Economical reasons to cook in the crock pot

When I married two years ago, my mother told me one of the most important sentences she’s ever spoken, “You need to get yourself a crock pot.”

To me, crock pots were something my grandmother used, but I listened. My mother’s always right.

I tried a few meals, and learned not only did the crock pot cook for me, but since there were only two of us, I had food all week! So much food, in fact, I started freezing half the meal and pulling it out two weeks later when I didn’t feel like cooking.

In two years time, I’ve discovered even more reasons why using a crock is a common sense necessity in this economy.

1. It is nearly impossible to burn anything in a crock pot. I locked myself out of the house and it took me three hours to get back in. The chicken was only a tad dry.
2. Crock pots use much less energy than stoves. When you cook something on your stove top, much of that energy escapes and is wasted. All the heat is kept inside the crock pot if you keep on the lid. A crock pot also doesn’t heat up your kitchen like the stove, so it isn’t just for use during winter months.
3. You can buy cheaper, tougher cuts of meat because by the time the slow-cooker is finished with it, it will be just as tender as the expensive cut you bought to cook in the stove.
4. You can cook anything from meat to dessert and will never run out of recipes. I’ve made cornbread to carrot cake.
5. Using the crock pot frees your time. Throw the ingredients in before work and arrive home to a steaming meal ready to put on your plate.
6. Cooking something for a longer period of time at a lower temperature in its own juices, retains the vitamins and minerals you lose on the stove and lowers the fat content. In the two years I’ve been cooking with the crock pot, recipes rarely call for butter or oil.
7. Food can be stretched because the crock pot makes large meals out of cheap ingredients such as dried beans or rice.

Looks like my mother was right. (Big surprise there!) Crock pots are economical in the fact that they save energy, time, and money. I don’t understand why they aren’t all the rage.

But you don’t have one, you say? I find two or three crock pots every time I enter a thrift shop, Goodwill, or yard sale. I’ve never seen one over $20.

My family has eaten good, nutritious meals the past two years. We feel well, have kept our waistlines down, and aren’t eating out as much. And the grocery bill? I couldn’t be more thrilled!

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