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Do you have any Dump Dinner Recipes?

Anne Miller

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posted 2 years ago

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There was a lady on TV who advertised a cookbook for "Dump Dinners". She made these look so yummy and easy.

I was reminded about these easy dinner recipes when I got an email this morning about Dump Dinner Recipes unfortunately the link would not open.

I found this Dump Dinners for the Slow Cooker

Besides the slow cooker, it is my understanding that there are some dump dinner recipes for the oven and for the skillet.

Does anyone have some good dump dinner recipes that can be cooked in the oven, a skillet, or a slow cooker?

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Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

James Freyr

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posted 2 years ago

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About 4 or 6 weeks ago I made a dump n' go crock pot beef stew. I searched the internets for beef stew recipes including crock pot recipes, and even the slow cooker ones had some non-slow cooker steps in it, such as dredging the meat in flour and searing in a pan before adding to the slow cooker. I didn't want to do that, so I took what I liked from two different recipes and dumped all ingredients in my slow cooker in the morning and at supper time it was ready, and it turned out delicious.

More recently I made some soup, and I've made several lately and can't remember exactly which one it was, but again I took what I liked from two different recipes to make my own. This was a stove top recipe in a cast iron dutch oven, and the recipes I found called for sautéing onions, carrots, garlic etc. at the start before continuing. I dumped all the ingredients in raw about mid-afternoon, brought to a boil, reduced to simmer and covered with a lid for a few hours until supper time. It turned out delicious also. There were no harsh onion or garlic flavors coming through, it was mellow, balanced and really good.

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Anita Martin

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posted 2 years ago

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Today I was inspired by this recipe:
https://rainbowplantlife.com/3-vegan-instant-pot-dump-and-go-recipes/
I did the Thai Red Curry Sweet potato soup.

Although I do not own an Instapot it was quick to mix it together - I already had some coconut and tomato sauce and added the sweet potatoes, garlic, veggie broth and ginger, and I used chickpeas instead of lentils because I had them already.
It was delicious.

Not sure what the difference between Dump Dinner and stew/other soup is.

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do. (E.E.Hale)

Leigh Tate

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posted 2 years ago

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I love this idea. Most of my soups and stews are basically dump recipes. In fact, I keep an old peanut butter jar in the freezer to fill with leftovers during the summer. By the end of summer I have at least a dozen jars or more of soup fixins'. Come winter, I defrost a jar, add a jar of bone or veggie broth and simmer for several hours. It's a favorite meal here.

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Kena Landry

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posted 2 years ago

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Anita Martin wrote:Today I was inspired by this recipe:
https://rainbowplantlife.com/3-vegan-instant-pot-dump-and-go-recipes/

Thanks for that recommendation. Most "dump and go" recipes are heavily meat based (and although we do eat meat occasionally, if I do choose do eat meat I'm going to take the time to properly sear it, etc. and give it the honorable treatment it deserves.)

These ones look actually decent. Will give that a try.

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Douglas Alpenstock

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posted 2 years ago

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Anne Miller

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These are what I image some dump dinners look like:

source

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

Nancy Reading

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I made up a dinner last week. I'm guessing it would come under the 'dump dinner' classification although I've not come accross that term before. It is a one pot meal, put together in one stage. I called it "Bread and Butter Breakfast Pudding". It uses left over bread, eggs and milk as a base for a savoury bread and butter pudding using sausage meat, lorne sausage (Scottish square sausage) and mushrooms, but could be varied to make it more healthy! I put sliced tomato on the top.
Basically you layer slices of bread, sausage meat, bread, mushrooms, bread, sausage meat, bread, bacon, bread, in a deep oven dish. Top with the sliced tomatoes, some dots of butter if you like (I think I didn't put any on) then carefully pour over an eggy milk mixture (1 egg to 1pint milk) and let it soak in for a few minutes. It needs to be really full of liquid so all the bread is moistened. I sprinkled a little dried mixed herbs in one of the sausage meat layers. Put it in a moderately hot oven for about an hour until it is risen and well cooked.
It seems fairly tolerant of reheating and was good comfort food for chilly weather. We did have some green veg on the side, because otherwise it was a bit nutritionally lacking, but they only take a few mins to cook through.

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Alana Rose

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posted 2 years ago

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When I was working 60-80 hours a week and didn’t want to eat takeout, I decided to buy a Dump Dinner ebook/program by Ruth Soukup at the blog Living Well Spending Less.

https://www.livingwellspendingless.com/ten-freezer-meals-in-an-hour/

The pros:
- home cooked meals fast
- fairly good tasting
- a cool experiment
- reasonably priced resource

The cons:
As a permie…
- I’m trying to reduce plastic not use ziplock freezer bags (I did try using glass loc storage containers which worked okay for some things but I didn’t have enough or large enough sizes)

- I try not to buy canned or packaged things (making beans and stocks from scratch made it much longer than 1 hour.)

- I don’t eat pork or dairy and I avoid artificial colors, flavors and non-organic sugar

So, was it worth it?

For the experience, I suppose and because I was putting food on the table for more than just myself… but I’d love similar concept for more health conscious people or those who have allergies.

I like the texture of meats so much better when cooked in a crockpot as opposed to a pressure cooker but if one has to choose between food at home or pickup/fast food… instant pot it is.

Blessings,

Alana

Alana Rose

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posted 2 years ago

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And I should mention, they weren’t all whole meals… they were like the main part… grains or veggies that were cooked a different way were separate. (I have 2 inserts for the instant pot so that I can pop in the main dish and then pop in 4min organic white rice or steamed veggies so that’s helpful.)

Blessings,

Alana

Skandi Rogers

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posted 2 years ago

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Quite apart from the name having terrible cogitations (dump is another word for taking a number 2) No, I find that in not browning the onions and meat you lose so much flavour as to make the product virtually inedible. I also find that on many of the recipes they get round this by adding huge amounts of sugar in one form or another and excessive salt.
Taking that extra 10 minutes to brown the meat/onions or fry the spices makes such a difference to the finished dish.

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Alana Rose

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posted 2 years ago

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Skandi Rogers wrote:No, I find that in not browning the onions and meat you lose so much flavour as to make the product virtually inedible. I also find that on many of the recipes they get round this by adding huge amounts of sugar in one form or another and excessive salt.
Taking that extra 10 minutes to brown the meat/onions or fry the spices makes such a difference to the finished dish.

Understandable. I even like putting my veggies in the steamer and in stews at different times to avoid the mush factor. I don’t enjoy the texture of meat in the instant pot so unlike my friends, who don’t enjoy cooking, I’d almost never think it’s worth cooking meat in a pressure cooker. (Maybe I just haven’t found the right recipe.)

I read parts of an Alice Walker book once that described the pleasure and process of crushing and blending herbs and spices in a mortar and pestle… it sounded delightful.

I quit my 60-80 hour a week job because it infringed on being able to live my core values… part of which included not having dump dinners all the time. (But food preparation actually ‘fills my tank’ and I really enjoy it. I realize not everyone feels that way and life does not always allow for it.)

Blessings,

Alana

Anne Miller

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posted 2 years ago

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These recipes would have been so appreciated when I was a young mother with a full-time job, two kids, and a husband who expected dinner when he got home from work.

I made good use of the crockpot (aka slow cooker). Back then these were not like the crockpots for sale today.

I was hoping for some recipes for the oven though I am only finding ones for the crockpot.

Not knowing why she came up with the name Dump Dinners to me this reminds me of the Dump Cake recipes that have been so popular. If so maybe the name was just to help her sell her book. Something "cutesy".

From what I remember, the recipes start off looking like this, only the meat may not have been browned:

source

Then more ingredients are dumped into the casserole something like this:

source

Then comes out of the oven looking something like this:

source

I found on Youtube, Cathy Mitchell the lady I remember from the TV ads.
Here is her Crock Pot Pizza, a Dump Dinner for the Crockpot

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

Michelle Heath

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posted 2 years ago

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My favorite that would qualify as a dump meal is Chicken Bacon Ranch melts (okay for the last part you need a broiler) it's not healthy or vegan but much appreciated after a hard day of work. Basically you put four thawed or frozen chicken breast in a crockpot, add an 8 Oz. block of cream cheese, a handful of bacon bits (mine are cooked and crumbled bacon) and a packet of Ranch dressing mix (I use buttermilk powder and make my own). Cooking time is around 3 hours for thawed chicken and an hour or so longer for frozen. After the chicken is cooked, use a fork to shred it and thoroughly mix it with the other ingredients. Spoon some onto some lightly toasted bread, add your favorite cheese and put it under the broiler long enough for the cheese to start to brown. Either eat as it or add another piece of lightly thawed bread to the top. Again, not healthy, but delicious.

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Alicia McNamar

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my crockpot tortilla soup is a "dump" soup.
all you do is tailor it to your family's size.

32 oz chicken or veg broth or more
1-2 cans of any beans ( we like black , Red kidney and pinto)
1 can of Rotel or similar( if you are a weenie very mild salsa)
1 can of diced tomatoes (or 2 cans of Rotel and skip the tomatoes)
1 onion diced plus more for topping if you wish
1-2 packets of CHEAP taco mix( the cheaper more salt and the spiciness I'll leave the spiciness to you, make it your own )

Toppings
shredded cheddar cheese
diced onions
sour cream
avocado
corn chips of your choosing
cilantro
you get the idea.

in the crock or on the stove in your pot add all the ingredients. cook until chicken is done and can be shredded.
shred the chicken and place back in the pot and its time to eat.
serve it up with your favorite toppings.

Alicia McNamar

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posted 2 years ago

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I forgot to add the jalapenos. top the soup with them or not . thanks ya'll

Anne Miller

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I found this one on Pinterest:

source

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

Anne Miller

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posted 6 days ago

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Drop Dinners:

https://www.thekitchn.com/drop-dinners-267648

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

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