Josh Elledge - Chief Executive Angel
A slow cooker is low stress, a time-saver, makes the house smell great, and may just become your to-go appliance. At very low energy cost, this little gadget can turn out big flavors and big savings. Check out some of the ways a slow cooker saves your family money:Buy in bulk, cook in bulk: You can buy and cook larger quantities of ingredients in batches in a slow cooker, without babysitting an oven. Larger packages save time overall, plus they are usually less expensive, especially for meats and grains.
Resist dining out or getting take out: Knowing you already have dinner hot and ready when you get home will shut down the enticement of eating out. Or if you have waiting made-ahead ingredients, you can skip the neon-call of the drive-thru.
Budget-friendly ingredients: Low and slow is the name of the budget game. A slow cooker is perfect for tenderizing and bringing out the flavor of humble ingredients. Think lentils, potatoes, inexpensive cuts of meat, and lots of on-sale vegetables.
Healthy alternatives: Meals loaded with vegetables, lean proteins and lentils beat heavy processed foods every time. Plus, the dieter's best friend, low calorie soups, are a breeze in a slow cooker. Not only are they much less expensive to make than buy canned, you also retain control over things like the sodium content.
This goes for making stock or broth as well. Because you use ingredients you've already paid for, making vegetable or meat-based stocks is almost free. Compare that to the price of buying stock or broth every time you need it!
Ready leftovers: Unless you have a large family, a slow cooker almost always yields leftovers. Pack them instead of buying lunch; or use for other dinners. Some people are able to use their slow cooker to make one main recipe, and then eat 3 different meals from it, just by making a few tweaks.
Used up instead of thrown out: Slow cooker soup is the perfect way to use up small amounts of leftover ingredients, rather than just throwing them away. A little of this, a little of that”¦ and dinner is done.
Wash less dishes: The slow cooker is a wonderful one-pot meal gadget. Except for a few preparation pieces, you'll create virtually no cooking dishes to scrub ““ saving time, water and energy.
Make breakfast before bed and dinner after breakfast: There are many recipes that can be made and set overnight to enjoy for breakfast, such as oatmeal, egg bakes, and breakfast casseroles. As soon as breakfast is done, you can wipe out the slow cooker right away and throw in your dinner items. Set it, and forget it until it's time to gather as a family once more.
