Our lives have gotten even busier with this recession. We are paying off debts, working on making extra money, trying not to be made redundant all while looking cool, calm and collected. How on earth do we find the time to cook? The slow cooker to the rescue! There has been a huge resurgence in the popularity of the slow cooker. The slow cooker or Crockpot is the perfect frugal appliance for so many reasons.
The slow cooker actually cooks with out needing to be watched. You pop in your ingredients then leave it to do its thing. Some of the more sophisticated models have a built in timer so you can plan when your food is done and then it will keep the food warm until you are ready to eat. If you do not have one the fancy models with the built in timer you can use a plug in timer, the kind you use for lamps when you are away.
Slow cookers also will not heat up your entire kitchen so they are great in hot weather. They also use very little electricity compared to a regular oven.
The slow cooker revolution seems to be everywhere – I have been invited to participate in Crockpot Wednesday which is sort of a Menu Monday with slow cookers. There are several blogs dedicated to the love and adoration of the slow cooker including A Year of Slow Cooking, 365 Days of Slow Cooking, and Irresistable Crockpot Recipes. A Year of Slow Cooking has resulted in a book of the same name.
Thinking about cookery books, I had a look over a Amazon, where there are 162 slow cooker recipe books. Now I feel like I have really been missing out on something. This is a gadget that saves time and money – I NEED one.
I am scouring over various Freecycles and Craigslist, if that doesn’t work I am going to ask Santa for one. Does anyone have any negative feedback about slow cookers? I would love to hear any reviews of slow cookers, the essential recipe book to start out with or any recipe books to avoid. I am determined not to let this revolution pass me by.
I am running to cook slow.
I have two slow cookers – a 5 quart and now a 2 quart. You need to have the food packed at the right level in the pot for the recipes to work right, so it made sense for me to get a smaller pot as well.
Some people really like the pots that you can remove from the cooking element. My little one is like that. I don’t see much increased convenience for the difference in cost. You still have to use a plastic scrubbie and water to clean out the removable pots.
Nice article. I have been using my crock pot almost every week now that the cool weather has arrived. I will check back again soon for more information from you thanks!