The Ideal Slow Cooker For a Fast Paced Life
I am passionate about my trusty slow cooker we've been friends for over twenty years now. Actually she's a bit like grandfather's old ax. I had two at one stage; but the old lid on the newer body and insert are still the original to me! I can't imagine my fast paced life without my crock pot - it is hard to explain the feeling of knowing you are coming home to a wonderful meal that is ready as soon as you are!
In the winter, I make heart warming, rich, fragrant and flavorful beef and chicken casseroles, stews, soups, chili and curries that take just a few minutes to prepare. In the summer, I often roast a chicken overnight, so I could put it in the fridge and have it cold with salad later. I stretch my food budget further, and increase the nutritional value of many meals by adding lentils, red kidney beans or chickpeas to dishes that wouldn't usually have them, and of course in the summer I always seem to be making a bean salad. So I cook up large quantities over night and freeze them for later use. In between, meatloaf, pot roast, potato bake, mac n cheese... chocolate fudge pudding, oh it seems like a million things! Can you tell my slow cooker cookbook is my favorite book?
I do all this with a manual crockpot. When I was working long days in the corporate world with a 45-90 minute journey each way, I would have appreciated the 'keep warm' function that a programmable slow cooker switches to after the specified cooking time has elapsed. There were many days when I left work late and then got further delayed in slow traffic, that I wondered what I would be coming home to. My life has changed, but because the crock pot is so convenient and easy to use for set and forget meals, I still use it nearly every day.
I have been doing some slow cooker reviews, and have found two slow cookers with some great features, as compared to others I have reviewed. The 'smart pot slow cooker' has intuitive programming, the easiest I've seen, just push the 'cook time' button until the cook time and temperature you want comes up. It couldn't be easier! When the cook time is over the cooker automatically switches to warm. (This one comes in a bonus - the Rival Little Dipper!)
The second one is a 'multi-cooker' slow cooker. It is a slow cooker, a rice cooker and an electric pressure cooking - wow imagine the extra things you could! But one of the benefits of this model in slow cooker mode, is it gets up to temperature rapidly, which is great for food safety, but also for taste, as it browns the onions and meat! Of the two, it's hard to choose which would be the best slow cooker! For more on these two slow cookers, click on the link to the 'latest reviews' below.
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