Benefits of Slow Cooking

By Donna-Marie Pye

Slow cookers are ideally suited to meeting the needs of today’s busy families. Their advantages include:

Convenience

Because the appliance cooks with such low heat, food won’t scorch (and therefore, it does not need tending). Once you add the ingredients to the slow cooker and turn it on, you can forget about it and devote your time to other activities. At the end of the day, you can enjoy a hot, nutritious, home-cooked meal with minimal effort. Most recipes can be assembled the night before, refrigerated overnight and cooked the following day. The slow cooker is especially handy when you’re entertaining or cooking for a large crowd, as it frees you from the kitchen and allows you to spend time with your guests. And because you can use your slow cooker as a serving bowl, there’s one less dish to clean.

Economy

Basically, the slow cooker works by simmering food at a constant low temperature, which enhances the flavor and texture of some ingredients. Slow cooking tenderizes less expensive cuts of meat, such as beef brisket, stewing beef and pork, pork shoulder roasts and chops. The lengthy cooking time also allows flavors to blend, resulting in the tastiest soups, stews, chilies and pot roasts.
    Dried beans, peas and lentils are an economical alternative to canned and can be cooked very easily in the slow cooker. Once they’re cooked, simply add them to the recipe for a delicious one-pot meal.

Practicality

Because it cooks primarily with moisture, there is virtually no sticking with the slow cooker. (For some dishes, such as desserts, puddings and custards, I recommend that you lightly grease the bowl first, to make cleaning even easier). The appliance also runs on very little electricity. And it’s perfect for warm-weather months, when using a conventional oven would make the kitchen uncomfortably warm. The slow cooker also frees up valuable oven space when you’re entertaining or cooking for a crowd and is ideally suited to cooking holiday side dishes.

• Lindsay- ETs Mommy | February 23, 2009 at 2:19 pm - §

  I just love that I have discovered my slow cooker! I can get everything ready while my daughter is napping and spend the time that I would be making supper later on in the day with her. I know it is going to be a life saver when I go back to work! I have gone from only ever using my slow cooker a couple of times to now using it 3 to 4 times a week!

• sandy raven | February 24, 2009 at 2:43 pm - §

  I use my slowcooker to cook my breadstuffing in at Christmas and Thanksgiving. It works really well, I don't have to worry about getting it all out of the Turkey and it frees up oven room to cook it along side the bird.

Thank you for your comment.

Close

1. Your name *
2. Your email *
3. Comments *
4. Just to make sure it's really you, please type the characters you see in the image into the box provided. * Reload
5. Post Posting...