a delicious-smelling house. 

Also, I was a little concerned about contaminating vegetables with raw meat, but apparently it's OK if you defrost all of the contents at one go. We've done this exercise for a week, and so far no stomach problems, but if you're really worried, do consider separating the meat and vegetables into two separate zip bags, I guess. The point of this exercise is to cut down on cutting and chopping so you can have a less stressful evening, after all. 

Besides packet soup, we've also done this with Campbell tin soup as well. For extra yummy moments, do add in a slice of cheese into your Campbell soup. For Chinese soups, dramatically change the texture of the broth simply by scrambling a raw egg before adding it into the soup. I also have this habit of adding corn into every dish, which Wewo has been really patient about, because boy, do I LOVE CORN! We also add in extra fresh vegetables just before we serve the soup and you might also want to add in egg noodles if you're really hungry.

What Do I Need?
A crockpot and ingredients. Bowl, chopsticks and soup spoons.

How Much Does It Cost?

The grocery bill amounted to around RM100 at AEON, which I think is cheap considering the meals prepared will feed two people for 6 meals. It's healthier, and it's fun slurping soup with a good looking fellow after a hard day's work! Next week, I'm either going to do Italian food for a whole week or get into porridge. Scallop porridge. Mmmm.