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| Isn't It About Time That You Took Your Crock Pot Seriously? |
| Written by Susanne Myers | |||
| Tuesday, 13 January 2009 23:21 | |||
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Did you purchase a crock pot recently? Have you seen it around? Alright, I'm one of the guilty ones who filed my crock pot under "long lost kitchen appliances" a few years back and have forgotten about it. Until recently, when my budget took a hit and I had to put in more hours at work. So, out it came, all shined up and ready to use and my family loves having actual meals on the table again.
Did you purchase a crock pot recently? Have you seen it around? Alright, I'm one of the guilty ones who filed my crock pot under "long lost kitchen appliances" a few years back and have forgotten about it. Until recently, when my budget took a hit and I had to put in more hours at work. So, out it came, all shined up and ready to use and my family loves having actual meals on the table again. If you have forgotten exactly when you bought your crock pot, or it has a pattern or color that's reminiscent of the 70's, 80's, or 90's, it's best to buy a new one. You'll be doing yourself a favor spending the $30 to $50, what with all the new energy efficient models available. There are also some really great, new features like temperature settings, warming cycles, and secure leak-proof lids. Although, the best feature of all is that a crock pot saves you both time and money. That's great to know, but how do they do that? Money Saving: If you've got a pot roast in the oven, you've got your oven heating for a long time. Let's just figure your pot roast is going to cook for 3 hours. That's 3 hours in a roughly 2500 watt appliance, which calculates at about 10 kWh for your pot roast. Now, put that same pot roast in your crock pot, cook it for 6 hours, and you've used 1.2 kWh to cook the same meal. That's because your crock pot uses about 200 watts instead of 2500. Why heat up a big oven, or have a burner on radiating heat for long hours when you've got a little personal-sized oven all ready - your crock pot. Look at the online energy consumption calculators and check out your own appliances to see if this doesn't make sense. Most crock pot recipes call for inexpensive cuts of meat. The low, slow cooking of a crock pot breaks down the sinew and connective tissue of less expensive cuts of meat. Crock pot recipes call for cooking in liquid which also tenderizes tougher cuts of meat, so you end up with meat that falls apart with a fork. A more tender cut doesn't stand up as well to the long, slow cooking or the liquid. Opt for beef cuts like brisket, bottom round, rump roast, round steak, or even a good chuck roast. Pork shoulders and short ribs are good, too. Are you spending money on fast food? How many times have you rushed through the convenience store, spending money you didn't have on bad food? Here's where your crock pot can save you money with a little planning. Get your meal planned, shop, and prepare everything ahead of time. Now, when everybody gets home after school and work, and all that evening chaos begins, at least you know you have dinner bubbling away in the crock pot. No more quick, and expensive, stops for fast food. When you are air conditioning your house, the last thing you want to do is heat up your kitchen by having the oven on for a long time. During the summer, we do eat mostly cold meals, like salads, but summers can be pretty long here and my family starts to get a yearning for a nice, hot meal. Without adding a bunch of hot air to my house, I can throw a pot roast in my crock pot, and we're all happy... and the air conditioner can do it's normal work without stressing it out anymore than necessary. Time Saving: Consider your time spent over a stove top, watching a pot boil, stirring the contents, as your valuable time wasted. One-pot meals are real time savers, but only if you don't have to watch it cook. And, yes, a pot roast in the oven is certainly a time saver, but it is not a money saver. We want both, now don't we? Getting my family to help with meal preparations is a big time saver in my book. If I can walk away for a few minutes while my children are scrubbing potatoes and plunking them in the crock pot, I've got those precious minutes to attend to another task. Getting kids involved putting a crock pot meal together is possible because there's less danger of having someone get burned; you don't turn on a crock pot until all the ingredients are in and you're ready. There are many crock pot recipes available that have only a few basic ingredients, so even a cooking novice like my husband can jump right in there and cook a meal, too. If you've been running to the grocery store several times a week to hurry up and get something for dinner, you've been wasting a lot of your very precious time. Wouldn't it be nice to pick up the kids from swim lessons and be able to go right home without that frantic stop for food? I keep several of my favorite crock pot recipes in my purse, so all I have to do is make one planned stop at the grocery store, buy the ingredients I need for a couple meals, and my shopping is done for the week. I even have time now to clean all my vegetables when I get home so they're all ready when I put my planned crock pot dinners together. Now, we're really saving time! Money and Time Saving: Using a larger crock pot yields the best returns for my family. Cooking once and eating twice is not only a time saving feature, but a money saver as well. I use an oval, 6 quart size crock pot, so that we have leftovers for lunch, which solves the problem of wasting money going out to eat. For my time and money, it makes sense to use a crock pot several times a week for our family meals. Look at your poor crock pot just waiting for you to come to your senses, once again. I know you can do it, once you start looking through all the new recipes! Get your kitchen counter cleared off, set up your crock pot, and make out your grocery list. Now, won't you enjoy saving all that time and money when you cook? About the Author: Every home cook should have some good slow cooker recipes. They make for a quick dinner after a long and busy day spent running around town. One of our family favorites is this crockpot hamburger stroganoff recipe. Give it a try. I'm sure your family will like it as much mine does.
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